K2 became the last of the fourteen 8,000-metre peaks to be climbed in winter, in 2021.
A Nepalese team completed the first winter ascent on 16 January 2021, reaching K2’s 8,611-metre summit in Pakistan’s Karakoram range. The group included ten climbers, who reached the top together.
K2 had earned a reputation as one of the world’s most difficult major mountains because of its steep terrain, severe storms, avalanches and unpredictable winter conditions. Unlike Mount Everest, K2 had no successful winter ascent before 2021.
The achievement completed the first winter ascents of all fourteen officially recognized 8,000-metre peaks. K2 is also the world’s second-highest mountain after Mount Everest; its name comes from the 19th-century Great Trigonometrical Survey of British India, which used the designation for the second peak measured in the Karakoram.