WARSAW: Two Polish climbers have completed the first ever winter ascent of Gasherbrum I, an 8,068-metre (26,469-foot) peak in the northern Pakistani Karakoram range, expedition head Adam Hajzer said on Friday.

Adam Bielecki, 28, and Janusz Golab, 43, climbed the peak without oxygen, the Polish news agency PAP quoted Hajzer as saying.

The team of four Polish and two Pakistani climbers spent 49 days on the ascent in extreme weather conditions with temperatures dropping to minus 35 Celsius (minus 31 Fahrenheit) and wind blowing at up to 100 kilometres (63 miles) per hour.

Gasherbrum I, also known as Hidden Peak, is the world’s eleventh highest.—AFP