GILGIT: Twenty-six international climbers from the two winter expedition teams are braving rockfalls and avalanches in their bid to scale K2 by Friday (tomorrow).

Mohammad Ali Sadpara, his son Sajid Sadpara and Iceland’s John Snorri launched the summit push from the base camp on Wednesday morning, arriving at the camp 1 situated under the House’s Chimney in the evening.

John Snorri said under the plan they would move from the camp 2 to camp 3 on Thursday morning, and in the evening would start the summit push. “It will take 15 to 16 hours to get on the summit on Friday morning.”

Mr Snorri updated on his social media official page that the team members had arrived at the camp 2, feeling good and had appetite and positive thoughts for the summit push.

“When I was on my way up a rock dropped on my head, but luckily my helmet saved me. Another climber from the Seven Summit wasn’t so lucky as a rock dropped on his shoulder.

This is one of the dangers in the mountains, rock dropping down at high speed. Some of the climbers have decided to retreat from the summit push,” John Snorri said in the post.

He updated that there were also lot of avalanches on the Broad Peak.

Separately, a 15-member SST expedition started its move on Wednesday morning as eight members of the team comprising Nepali Sherpas had already left the base camp on Monday.

According to a tour operator, after reaching the camp 1, expedition member Ms Magdalena Katarzyna Gorzkowska from Poland complained about severe pain in stomach and vomiting, so she was evacuated to the base camp.

The tour operator said coordination was being made with the Askari Aviation to evacuate the Polish climber from the base camp.

The foreign expedition team leader Chhang Dawa Sherpa updated that some of the climbers had returned to the base camp, while others had reached the camp 2 and 3 on Wednesday.

“There seems to be fair wind and weather from Feb 1 to 5; this might be the last fair weather window until the Feb snowfall will start,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2021