Winter K2 Summit Overview:
The historic winter summit of K2 is underway on Saturday, January 16, 2021, by an all Nepali team. K2 is the last of the fourteen 8,000-meter peaks not summited in winter.
The plan was to leave high camp around 1:00 am Saturday morning and summit about 12 hours later. Of course, a lot depends on snow and wind conditions. It will be cold, with wind chills hovering around -55C/-67F. They will be setting the fixed rope as they climb, so later teams will probably move faster. Remember that Migma G is climbing without supplemental oxygen. He could be the first to summit K2 in the winter with no Os.
Latest 16/01/21 (all times local K2)
13:00: Climbers should have (seeking confirmation) left High Camp and are climbing towards the Bottleneck, which is notorious for rockfall. They are climbing in the dark under clear skies, temps around -40C with a windchill at -50C. It should take several hours to reach the traverse, which is the most time-consuming part of route fixing. It can take several hours.
Background
With the fixed ropes set to 7800-meters, the summit team left Camp 4 near 25,080’/7600m for the summit at 1:00 am Saturday. The team of ten includes:
- Nirmal Purja’ Team:
- Nirmal Purja
- Gelje Sherpa
- Mingma David Sherpa
- Mingma Tenzi Sherpa
- Dawa Temba Sherpa
- Pem Chhiri Sherpa
- MIngma G’s team:
- Mingma G
- Kilu Pemba Sherpa
- Dawa Tenjing Sherpa
- SST Sherpa:
- Sona Sherpa
Nirmal Purja will lead the summit team and they suggest there will be no one person claiming the summit but rather a team summit on behalf of Nepal. This has been Mingma G.’s plan all along with his Sherpa only team. Nirmal Purja summit team is also only Sherpa. One Sherpa from Severn Summits Treks is on the summit push. Both gentlemen, Mingma and Nirmal Purja, have expressed a deep desire to show the world that Nepalis are just as credible climbers as any other nationality on the planet.
Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything
Resources:
- Share your opinion on the reader polls
- A 30-minute documentary of Alan’s 2014 K2 Summit
- These are the teams on K2 this winter:
- Mingma Gyalje Sherpa: 3 people, all Sherpas
- John Snorri Sigurjonsson with Muhammad Ali Sadpara and son: a three-person independent team
- Seven Summits Trek’s (SST) 43 person commercial team with 22 clients and 21 Sherpas in support.
- Nirmal Purja plus six Nepalis/Sherpas in support, one client looking to experience lower K2
- Known GPS Trackers:
9 thoughts on “Winter K2 Summit Update #1: Tracking the Historic Summit Push”
Dawa reports 200m to go!! Hope the made it and return all savely. Summit is only halfway. Tomorrow more winds expected.
No butter lamps where I live but I will have my candle burning until you get down safely.
“Both gentlemen, Mingma and Nirmal Purja, have expressed a deep desire to show the world that Nepalis are just as credible climbers as any other nationality on the planet.”
They don’t need to prove this to me. They aren’t just credible climbers, they are among the best climbers in the world. I hope they summit and make it back safely. Thank you for the updates!
Thank you Alan for putting together these summit updates – your reports are fantastic & very much appreciated!
Epic!!!
Ice serac traverse, always curious the line taken, could you show Alan to a novice
Everyone be safe
this is so exciting! Go Mingma, Nirmal Purja, and all the Sherpa involved! Would be great to have this last achievment claimed by Nepali
Go on boys, I like many others around the world, have read this and followed the daily updates from Alan and each of your social media accounts every day, as most of us are in lockdown due to that pesky covid.
As I type this you will now be on your way to the summit. Fingers and toes crossed for a huge team success for Nepal.
Seems like everyone who is anyone is following the progress of this historic event in the making from Team Nepal
Thanks for your continuous coverage. I may never get to climb but I love following those who can!
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