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A Canadian and an Australian Climber Have Died on K2

The Himalayan Times has reported that the bodies of both climbers have been recovered

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Two climbers have died on K2 during one of the peak’s busiest seasons. Quebec climber Richard Cartier and Australian Matthew Eakin died while descending during an acclimatization round.

The two were with fellow Quebec climber Justin Dubé-Fahmy, who’s last update on his regularly updated Facebook page on July 21, read, “Tuesday we went from BC to Japanese C3 (7000m) we thought it was C2.5 but that was even higher! Richard, Matt and I were pretty tired. 16h of climbing. Then today we touched lower C4 (7600m). We are heading back to Base Camp tomorrow. It’s starting to get cold. We are pretty tired after these two big days.”

The three climbers had spent two days acclimatizing and started to descend from 7,600 metres. It’s unknown what happened during their descent. The Himalayan Times reported that the body of Cartier was found at Japanese camp one, while Eakin’s remains were at advanced base camp. Both were experienced climbers.

Our condolences to the family, friends and partners of Cartier and Eakin.

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