Eyelashes encrusted with ice crystals, Nirmal Purja tries to ignore the gnawing pain in his fingers as he takes a selfie on a viciously cold slope high on K2, the world’s second highest mountain.
This weekend, the former British Army Special Forces soldier is continuing his bid to become the first climber to conquer the deadly 28,251ft peak during winter.
He will do so in temperatures that plummet to -80F (-62C) and where wind speeds top 100mph.
Regarded by many as the last great mountaineering challenge, it would represent the greatest triumph for the former Gurkha who became a climbing superstar in 2019 after reaching the summits of the world’s 14 highest mountains in just six months.
Eyelashes encrusted with ice crystals, Nirmal Purja tries to ignore the gnawing pain in his fingers as he takes a selfie on a viciously cold slope high on K2, the world’s second highest mountain
This weekend, the former British Army Special Forces soldier is continuing his bid to become the first climber to conquer the deadly 28,251ft peak during winter
The previous record was seven years and ten months.
But Purja’s tactics have put him at odds with mountaineering’s old guard.
Despite the fact that most climbers do use bottled oxygen at extreme altitudes – only three per cent of successful summit attempts on Mount Everest are made without it – ‘purists’ are concerned by his use of it.
They also question his large teams of sherpas and his habit of hiring helicopters to fly him to mountain base camps.
The debate over Purja’s approach has been re-ignited by the assertion of renowned German climber Ralf Dujmovits that the historic achievement of reaching K2’s summit in the winter could be ‘stolen’ by a climber using bottled oxygen.
He will do so in temperatures that plummet to -80F (-62C) and where wind speeds top 100mph
Writing on Instagram, Dujmovits – who has climbed 13 of the 14 highest peaks without oxygen – said: ‘I would find it a real pity if someone steals the first winter ascent of K2 by using supplemental oxygen.
‘The general public might see this ‘conquering’ of K2 as a great feat, but the first winter ascent should be left to those who can do it by fair means.’
For many traditional climbers, the use of supplementary oxygen breaches the ethics of self-reliance at the heart of mountaineering.
It dramatically reduces the brutal physical and mental deterioration caused by thin air at high altitude.
The physiological effect of having a two-litre-per-minute flow of oxygen is said to be the equivalent of reducing the elevation of a mountains by a mile.
Purja used bottled oxygen during his campaign to conquer the 14 highest peaks in 2019.
Regarded by many as the last great mountaineering challenge, it would represent the greatest triumph for the former Gurkha
He has not said whether he intends to do so again on K2 but his spokeswoman last night said he had not used it so far but usually carries a supply.
Dubbed the ‘savage mountain’, K2 is an awesome pyramid of ice and rock straddling the China-Pakistan border in the Karakoram mountain range.
As of July 2018, 367 successful climbs had been recorded along with 86 deaths. This statistic relates to all seasons, with or without oxygen.
In winter months, K2 is bombarded by a jet stream of ferocious, sub-zero winds. Climbers also face the constant risk of ice and rock falls and avalanches.
‘The Karakoram in winter is very harsh,’ said Stephen Venables, one of Britain’s most acclaimed mountaineers. ‘K2 is terrifying in summer. In winter, it’s my idea of hell.’
He became a climbing superstar in 2019 after reaching the summits of the world’s 14 highest mountains in just six months.
Mr Venables, 66, who in 1988 became the first Briton to climb Mount Everest without bottled oxygen, last night said he ‘heartily’ agrees with Dujmovits, adding it would be a ‘great shame’ if Purja relied on supplementary oxygen to reach K2’s summit.
‘If you battle a mountain into submission and bring enough aides to bring it down to human capabilities, you slightly defeat the object of the exercise,’ he said.
Romanian climber Alex Gavan, 38, who is also attempting to climb K2 this winter with Italian Tamara Lunger, declared that climbing with oxygen is ‘cheating’.
Until 2019, Purja was virtually unknown in the mountaineering community. Having grown up in lowland Nepal, he joined the British Army, becoming the first Gurkha to join the elite Special Boat Service (SBS).
While with the SBS, he was teased that, despite being Nepalese, he had never climbed a major mountain.
The banter stirred his ambitions and during a trip home, he began training in the Himalayas.
In 2017, he climbed Everest and its neighbouring peaks of Lhotse and Makalu in just five days. Nobody had previously managed the feat in less than a fortnight.
Despite the fact that most climbers do use bottled oxygen at extreme altitudes – only three per cent of successful summit attempts on Mount Everest are made without it – ‘purists’ are concerned by his use of it
Purja, who lives in Eastleigh, Hampshire, later said he would have completed it in three had he not stopped for some heavy celebratory drinking, which left him ‘brutally hungover’ during the final assault on Makalu.
He then set about breaking the record for climbing the 14 peaks in the world above 8,000m (26,247ft).
When the military refused him time off, he quit the SBS – although the SAS tried unsuccessfully to poach him.
Purja, five sherpas and a filmmaker were among the first to begin scaling K2 last Sunday, hauling 77lb rucksacks to Camp 1, a precarious 20,000ft high ledge.
By Wednesday, he and another climber were fixing ropes to the top of the Black Pyramid, a section of exposed rock at 23,000ft.
They paused for a selfie which, Purja suggested, may have left him with minor frostbite.
‘I tried my best to capture some moments in the camera but it was almost impossible,’ he said on his website. ‘This selfie might have cost me a small dent in my fingers or two. However, all OK.’
Last Thursday, Purja returned to base camp to rest. With good weather, he could attempt the summit later this month.
His team joins an ‘unprecedented’ number of climbers who have set their sights on conquering K2 this winter.
In recent years, fewer than ten climbers have gathered at base camp in preparation for an attempt. This year, more than 70 are there.