- 5 days ago
The first winter ascent of K2 was achieved on January 16, 2021, by a 10-member all-Nepali team. Led by Nirmal Purja and Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, who were rivals at one point. The historic climb marked K2 as the final eight-thousander to be conquered during the winter season.
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Watch More:
These K2 Climbers Are Already Dead — And Everyone Knew It
https://youtu.be/tn7yAwe4F0E?si=_6wURD29J58CO_I8
2026’s First Everest Deaths are Nearly Unbelievable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYOEfnfYahk&t=2120s
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-------------------------------------------
Watch More:
These K2 Climbers Are Already Dead — And Everyone Knew It
https://youtu.be/tn7yAwe4F0E?si=_6wURD29J58CO_I8
2026’s First Everest Deaths are Nearly Unbelievable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYOEfnfYahk&t=2120s
-------------------------------------------
More eXtreme Stories - Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@TheExtreme-Edge
Every month there's a story that never goes on YouTube. You'll find it here: patreon.com/c/TheeXtreme
For business inquiries only - extremeedgeinfo@gmail.com
Voiceover: https://jessegvoiceactor.com/
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SportsTranscript
00:00That's December 30th, 2020.
00:0223,000 feet up K2.
00:05The dead of winter.
00:07Ming Ma Gyalje Sherpa is pinned to a wall of black ice and crumbling rock.
00:11Hurricane winds trying to tear him off of it.
00:14Towering above him is 1,200 feet of frozen rock no human being has ever climbed in winter.
00:22Not once in all the years of trying.
00:24He's one of the greatest climbers in the world, and he's running out of rope.
00:28Without more of it, he can't keep climbing up, and he can't get his team back down safely either.
00:35Two of his closest friends are stuck on that same wall behind him, waiting on his next move.
00:40It's a decision that could get all three of them killed.
00:44His only hope for survival is the one man he's spent this entire season competing against.
00:50They came to this mountain to compete for the last great prize in climbing history.
00:54Now, they're about to find out if the first winter climb of K2 is worth dying for.
01:00Welcome to the extreme edge, where the stakes are high, but nobody's just a headline.
01:06Before this story is over, one of these men will be alone, in pitch black darkness, at 25,600 feet,
01:15unable to feel his own foot, and no one will be close enough to help him.
01:19His name was Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, and on December 30th, 2020, his upward push was completely trapped.
01:27To climb K2, you first have to build a continuous route up it by anchoring fixed rope on the hard
01:34rocks on the upper mountains.
01:36In winter, much of the route has to be established from scratch, and on that day, Mingma and his tiny,
01:42self-funded three-man team ran into a terrifying problem right below a section called the Black Pyramid.
01:48It's a 1,200-foot wall of steep, loose rock covered in slick, black ice.
01:53In the summer, climbing this wall is hard enough.
01:56In the winter, with freezing hurricane winds actively trying to rip you off the rock, it's a meat grinder.
02:05Mingma had only about 3,000 feet of rope left, and he needed to save at least 2,000 feet
02:11of that for much higher up, near the very top of K2.
02:15For the deadliest section of this mountain, known as the bottleneck.
02:19If Mingma used his reserved rope right now just to survive the Black Pyramid, his team would have nothing left
02:26for the summit.
02:27Getting to the top and back down alive would be almost impossible, but if he didn't use it, they couldn't
02:34take another step upward.
02:36But running out of rope was the least of Mingma's problems, because right as Mingma was trying to figure out
02:42how to keep his two best friends alive that afternoon of December 30th, 2020, the mountain was actively trying to
02:49rip them off the wall.
02:50Although K2 is not the tallest mountain in the world, any professional climber will tell you it's the most savage,
02:58because it's steeper than Everest and more isolated than any 26,000-foot mountain on Earth.
03:04Climbing K2 in summer is already considered the hardest physical challenge in the world.
03:09In the winter, it's basically a death trap.
03:12Wind hits 100 to 120 miles per hour, strong enough to easily pick up a grown man wearing a heavy
03:19backpack and throw him straight off the mountain.
03:23Mingma and his team had to use every ounce of their strength just to hold on to the icy rock
03:28so they wouldn't be blown away.
03:30And this wind was stealing their body heat instantly.
03:33Right then, the forecast for that altitude was calling for temperatures around minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit.
03:40With those screaming hurricane winds smashing into them, the cold became even more dangerous.
03:48Mingma knew every single minute they stayed stuck on that wall without rope was another minute closer to their bodies
03:55shutting down.
