ISLAMABAD: Two high-altitude teams, comprising 21 climbers, have reached Skardu to mount K2, the only above the 8000-metre unclimbed peak in the extremes of winter.
The first team comprises Vassiliy Pivtsov (Kazakhstan), who is the expedition leader, Dmitry Muraviov (Kazakhstan), Tursunali Aubakirov (Kazakhstan), Artem Brown (Russia), Konstantin Shepelin (Russia), Roman Abildaev (Russia) and Michael Danichkin (Kyrgyzstan).
The second team is led by renowned mountaineer Alex Txikon of Spain. Other members of the team include Felix Criado (Spain), Marek Klonowski (Poland) Pawel Dunaj (Poland) and eight seasoned Sherpas from Nepal.
“The first team departed for Askole on Monday and is scheduled to reach the Base Camp on January 14, while the second team will leave Askole on Tuesday to reach Base Camp on January 15,” said Asghar Ali Porik, the owner of Jasmine Tours Pakistan, who has arranged the expedition in collaboration with Alpine Club of Pakistan.
“The winter high-altitude climbs are regarded as highly tough and prestigious and only extra class climbers undertake such expeditions,” Alpine Club Secretary Karrar Haidri said.
Pakistan’s K2 (8,611-metre) is world’s second highest peak of the planet after Mount Everest. It is located in Karakorum region on the China-Pakistan border. In the past attempts have also been made to scale the peak in winters but none has succeeded.
In 1987-1988, a Polish national expedition team led by Andrzej Zawada tried to scale it but the attempt finished at 7,300 metres. In 2002-2003, another Polish expedition team led by Krzystof Wielicki made an effort but the attempt ended at 7,650 metres. In 2011-2012, Russian National Expedition outfit led by Victor Kozlov climbed till 7,200 metres and then in 2017-2018, Polish national expedition led by Krzystof Wielicki climbed till 7,400 metres.
