September 8, 2010 – K2 Fantasy Ascent

Austrian alpinist Christian Stangl, yesterday admitted his summit of K2 earlier this year was just a fantasy. Stangl originally made news by claiming he successfully climbed K2 on August 10, 2010 – the only K2 ascent during this pre-monsoon season. His summit photos however instantly raised concerns about the validity of his ascent, as they did not show route features seen in other summit pictures. Climbers were also sceptical of his solo 70-hour, summit-to- basecamp climb as he exhibited few signs of exhaustion or fatigue.  Yesterday, on Austrian state television Stangl admitted he had “”just imagined” the ascent due to a “state of coma caused by stress and the fear of failure.”  More details here.