Though Mount Everest is the tallest mountain on the earth, K2 is broadly thought to be essentially the most harmful to climb and it has even earned the nickname ‘Killer Mountain’.
Stunning figures from 2021 present that nearly one in six ascents tragically finish in demise – however that doesn’t look like pushing aside wealthy Westerners who’re turning to K2 amid a post-pandemic surge of thrill-seeking.
Permits to climb K2 value round £9,500 along with journey prices and hiring guides and Sherpas.
However some K2 journeys for the ultra-rich can be found for £54,700 – the place climbers have entry to WiFi, sizzling showers and heating at base camp, whereas they’re fed Western meals as a result of ‘the meals out there in Pakistan isn’t the most effective for foreigners’.
The associated fee doesn’t appear to be placing Westerners off although, as a record-breaking 207 permits to climb K2 had been purchased final yr. Final August, video taken by a Sherpa confirmed main overcrowding in a slender passage of ice as keen mountaineers fashioned a deadly site visitors jam on their bid to achieve the highest.
British climber Adriana Brownlee, 21, who reached the summit just a few days after the video emerged, advised MailOnline that K2 has turn out to be the ‘new mission not possible’, including: ‘Everest has at all times been the best mountain on the earth however K2 is much more harmful which attracts lots of people.’
Ms Brownlee beforehand mentioned that they had been enjoying ‘Russian roulette’ with falling rocks on their ascent and warned that K2 ‘shouldn’t be seen as a vacationer attraction’.
Whether or not it’s flying to area, making an attempt to achieve the Titanic wreckage 12,500ft beneath sea stage or climbing to the summits of the world’s most difficult peaks, rich daredevils are going above and past to get their adrenaline rush.
K2 made headlines once more this week after mountaineers had been blasted for allegedly stepping over a dying helper whereas making an attempt to finish a world document
Some K2 journeys for the extremely wealthy can be found for £54,700 – the place climbers have entry to WiFi, sizzling showers and heating at base camp. They’re led by US mountaineer Garrett Madison. Right here, a gaggle are pictured at base camp in June final yr
This picture, used extensively in Pakistan media information experiences, is believed to point out Mohammed Hassan
Norwegian climber Kristin Harila (pictured) mentioned that she and her staff did all the things they might to assist Hassan however the circumstances on K2 had been too harmful to maneuver him
As Mohammad Hassan lay critically injured, 1,300ft from the summit of K2, dozens of fellow climbers fastidiously edged in the direction of him, risking their lives as they clung to the aspect of the slender ledge.
They then clambered across the stricken 27-year-old who had slipped off a slender ledge and obtained tangled in ropes as they left him to die whereas persevering with their very own private bid for glory.
Famend Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila, 37, was additionally accused of holding a celebration shortly after clinching the document that noticed her climb 14 of the world’s highest peaks in simply over three months. She has denied her staff stepped over Hassan.
US mountain information Garrett Madison, who not too long ago achieved the uncommon Everest area triple crown’ by climbing Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse in a single season, leads the £54,700 expeditions and is getting ready to launch one other in 2024.
On his web site, an outline of the journey – the place climbers should put a £20,000 deposit down – says: ‘Sadly, the meals out there in Pakistan isn’t the most effective for foreigners, so we’ve got developed a meal plan that encompasses your complete trek and climb.
‘Most of this meals is introduced from the USA, and we’ve got a Nepalese cook dinner who we’ve got labored with for a few years who (along with his employees) meticulously prepares every meal for our staff.’
It provides: ‘It is extremely necessary to distinguish ourselves from different operators in that we’ve got a really good base camp, with massive frequent tents with heating for eating and communications, and cozy private tents for every member.
K2 has claimed the lives of many, together with Scottish climber Rick Allen who died in 2021
Tom Ballard (proper as a toddler), 30, the son of mountaineer Alison Hargreaves (C) who died on K2 in 1995, and Italian Daniele Nardi went lacking in 2019 and their our bodies had been discovered a few weeks later
Norwegian mountaineer Rolf Bae (pictured) was amongst 11 climbers who had been killed on K2 in 2008
‘Being right here for nearly 2 months, it can be crucial for our staff to have a snug camp, in addition to to have entry to the web through a satellite tv for pc modem (this value is free to all members).