03:56But he wasn't some rich foreign climber with massive corporate sponsors he could just call on.
04:02He was an independent local guide who had decided to raise and spend his own money to make this expedition
04:08happen for one massive reason.
04:11National pride.
04:12There were 14 mountains on Earth taller than 26,000 feet.
04:16By the winter of 2020, 13 of them had already been climbed in the winter.
04:21And every single one of those historic first descents had gone to a foreign climber.
04:27K2 was the only one left.
04:28And for more than 30 years, expedition after expedition had thrown everything they had at winter K2.
04:36They had all failed.
04:38The highest anyone had ever reached in winter was around 25,100 feet.
04:43That still left them roughly 3,000 feet short of the summit.
04:47For Mingma, the only acceptable outcome was claiming this mountain for Nepal.
04:52He was willing to risk everything to make sure the final great prize in mountaineering history belonged to his own
04:59people.
04:59He brought his two childhood best friends and fellow Sherpas, Dawa Tenjin and Kilo Pemba, for this attempt.
05:07Before they left for K2, Mingma had sat down with their terrified wives, who didn't want their husbands going at
05:14all,
05:14and convinced them to let their husbands come.
05:17He was totally responsible for them.
05:20And right now, he was trapped.
05:23With his team hanging by a thread in the freezing cold, Mingma made a choice.
05:28He swallowed his pride, called down to base camp, and asked for help.
05:33He needed rope, and there was only one obvious place to get it.
05:39Because Mingma was not alone on the mountain looking to make history.
05:43Sitting at a camp just below him was a massive, highly organized operation led by a man named Nirmal Persia,
05:50mostly known to the world simply as Nims.
05:53The two could not be any more different.
05:56Mingma was a quiet, traditional climber with a small team,
06:00who had emptied his own pockets for this dream.
06:04Nims was, well, the very definition of elite.
06:07He was a former Gurkha soldier and an elite operator in the British Special Boat Service,
06:12which is basically the United Kingdom's version of the Navy SEALs.
06:16Just a year earlier, back in 2019, Nims completely shattered the limits of human endurance
06:22by climbing all 14 of the world's tallest mountains in 6 months and 6 days.
06:27He was loud, wildly confident, and possessed a physical engine that seemed almost superhuman.
06:34And unlike Mingma, Nims had incredible backing.
06:38He brought a powerhouse squad of 6 elite climbers with him,
06:42including highly experienced high-altitude climbers.
06:45His team had plenty of backup gear, thick tents, and serious funding.
06:50This was what Mingma was up against, and on K2, competition usually gets people killed.
06:58Rivalry between expeditions can become intense,
07:01especially when different teams are chasing the same historic first.
07:05Both Mingma and Nims wanted to be the first Nepali climbers to stand on top of K2 in winter.
07:12So when the call for rope came down, Nims had a choice.
07:15He could have easily ignored the radio.
07:18He could have made an excuse and said his team didn't have any gear to spare.
07:22He could have let his biggest rival fail, forcing Mingma to turn around
07:27and leaving the path to the summit completely wide open for his own team to make history.
07:33Instead, Nims did something that changed mountaineering history forever.
07:38He didn't just send his team members up to do all the heavy lifting.
07:41He grabbed about 656 feet of heavy, 10-millimeter climbing rope,
07:47strapped it to his own back, and started climbing up the mountain himself,
07:52fighting through the freezing winds, carrying a massive load of dead weight.
07:56Nims climbed toward Mingma's stalled team to support them.
08:00When the two teams finally crossed paths on that steep, frozen rock face,
08:05they didn't have a long, dramatic conversation.
08:09They only spoke for a few minutes.
08:10But in that brief, breathless exchange surrounded by a frozen hell,
08:15something massive shifted.
08:17All the egos simply disappeared.
08:21Looking at the brutal reality of the mountain around them,
08:24they realized a terrifying truth.
08:26If they kept treating each other like competitors,
08:30K2 was going to kill them all.
08:32The mountain was simply too big, too cold,
08:35and too violent for any small group to beat it alone.
08:39Breaking the trail through deep winter snow at that altitude burns a lethal amount of energy.
08:46But if they shared their ropes, their tents,
08:49and took turns leading the way to save their physical strength,
08:52they might actually have a chance.
08:55And there was also something deeper here.
