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.
Summit Push Update #2, 13:00: (all times local K2)
Dawa from SST notes: “Team crossing bottle neck in Mt. K2.” If they left at 1:00am, this is extremely slow but they are fixing rope and have a climber without Os. Current wind on K2’s summit from windy.com. Amazing.
There is always a time lag in these ascents. I assume they will cross the Traverse quickly and summit in the afternoon, which, unlike Everest, is not a problem.
Summit Push Update #1, 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:
6 thoughts on “Winter K2 Summit Update #2: Tracking the Historic Summit Push”
Great job done keep it up.
Hi Alan, really enjoying the coverage. What is the usual latest turnaround time for K2 and why is it much later then Everest etc?
Climbers have summited K2 at sunset and returned. Honestly, I’m not sure why the time difference from E other than if a good weather day, it remains so throughout. Others may have other thoughts. In 2014, we summited around 9am and were down by noon.
May Allah keep you all safe and you all succeed Ameen I dedicate to their success
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Mingma G reported that the bottelneck is done.
How far from the top of bottleneck to the summit? Vertical meters/time?
300 vertical meters. Time depends on traverse rope fixing which can take a few hours from what I see on other posts.
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