A team of Nepalese climbers on Saturday made history after becoming the first to summit Pakistan’s K2 in winter, according to a trekking company leading one of the expeditions.
Dozens of mountaineers have been competing over the past few weeks to summit the world’s second highest mountain, the last peak above 8,000 metres to be topped in wintertime.
“WE DID IT” tweeted Seven Summit Treks.
“The Karakorum’s ‘Savage Mountain’ been summited in most dangerous season: winter. Nepalese climbers finally reached the summit of Mt K2 this afternoon at 17:00 local time.”
16 Jan 2021🇳🇵🏔🇵🇰
WE DID IT, BELIVE ME WE DID IT- JOURNEY TO THE SUMMIT NEVER DONE BEFORE
🦾The Karakorum’s ‘Savage Mountain’ been summited in most dangerous season:WINTER
Nepalese Climbers finally reached the summit of Mt. K2 (Chhogori 8611m), this afternoon at 17:00 local time. pic.twitter.com/O530X3WgKh— Seven Summit Treks 🇳🇵 (@sst8848) January 16, 2021
Since the maiden attempt in 1987-1988, just a handful of winter expeditions have been attempted on the storied 8,611-metre (28,250-feet) mountain in the Karakoram range along the Chinese border.
None had got higher than 7,650 metres until Saturday when the good conditions allowed the climbers to push ahead.
This winter an unprecedented four teams totalling around 60 climbers converged on the mountain, more than all the previous expeditions put together.
However, Mountaineer Sergi Mingote died during the climb of K2, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Saturday (Jan 16).
“Sad death of Sergi Mingote on K2. He wanted to keep on making history by being part of the first expedition to climb this mountain in winter and a tragic accident ended his life,” Sanchez wrote on Twitter, describing him as a “great sportsman”.
