Dozens to attempt first winter ascent of deadly K2

K2, the world's second highest mountain in the Himalayas mountains range of Pakistan

Credit: EPA

Dozens of climbers are assembling in Pakistan for a perilous attempt at what has been called one of mountaineering’s last great prizes – a winter ascent of the world’s second highest peak.

Around 55 climbers in rival teams are reported to be preparing to climb K2 and take on a mountain notorious for the numbers of climbers to have died on its slopes.

The 8,611m (28,251ft) mountain straddling the Pakistan and China border is the only one of the world’s 14 peaks measuring more than 8,000m (26,000ft) not to have been scaled in winter.

Some 86 climbers are reported to have died on the mountain, which roughly equates to one death in every four successful attempts.

Only a handful of winter attempts have been tried in the past, when the conditions are pitiless. Winds can reach up to 120mph and temperatures can fall to -50C (-58F).

The pitiless seasonal conditions and the sheer number of hopefuls have raised concerns of congestion and possible fatal accidents on the mountain during this year’s attempts.

The crowded field includes a team led by Nirmal “Nimsdai” Purja, a former Gurkha soldier who last year smashed the record for climbing the 14 peaks. Mr Purja knocked nearly seven-and-a-half years off the previous record by completing the challenge in just 189 days.

Mr Purja joined the British Army’s Gurkhas in 2003, before going on to serve in the Royal Marines and Special Boat Service.  Mr Purja said on Tuesday night he was in the northern town of Skardu and intended to reach K2 base camp by the end of the month, with a team of professional Nepalese climbers.

Abu Zafar Sadiq, president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, said 55 climbers had arrived, almost half of them from Nepal. Climbers are also reported to have arrived from assembling from Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Poland, Greece, Spain, Canada, Finland, USA, Chile and Italy.

Mr Sadiq said the extreme cold and extreme wind made winter ascent almost impossible. He said the expeditions were expected to reach for the summit in February, but he predicted that snow would make conditions even worse in that month.

"This will be the most interesting winter on K2 ever, that is for sure," mountaineering chronicler Eberhard Jurgalski told the BBC.

"Even with just a few people, as it’s been with the previous seven (winter) attempts, it is dangerous enough. I fear the worst," he said.

The mountain’s upper slopes were scene of one of the climbing’s worst disasters of recent years, when in August 2008 the edge of an ice shelf sheared off and swept away a network of ropes that the climbers needed to make their way down. At total of 11 people died.

Chyang Dawa Sherpa, said he was taking an expedition of climbers from 15 nations. “K2 is very technical and also very cold, very harsh weather, it’s very challenging,” he told Arab News.

“People who tried and failed; they say it’s very cold. They never see the sun on this mountain.” 

He said he was not put off by the risk: “This is a mountain… it’s risky, there is danger… Sometimes aeroplanes also crash but people don’t stop flying.

“In mountaineering [it is] also the same: some people [go] missing, some accidents [happen] but we don’t care. We keep trying.”