Model Tragedy

Adventure photographer dies

Last week marked the death of Bobby Model, the highly renowned and revered explorer, mountaineer and photojournalist.

Model, 37, was internationally acclaimed, his photography published in National Geographic, Outside Magazine and the New York Times.

Two years ago, however, when Model was visiting South Africa from his newly established home base in Nairobi, Kenya, he was struck through the front windscreen of his pickup truck by a huge chunk of concrete. The incident happened in a run-down region near Khayelitsha, Cape Town, notorious for stone-throwing attacks.  

Model was rushed to intensive care but he had suffered a severe brain injury and fell into a coma.

He underwent treatment in South Africa and New York before moving to a Denver hospital where the focus was to be on regaining his mobility and speech. He died during his rehabilitation.

Model’s all-action photographic style led him to appearing on the front cover of National Geographic at the tender age of 22 as part of a team that completed the first free ascent of the East Face of the Trango Tower – the colossal 20,600-ft spire in Pakistan.

National Geographic said Model had documented mountain ascents, ancient desert ruins, war zones, and some of the world’s most isolated cultures – 'braving remote locations and challenging conditions on five continents.’