Chances of missing Pakistani mountaineer Ali Sadpara's survival 'next to none', says son Sajid

Sajid Ali Sadpara, the son of missing Pakistani mountaineer Muhammad Ali Sadpara, has said that the chances that his father is alive "are next to none".

In a conversation with reporters in Skardu, where he arrived earlier on Sunday, Sajid said: "Rescue operations now only make sense if they are carried out to bring back his body. Otherwise, for the chance for anyone to survive at 8,000 metres [after being missing for] two to three days are next to none."

Sajid said that a team of four climbers began their climb at around 11pm-12am on February 5 (the night between Thursday and Friday).

"Unfortunately, I was without oxygen and at a height of about 8,200 metres in the winter. I felt like my health is getting affected as well as my mental well being.

"My father said he is carrying another oxygen tank which I should use. But as I began fitting the oxygen mask regulator, it leaked. So I came down," he narrated.

Sajid said that the last time he saw his father was at the bottleneck at around 8,200-8,300 metres, the most "technical portion" of the climb, at around 11am on Friday.

"I'm sure he summited the peak and was on his way back after which he encountered an accident which is why he is missing," he said.

Sajid arrives in Skardu

The Deputy Commissioner of Shigar had earlier confirmed the safe arrival of Sajid Sadpara in Skardu.

He said helicopters had searched the area with Sajid and Dawa Sherpa who was leading the K2 winter expedition, up to an elevation of 7,800 metres but "found no clues due to bad weather".

Mountaineers go missing

Sadpara and two other mountaineers with him — John Snorri from Iceland and Juan Pablo Mohr from Chile — had gone missing on Saturday after which a search operation to retrieve them was launched.

Helicopters flew to a height of 7,000 metres on Saturday afternoon in their attempt to locate the missing mountaineers but were unable to find any clue to their whereabouts.

It had been reported two days ago that Sadpara and his team had successfully summited the 8,611-metre K2 — the world's second highest mountain — late Friday, a month after their first attempt failed.

However, their support teams had since then cautioned that the climbers' status is unclear and there has been no communication from their end since Friday.

Sadpara's son safely reaches camp

On Saturday afternoon, Waqas Johar, Assistant Commissioner Shigar, Gilgit-Baltistan, said that there has been no success in finding the missing mountaineers so far and that weather conditions are "not good" at K2.

He said that Ali's son, Sajid Sadpara, who had been waiting at Camp 2 has now begun to descend.

In a subsequent update, he said that Sajid has reached Camp 1.

Mountaineers set off on journey

Sadpara, Snorri and Mohr had departed for their journey a day after Sadpara's birthday in the wee hours of Wednesday, asking fans and admirers to "keep us in your prayers".

They had started their attempt for the final summit in the early hours of Friday, hoping to accomplish the herculean feat by Friday afternoon.

According to updates posted on Snorri's facebook account on Friday, at 12:29pm, the GPS stopped working and had not updated in six hours.

It stated that Sajid had to return due to his oxygen regulator not working. "They were at a bottle neck at around 10am," the account said.

Citing feedback from Sajid, the account stated that everyone was fine otherwise and going at a good pace until he had been with them.

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PPP hits out at govt for creating a 'constitutional crisis' through Senate polls presidential ordinance

PPP Senator Sherry Rehman on Sunday sharply criticised the government's promulgation of a presidential ordinance to make amendments to the Elections Act, 2017, to hold Senate polls through open ballot, saying it had created a "constitutional crisis" with the move.

Rehman, accompanied by PPP stalwart and former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani, was addressing a press conference in Karachi in response to the ordinance passed on Saturday.

The ordinance came into effect immediately, according to a clause in it, and extended to the whole of Pakistan. It said that with the Senate and National Assembly not in session, the president was satisfied that "circumstances exist" which rendered the ordinance necessary to take immediate action.

"They have created a constitutional crisis with their own hands," Rehman said, adding that the sole reason for it was that the PTI government had feared its members and their votes were no longer "in their hands".

"You are playing your cards in a way that can create an emergency situation in the country," the PPP leader said and alleged that the promulgation of the ordinance amounted to an attack on the Constitution and the parliament. "They are ripping its (Constitution's) page [...] amendments in the Constitution is the function of the parliament and no one can deny this," she stressed.

