Though Mount Everest is the tallest mountain on the planet, K2 is broadly thought to be essentially the most harmful to climb and it has even earned the nickname ‘Killer Mountain’.
Surprising figures from 2021 present that just about one in six ascents tragically finish in dying – however that doesn’t seem like laying aside wealthy Westerners who’re turning to K2 amid a post-pandemic surge of thrill-seeking.
Permits to climb K2 price round £9,500 along with all the prices of travelling to Nepal 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, scorching showers and heating at base camp, whereas they’re fed Western meals as a result of ‘the meals accessible in Pakistan will not be one of the best for foreigners’.
The associated fee doesn’t appear to be placing Westerners off although, as a record-breaking 207 permits to climb K2 have been purchased final 12 months. Final August, video taken by a Sherpa confirmed main overcrowding in a slim passage of ice as keen mountaineers shaped a deadly visitors jam on their bid to succeed in the highest.
British climber Adriana Brownlee, 21, who reached the summit a number of days after the video emerged, instructed MailOnline that K2 has change into the ‘new mission unattainable’, including: ‘Everest has all the time been the best mountain on the planet however K2 is much more harmful which attracts lots of people.’
Ms Brownlee beforehand stated that they have been taking part in ‘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 house, trying to succeed in the Titanic wreckage 12,500ft beneath sea degree 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 have been blasted for allegedly stepping over a dying helper whereas trying 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, scorching showers and heating at base camp. They’re led by US mountaineer Garrett Madison. Right here, a bunch are pictured at base camp in June final 12 months
This picture, used extensively in Pakistan media information experiences, is believed to indicate Mohammed Hassan
Norwegian climber Kristin Harila (pictured) stated that she and her group did every thing they may to assist Hassan however the circumstances on K2 have been too harmful to maneuver him
As Mohammad Hassan lay significantly injured, 1,300ft from the summit of K2, dozens of fellow climbers fastidiously edged in direction of him, risking their lives as they clung to the facet of the slim ledge.
They then clambered across the stricken 27-year-old who had slipped off a slim ledge and received 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 group stepped over Hassan.
US mountain information Garrett Madison, who just lately 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 accessible in Pakistan will not be one of the best for foreigners, so we now have developed a meal plan that encompasses your complete trek and climb.
‘Most of this meals is introduced from the USA, and we now have a Nepalese cook dinner who we now have labored with for a few years who (along with his workers) meticulously prepares every meal for our group.’
It provides: ‘It is extremely vital to distinguish ourselves from different operators in that we now have a really good base camp, with massive widespread tents with heating for eating and communications, and comfy 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 have been discovered a few weeks later
Norwegian mountaineer Rolf Bae (pictured) was amongst 11 climbers who have been killed on K2 in 2008
‘Being right here for nearly 2 months, it is crucial for our group to have a cushty camp, in addition to to have entry to the web by way of a satellite tv for pc modem (this price is free to all members).
‘We now have common entry to scorching showers, sinks for laundry a number of instances each day, one sanitary rest room tent for males and one for ladies, in addition to ample house for storing your private tools securely.’
Standing tall at 28,251ft, the treacherous K2 mountain – which is susceptible 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 trying to climb the mountain to boost cash for the Companions Aid 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 dying, in July 2021, that he can be buried on the foot of the mountain.
Companions Aid and Improvement stated 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 pace and the temperature can fall to -65c.
The title caught after US mountaineer George Bell stated 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 bunch of ten Nepali climbers reached the height in January 2021. To try to take action had been described as ‘the final nice mountaineering problem’.
Later that 12 months, 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 change into the ‘new mission unattainable’ with thrill-seekers selecting it over Everest
Permits to climb K2 price 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 have been discovered a few weeks later.
Simply final 12 months, an Australian and a Canadian climber have 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 have been later discovered.
In 2008, an Italian climber was miraculously seen stumbling down K2 simply days after 11 fellow climbers have been killed.
A frostbitten Marco Confortola was seen slowly climbing right down to a top the place he might be reached by a rescue helicopter.
Disaster struck on August 1, when a bit of falling ice tore mounted strains from a deadly steep gully often called 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 grew to become the newest particular person to die on K2, fellow mountaineers reignited fury about how Sherpas are handled as ‘second-class human beings’ and stated 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 group did every thing they may to assist Hassan however the circumstances on K2 have been too harmful to maneuver him.
However mountaineer Philip Flämig, an Austrian who was climbing with Wilhelm Steindl, stated footage the 2 recorded utilizing a drone exhibits a path of climbers strolling over the stricken physique as a substitute of serving to Hassan.
‘He’s being handled by one particular person whereas everybody else is pushing in direction of the summit,’ he instructed Austria’s Normal newspaper, referencing the drone footage.
‘The actual fact is that there was no organised rescue operation though there have been Sherpas and mountain guides on web site who may have taken motion.’ Harila and her group members have been amongst these climbers, The Telegraph reported.
He known as the dying a ‘shame’ and stated ‘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 accountable for him,’ he instructed the Austrian publication.
‘A residing human was left mendacity in order that data might be set.’
Harila defended her actions and decisions on K2 final month to The Telegraph, saying ‘we did all we may for him’.