K2, PAKISTAN

A team of Sherpas pose at K2 in Pakistan before making mountaineering history. The team have achieved the first winter ascent of K2, the second-tallest mountain in the world. The 10 Sherpas summitted the mountain after leaving their camp at 1am and battling temperatures as low as -40°C to reach the summit 16 hours later.

At 8,611m high, K2 was the last remaining of the world’s 14 ‘eight-thousander’ peaks (mountains over 8,000m high) to be climbed during winter.

“We set out to make the impossible possible and we are honoured to be sharing this moment, not only with the Nepalese climbing community but with communities all across the world,” said Nirmal Purja, one of the 10 climbers. “Mother Nature always has bigger things to say, and standing on the summit, witness to the sheer force of her extremities, we are proud to have been a part of history for humankind.”

The incredible feat is a significant milestone for the Sherpa community, an ethnic group who live in the mountainous regions of Nepal and the Himalayas. International climbers have long relied on Sherpas to assist and guide them up the dangerous mountain peaks, yet they have been overlooked in the world of highaltitude climbing. “For all the other eight-thousanders summitted in winter, no Sherpa was with them, so this is an opportunity for Sherpa to demonstrate their strength,” said climber Mingma Gyalje Sherpa.