More than 100 climbers summit K2, one Afghan mountaineer died and one Canadian is missing
For the first time ever, more than 100 climbers summited the world’s second highest peak K2 this weekend.
Many records have been broken as the “summer season 2022 witnessed 100 climbers, including both Pakistani and foreigners, summit K2,” during the weekend (July 22 – 24), the Alpine Club of Pakistan Secretary Karrar Haidri confirmed Islamabad Scene.
The K2 summiteers included a number of female mountaineers from Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Taiwan, and Bangladesh creating history by becoming the first-ever woman of their respective countries to reach the top of 8,611-metre K2.
Pakistani woman mountaineers make history
Famous climber Samina Baig became the first Pakistani woman to summit K2 along with her seven-member team, three hours before another Pakistani woman who now lives in UAE, Naila Kiani, summited it. Naila Kiani’s team members included professional Pakistani mountaineers Sirbaz Khan and Sohail Sakhi.
Besides the two Pakistani women, the men climbers from Pakistan who summited K2 with different expedition teams included: Sirbaz Khan, Fida Ali, Eid Mohammad, Sohail Sakhi, Bulbul Karim, Ahmed Baig, Rizwan Dad, Waqar Ali, Shah Doulat, Shah Shimshali, Wajidullah Nagri, Akber Hussain Sadpara, Abid Hussain Sadpara, Zakir Sadpara, Ashraf Sadpara and Inayat.
At least 18 Pakistanis, including many from Gilgit-Baltistan, scaled the country’s highest peak on July 22 alone.
While 170 foreign climbers had started their summit push from the base camp recently, more than 100 mountaineers from the US, Canada, the UK, Russia, China, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, France, Andorra, Poland, South Africa, Japan, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Nepal and Malaysia started reaching the top of K2 from the early hours of Friday morning till afternoon.
Two climbers summit K2 without supplemental oxygen
The 29-year-old Grace Tseng has become the world’s youngest female climber to summit K2 without supplemental oxygen and the first Taiwanese ever to have stood on top of the Savage Mountain.
A mountaineer from China name Jing, who earlier climbed Mount Everest and Lhotse without supplemental oxygen, summited K2 without additional oxygen.
Andorra’s Stefi Troguet has also summited the second-highest peak without supplementary oxygen. “I can’t believe it. I’m on top of K2 without no O2. The hardest thing I’ve ever done,” she said. Stefi dedicated her summit to the late Ali Sadpara, Antonio Atanas and Sergi Mingote — the fallen heroes of the K2 winter expedition.
Poland’s Monika Witkowska, Russia’s Vladimir Kotlyar and Nepal’s Mingtemba Sherpa, Pasang Sherpa, Fura Tshering Sherpa and Ngima Sherpa also summited the K2 early Friday morning. French climbers Pascal Claude and Christophe Jean also summited the peak on July 22.
Nelly Attar – first Arab woman to summit K2
Nelly Attar, an Arab Lebanese woman, became the first Arab woman to reach the peak on Friday morning. Her team members included Estonia’s Krisli Melesk, America’s Terray Ellington Sylvester, and Argentina’s Claudio Cocho Javier.
Wasfia Nazreen first Bangladeshi to summit K2
Bangladesh’s celebrated mountaineer Wasfia Nazreen became the first climber from Bangladesh to scale the K2 summit in Pakistan. Her expedition team, Elite Exped, announced the achievement on social media, saying: “100 percent success rate! This season has been awesome. Our incredible team for our K2 expedition has all accomplished their goal.”
Afghan climber dies during K2 summit
In a tragic incident, Afghan climber, Ali Akbar Sakki, died on Thursday due to a heart attack while attempting to scale K2. He was part of a team of Pakistani climbers, officials said.
Canadian climber missing, another fighting for life
Canadian climber Richard Cartier of Quebec has gone missing on the lower slopes of K2. Cartier and his companions Matthew Eakin and Justin Dube-Fahmy were descending from Camp 2 to Camp 1 when the accident occurred.
At least one British climber fell to his death on Broad Peak on July 23, while another Romanian mountaineer is reportedly fighting for his life on the 8,000-metre peak due to “dehydration and fatigue”.