GILGIT: Russian-Polish climber Denis Urubko has set another record by climbing 8,035m Gasherbrum-II within a span of 15 hours, just days after summiting 8,051m Broad Peak.

This is his fifth summit of G2, while overall he is the 15th climber to scale all the 14 eight-thousanders and eighth to achieve the feat without the use of supplemental oxygen.

According to official Facebook page of Denis Urubko on July 23, the high-altitude mountaineer did another interesting composition in Karakoram. Starting at 3am from base camp, he went alone by the icefall, the long glacier and followed classical route of G2 with some stops for breakfast and lunch. He finally reached the summit at 18:20pm. Since no people were on the slopes in upper camps, Denis enjoyed his personal adventure in pure style.

He helped to fix ropes in the beginning on G2 and then took “a break” during which he made a powerful ascent on Broad Peak on July 19. He descended from the top directly to the base camp next morning at 4am after a 25-hour trip though extremely tired yet satisfied.

Such an adventure looks as a new step for that remote zone but for Urubko, it is the fifth time on G2 and 25th ascent on any mountain above 8,000m.

On July 19, climber Urubko summited Broad Peak (8,030m) in 14 hours. He started the summit push of Broad Peak from the base camp directly and reached the top within 14 hours. After summit, Urubko headed back directly to the base camp same day. Urubko completed the mission solo and scaled Broad Peak for the third time.

In a separate expedition, Ahmed Hussain and Abbas Ali from Shigar also summited G2.

Denis Urubko is on the top of Gasherbrum-II.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2022