Once known to be notorious for female climbers, K2 will be receiving first shipment of a female climber for this years’ winter rally. Celebrated Polish athlete and climber Magdalena Gorzkowska, on Saturday, announced her intention of climbing K2 for the first time in winters accompanied by two Nepalese Sherpas. This will now be the fifth expedition for K2 Winter this year marking it as one of the crowded winters on K2 ever in the history.
The charming Pole comes with three 8000ers to her credit and multiple impressive records including Everest in 2018 as the youngest Polish woman and the first Polish woman to climb Makalu without supplemental Oxygen. She also climbed Manaslu without supplemental Oxygen. Apart from her extraordinary resume in athletics, the 28-year-old Magdalena has also climbed Mont Blanc, Aconcagua and Mount Kilimanjaro.
”The last unconquered in winter, the second highest peak of the Earth. Majestic, extremely demanding. He is my goal this winter” Magdalena wrote on her Facebook just a few hours ago.
“Weeks of preparation. What I’m influencing is worked out at the highest level and the smallest detail. I trained all the necessary qualities. From endurance, strength, to cold tolerance. I upgraded all the equipment so that the worst frosts and the biggest winds wouldn’t scare me. I took care of the safety issues. I’m ready! The beginning of my trip in 6 days!” she added.
Meanwhile, Jon Snorri and Ali Sadpara have already begun their rotation via the Abruzzi spur, hauling gear and fixing ropes up to 600m.
“Yesterday was a great day” Jon wrote on his Facebook on December 11. “We managed to fix 600 meters line up the mountain. On the way back we got lost when we went through the ice fall because it was already dark, and GPS was messing with us. But overall good progress in the K2 winter expedition. Then on the 13th we will have another good weather. Looking forward to it”
Mingma Gajyle Sherpa along with his two climbing partners is now on his way to K2 Base Camp. The two teams apparently have no regard of the astronomical winter calendar which essentially starts on December 22nd and ends on March 21st. Although these limits have been a center of discussion and argument for a considerably long time, official winter summit still largely falls within this time span.
“Debate on Astronomical weather and Meteorological weather will never end so there is no point to talk further” Mingma G wrote on his Facebook after arriving in Pakistan. “Our permit on document started from December 01 and ends in March 30 but we will be climbing within Astronomical and meteorological weather calendar to avoid argument”
The remaining two expeditions crouching for action include the commercial expedition co-led by Catalan Sergi Mingote and the other led by Nims Dai who is busy in preps to depart for Pakistan.
We have a busy winter up our sleeves!