“Hello K2!” These were the words Mingma Gyalje Sherpa used to greet the second highest mountain on earth via social media today after reaching base camp with his Nepalese compatriots Dawa Tenzing Sherpa and Kili Pemba Sherpa: “We will take two days complete rest and then plan our climbing.” The Sherpa team is the second one at base camp at the foot of the 8,611-meter-high mountain in the Karakoram, the only eight-thousander never scaled in winter so far.
Fixed ropes to Camp 1
The other team – the Icelander John Snorri Sigurjonsson and the Pakistani father-son duo Muhammad Ali and Sajid Ali Sadpara – were already for the first time on the mountain. The three climbers fixed ropes on the Abruzzi route up to Camp 1 at about 6,000 meters. According to John, it was minus 25 degrees Celsius cold during their ascent.
The bulk of the about 60 climbers from 19 countries who plan to tackle K2 this winter are expected to arrive in Islamabad this weekend.
