WARSAW: Scaling the world’s second-highest peak, K2, in winter is one of the last great feats in mountaineering — and despite what some see as a lack of experience, 28-year-old Pole Magdalena Gorzkowska wants to be the first to do it.
If Gorzkowska, a medal-winning runner who also became the youngest Polish woman ever to climb Mount Everest, makes it to the summit, she will have made history and silenced those who see her attempt as a social media stunt with no chance of success.
“Everyone can have their opinion, and some believe that it takes many years to be able to face such challenges. I just do what I feel I can do,” Gorzkowska told Reuters by telephone from her base camp. “Why should I limit myself?“
Gorzkowska is one of several mountaineers attempting this winter to scale K2, which at 8,611 meters (28,251 feet) is second only to Mount Everest.
Gorzkowska, who is being accompanied by sherpas, said she had returned to her base camp, at an altitude of 5,000 meters, after an acclimatization trip that saw her spend a night at a camp at 6,550 meters.
“The conditions were very difficult. The mountain gives you a hard time, it is very demanding. You have to climb hard all the time, the wind is very strong. It is at least minus 30 degrees non-stop,” she said.
K2, in the Karakorum mountains along the border between China and Pakistan, is notorious for its high winds, especially steep and icy slopes, and a high fatality rate among climbers. Eighty-six climbers are reported to have died on its slopes.
Two years ago, a Polish team abandoned their attempt to reach the summit in winter due to heavy snow.
The scale of the challenge has made some in the male-dominated world of Polish mountaineering regard her bid with skepticism.
“Just wait for the desire to attack K2 in winter to be announced by top Polish Youtubers, Instagrammers or other influencers,” Polish mountaineer Marcin Miotk said, on hearing the news of her attempt.
Gorzkowska is unfazed by such comments.
“I dreamt of K2 in winter and that’s why I’m here. Maybe they (her critics) don’t have dreams like that, maybe they aren’t so determined,” she said.
‘Why limit myself?’ Polish climber aims to defy critics with K2 bid
https://arab.news/vd5d7
‘Why limit myself?’ Polish climber aims to defy critics with K2 bid
- 28-year-old Pole Magdalena Gorzkowska is a medal-winning runner who also became the youngest Polish woman ever to climb Mount Everest
- Two years ago, a Polish team abandoned their attempt to reach the summit in winter due to heavy snow
Hundreds of migrants, including Pakistanis, land in Greece after search operation at sea
- Rescued migrants were taken to a temporary facility on Crete after reaching the port of Agia Galini
- Greece has made deportations of rejected asylum seekers a priority under its migration policy
ATHENS: Greece’s Coast Guard rescued about 540 migrants from a fishing boat off Europe’s southernmost island of Gavdos on Friday, one of the biggest groups to reach the country in recent months.
The migrants were found during a Greek search operation some 16 nautical miles (29.6 km) off Gavdos, a Coast Guard statement said. They are all well and are being taken to a temporary facility on the nearby island of Crete after reaching the port of Agia Galini, a Coast Guard official said, adding most of the migrants were men from Bangladesh, Egypt and Pakistan.
In a separate incident on Thursday, the EU’s border agency Frontex rescued 65 men and five women from two migrant boats in distress off Gavdos, the Greek Coast Guard said.
Greece was on the front line of a 2015-16 migration crisis when more than a million people from the Middle East and Africa landed on its shores before moving on to other European countries, mainly Germany.
Flows have ebbed since then, but both Crete and Gavdos — the two Mediterranean islands nearest to the African coast — have seen a steep rise in migrant boats, mainly from Libya, reaching their shores over the past year and deadly accidents remain common along that route.
Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Italy will be eligible for help in dealing with migratory pressures under a new EU mechanism when the bloc’s pact on migration and asylum enters into force in mid-2026.
The center-right government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said deportation of rejected asylum seekers will be a priority.
