KARACHI, Pakistan – Some climbers call it a “wild mountain”. K2 is the second highest summit in the world, after Mount Everest, and some climbers consider it even more dangerous. Only last month did a group become the first to successfully climb it during the winter, dangerously facing thin air and temperatures that can drop below minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
On Monday, rescue workers and mountaineers highlighted the dangers of climbing K2 in the winter, after authorities in Pakistan said three climbers had been missing since Friday and hopes of finding them alive were evaporating. The missing climbers were Muhammad Ali Sadpara, a 45-year-old Pakistani; John Snorri, 47, from Iceland; and Juan Pablo Mohr, a 33-year-old Chilean.
Authorities said they would continue their search on Tuesday after briefly interrupting operations on Monday due to poor visibility. But officials and some family members expressed little hope that the three would be found alive.
“There is no hope that anyone will survive 8,000 meters after three days,” said Sajid Ali Sadpara, Sadpara’s son. The younger Mr. Sadpara had been part of the expedition, but he aborted his climb to an altitude of 8,200 meters after his oxygen tube started to leak. “Now the search operation must continue to recover the bodies,” he added.
The trio had been making their second attempt to climb the summit since December. The three were last seen on Friday, around noon, in a narrow gorge called Gargalo, the steep climb just 300 meters from the K2 peak.
The K2, in the Karakoram mountain range in northern Pakistan, near the border with China, is 8,611 meters – that is, more than five miles – above sea level. For decades, climbers around the world have considered climbing K2 from November to the end of February as one of the most daunting challenges of mountaineering.
Many who tried lost their lives. In 2008, 11 lives were lost, while 13 climbers died in a two-week period in 1986, one of the worst disasters in mountaineering history. Mountaineering experts say climbers face lack of oxygen, snow blindness and freezing.
This winter was especially deadly. Last month, two climbers died after falling into a crack during the descent or trying to climb the nearby peaks in preparation for K2.
A 42-year-old Bulgarian mountaineer, Atanas Skatov, was found dead on Friday by a Pakistani army helicopter in K2, after falling about 7,400 meters.
In January, a Spanish climber, Sergi Mingote, fell to his death while descending the mountain. Alex Goldfarb, a Russian-American professor at Harvard University, also lost his life in the same month on a nearby mountain during an acclimatization mission.
Even so, climbers continue their efforts. Last month, a Nepalese climbing team became the first to reach the peak of K2 during the winter.
On Monday, despite bad weather, Pakistan’s military helicopters continued their aerial searches. Specialists in international winter expeditions based in Pakistan and several Pakistani mountaineering specialists continued their search mission on the ground.
Sadpara, son of the Pakistani climber, said the expedition team had been trying to reach the summit of K2 since December 12. They started their second attempt on Thursday, he said.
Pakistan’s foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, after speaking with his Icelandic counterpart, Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson, said the government is making every effort, including the continuation of the air search, to track down the three missing climbers.
“We are praying for your safe recovery,” said Qureshi.
Karrar Haidri, an official at the Alpine Club of Pakistan, a private organization that promotes mountaineering in the country, said that there have been more than 360 successful K2 climbs and 86 deaths since 1954. The causes of the deaths included falling during the descent, avalanche and bad weather, he added.
Haidri said the base camp stopped receiving the signal from the three climbers after they reached 8,000 meters and that it was not clear whether they had reached the summit.
“We can only hope for a miracle for their survival,” he said.
Zia ur-Rehman reported from Karachi, Pakistan, and Sameer Yasir, from Srinagar, Kashmir.