KHAPLU, Pakistan: A Chinese mountaineer died while descending the world’s second-highest peak, with Pakistani rescuers waiting on Thursday for weather conditions to improve to recover her body.
Guan Jing was descending from the summit of K2 on Tuesday night when she was hit by falling rocks, Deputy Commissioner for Shigar district Arif Ahmad told AFP.
“An army aviation team is ready for the recovery of the body and is waiting for better weather conditions,” he said.
According to the Alpine Club of Pakistan, which monitors local climbing expeditions, Guan is the fourth casualty of the country’s summer climbing season.
Guan was among 30 climbers who reached the summit of K2 on Monday before beginning her fatal descent.
“The incident occurred on the Abruzzi Spur route between Camp I and Advanced Base Camp — a section notorious for frequent rockfalls,” the Alpine Club said.
At 8,611 meters (28,251 feet), K2 on the Pakistan-China border sits 238 meters shy of world-topping Himalayan giant Everest but is considered more technically challenging.
Home to five of the world’s 14 mountains above 8,000 meters, Pakistan typically welcomes an influx of summer climbers from early June until late August.
This season, four deaths have been reported, including two on K2, one on Nanga Parbat and one on the lesser-known Laila Peak in the Karakoram range where German Olympic biathlete Laura Dahlmeier died after being hit by falling rocks last month.