08:58See, Nims and Mingma were both born and raised in Nepal,
09:03a country where Sherpas and other Nepali mountain workers
09:06had spent generations helping foreign climbers fix the ropes,
09:10carry the loads, build camps,
09:12go up first,
09:13and make the routes safe for climbers trying to reach the world's highest peaks,
09:18only to watch somebody else stand on the summit and take the glory.
09:22Now, for the first time,
09:24the final great winter mountain was sitting in front of them,
09:28and neither man wanted to see another foreign expedition come in
09:32and walk away with that historic first.
09:35The rivalry suddenly didn't make much sense anymore,
09:38because if Nims reached the summit first,
09:41Mingma still had to watch a fellow Nepali make history.
09:44And if Mingma reached it first,
09:47well, Nims would still have helped put a Nepali team on top of K-2.
09:51They shook hands right there on the mountain.
09:54A day later, on December 31st,
09:56they threw a New Year's Eve party at base camp and made it official.
09:59They were no longer rival factions.
10:02They were now working together toward the same goal.
10:05Later, Sona Sherpa from a Seven Summit Trex expedition
10:09joined the combined effort,
10:10bringing the final summit team to ten Nepali climbers.
10:15But K-2 doesn't care about brotherhood.
10:18To understand what happened next,
10:20here's how a winter K-2 climb actually works.
10:24Because nobody just wakes up at base camp one morning
10:26and walks to the summit.
10:28K-2 is too high for that,
10:30and your body needs time to adapt to the air up there.
10:34Instead, climbers slowly build a chain of camps up the mountain.
10:38Base camp sits around 17,000 feet.
10:42Then comes camp one at roughly 20,000 feet.
10:45Camp two is around 22,300 feet.
10:48Camp three is around 24,100 feet.
10:52And finally, camp four sits at around 25,600 feet.
10:57That's the traditional high camp before the summit,
11:00which rises another roughly 2,600 feet above it.
11:04The idea is to climb high, sleep, and come back down to recover.
11:10And every time a climber goes higher,
11:12their bodies slowly get used to the lack of oxygen.
11:16And eventually, when the route's ready and the weather is right,
11:19they launch the summit push.
11:21And in the summer, that means leaving camp four in the middle of the night,
11:24climbing through the darkness,
11:26reaching the summit during the day,
11:28and getting back down before the weather turns.
11:30For this 2020 winter summit,
11:34Ming-Ma and his two friends reached Skardu on December 10th.
11:37They trekked toward base camp,
11:39arrived there six days later,
11:41rested on December 19th and 20th,
11:44and on the 21st, they started climbing.
11:47They moved incredibly fast.
11:49In just a single day, on December 22nd,
11:53Ming-Ma's tiny team managed to fix the heavy ropes
11:56all the way from camp one up to camp two.
11:59At the exact same time,
12:02Nims and his elite team were doing their own exhausting trips.
12:06Throughout late December,
12:07they climbed up into the freezing winds
12:10to stash their thick sleeping bags,
12:13heated shoe insoles,
12:14summit gloves,
12:15and oxygen bottles
12:17all the way up at camp two as well.
12:19They deposited this heavy survival gear
12:22so it would be waiting for them
12:24when it was time to go for the top.
12:26By the time Ming-Ma ran out of rope
12:28and got stalled on December 30th,
12:31both Nepali teams had already spent weeks
12:33climbing up and down the mountain
12:36just to lay the groundwork for the higher camps.
12:39Everything seemed to be falling perfectly into place,
12:42but they were about to learn a terrifying lesson.
12:46Because as we said,
12:47K2 doesn't care about brotherhood,
12:49and it doesn't care how hard you worked.
12:52Just a week later,
12:54around January 8th,
12:55a ferocious winter storm slammed into the mountain.
12:59For days,
13:00the winds hit around 87 miles per hour,
13:03and sometimes much more.
13:05The climbers were pinned down inside their tents at base camp,
13:09trapped inside while listening to the terrifying roar
13:11of the mountain above them.
13:13They could do nothing but wait
13:15and hope their gear high up on the mountain
13:17was surviving the storm.
13:19Ming-Ma later described winds
13:21of around 87 miles per hour during this period.
13:24When the weather finally eased around January 10th,
13:27members of Nim's team climbed back up to Camp 2,
13:31which was sitting at around 22,000 feet.
13:34They needed to check on the heavy gear
13:36they had spent the previous weeks
13:38carrying up and stashing there.
13:40When they arrived,
13:41they found chaos.
13:43Everything was gone.
13:44The hurricane-force winds
13:47had completely shredded their camp.