She questioned why the government had passed the ordinance when the presidential reference on the matter was still pending in the Supreme Court and the constitutional amendment bill was still in the National Assembly and thus the "property of the parliament".

She said the intentions of the government were clear for all to see and the PPP would "reject them and will challenge them on every level".

On Saturday, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had also criticised the government's decision to promulgate the ordinance as a "political indication that it is worried".

He had questioned the government's move, stating that the matter was sub judice. "What is the point behind taking this step? Are you trying to put pressure on the apex court?" he had asked.

The PPP chairman maintained that as far as passing legislation and making constitutional amendments was concerned, it was the parliament's job. He said the government's current way of going about the whole situation was "undemocratic" and alleged that its intentions were to "rig the Senate elections once again in favour of a selected political party".

'This cabinet is blind'

Rabbani also denounced the ordinance on similar grounds and said the government should have waited for the SC's advice on the presidential reference. "It feels you are trying to pressure the Supreme Court," the PPP leader told the government.

Criticising the government's handling of the process of the constitutional amendment bill, he said relevant stakeholders were not consulted and the government didn't attempt to initiate dialogue or build consensus on the matter. Even "the Senate wasn't taken into confidence" with regards to the bill's implications and consequences despite the bill being about a reform in the Senate itself, Rabbani added.

The senator also lambasted what he saw as the "haphazard" handling of the bill by the cabinet and called it out for "having no single direction".

"This Cabinet is playing with the country and the Constitution. [It] thinks the Constitution and laws are like plasticine which you can mould into any shape.

"This kabeena (cabinet ) is nabeena (blind) ... it can't read the Constitution," he said.

Rabbani pointed out contradictions in the ordinance and wondered whether the government would conduct the Senate polls all over again if the ordinance was struck down and the Senate elections conducted according to it were declared "invalid".

PTI to fully accept SC decision

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi while addressing a gathering earlier on Sunday reaffirmed the ruling PTI's belief that the SC had the right to interpret the law and provide clarity on whether a constitutional amendment was required or not.

Qureshi said the apex court was currently hearing the case of the presidential reference and whatever decision it issued, "we will fully accept it."

The minister once again asked the PPP and PML-N why they were "backtracking from the promises made to the nation" in the Charter of Democracy for Senate election reforms. He questioned the opposition parties why they wanted to set up a "market" in the polls. "Why do they want to buy people's conscience and why don't they allow the use of votes according to a party's power?"

Qureshi called upon the opposition to support the government for the required two-thirds majority to pass the constitutional amendment bill, saying the government "took the bill to the [National] Assembly considering their stance [on Senate election reforms in the CoD]".

"We have reports that there are forces who have the backing of powers that want to spread chaos and instability, want to weaken and are supporting terrorism in Pakistan and don't want to see the economy flourishing."

He hoped that the incoming senators would "strengthen the federation" and play their role in protecting the Constitution.

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Rescue operation suspended after failing to locate Sadpara, two other mountaineers missing on K2

The rescue operation to locate three climbers, including Pakistan's Muhammad Ali Sadpara, who went missing while attempting to summit the world's second-highest mountain, K2, was suspended after it failed to locate the mountaineers for the second day on Sunday.

Sadpara, John Snorri from Iceland and MP Mohr from Chile have not been contacted since the three began their push for the K2 summit from camp 3 at midnight between Thursday and Friday, according to their team.

Several experts, including four local high altitude climbers, Fazal Ali and Jalal from Shimshal, Imtiaz Hussain and Akbar Ali from Skardu, Chhang Dawa Sherpa and other members of the SST winter expedition team, are part of the rescue mission.

Two army helicopters flew to their maximum limit of 7,800 metres for a second time and conducted aerial reconnaissance for an hour to locate the missing climbers. The search team traced the Abruzzi and other routes but did not see any signs of the mountaineers, according to Chhang Dawa Sherpa.

Sherpa said the operation was not successful due to cloudy conditions and strong winds, and was temporarily suspended.

Talking to media in Skardu, Sajid Sadpara, the son of Ali Sadpara who was also part of the expedition but had to abandon due to equipment issues, said the three climbers probably met an accident while on their way back after climbing the K2. He said the trio had already climbed 8,200m when he broke away from them.

