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GILGIT: Spanish mountain climber, Sergi Mingote died while climbing the world’s second-highest summit, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on a social media.
Pedro Sanchez said, “Sad death of Sergi Mingote at K2, he wanted to continue making history by being part of the first expedition to crown this mountain in the middle of winter and a tragic accident has ended his life. A big hug for the loved ones of this great athlete,” the prime minister said.
Triste fallecimiento de Sergi Mingote en el K2. Quería seguir haciendo historia formando parte de la primera expedición en coronar esta montaña en pleno invierno y un trágico accidente ha acabado con su vida. Un abrazo enorme para los seres queridos de este grandísimo deportista. pic.twitter.com/UJKccWphG2
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) January 16, 2021
A post on Mingote’s official Instagram account said: “Rest in peace Sergi. Today you start a new climb.” On Friday, Mingote shared an Instagram post announcing that he was on day 27 of his climb and had reached 7,000 meters.
Chhang Dawa Sherpa, a Nepalese mountaineer who is leading the K2 winter expedition, wrote on Instagram that Mingote “suddenly fell down.”
“We were informed by unexpected movement on his GPS tracker and could see he made a big fall, members at the site quickly confirmed the accident, but couldn’t do much to help him anymore,” Sherpa said.
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On Saturday, a team of Nepalese climbers broke the previous record during winters of climbing as high as 26,000 feet while attempting to scale K2, according to a trekking company leading one of the expeditions.
As per the Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP), the maximum height achieved by teams in winters in the past was 25,320 feet. Dozens of mountaineers have been competing over the past few weeks to summit the world’s second-highest mountain, the last peak above 8,000 metres to be topped in wintertime.
“WE DID IT,” tweeted Seven Summit Treks. “The Karakorum’s ‘Savage Mountain’ been summited in most dangerous season: winter. Nepalese climbers finally reached the summit of Mt K2 this afternoon at 17:00 local time,” it added.
Since the maiden attempt in 1987-1988, just a handful of winter expeditions have been attempted on the storied 8,611-metre (28,250-feet) mountain in the Karakoram range along the Chinese border.
None had got higher than 7,650 metres until Saturday when the good conditions allowed the climbers to push ahead. This winter an unprecedented four teams totalling around 60 climbers converged on the mountain, more than all the previous expeditions put together.
Known as the “savage mountain”, winds on the peak can blow at more than 200 kilometres per hour (125 miles per hour) and temperatures drop to minus 60 degrees Celsius (minus 76 Fahrenheit).
16 Jan 2021🇳🇵🏔🇵🇰
WE DID IT, BELIVE ME WE DID IT- JOURNEY TO THE SUMMIT NEVER DONE BEFORE
🦾The Karakorum's 'Savage Mountain' been summited in most dangerous season:WINTER
Nepalese Climbers finally reached the summit of Mt. K2 (Chhogori 8611m), this afternoon at 17:00 local time. pic.twitter.com/O530X3WgKh— Seven Summit Treks 🇳🇵 (@sst8848) January 16, 2021
