DHis speculation in Pakistan K2 is over. On February 5, four climbers left Camp III at an altitude of 7,300 meters. That day, they wanted to reach the top of the world’s second highest peak (8,611 meters). Three weeks ago, ten Nepalese climbers proved for the first time that this is also possible in the winter of minus 40 degrees. But of the four climbers, only Sajid Sadpara survived in early February. He had to turn around at an altitude of about 7900 meters because his oxygen device had frozen in the cold.
At the end of July, the Nepalese Sherpa team found the bodies of Icelander John Snorri Sigurjónsson, Pakistani Muhammad Ali Sadpara and Chilean Juan Pablo Mohr. Since the three people on K2 disappeared, the Nepalese were the first to climb that high again.
And they found Chileans at an altitude of about 8,000 meters, not far from where the fourth camp was set up in summer, and the other two were fixed to the rope above the crossbar at the so-called bottleneck about 8,000 meters high. 8,300 meters, it was used by the Nepal Winter Expedition to protect the steep passage. The missing persons were apparently going down the mountain, because it was reported that they did not use the ascender to fix the rope as they used to go up the mountain, but instead used carabiner and rope clamp. Juan Pablo Moll was obviously faster than the other two, but was found farther away.
For the families of the climbers who died, it seemed particularly important to find out whether the three had reached the summit. However, the trackers, cameras and mobile phones found on the dead have not yet been able to provide any information.
At the same time, it seems unlikely to retrieve the body as the family hoped. Muhammad Ali Sadpara’s 22-year-old son, Sajid Sadpara, was the last to see these three alive. He has climbed to the top to look for his father. He was the first Pakistani to climb 8 of the 14 8,000 peaks. The most important thing is that he completed the first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat in 2016 with Alex Txikon and Simone Moro. With the help of Bolivian climbers, Sajid Sadpara managed to move his father’s body to a less steep terrain. There, he buried them under the snow and marked the location with the Pakistani flag. Helicopter rescue from this height is impossible.
In 2013, Italian helicopter pilot Maurizio Folini successfully rescued an injured climber at 7,800 meters above sea level on Mount Everest. He told FAZ that if the corpse was first brought to a lower altitude, he believed there was only a chance of recovery. However, this is much more difficult on the K2 known as the “Barbarian Mountain” because its flanks are steep and the terrain is challenging for mountaineering, for example, it is much more difficult than on Mount Everest.
