Scores of mountaineers leave for K2's Camp 1 as weather clears out

A large number of mountaineers, ready to scale K2, left for Camp-1 from the base camp of the world's second highest peak as the weather cleared out on Thursday, Geo News reported.

K2, often referred to as the "killer mount" is witnessing a surge of mountaineers for the past couple of days as it is annual mountaineering season. 

Clear and pleasant weather has allowed the climbers a chance to get acclimatised to the K2 atmosphere hence, they are climbing up to Camp 1 and Camp 2. 

The peak's base camp is receiving multiple expeditions one after the other as 12 expeditions arrived today and five others reached yesterday.

One of the mountaineers starting their expeditions is Robert, who is the most senior among the climbers currently present at the K2 base camp. 

The 65-year-old belongs to a French island. He is accompanied by two Pakistani porters. 

Talking to Geo News, Robert expressed his pleasure in coming to Pakistan. He said that he started very late hence, he has scaled just a few peaks. 

On Tuesday, Italy-Pakistan K2 Jubilee Expedition team, which consists of women from both countries, kicked off its campaign from the K2 base camp.

The expedition team is being led by Samina Baig, who is the first Pakistani woman to summit K2, and it consists of four Pakistani and four Italian women climbers, who also underwent fitness tests in Italy.

The ongoing year marks the 70th anniversary of the first successful summit and this special expedition is being carried out to commemorate the historic feat.

Italian adventurers already have several records to their name in mountaineering. However, on July 31, 1954, they summited the 8,611-metre-high K2, the world's second-longest peak, for the first time in the world.