GILGIT: A French climber scaled Broad Peak (8,051m) and flew back in a paraglider to the base camp while a Russian-Polish mountaineer reached the top of the mountain in 14 hours without using bottled oxygen on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Pakistani mountaineers Sajid Ali Sadpara along with 15-year-old Esha started the summit push from camp 3 of Broad Peak targeting to scale it on Wednesday (today) morning.

Moreover, scores of international and national climbers, including Naila Kiani, Sirbaz Khan, Wajid Nagri and Abdul Joshi, continued their efforts to summit K2 (8,611m), the second highest peak in the world and the deadliest.

According to Karrar Haidri, secretary Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP), French climber Benjamin Vedrines set a new world record by scaling Broad Peak in seven hours from the base camp. The French climber is at the base camp and safe, he added.

Stable weather predicted in the Karakoram till July 25

Meanwhile, Russian-Polish climber Denis Urubko started the summit push from the base camp directly on Monday night and reached the top at 11am on Tuesday.

After summit, Urubko headed back directly to the base camp. He is 15th climber to scale all the 14 eight-thousanders and 8th to achieve the feat without the use of supplementary oxygen.

Urubko completed the mission solo and scaled Broad Peak for the third time. According to the ACP, for the first time there was a queue up of climbers on K2.

A stable weather has been predicted in the Karakoram mountains till July 25. At least 100 international and national climbers are heading toward the summit before the closure of the weather window.

Mohammad Ali Nagri, the head of Adventure Pakistan, said on Tuesday that various expeditions had reached camp 1, camp 2 and camp 3 of K2.

The rope fixing team members, mostly from Nepal, were trying to open the route to the top. They had approached camp 4 and the climbers were following the rope fixing team.

The members of various expeditions have targeted to scale K2 on July 21 and 22.

The expedition members have already established camp 1, camp 2, camp 3 and deposited supplement oxygen, food, tents and other equipment and acclimatised recently.

According to an 8K Expedition statement, its team was headed for the K2 summit push and being led by professional guides. All ground managements had been done by Lakpa Sherpa.

It said as planned, guides will open the route to the summit on July 21.

Nirmal Purja, the head of Elite Exped, in a social media post said it was amazing to be back on the savage mountain.

“Shout out goes to all the guides who’ve been working hard day and night to ensure the expedition is run smoothly and safely. All members are safe and sound at their respective camps.”

Pakistani climber Sajid Sadpara, in the meantime, plans to start the summit push on Tuesday night.

In a Twitter post, he said: “Reached Broad Peak Camp-3 (7150m) Summit Push (Tuesday) night and reach summit Wednesday.” Expedition sources said Esha from Pakistan was also climbing with him and was currently at camp 1 with Lakpa Dendi Sherpa.

Mr Haidri said a record number of mountaineers were expected to report this week at K2, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum-II and Gasherbrum-I. Various expeditions have also started the summit push on Broad Peak, Gasherbrum-I and Gasherbrum-II on Tuesday night.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2022