K2 Skied For the First Time
K2 Skied For the First Time
Published : 23-Jul-2018 09:00
A Polish ski-mountaineer has become the first person to successfully ski down K2 - the world's second highest peak at 8,611 metres.
Andrzej Bargiel (30) began his ascent of the notoriously treacherous mountain last Thursday and reached the summit and made his descent on Sunday – but news, and the first pictures, are only just coming through of his achievement.
Several extreme skiers have attempted to ski K2 since 2001 and Bargiel himself tried last year but the mountain's terrain and notoriously terrible weather conditions prevented them. Swedish ski-mountaineer Fredrik Ericsson fell to his death when he tried in 2015.
This makes K2 a much greater challenge than Mt Everest, which has now been skied and snowboarded down on multiple occasions over the past 20 years.
On his descent Bargiel, already a veteran of several ski descents from 8,000m+ peaks, is reported to have tackled the shoulder towards the Cesen Route first, then navigated under huge seracs (blocks of glacial ice) via the daunting Messner Traverse to the arête (narrow ridge of rock) on the Kukuczka-Piotrowski route.
He then had to battle past snow fields full of dangerous crevices leading back to base camp and a place in the history books.
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