‘We have now common entry to sizzling showers, sinks for laundry a number of instances every day, one sanitary bathroom tent for males and one for ladies, in addition to ample area for storing your private tools securely.’
Standing tall at 28,251ft, the treacherous K2 mountain – which is vulnerable to avalanches and rock falls – has claimed a number of lives through the years, together with Brits.
Simply two years in the past, a Scottish climber died in an avalanche on K2 as he tried to take a brand new path to the summit.
Rick Allen, from Aberdeen, had been making an attempt to climb the mountain to boost cash for the Companions Reduction And Improvement charity.
Mr Allen was understood to have been caught up within the avalanche on the mountain’s south-east face. It was reported on the time of his demise, in July 2021, that he can be buried on the foot of the mountain.
Companions Reduction and Improvement mentioned on the time that ‘Rick died doing what he cherished essentially the most and lived his life with the braveness of his convictions’.
On ‘Savage Mountain’, winds gust at hurricane velocity and the temperature can fall to -65c.
The identify caught after US mountaineer George Bell mentioned of his personal try in 1953: ‘It’s a savage mountain that tries to kill you.’
Nobody had ever summited K2 in winter till a gaggle of ten Nepali climbers reached the height in January 2021. To aim to take action had been described as ‘the final nice mountaineering problem’.
Later that yr, a British climber whose mom died on infamous K2 additionally fell sufferer to ‘killer mountain’.
K2 – pictured from overlooking city Askole within the Gilgit–Baltistan area of Pakistan – gained notoriety because the ‘Savage Mountain’ after American mountaineer George Bell descended from the height in 1953
Overcrowding at K2: Climbers say that K2 has turn out to be the ‘new mission not possible’ with thrill-seekers selecting it over Everest
Permits to climb K2 value round £9,500 along with all the prices of travelling to Nepal and hiring guides and Sherpas
Tom Ballard, 30, the son of mountaineer Alison Hargreaves who died on K2 in 1995, and Italian Daniele Nardi went lacking in 2019 and their our bodies had been discovered a few weeks later.
Simply final yr, an Australian and a Canadian climber had been discovered useless on K2. Matthew Eakin and Richard Cartier had gone lacking as they made their descent from Camp 2 to Camp 1. Their our bodies had been later discovered.
In 2008, an Italian climber was miraculously seen stumbling down K2 simply days after 11 fellow climbers had been killed.
A frostbitten Marco Confortola was seen slowly climbing right down to a top the place he could possibly be reached by a rescue helicopter.
Disaster struck on August 1, when a bit of falling ice tore fastened strains from a deadly steep gully referred to as the Bottleneck excessive on the height, stranding climbers within the ‘Dying Zone’, the place our bodies start degenerating due to lack of oxygen.
The useless included three Koreans; two Nepalis; two Pakistani excessive altitude porters; French, Serbian, and Norwegian climbers; and an Irishman Gerard McDonnell.
After Mohammad Hassan turned the most recent particular person to die on K2, fellow mountaineers reignited fury about how Sherpas are handled as ‘second-class human beings’ and mentioned a Western climber wouldn’t have been left to die in the identical occasion.
Norwegian climber Harila, who final month scaled her 14th highest peak in simply over three months, has insisted that she and her staff did all the things they might to assist Hassan however the circumstances on K2 had been too harmful to maneuver him.
However mountaineer Philip Flämig, an Austrian who was climbing with Wilhelm Steindl, mentioned footage the 2 recorded utilizing a drone reveals a path of climbers strolling over the stricken physique as an alternative of serving to Hassan.
‘He’s being handled by one particular person whereas everybody else is pushing in the direction of the summit,’ he advised Austria’s Normal newspaper, referencing the drone footage.
‘The very fact is that there was no organised rescue operation though there have been Sherpas and mountain guides on website who may have taken motion.’ Harila and her staff members had been amongst these climbers, The Telegraph reported.
He referred to as the demise a ‘shame’ and mentioned ‘such a factor can be unthinkable within the Alps’ – referencing the continuing debate about how Sherpas are used within the Himalayas.
‘If he had been a Westerner, he would have been rescued instantly. Nobody felt liable for him,’ he advised the Austrian publication.
‘A residing human was left mendacity in order that data could possibly be set.’
Harila defended her actions and decisions on K2 final month to The Telegraph, saying ‘we did all we may for him’.
