It is arguably the most dangerous climbing on the planet,
conducted in the harshest, most brutal conditions and in the death zone
of elevation where the margin for error if infinitely small, and yet
the mountaineering world in the midst of a renaissance of high-altitude
winter climbing. There’s less daylight, more cold, more snow, more
danger, more bad weather, better odds of getting frostbite, losing
fingers and toes, and less chance of a successful summit — and yet five
separate tough climbing teams are in or headed to the Himalaya and the
Karakoram to try for summits yet untouched in winter.
The biggest assault is a Russian team
attempting 8,611-meter K2, the world’s second-highest mountain, and
certainly one of the most dangerous. Historically, one in four climbers
attempting to summit K2 has died. Only a few more than 300 people have
ever stood on top and hardly any of them have had a successful second
summit – and that’s trying in the season of good, relatively stable
weather
