AZAD KASHMIR: Three foreign mountaineers, who got stranded while trying to scale K2, the world’s second-highest peak, were rescued by the Pakistan Army.
The climbers came to Pakistan from the Netherlands, Singapore, and Ecuador to enter their names in history by surmounting the peak, also known as Savage Mountain due to difficulty of ascent and the second-highest fatality rate among the eight-thousanders.
“I came here to Pakistan to climb K2. I fell from the glacier and struck my arm. I was rescued by a Pakistan Army helicopter,” one of the mountaineers said after the rescue.
Speaking about her stressful experience, another climber said: “I came here to K2 base camp. However, due to bad weather conditions, I fell ill. I had a really bad cough and flu and was then rescued by the army.”
“I fell from the glacier and the Pakistan Army rescued me from the glacier,” another climber added sharing their harrowing experience. After the rescue operation, the army rescuers provided immediate medical aid and warmth to the climbers, who were grateful to their saviours for bringing them to safety.
Adventurous climbers consider Pakistan a significant mountainous location as the country hosts five of the world’s 14 mountains above 8,000 meters — thus eight-thousanders. However, some mountaineers in their challenging endeavours face dire situations and sometimes even death.
Earlier in 2023, a Pakistani porter died as hundreds ascended the K2 summit, including Norwegian climber Kristin Harila and her Nepali guide Tenjin “Lama” Sherpa. Additionally, well-known Mohammad Ali Sadpara and two others went missing in 2021 when they attempted to scale the K2 mountain.
They were then officially declared dead by the authorities. Notably, Sadpara is the only Pakistani to have climbed eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains.
K2 is located around 10 kilometres north of Gasherbrum IV in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, where the Karakoram mountain range is located. It is one of the deadliest mountains in the world as many climbers have lost their lives trying to reach its peak.
Earlier, despite bad weather conditions, 11 more climbers including a three-member Pakistani Expedition team, successfully summited Gasherbrum-II, the 13th-highest mountain which is 8,035 metres above the sea level.
High-speed winds, snowfall, clouds and unpredictable weather conditions have made climbers stranded at the base camps of K2, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum-I, hampering their further progress.
According to base camp sources, three members of Pakistani expedition team comprising Iftikhar Ahmed Shah, Izhar Ali and Shah Doulat reached top of Gasherbrum-II on Monday at 2:25pm. The Pakistani team started their summit attempt on Sunday evening. Iftikhar Ali Shah of Karachi became the first climber from Sindh to summit Gasherbrum-II while Izhar Ali and Shah Doulat belong to Shimshal Valley of Gilgit-Baltistan.
Pakistani mountaineers and civil society members congratulated the Pakistani expedition team members for their successful summit of Gasherbrum-II and prayed for their safe return.
The second three-member team of Seven Summits Treks conquered Gasherbrum-II on Monday morning. The second team members of the foreign expedition comprising VadimDruelle of France, Nadhira Al Harthy of Oman and Pasang Sherpa of Nepal also successfully summited Gasherbrum-II.
On Sunday, 11 climbing members of Seven Summits Treks had scaled Gasherbrum-II while opening the route. Meanwhile, a five-member Imagine Nepal expedition team reached Gasherbrum-II on Monday morning. The tour organiser in a statement said that Imagine Nepal Gasherbrum-II expedition 2024 successfully reached the peak at 1:28pm.
The climbers of Imagine Nepal expedition team comprised SashkoKedev of North Macedonia, Tracee Lee Metcalfe of US, DawaGyalje Sherpa, Kilu Pemba Sherpa and Angdu Sherpa of Nepal. The team spent three nights at Camp 2, waiting for weather to improve, but it did not happen. Despite high winds, they, however, made a daring summit push last night and achieved their goal on Monday.
The team’s journey was marked by perseverance as they spent three nights at Camp 2, waiting for better weather conditions but this did not happen. Despite high winds, they made a daring summit push last night and achieved their goal.
Mingma G, a climber and the owner of the peak climbing operator Imagine Nepal, who is also expedition leader of K2 and Broad Peak expeditions, told Dawn from K2 base camp that despite bad weather, the climbers successfully summited Gasherbrum-II. He said that weather above 7,000 metres was challenging, with high-speed winds of above 50km per hour. “Despite these conditions, our team reached the G2 summit with winds exceeding 50km/hr,” he said.