13:49Their heavy tents,
13:51their thick sleeping bags,
13:52their heated shoe insoles,
13:54their extreme summit gloves,
13:56and their cooking equipment.
13:57All of it
13:58had been blown away.
14:00NIMS described the site as a wreck.
14:03To understand how bad this is,
14:05you have to understand the rules of the death zone.
14:07If you lose your cooking stove,
14:10melting snow for drinking water
14:11becomes much harder.
14:13If you lose your heavy summit gloves,
14:15your hands are exposed to frostbite.
14:18If you lose your sleeping bags,
14:20surviving a winter night
14:21at more than 22,000 feet
14:23becomes dramatically more dangerous.
14:26NIMS was devastated.
14:28He looked at the empty,
14:29frozen rock where their camp used to be
14:31and realized they had lost the equipment
14:34they had planned to use
14:35for the final push to the top.
14:37For almost every other expedition in history,
14:40this is the exact moment
14:41you pack up and go home.
14:43You simply cannot climb K2 in winter
14:45without proper survival gear.
14:48It looked like the dream was over
14:50before it even really began.
14:52But this team was built differently.
14:55Instead of just giving up,
14:57they hiked all the way back down
14:59the mountain to base camp.
15:00They gathered whatever spare backup gear
15:03they could find,
15:04strapped it to their backs,
15:05and started climbing
15:06all the way back up again.
15:08Because they had to replace the lost gear,
15:11NIMS and his team had to leave
15:12base camp first on January 12th.
15:15Mingma and his guys followed
15:16on January 13th.
15:18They were doing twice the physical work
15:20with half the rest,
15:21completely exhausting their bodies
15:23just to get back to where they started.
15:25They were running on pure adrenaline
15:27and willpower,
15:28but they were also running out of time.
15:32They had already spent weeks
15:33climbing up and down K2
15:35and had just been forced
15:37to replace equipment
15:38the mountain had stolen from them.
15:40They needed something,
15:42anything,
15:43to go their way.
15:44And on January 14th,
15:46the mountain gave them
15:47either the biggest break ever
15:49or a death blow
15:51to this expedition.
15:52That day,
15:53the climbers at K2
15:55were looking at two
15:56completely different forecasts.
15:58Down at the lower camps
15:59where other hopeful
16:00international teams were camped,
16:02their forecasts were warning them
16:04of extremely high winds
16:06on January 14th.
16:07At that altitude,
16:09this wasn't the kind of weather
16:10you simply waited out
16:11on the mountain.
16:12A storm that strong
16:14could rip tents apart,
16:16bury the route,
16:17blow climbers off exposed sections,
16:19or leave anyone caught above the camps
16:22with no safe way back down.
16:24So,
16:25the international teams
16:26made the only decision
16:27that seemed to make sense.
16:28They stayed lower on the mountain
16:30and waited.
16:32But,
16:33Ming-Ma was using his own
16:34local weather forecaster
16:35back in Nepal,
16:36and what he saw
16:38was this bizarre,
16:39incredibly rare break
16:41in the jet stream
16:41moving right over K2
16:43that would bring a window
16:44of much better weather
16:46followed by worse conditions.
16:48That meant
16:49they had just a couple of days
16:51to reach the top
16:52and climb back down
16:53if they chose to.
16:55If Ming-Ma's guy was right,
16:57this was the break they needed.
16:59If he was wrong,
17:00they were literally
17:02climbing into their graves.
17:04Ming-Ma shared the news
17:05with NIMS,
17:06and together,
17:07the unified Nepali team
17:09chose to risk it.
17:10So,
17:11on the morning of January 14th,
17:13international teams watched
17:15from lower down the mountain
17:16as 10 Nepali climbers
17:18went up the mountain.
17:19They must have felt
17:21they were watching men
17:22climb toward their own deaths.
17:24They didn't stop them.
17:25I can't imagine
17:27how they must have felt.
17:28They had no idea
17:29what was waiting
17:30for them higher up.
17:31They knew the foreign teams
17:33below were laughing at them,
17:34whispering in their tents
17:35at their decision.
17:37Every time,
17:38a sudden gust of wind
17:39screamed down the ridge,
17:40hitting them
17:41with enough force
17:42to nearly peel them
17:43off the rock face.
17:44Doubt crept in.
17:46Did Ming-Ma's forecaster
17:48get it wrong?
17:49Are we climbing into a trap?
17:51But,
17:52as they went up,
17:53something incredible happened.
