Weather on K2 during historic first winter ascent.

Matthews, Tom; Perry, L. Baker; Aryal, Deepak; Elmore, Aurora C.; Khadka, Arbindra; Pelto, Mauri; Shrestha, Dibas; Wilby, Rob

We find that the historic first wintertime ascent of K2 in January 2021 by a Nepalese team was aided by weather that was anomalously favourable. For example, the combination of very low temperatures, high wind speeds, and reduced oxygen availability on Mt. Everest help explain why the South Pole was reached (1911) more than 40 years before the summit (1953). Although second in height to Mt. Everest, the summit of K2 is guarded by wind chill temperatures that plunge ~10 degC lower than those of the higher mountain. The latter reflects the coincidence of abnormally warm and calm conditions (Figure 3), which was particularly unusual given that air temperatures and wind speeds on K2 are positively correlated in winter (December-February, Pearson correlation = 0.27, I P < i 0.01).

EVEREST, Mount (China & Nepal); K2 (Pakistan : Mountain); WEATHER; METEOROLOGICAL stations; AEROBIC capacity

Weather (00431656), 2022, Vol 77, Issue 2, p49

0043-1656

Academic Journal

10.1002/wea.4094