Three Nepali and one French mountaineer are currently set to test human limits against the might of K2. Nepali mountaineers Lakpa Dendi Sherpa and Mingma David Sherpa are heading to the summit of Mount K2 (8,611m) at 5 pm Wednesday local time while IFMGA guide Chhiring Sherpa started at 4.30 pm from the base camp. All three are aiming to summit the peak in less than 16 hours, a risky undertaking which appears impossible for now.
The fastest climb recorded in K2 is held by French alpinist Benoît Chamoux, who made the summit in 23 hours from the Abruzzo Spur, a route from the south-eastern ridge of the peak on May 7, 1986.
“This will be an ultimate test of human physiology. That’s the main idea behind our attempt.” Lakpa Dendi Sherpa told Everest Chronicle, adding, “Of course, if we succeed, it will also be a world record in speed climb of the savage mountain in mountaineering history.”
“We definitely want to break the records, but this will also test our physical and mountaineering skill,” he said.
According to Mingma Gyalje Sherpa aka Mingma G, who is in the K2 base camp, French alpinist Benjamin Vedrines is also trying to set a speed record on K2 without supplemental oxygen.
On July 19, Benjamin summited Mount Broad Peak (8,051m) in just 7 hours, setting a record time of summiting in pure alpine style or without supplemental oxygen.
It usually takes at least four days to reach the peak and descend to the base camp. Earlier, it would take at least a week. K2 is known as one of the toughest mountains climb, mainly because of its difficult bottleneck, frequent rockfall and unpredictable weather.
Lakpa said the idea came up as his team – Elite Exped of record-breaking Nirmal Purja aka Nimsdai, successfully summited the peak last week.
Lakpa is known for his climb of Everest — three times within 10 days 18 hours 30 minutes. He did all three summit from base camp to the summit and back on 13, 18 and 24 May of 2018. He has summited 9 different 8,000ers 29 times.
Mingma David Sherpa is the youngest 14 peaks summiteer and member of the all Nepali winter K2 expedition of last year. He also holds the Guinness World Record for climbing Everest and K2 the fastest, which he did in 61 days. Mingma had just led his client to the summit of K2 successfully on July 22.
Their climb can be tracked in their respective Garmin, Lakpa’s Garmin here, Mingma’s Garmin can be traced here and Chhiring’s here.
This article has been updated to include two climbers–Nepali Chhiring Sherpa and French Benjamin Vedrines– who are also attempting to summit K2 in the shortest time
