Adventure Mountaineering Pakistan

K2 The Lone Survivor – Like a Boss

K2 (8611m), Karakoram, Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan

As of today K2 is the lone survivor that is that it hasn’t been climbed in winter season. There are 14 peaks over 8000 meters of height above sea level out of which 13  have already been summit-ted in winter season let alone other seasons.

Here is a full list of first winter summits of the 13 8000er peaks:

  1. Everest – 17 February 1980, Leszek Cichy and Krzysztof Wielicki (PL)
  2. Manaslu – 14 January 1984, Maciej Berbeka and Ryszard Gajewski (PL)
  3. Dhaulagiri – 21 January 1985, Jerzy Kukuczka and Andrzej Czok (PL)
  4. Cho Oyu – 12 February 1985, Maciej Berbeka and Maciej Pawlikowski (repeated three days later by Andrzej Heinrich and Jerzy Kukuczka) (PL)
  5. Kangchenjunga – 11 January 1986, Jerry Kukuczka and Krzysztof Wielicki (PL)
  6. Annapurna I – 3 February 1987, Jerzy Kukuczka and Artur Hajzer (PL)
  7. Lhotse – 31 December 1988, Krzysztof Wielicki (PL)
  8. Shisha Pangma – 14 January 2005, Simone Moro (IT) and Piotr Morawsky (PL)
  9. Makalu – 9 February 2009, Denis Urubko( KAZ) and Simone Moro (IT).
  10. Gasherbrum II – 02 February 2011 Simone Moro (IT), Denis Urubko (KAZ), Cory Richards (CAN).
  11. Gasherbrum I – 08 March 2012 Adam Bielecki (PL) and Janusz Golab (PL).
  12. Broad Peak – 05 March 2013 Maciej Berbeka* (PL), Adam Bielecki (PL), Tomasz Kowalski*(PL) and Artur Malek (PL)
  13. Nanga Parbat – 26 February 2016 Ali Sadpara (PK), Simone Moro (IT) and Alex Txikon (ES)

For last few years there has been lots of attempts on Nanga Parbat in winter including 3 by Simone Moro. It took 28 years of attempts on Nanga Parbat to scale it winter.


K2 view from Vigne Glacier

K2 view from Vigne Glacier / photo by http://sheraliphotography.com

So now K2 is the only 8000er peak which has yet to be conquered in winter. I am sure it will be climbed in winter someday but for now K2 is a lone survivor – like a boss.

Traveling is living!

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