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Rescuers reach Italian after 11 die on K2
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by rumana husain | August 4, 2008 at 05:47 pm
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An Italian mountaineer, Marco Confortola, has been rescued from the K2 mountain located in Pakistan. The second highest peak in the world, K2 had earlier swallowed 11 climbers during this recent expedition. Mountaineering records show that so far more than 70 climbers have lost their lives in their strive to conquer this mountain.
Rescuers have reached an Italian mountaineer who refused to succumb to frostbite and exhaustion on K2 after 11 other climbers perished on the world's second-highest mountain, a Pakistani guide said on Monday.
"Marco (Confortola) is being accompanied by four rescuers and most probably, he'll be brought tonight to the Advance Base Camp (ABC) that is at an altitude of 6,000 meters," Sultan Alam, a Pakistani guide, told Reuters from K2 base camp.
Three Pakistani high-altitude porters and an American climber reached Confortola after racing up the mountain to bring him to the camp where food and medicine were waiting, he said.
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rumana husain
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 00:10 on August 5th, 2008
On the 30 of July I was flying from Skardu to Islamabad. My time in Pakistan was coming to the end. I was there with Polish Expedition to climb Gasherbrum II. Because of bad weather we did not make to the summit and we could not wait for another 'good weather window' in the end of July. During the flight I was totally rapt by the magnificent view of K2. I was sure lot of climbers were making their push to the summit. Unfortunately in the mountains the success and tragedy are very close to each others. Salutes to all climbers who died on K2 and all who were there.
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at 08:24 on August 5th, 2008
I was doing a K2 basecamp trek in July 2007. I experienced the volatile weather condition around K2 first hand. We were trapped at Concordia for 3 days and we missed our windows to reach the K2 basecamp. On the way to Concordia, we heard many tragic story of trekkers who lost their family members. There was a Russian family who was trekking to K2 basecamp, to pay their respects to their husband and father, who was missing after a flash avalanche, his body was never found. There was a German mountaineer who lost his brother in the K2 Dead Zone. They had to marked the position of the body because they could not retrieve the body due to adverse weather condition and exhaustion. They had to go back to home, organized a team of experienced mountaineers to retrieve their lost buddy the next year. I suppose you take all kind chances when you climb a dangerous mountain. I just wish those who lost their lives had the peace of mind that they passed this world while doing their favorite activities. No regrets. Helen Keller used to say : "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.".
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at 08:40 on August 5th, 2008
sylweczka and siriustar, thank you for your personal accounts of the K2 experience. yes, hats off to all the men and women of courage and perseverance who have conquered the summit or attempted to. zichi, thank you for the flag.