Another Pakistani female mountaineer summits K2

ISLAMABAD: Another female Pakistani mountaineer Sultana Bibi has scaled K2, the second highest mountain in the world, registering her name among the few women from the country who have made to the summit of the savage mountain.

Finishing her ascent earlier this morning (Monday), Sultana became the third female mountaineer from Pakistan to accomplish the feat.

Before Sultana, Samina Baig and Niala Kiani were the first two women to summit the 8,611 metre mount. The former was the first-ever woman from the country to scale K2 in July 2022 and latter the second with a difference of hours.

Sultana had departed from Skardu in June with two teams of climbers in an attempt to scale the precarious mountain that sits on the Pakistan-China border. Sultana’s team was based entirely on six female climbers from Pakistan, whereas the other team was a joint expedition of Pakistani and Italian climbers.

The lady climber was led by renowned Pakistani mountaineer Sirbaz Ali to the second highest peak in the world. K2 is famously termed as the “savage mountain” after mountaineer George Bell said, “It’s a savage mountain that tries to kill you.”

The mountain’s death zone is extremely dangerous for climbers with its fatality rate being around 23 deaths per 100 climbers, as reported by Ultimate Kilimanjaro. The mountain’s peculiarly unpredictable weather, abundance in avalanches and rock falls, and difficult routes for the summit makes it live threatening for climbers.

Meanwhile, French climber Benjamin Vedrines summied K2 in record time on Sunday, his team told AFP, reaching the top of the world´s second-highest mountain in just under 11 hours.

The 32-year-old specialist in high-speed ascents -- made without the aid of oxygen -- left K2 base camp just after midnight on Saturday and reached the summit 10 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds later.

The ascent slashes by more than half the previous record for climbing K2 without the aid of bottled oxygen, completed in 23 hours by fellow Frenchman Benoit Chamoux in 1986. Vedrines attempted the summit in 2022 but was forced to turn back after suffering from hypoxia, a lack of oxygen in the blood caused by thin air at high altitudes.

“I took my revenge on this mountain,” Vedrines said in a voice message shared with AFP. “But above all I wanted to reconcile with it by doing things with maturity.” “It was very symbolic for me because I was returning in my footsteps to where I experienced those very unique moments,” he said.

“I really enjoyed seeing the same sections again, but with lucidity this time.” Standing at 8,611 metres (28,251 feet) on the Pakistan-China border, K2 is 238 metres shorter than Everest but is considered more technically challenging -- earning it the nickname “Savage Mountain”. Elite climbers regard the mountain, which was first scaled in 1954, as a quintessential achievement, and often attempt to set records on its jagged slopes.