News Flash: All Nepalese team make first winter ascent of K2
- Saturday 16th January 2021
News just breaking from K2 is that a ten-man all-Nepalese team have just made the long-awaited first winter ascent of K2.
After a gruelling 16 hour summit push from Camp 4 at 7800m, a ten-man team of all-Nepalese climbers finally summited K2 making the first ever winter ascent of the so-called Savage Mountain at 17:00 local time.
The ten-man summit team, comprising climbers from Team Nimsdai, Team Mingma G and Seven Summit Treks, all gathered 10m below the summit before summiting together in a show of solidarity and national pride. As the team summited they all sang the Nepalese National Anthem.
The summiting team comprised the following climbers:
1. Nimsdai Purja
2. Mingma David Sherpa (Team Nimsdai)
3. Mingma Tenzi Sherpa (Team Nimsdai)
4. Geljen Sherpa (Team Nimsdai)
5. Pem Chiri Sherpa (Team Nimsdai)
6. Dawa Temba Sherpa (Team Nimsdai)
7. Mingma G
8. Dawa Tenjin Sherpa (Team Mingma G)
9. Kilu Pemba Sherpa (Team Mingma G)
10. Sona Sherpa (SST)
Nimsdai’s Instagram account has been updated saying:
“At 17:00 hrs local time @nimsdai and team summited K2, teaming up with Mingma G and team and a member from SST, Sona Sherpa.
A very special moment. The whole team waited 10m below the summit to form a group then stepped onto the summit together whilst singing our Nepalese National Anthem 🙏🏼. We are proud to have been a part of history for humankind and to show that collaboration, teamwork and a positive mental attitude can push limits to what we feel might be possible.”
Having commenced the summit push at 01:00 hours the team took longer than anticipated as they were fixing ropes as they climbed. They will now descend have to descent in darkness.
At the present moment it is not known whether any of the climbers summited without supplementary oxygen.
However, as news of the successful ascent was breaking an S.O.S. was send out lower on the mountain. It seems that Sergi Mingote suffered a fall between Camp 1 and Advanced Base Camp. The news was shared by the Italian-Spanish team on Manaslu. Fernando J. Perez, a journalist accompanying Alex Txikon, has reported that Mingote is unconscious and a rescue and evacuation is ongoing.