Glory and Death on K2 this Past Weekend

Andrzej Bargiel became the first person to ski from the summit of K2 on June 22 during his successful expedition. We should see a film from that soon.

Japanese climber Kojiro Watanabe, 41, fell to his death on K2 yesterday. After reaching the summit, he fell on the descent around 8,300 metres in the Bottlekneck.

The Bottleneck is a narrow couloir, beneath a hanging serac, which many climbers now avoid on rock to the right.

Watanabe was from Mombetsu, Hokkaido, Japan and lived in Sendai near Tokyo.

Around 50 climbers have reached the summit of K2 over the past few days with more heading up. There were records broken, but we’ll have to wait until the season ends to tally the numbers.

Mongolian climber Badamgarav Gangaamaa became the first Mongolian to reach the summit K2.

Other climbers who reached the summit were from China, Japan, Belgium, Switzerland, Mexico and Ireland.

Also from the Himalayas, Adam Bielecki and Felix Berg reached the summit of Gasherbrum II.

?? Na zachodniej ścianie Gasherbruma II ~ 7700m.? ??On Gasherbrum II west face ~ 7700m? @blackyak_global #GasherbrumsExploration2018 #Madeformissions

A post shared by Adam Bielecki (@adamtheclimber) on Jul 18, 2018 at 10:46am PDT