Keyword: commercial high altitude mountaineering

In 2023, 18 people died trying to climb Mount Everest in the spring season alone - more than ever before.

Norwegian Kristin Harila and Nepalese mountain guide Tenjin Sherpa completed their eight-thousander collection yesterday with the summit of K2. It took them just three months and one day to climb the 14 highest mountains in the world.

The world's eight-thousanders are seething. The reason for this is the record hunt by Norwegian Kristin Harila. She is trying to climb the 14 highest mountains in less than six months. Currently it even looks like after three months.

With the establishment of mountain tourism on most of the eight-thousanders and all of the Seven Summits plus a few other mountains, the required alpinistic skills have been reduced to almost zero. By alpine skills I mean independent climbing, acting and making decisions on the mountain. Everything that used to be required on these mountains has now largely become superfluous thanks to the technical infrastructure on the mountain. It is enough if you learn to walk with crampons in the base camp and to attach yourself correctly to the fixed rope.

Kristin Harila has climbed her 14th eight-thousander with Cho Oyu in Tibet. With a time of one year and five days, the Norwegian is currently the fastest woman on the highest mountains in the world. Depending on the interpretation, she even beats record holder Nirmal Purja.

The Norwegian Kristin Harila has set herself the goal of climbing all 14 eight-thousanders in the world within one season. She has already climbed eleven peaks, the last three are scheduled for this autumn. If she can complete her plan before November 3rd, she would beat Nirmal Purja's record time.

For a long time, the K2 was considered too dangerous for commercial expeditions and was therefore only climbed by experienced alpinists. This has changed fundamentally in recent years. While 2021 mountaineers reached the summit of K48 in July 2, in the same month of this year alone it was 145 people in one day.

The expedition team from Dolma Outdoor Expedition did not succeed in wresting a winter ascent from the K2. The Nepalese climbers led by Nima Gyalzen Sherpa had tried to lead 28-year-old Grace Tseng to the summit of K2. The Taiwanese would have been the first woman to stand on top of the second highest peak in the world in winter.