GILGIT: As many as 26 foreign climbers summited K2, the world’s second-highest peak at 8,611 metres above sea level, on Friday, a day after 86 foreigners scaled the mountain on Thursday.
One of the day’s highlights was the Nepalese mountaineer Mingma David, who broke his own record to become the only person in the world to have scaled K2 six times.
Mingma G, a renowned climber and owner of the peak climbing operator Imagine Nepal, told Dawn from the K2 base camp that 180 climbers had started the summit push but only 26 successfully reached the top, as the others had to abandon the adventure because of bad weather.
He said summiting K2 had become more challenging this year after the mountain received fresh snow.
According to Imagine Nepal, the expedition faced unpredictable weather and delays in route fixing. However, collaborative efforts by Nepalese companies were instrumental in ensuring successful summits.
According to Elit Exped, a tour company, Mingma David Sherpa, Nikol Algerdos Kovalchuk, Karma Geljen Sherpa, and Phuri Kittar Sherpa from Nepal scaled K2 at 11:50am. Pasang Ngima Sherpa and Silviya Zhivkova Azdreeva reached the top at 12:53pm.
They were followed by Mario Fernando Villagran Avendano, Pem Chhiri Sherpa, Yevgen Staroselskiy and Kalden Phura Sherpa.
Tracee Lee Metcalfe of the United States summited K2 at 6:06am on Friday. Supporting Ms Tracee, Thundu Sherpa and Lakpa Tenjin Sherpa also reached the summit at the same time.
Ms Metcalfe tried to summit K2 on July 26 but had to abort the attempt after climbing over 8,000m.
The route to the summit was uncertain and a long line of climbers waiting at the Bottleneck was too much a risk for her.
The group leader, Mingma G, let her go back to the camp, but didn’t allow her to get down and instead asked her to take good rest and try again. She agreed and made the summit on Friday.
With the summit of K2, Ms Metcalfe has now scaled eight of the 14 highest mountains in the world.
Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2023
