Saturday, January 16, 2021

Famous spanish climber
Sergi Mingote dies while climbing K2

In the first winter climbing race of the world’s second highest mountain, there is an accident: Spanish climber Sergi Mingot falls on the K2 and dies. He and his team wanted to be the first to climb the legendary mountain in winter.

Well-known Spanish climber Sergi Mingote died on an expedition on the famous K2. His team said that 49-year-old Mingot fell while landing on a base camp on the world’s second highest mountain in the Sino-Pakistan border area and injured his leg. He then lost consciousness and fell to 600 meters. Mingot wanted to climb K2 with his expedition in winter for the first time.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez spoke of a “tragic accident”. Mingot wanted “to make history and participate in the first campaign to conquer the mountain in the middle of winter,” wrote Sanchez on Twitter. Instead, a mountaineering team from Nepal reached the summit of K2 for the first time in winter on Saturday. “A team of Nepali Sherpas marched on K2 that afternoon,” confirmed Karrar Hydari, secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP). They left at 1:00 pm local time (9:00 am CET Friday) and reached the top at 4:56 pm.

The K2 is extremely difficult with its 8,611 meters near the Pakistani-China border, even more demanding than Mount Everest, which is about 8,849 meters high and the highest mountain in the world. Until now, it was the only one of the 14 eight-thousand people in the world who had never climbed in winter. Reasons include steep passages and avalanche danger. So far, about 300 people have climbed the K2. 80 people died in the attempt. In 2008, eleven climbers were killed by an avalanche. Now 50 climbers from all over the world are preparing for winter climbing in various international expeditions.