A record-breaking former Gurkha trying to make the first winter ascent of K2 has said he is devastated after finding his camp and equipment blown away by high winds.
Nirmal Purja said his camp had been wrecked after being buffeted by hurricane force winds, but he still intended to climb the world’s second highest peak.
The former special forces soldier is one of dozens of climbers currently climbing the notoriously deadly peak which straddles the Pakistan-China border.
In a message late on Sunday he said he found a scene of devastation after a prepositioned camp already set up by his expedition had been blasted by 75 mph winds.
“Our team reached to Camp 2 today and it was a wreckage site,” he said.
“We found that both our tents and all equipments that we had left here for the summit plan are all destroyed and swept away by the wind.”
We have lost everything including all our kits; sleeping bags, mattresses, heated shoe insoles, summit gloves/mittens, summit base layers, paragliding equipment, cooking equipment etc. I am devastated to be breaking this news. Now, I have to reassess and replan everything.
— Nirmal Purja MBE (@nimsdai) January 10, 2021
He said the expedition had “lost everything”, including cooking gear, sleeping bags, mattresses and specialist warm weather gear for scaling the 8,611m (28,251ft) mountain.
“I am devastated to be breaking this news. Now, I have to reassess and replan everything,” he said.
Hours later, he released another statement thanking supporters. He said: "I always have a back up plan for a back up plan. I am just a bit gutted about missing another summit window. However, the plan is still on and summit plan will be pushed a bit late in the season."
Dozens of climbers converged on K2 last month, hoping to claim one of the sport’s last great prizes. K2 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).
Mr Purja last year smashed the record for climbing the world’s highest 14 peaks, knocking nearly seven-and-a-half years off the previous record by completing the challenge in just 189 days.
He and his Nepalese expedition have been on the mountain, preparing and acclimatising since late December. After setting up camp 2 and preparing fixed lines further up the mountain, the team descended to base camp to recover and wait for a good weather window.
In a weekend update, he said he and his team were to revisit camp 2, which had been buffeted by hurricane force winds.
“Some damage and disruption is expected, as we had unsettling weather conditions for the last few days.”
Other teams had been using the camp because of a lack of space, he said.
“It was last reported 10 days ago that our tent was not fully secured and we have been at the base camp since then.”
Свежие комментарии