Several helicopter missions have failed to find any traces of Icelandic mountaineer John Snorri and his team, who have not been heard from for over three days after setting out to reach the summit of K2, the second-highest mountain in the world. Sherpa Chhang Dawa, who took part in the search, stated that teams flew over an altitude of 7,000m (23,000ft) but found no clues as to what has happened to the missing climbers.
At 8,611m (28,251ft), K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth and is considered a much more challenging climb than Mt. Everest, the world’s highest peak. In 2017, John Snorri became the first Icelander to top K2, which is located on the China-Pakistan border. He then set his sights on being the first person ever to ascend the peak during winter but was beaten to that goal by Nepalese mountaineer Mingma Gyalje last month. This is John Snorri’s second attempt to ascend K2 in winter.
John Snorri is accompanied by Pakistani mountaineer Ali Sadpara as well as Chilean climber Juan Pablo Mohr. The three lost contact with base camp late last Friday when they were some 400 metres from the peak. The search for the team began on Saturday. Ali’s son Sajid Sadpara, who accompanied the team up to 8,200 metres, stated he believes the team reached the peak and likely had an accident on the way back down.
