The Last First: Winter K2

Sometime in December 2020, Icelandic mountaineer John Snorri was on the cusp of making history. He was getting ready to scale the second highest mountain peak, the K2, in the winter. Around then the temperatures go down to -60 degrees celsius near the peak. Compounded with the steep incline of the K2 (part of the Karakoram range) with winds blowing up to 150 mph, even experienced mountaineers dubbed it as a tricky climb. Every other record in the mountaineering world had been achieved. Having arrived in Northern Pakistan a good two months in advance, to help himself acclimatise to the conditions, Snorri – with his Pakistani counterparts, Ali Sadpara and his son Sajid – looked set to take on arguably the most gruelling climb ever attempted.