It almost looks as if this winter there will be a real race for the first winter ascent of K2. More and more climbers are throwing their hats into the ring for the prestige project of scaling the second highest mountain on earth for the first time in the cold season. Today the Nepalese climber Nirmal “Nims” Purja also announced that he will travel with a team to the 8,611-meter-high mountain in the Karakoram in Pakistan. In 2019, Nims had made headlines around the world when he summited all 14 eight-thousanders within only six months and six days – with bottled oxygen, supported by a strong team.
Self-confident
The 37-year-old former soldier of the British Gurkha Regiment does not lack self-confidence. “Right now, we believe no team is better placed to achieve this final monumental mountaineering challenge,” Purja writes on his homepage.
K2 is the last remaining one of the 14 eight-thousanders that has never been summited in winter. Previously, as reported, the Nepalese expedition operator Seven Summit Treks had already announced that they would be on site with a team of at least 45 mountaineers. In addition, the Nepalese Mingma Gyalje Sherpa with a Sherpa team as well as the Icelander John Snorri Sigurjonsson, accompanied by Pakistan’s most successful high-altitude climber, Muhammad Ali Sadpara, and his son Sajid, want to try their hand at the winter ascent of K2.