Sajid said the chances of surviving the extremely cold weather after remaining missing for three days and without proper gear were "very low", adding that an operation could be conducted to retrieve the bodies.

"We had started our push for the K2 summit on February 5 at 12am. I, my father Ali Sadpara, John Snorri and MP Mohr were at the bottleneck, while other climbers had descended," Sajid said, adding that he decided to descend to camp 3 from an altitude of 8,200m after the oxygen regulator he was using leaked.

Sajid said he started his descent from the bottleneck around 12pm and arrived at camp 3 at 5pm, adding that he could not get in touch with the climbers because their communication devices were not functional.

He said he spent that night waiting for the climbers at camp 3, and kept the camp light on so the missing mountaineers would notice it.

On Saturday morning, the base camp manager told Sajid not to move up as the weather conditions were not good, and advised him to begin his descent.

"Unfortunately, the climbers didn't come the next day either," said Sajid, who reached the K2 base camp on Saturday evening.

"My father Ali Sadpara and the other two climbers were crossing bottleneck (8,200m), which is the most technical part of K2, at 11am on Friday. I am sure they went missing while descending from the summit," he added.

He thanked the Pakistan Army, civil administration, the rescue team, and well-wishers for their support and sympathy in this situation.

Search launched

An official of the expedition team earlier said that rescue teams were searching for the missing climbers by following the route they had taken towards the summit through helicopters. The search will continue until all three are located, he added.

Another official of the expedition said the rescue teams were trying hard to trace the mountaineers.

The search began on Saturday with aerial reconnaissance but the helicopters returned after worsening weather conditions made the search harder to continue, according to Chhang Dawa Sherpa.

The three lost contact with base camp late on Friday and were reported missing on Saturday after their support team stopped receiving reports from them during their ascent of the 8,611-metre high K2 mountain.

"The base camp received no signals from Sadpara and his foreign companions after 8,000 meters [...] A search is on and let’s pray for their safe return home," Karrar Haideri, a top official with the Alpine Club of Pakistan, told The Associated Press.

On Saturday, choppers flew to a height of 7,000m to try to locate the missing mountaineers with no success.

News of the missing men comes a day after a Bulgarian mountaineer was confirmed to have died on K2.

At the time the three began their summit attempt, 18 members of one of the expedition teams decided to abandon their attempt and spent the night at camp 3, choosing instead to descend on Friday morning.

Earlier, it was reported that the three climbers had managed to summit K2, prompting congratulations from government officials, including the Gilgit-Baltistan governor and chief minister. However, no official statement has been released in this regard and it is currently unclear whether they managed to summit the peak on Friday or not.

The foreign ministry issued a statement saying Iceland’s foreign minister, Gudlaugur Thór Thórdarson, spoke to Shah Mehmood Qureshi by telephone. Qureshi assured him that Pakistan will spare no effort in the search for the missing mountaineers.

Haideri noted Sadpara’s experience as a mountaineer who has climbed the world’s eight highest mountains, including the highest, Mount Everest, and was attempting to climb K2 in winter.

K2 is the most prominent peak on the Pakistani side of the Himalayan range and the world’s second tallest after Mount Everest. Winter winds on K2 can blow at more than 200 kph and temperatures drop to minus 60 degrees Celsius.

A team of 10 Nepalese climbers made history on Jan 16 by scaling the K2 for the first time in winter.

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Govt will accept 'with an open heart' Supreme Court's decision on Senate elections: Qureshi

Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday said that the government will accept the Supreme Court's decision on the method of voting in the Senate elections.

"We have asked the Supreme Court for its opinion on holding Senate elections via show of hands. Whatever the court decides will be accepted with an open heart," said Qureshi.

His remarks, during a media briefing in Multan, come a day after President Arif Alvi signed off on an ordinance that paves the way for Senate polls via an "open and identifiable ballot".

Qureshi said that the nation must decide for itself "who desires an end to corrupt practices and who wishes to promote Senate wheeling and dealing".

He pointed out that the Charter of Democracy signed by the PPP and PML-N in 2006 contains a section that expressly lays out that Senate elections will be held via open balloting — the very change being sought by the government now.

"Why are you now turning your back on the agreement?" he questioned.

"The Opposition must tell us why they are so bent on setting up a market for the buying and selling of votes in the Senate elections," the minister added.

