It was the project everyone whose heart beats for real alpinism was looking forward to this summer. The Japanese Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima, who are among the best mountaineers in the world, had set out to climb the extremely challenging West Face of the 8611-meter-high K2 in the Karakoram in Pakistan – on a new route, in alpine style, i.e. without bottled oxygen, without high porters, without fixed camps and without fixed ropes. According to reports from Pakistan, Hiraide and Nakajima fell from an altitude of around 7,500 meters. They had set off on their summit attempt four days ago.
Motionless bodies discovered
Waliullah Falahi, a high-ranking official from the northern Pakistani district of Shigar, told the newspaper “DAWN” that a rescue helicopter discovered the motionless bodies of the two climbers in the West Face on Saturday. It was not clear whether the climbers were still alive or dead. Due to the steepness of the terrain, it was not possible to rescue them from the helicopter, according to Ishii Sports, a sponsor of the Japanese. A rescue operation is now to be launched from the ground. The chances of recovering Hiraide and Nakajima alive are – objectively speaking – extremely slim and dwindling by the minute.
Until now, the extremely steep and challenging West Face had only been mastered by a large Russian expedition in 2007. Eleven climbers reached the summit after fighting their way up the wall for more than two months – without bottled oxygen – using seven high camps and fixed ropes along almost the entire route, which ran upwards like a straight line.
Twice awarded the Piolet d’Or together
The 45-year-old Hiraide and the 39-year-old Nakajima are known for their extreme tours in a clean climbing style. The top duo have been awarded the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar of mountaineers”, twice in recent years for their successes in the Karakoram: for their first ascent of the South Face of the 7,788-meter-high Rakaposhi in 2019 and for their first ascent of the Northeast Face of the 7,611-meter-high Shispare in 2017.
Hiraide received his first Piolet d’Or for the first ascent of the Southeast Face of the 7,756-meter-high Kamet in India in 2008, together with his partner Kei Taniguchi. She was the first woman to win the prestigious prize. Taniguchi died in a fall in Japan at the end of 2015 at the age of 43.
Dramatic rescue operation on Ama Dablam
In Germany, some of you may remember a dramatic rescue operation involving Hiraide in fall 2010 on the 6,812-metre-high Ama Dablam in the Khumbu region of Nepal: the Japanese and German climber David Göttler were in distress after climbing the North Face via a new route on the North Ridge and had asked to be rescued by helicopter. After Göttler had already been brought safely down to the valley, the helicopter hit the ridge while trying to take Hiraide on board and crashed. Both pilots died. The Japanese was rescued a day later by another helicopter crew.
Hiraide: “Turning the impossible into the possible”
In summer 2023, Hiraide and Nakajima first climbed the North Face of the 7,708-meter-high Tirich Mir in Pakistan, the highest mountain in the Hindu Kush – in preparation for the K2 West Face, which they had been targeting for years. After their success on Shispare in 2017, they had trekked to K2 base camp, studied the mighty wall, but didn’t feel ready enough for it at the time. Now they had arrived with great self-confidence to attempt the wall for the first time.
“By accumulating experience and taking small steps, I can turn the impossible into the possible,” Kazuya Hiraide told the President of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, Karrar Haidri, before starting the project. “”I have always tried to climb mountains like this, so even if it takes me 20 years to accomplish the impossible, it’s still fun. That’s what the West Face is all about.”
Update 30 April: The rescue operation for Hiraide and Nakajima has been suspended. According to the Japanese news agency Kyodo, sponsor Ishii Sports announced that the decision had been made in consultation with the families of the climbers. The rescuers had had difficulties reaching the spot where the two climbers had been located, it said.
P.S. Meanwhile, numerous summit successes by commercial teams on the normal route have been reported fromn K2. Among others the Imagine Nepal team reached the summit at 8,611 meters with eight clients and ten Nepalese climbers. For expedition leader Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, it was the fifth summit success on the second highest mountain on earth.
The 2 pilots who crashed to save the 2nd climber are on his karma. Climbers are the most selfish people, inspiring others to pollute the most sacred mountains, like Everest (Chomolungma). It should stop.