A team of mountaineers set off on foot Thursday to recover the body of a Chinese climber from the world's second-highest peak after bad weather grounded helicopter flights, a Pakistani official said.
Guan Jing was struck by falling rocks on Tuesday while descending K2, a day after reaching its summit with a group in Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan region, according to Faizullah Faraq, a local government spokesperson. She died on the mountain, known for its treacherous slopes, frequent rockfalls, and extreme weather conditions.
He said her body lies between 330 to 500 feet above the advanced base camp at about 17,700 feet and has not yet been retrieved. K2 rises 28,251 feet above sea level and is widely regarded as one of the most difficult and dangerous peaks to climb, with a far higher fatality rate than Mount Everest.
"The weather is currently not suitable for a helicopter flight, which is why the body has not yet been brought down" from the mountain, he said. Faraq said Jing was part of an expedition organized by a Nepali company.
He said a Nepali Sherpa, Jangbu, was sent on Wednesday to recover her body but was injured on the way and stranded. The Nepali was later rescued by helicopter and transferred to Skardu Hospital, where he is receiving medical treatment.
The world's second largest mountain, the 8,611 meter high K2 (seen in the distance), and the 8,051 meter high Broad Peak (R), are illuminated by the moon at Concordia, the confluence of the Baltoro and Godwin-Austen glaciers, in the Karakoram mountain range in Pakistan September 7, 2014. While other parts of Pakistan and northern India were flooded, Concordia in the Karakoram mountain range was covered with a seasonally unusual amount of snow. Geographically, Pakistan is a climbers paradise. It rivals Nepal for the number of peaks over 7,000 meters and is home to the world's second tallest mountain, K2, as well as four of the world's 14 summits higher than 8,000 meters. In more peaceful times, northern Pakistan's unspoilt beauty was a major tourist draw but the potentially lucrative industry has been blighted by years of violence. The number of expeditions has dwindled, wrecking communities dependant on climbing for income and starving Pakistan's suffering economy of much-needed dollars. Picture taken September 7, 2014. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay (PAKISTAN - Tags: SOCIETY ENVIRONMENT TRAVEL TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) ATTENTION EDITORS - PICTURE 32 OF 32 FOR WIDER IMAGE STORY 'K2 - THE SAVAGE MOUNTAIN' SEARCH 'RATTAY K2' FOR ALL IMAGES - RTR4B6I7
© Wolfgang Rattay / Reuters, REUTERS
Guan died while descending the mountain below Camp 1, according to The Tourism Times of Nepal.
Deadly incidents are common on K2, where steep gradients, thin air and sudden storms can turn even routine descents into life-threatening ordeals. Just last month, a Pakistani climber died in a rock slide on K2, according to multiple media reports.
In 2021, renowned Scottish climber Rick Allen died in an avalanche while attempting to scale K2.
The latest death comes two weeks after German mountaineer and Olympic gold medalist, Laura Dahlmeier, died while attempting another peak in the region. Efforts to retrieve her body were abandoned when Dahlmeier's family informed authorities that she had stated that no one should risk their life to recover her body if she dies in any accident.
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