He said this buying and selling of votes "must come to an end" and this is the government's aim.

Qureshi said that the government "does not have a two-thirds majority in the Senate" and was ready to work with the Opposition for a constitutional amendment to change the method of voting, "but unfortunately, the Opposition did not let this happen".

Speaking of the Opposition's decision of a "long march", to begin on March 26, he said that a protest is the Opposition's democratic right, but "we request them not to spread chaos and not to take the law into their own hands".

"They must protest in a democratic manner," said the minister.

Referring to the rallies held by the 11-party Opposition alliance, the Pakistan Democratic Movement, he said that the events "did not see people's participation much".

"The people are aware that no benefit to the country lies in such activities that may be a source of mayhem," he said.

Qureshi said that if the Opposition bring forward good recommendations, they will be accepted.

The foreign minister lauded the United Nations General Assembly's decision to annually observe Kashmir Day on February 5.

"Today the cause of Kashmir is spreading to the far reaches of the world," he said.

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Proteas finish fourth day on 127-1 as they chase 370-run target by home team

Aiden Markram hit a solid half century and Rassie van der Dussen gave him able company to give South Africa hope of an improbable and intriguing win in the second Test in Rawalpindi on Sunday.

Set a daunting 370-run target, South Africa finished the fourth day on 127-1 with Markram on 59 and Dussen unbeaten on 48. The tourists will need another 243 runs to level the series on Monday.

Earlier, Pakistan were helped to 298 all out in their second innings by a scintillating maiden hundred by wicketkeeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan who finished on 115 not out.

South Africa had lost opener Dean Elgar to fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi for 17 at the total of 33, before Markram and Dussen negated Pakistani spinners on a seemingly unresponsive pitch, having added 94 for the unbroken second wicket stand.

Markram, who did not score off his first 22 balls, changed gears to reach his fifth fifty off 71 balls and has so far hit nine boundaries and two sixes.

Dussen has so far hit eight boundaries.

South Africa can take confidence from the fact that two targets of 300 plus have been chased in the last 20 days with India overhauling 324 against Australia in Brisbane on January 18 and West Indies scoring 395 against Bangladesh at Chattogram on Sunday -- both on the last day.

Pakistan can take heart from the fact that no team has chased more than the 220 scored by Sri Lanka in 2000 in ten Tests in Rawalpindi, and that South Africa have not chased 250-plus since 2014.

South Africa's assistant coach Enoch Nkwe hoped his team can cross the line.

"We need to build on this partnership (Markram-Dussen) as we know wickets can fall in cluster like the first Test," said Nkwe. "The pitch is playing well so the guys need to apply themselves to get to the target."

Rizwan said one wicket can open the door for Pakistan.

"Whenever we get one more wicket we are confident that we can catch them," he said. "We need this win and we have spoken positively about it."

It was Rizwan who gave Pakistan a sniff of victory.

He was at his best, putting on a match-turning 97-run partnership for the ninth wicket with number ten batsman Nauman Ali who made 45, frustrating the South Africans who were looking for a series-levelling win.

Rizwan, dropped on four by Dussen off Keshav Maharaj on Friday, punished South Africa and quashed their hopes of a win with 115 not out, spread over 292 minutes and laced with 15 boundaries.

He took a sharp single to reach his hundred, surpassing his previous best of 95 scored against Australia at Brisbane in November 2019.

The 97-run stand is also a new record for the ninth wicket against South Africa, bettering the 80 runs scored between Azhar Mahmood and Shoaib Akhtar at Durban in 1998.

Spinner George Linde, who took 5-64, recorded his first five-wicket haul when he dismissed the last man Shaheen for four. Maharaj finished with 3-118 while Kagiso Rabada had figures of 2-34.

Pakistan, resuming on 129-6, added 88 runs for the loss of Hasan Ali (five) and Yasir Shah (23) in the first session.

Hasan was the first to go when he was trapped leg-before in the sixth over of the day but Yasir helped Rizwan put on 53 for the eighth wicket in a stubborn stand.

Linde, who dropped Yasir off his own bowling when the batsman was on 15, finally had him caught behind by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock to break the stand.

