ISLAMABAD – A 49-member adventure team began its winter expedition on Thursday in a bid to achieve something that no human has ever done before, surmount world’s second highest peak, K2 in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Group members belonging to eighteen countries including USA, Nepal, Poland and Italy are participating in the expedition. Today, the international expedition team took off from Skardu and officially started the trek to K2 base Camp. They reached camp Jhola 3,184m.
SST- K2 🏔 Winter Expedition 2020/21 entire team member arrived to Skardu this morning. #K2Winter2020 #k2winterexpedition2021 #k2 #pakistan #sst #sevensummit #baltoro #sherpa #climbing #k2winterexpd pic.twitter.com/c88DPS0ZtG
— Seven Summit Treks 🇳🇵 (@sst8848) December 22, 2020
K2 is the only eight-thousand metre peak that has never been climbed during winter or from its eastern face.
Of the five highest mountains in the world, K2 is the deadliest; approximately one person dies on the mountain for every four who reach the summit. Although the summit of Everest is at a higher altitude, K2 is a more difficult and dangerous climb, due in part to its more inclement weather.
It is more lethal mountain than Everest, and 84 people have died on the mountain since record keeping began.
The mountain is 8,611m (28,251ft) high – about 200m less than Everest – but is widely considered the most demanding of all in winter.
The Karakoram mountain range to which it belongs is colder than the Himalayan mountain range. Temperatures can fall to below minus 50C.
The mountaineers/members of #K2Winter2021 expedition praying for safe & successful ascent of #K2 prior to their departure from #Skardu. pic.twitter.com/L81bNpJCMc
— WarIntel Asia (@AsiaIntl24) December 24, 2020
Concerns have been raised for this many climbers going together as there are so many lives at risk but the dare-devils couldn’t stop themselves from trying to make history.
So unforgiving are the conditions on K2, part of the Karakoram Range that straddles the Pakistan-China border, that it has long been referred to as The Savage Mountain or the Killer Mountain. It was a name that stuck after US mountaineer George Bell said of his own attempt in 1953: “It is a savage mountain that tries to kill you.”
As of July 2018, there had been a reported 367 successful climbs of K2 and 86 deaths, which equates to roughly one death in every four. But this harrowing statistic includes all seasons, with or without oxygen.
