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Watch Carla Perez and Adrian Ballinger Climb K2

Despite hazardous conditions, the two mountain guides reached the summit without bottled oxygen

“K2 is a savage mountain that tries to kill you,” is how climber George Bell described the infamous peak after the first American expedition in 1953, forever giving the mountain its nickname: The Savage Mountain.

Sixty-six years later, mountain guides Adrian Ballinger and Carla Perez aim to summit the 8,611-metre peak without the use of supplemental oxygen. Every step of the way the team faces hazardous conditions, setbacks and misfortunes. But as Ballinger puts it, “I’ll go until the mountain tells me I can’t go anymore.”

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When above 28,000 feet on #K2, make sure you have good insurance…turns out that can be quite hard: life insurance – forget about it; health insurance – cancelled for the 4th time this year due to an impossible-to-describe-on-insty technicality…. My struggle over decades with good affordable health insurance in the US is one reason I’ve joined forces with @lifebyspot. It’s not a replacement but it sure is awesome – $20,000 of injury insurance for a few bucks a month. It’ll cover my deductible and/or the full cost of an injury and they’ve made it crazy simple. The other reason I’m working with Spot? Their team is so good! They recently put together a cool multimedia page from our #K2noO2 expedition that I love! Check it out and while your there, if you’re like me and not sure if your health insurance is any good (or even active), get some peace of mind! *link in profile* #livemorethanalittle / ? @estebantopomena

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K2 Ascent

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