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PPP hits out at govt for creating a 'constitutional crisis' through Senate polls presidential ordinance

PPP Senator Sherry Rehman on Sunday sharply criticised the government's promulgation of a presidential ordinance to make amendments to the Elections Act, 2017, to hold Senate polls through open ballot, saying it had created a "constitutional crisis" with the move.

Rehman, accompanied by PPP stalwart and former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani, was addressing a press conference in Karachi in response to the ordinance passed on Saturday.

The ordinance came into effect immediately, according to a clause in it, and extended to the whole of Pakistan. It said that with the Senate and National Assembly not in session, the president was satisfied that "circumstances exist" which rendered the ordinance necessary to take immediate action.

"They have created a constitutional crisis with their own hands," Rehman said, adding that the sole reason for it was that the PTI government had feared its members and their votes were no longer "in their hands".

"You are playing your cards in a way that can create an emergency situation in the country," the PPP leader said and alleged that the promulgation of the ordinance amounted to an attack on the Constitution and the parliament. "They are ripping its (Constitution's) page [...] amendments in the Constitution is the function of the parliament and no one can deny this," she stressed.

She questioned why the government had passed the ordinance when the presidential reference on the matter was still pending in the Supreme Court and the constitutional amendment bill was still in the National Assembly and thus the "property of the parliament".

She said the intentions of the government were clear for all to see and the PPP would "reject them and will challenge them on every level".

On Saturday, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had also criticised the government's decision to promulgate the ordinance as a "political indication that it is worried".

He had questioned the government's move, stating that the matter was sub judice. "What is the point behind taking this step? Are you trying to put pressure on the apex court?" he had asked.

The PPP chairman maintained that as far as passing legislation and making constitutional amendments was concerned, it was the parliament's job. He said the government's current way of going about the whole situation was "undemocratic" and alleged that its intentions were to "rig the Senate elections once again in favour of a selected political party".

'This cabinet is blind'

Rabbani also denounced the ordinance on similar grounds and said the government should have waited for the SC's advice on the presidential reference. "It feels you are trying to pressure the Supreme Court," the PPP leader told the government.

Criticising the government's handling of the process of the constitutional amendment bill, he said relevant stakeholders were not consulted and the government didn't attempt to initiate dialogue or build consensus on the matter. Even "the Senate wasn't taken into confidence" with regards to the bill's implications and consequences despite the bill being about a reform in the Senate itself, Rabbani added.

The senator also lambasted what he saw as the "haphazard" handling of the bill by the cabinet and called it out for "having no single direction".

"This Cabinet is playing with the country and the Constitution. [It] thinks the Constitution and laws are like plasticine which you can mould into any shape.

"This kabeena (cabinet ) is nabeena (blind) ... it can't read the Constitution," he said.

Rabbani pointed out contradictions in the ordinance and wondered whether the government would conduct the Senate polls all over again if the ordinance was struck down and the Senate elections conducted according to it were declared "invalid".

PTI to fully accept SC decision

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi while addressing a gathering earlier on Sunday reaffirmed the ruling PTI's belief that the SC had the right to interpret the law and provide clarity on whether a constitutional amendment was required or not.

Qureshi said the apex court was currently hearing the case of the presidential reference and whatever decision it issued, "we will fully accept it."

The minister once again asked the PPP and PML-N why they were "backtracking from the promises made to the nation" in the Charter of Democracy for Senate election reforms. He questioned the opposition parties why they wanted to set up a "market" in the polls. "Why do they want to buy people's conscience and why don't they allow the use of votes according to a party's power?"

Qureshi called upon the opposition to support the government for the required two-thirds majority to pass the constitutional amendment bill, saying the government "took the bill to the [National] Assembly considering their stance [on Senate election reforms in the CoD]".

"We have reports that there are forces who have the backing of powers that want to spread chaos and instability, want to weaken and are supporting terrorism in Pakistan and don't want to see the economy flourishing."

He hoped that the incoming senators would "strengthen the federation" and play their role in protecting the Constitution.

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Rescue operation suspended after failing to locate Sadpara, two other mountaineers missing on K2

The rescue operation to locate three climbers, including Pakistan's Muhammad Ali Sadpara, who went missing while attempting to summit the world's second-highest mountain, K2, was suspended after it failed to locate the mountaineers for the second day on Sunday.

Sadpara, John Snorri from Iceland and MP Mohr from Chile have not been contacted since the three began their push for the K2 summit from camp 3 at midnight between Thursday and Friday, according to their team.

