Mountaineer John Snorri Sigurjónsson has reached the K2 base camp and is continuing his attempt to be the first to complete a K2 winter expedition, despite stormy weather and below -20°c (-4°F) weather.
John Snorri arrived at the K2 base camp on December 5 after a 6-day trek over Baltoro glacier. At 63km (39miles), Baltoro glacier is the world’s longest glacier. On arrival, the weather was windy and temperatures below -20°C. The camp is at an altitude of 4,900m (16.076ft)above sea level and while Snorri expected his team to be acclimatised after two days, stormy weather last night made things difficult for the team. John Snorri posted on Facebook: “The weather was crazy last night and some of our tents and kitchen tent exploded.” Never discouraged, John Snorri and his team, spent the day repairing the tents in a better location to be prepared for the next storm. They will be spending the next months in the camp before attempting to climb the K2 peak.
K2 is the only one out of the world’s 14 mountains above 8,000 m that people haven’t climbed in winter. John Snorri became the first Icelander to top K2 in 2017 but this is his second attempt at a winter expedition after he had to turn back last year.
