GILGIT: Three international teams are preparing to scale the world’s second highest peak K2 and killer mountain Nanga Parbat in the upcoming winter season.

A five-member Spanish team and 10-member Russian team will try to be the first mountaineers to summit the K2 in the winter season.

A team of Italian climbers headed by famous mountaineer Nardi has decided to scale the Nanga Parbat through a new route.

According sources, the GB council secretariat issued permits to two K2 expedition teams, while issuing of permit to Nanga Parbat team is under process.

According to Elena Laletina the official secretary of Russian K2 expedition team 2019, the high-altitude climbs in winter are considered to be complex and prestigious.

So far no climber has scaled the K2, located in Karakoram on China-Pakistan border, in the winter season. The team of the strongest high-altitude climbers from Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan is preparing for an attempt to climb it in the winter.

Each member of the team understands the risk involved in such climb but the desire to reach the top of this great mountain in the winter and leave a mark in the history of mountaineering have motivated the team of Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

The Spanish team comprising five climbers has obtained permit to climb K2 in the upcoming winter.

Local mountaineer Karim Shah Nizari, also a friend of Italian climber Nardi, said that the Italian team didn’t announce the names of its members.

Last winter, two international teams had attempted to scale K2 and Nanga Parbat.

However 13 members of the Polish team failed to conquer K2 while the two-member French and Polish team attempted to scale Nanga Parbat.

During the Nanga Parbat attempt, a Polish climber died of frostbite while his French colleague had been rescued.

Karar Haidary, the spokesman for Alpine Club of Pakistan, told Dawn that the adventure tourism in winter was improving.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2018