Several experts, including four local high altitude climbers, Fazal Ali and Jalal from Shimshal, Imtiaz Hussain and Akbar Ali from Skardu, Chhang Dawa Sherpa and other members of the SST winter expedition team, are part of the rescue mission.

Two army helicopters flew to their maximum limit of 7,800 metres for a second time and conducted aerial reconnaissance for an hour to locate the missing climbers. The search team traced the Abruzzi and other routes but did not see any signs of the mountaineers, according to Chhang Dawa Sherpa.

Sherpa said the operation was not successful due to cloudy conditions and strong winds, and was temporarily suspended.

Talking to media in Skardu, Sajid Sadpara, the son of Ali Sadpara who was also part of the expedition but had to abandon due to equipment issues, said the three climbers probably met an accident while on their way back after climbing the K2. He said the trio had already climbed 8,200m when he broke away from them.

Sajid said the chances of surviving the extremely cold weather after remaining missing for three days and without proper gear were "very low", adding that an operation could be conducted to retrieve the bodies.

"We had started our push for the K2 summit on February 5 at 12am. I, my father Ali Sadpara, John Snorri and MP Mohr were at the bottleneck, while other climbers had descended," Sajid said, adding that he decided to descend to camp 3 from an altitude of 8,200m after the oxygen regulator he was using leaked.

Sajid said he started his descent from the bottleneck around 12pm and arrived at camp 3 at 5pm, adding that he could not get in touch with the climbers because their communication devices were not functional.

He said he spent that night waiting for the climbers at camp 3, and kept the camp light on so the missing mountaineers would notice it.

On Saturday morning, the base camp manager told Sajid not to move up as the weather conditions were not good, and advised him to begin his descent.

"Unfortunately, the climbers didn't come the next day either," said Sajid, who reached the K2 base camp on Saturday evening.

"My father Ali Sadpara and the other two climbers were crossing bottleneck (8,200m), which is the most technical part of K2, at 11am on Friday. I am sure they went missing while descending from the summit," he added.

He thanked the Pakistan Army, civil administration, the rescue team, and well-wishers for their support and sympathy in this situation.

Search launched

An official of the expedition team earlier said that rescue teams were searching for the missing climbers by following the route they had taken towards the summit through helicopters. The search will continue until all three are located, he added.

Another official of the expedition said the rescue teams were trying hard to trace the mountaineers.

The search began on Saturday with aerial reconnaissance but the helicopters returned after worsening weather conditions made the search harder to continue, according to Chhang Dawa Sherpa.

The three lost contact with base camp late on Friday and were reported missing on Saturday after their support team stopped receiving reports from them during their ascent of the 8,611-metre high K2 mountain.

"The base camp received no signals from Sadpara and his foreign companions after 8,000 meters [...] A search is on and let’s pray for their safe return home," Karrar Haideri, a top official with the Alpine Club of Pakistan, told The Associated Press.

On Saturday, choppers flew to a height of 7,000m to try to locate the missing mountaineers with no success.

News of the missing men comes a day after a Bulgarian mountaineer was confirmed to have died on K2.

At the time the three began their summit attempt, 18 members of one of the expedition teams decided to abandon their attempt and spent the night at camp 3, choosing instead to descend on Friday morning.

Earlier, it was reported that the three climbers had managed to summit K2, prompting congratulations from government officials, including the Gilgit-Baltistan governor and chief minister. However, no official statement has been released in this regard and it is currently unclear whether they managed to summit the peak on Friday or not.

The foreign ministry issued a statement saying Iceland’s foreign minister, Gudlaugur Thór Thórdarson, spoke to Shah Mehmood Qureshi by telephone. Qureshi assured him that Pakistan will spare no effort in the search for the missing mountaineers.

Haideri noted Sadpara’s experience as a mountaineer who has climbed the world’s eight highest mountains, including the highest, Mount Everest, and was attempting to climb K2 in winter.

K2 is the most prominent peak on the Pakistani side of the Himalayan range and the world’s second tallest after Mount Everest. Winter winds on K2 can blow at more than 200 kph and temperatures drop to minus 60 degrees Celsius.

A team of 10 Nepalese climbers made history on Jan 16 by scaling the K2 for the first time in winter.

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