17:54and the wind
17:55began to die down.
17:58Within a few hours,
17:59the same gusts
18:00that had been trying
18:01to tear them off
18:02the mountain
18:02just stopped.
18:04The screaming
18:05in their ears
18:06went quiet.
18:07For the first time
18:08in weeks,
18:08they could hear
18:09their own breathing again
18:10instead of the wind
18:11trying to drown it out.
18:13Ming-Ma's forecaster
18:14had been right.
18:16By the time
18:16they reached Camp 3
18:17at 24,000 feet
18:19that evening,
18:20the sky above K2
18:21was doing something
18:22none of them
18:22had seen all winter.
18:23It was calm.
18:25Actually calm.
18:26But they still
18:27had a huge problem
18:28because at 24,000 feet,
18:31Camp 3
18:31was only the first step.
18:33Above them
18:34was Camp 4,
18:35and the route
18:36to Camp 4
18:36had never been
18:37properly prepared
18:38for winter.
18:39Someone had to
18:41break trail
18:41through the snow,
18:43find a way
18:43around the crevasses,
18:45fix the ropes,
18:46and make sure
18:47the other nine
18:47climbers could follow.
18:49And on January 15th,
18:51that job would fall
18:52to Ming-Ma,
18:53Gyal-Jay,
18:54Sherpa,
18:54and three other men.
18:56They were about
18:57to climb into terrain
18:58where nobody
18:58had ever successfully
19:00established
19:00a winter route before.
19:02And the first thing
19:03they found
19:04was this massive,
19:05bottomless,
19:06black crack
19:06in the ice,
19:07completely blocking
19:09the only path
19:09to the top.
19:10It was far
19:12too wide
19:12to jump,
19:13and when Ming-Ma
19:14looked to the left
19:15and the right,
19:16there was no obvious
19:17way around it.
19:18Suddenly,
19:19their perfect weather
19:20window didn't matter
19:21because obviously
19:23you cannot walk
19:24over thin air.
19:25For hours,
19:26the four men
19:27wandered the steep,
19:29freezing ice face
19:30in the death zone.
19:31They climbed to the right
19:32and to the left,
19:33looking for a bridge.
19:35They found nothing.
19:36They climbed almost
19:38all the way back down
19:39to Camp 3
19:40just to start over
19:41and try a completely
19:42different path
19:43up the mountain.
19:44Finally,
19:45after hours of searching,
19:47they found a terrifyingly thin,
19:49unstable bridge
19:50of packed ice
19:51up a completely
19:53different section
19:54of the mountain
19:54called the Chesson Ridge.
19:56With his heart
19:57pounding in his chest,
19:59Ming-Ma tied himself
20:00to a rope
20:00while his teammate
20:01held the other end.
20:02He stepped out
20:04onto the fragile ice bridge,
20:05balancing over the void,
20:07and slowly crossed
20:09to the other side.
20:10They had done it.
20:11They finally reached
20:13the spot for Camp 4
20:14at around 25,600 feet
20:17at 4 p.m.
20:18But this search
20:19came with a devastating price.
20:21Camp 4 at 25,600 feet
20:24was supposed to be
20:25a short three-hour hike
20:27from Camp 3.
20:28Ming-Ma and his team
20:29had just used
20:30over eight brutal hours
20:32of trail braking
20:32through deep winter snow.
20:35So when they finally stood
20:36at the site of Camp 4,
20:38Ming-Ma was completely drained.
20:40He had originally
20:42wanted to climb
20:42the mountain clean
20:43without using
20:45any bottled oxygen,
20:46but after that
20:47eight-hour fight,
20:48he knew his body
20:49was shutting down.
20:50To stay alive,
20:52he had to swallow his pride,
20:54give up his ultimate dream,
20:56and turn on
20:57his oxygen tank.
20:58But there was
20:59an even bigger problem.
21:01Due to the stress
21:02of climbing,
21:02the four men
21:03were so incredibly exhausted,
21:05they couldn't even
21:06set up the tents
21:07for Camp 4.
21:08They had nothing
21:09left in the tank.
21:10They were forced
21:11to turn around
21:11and climb all the way
21:13back down to Camp 3
21:14just to get some rest.
21:15This was a massive blow
21:17to the plan
21:18because a standard
21:19K-2 summit push
21:20launches from Camp 4.
21:22You sleep there,
21:23wake up in the middle
21:24of the night,
21:25and make a quick dash
21:26for the top.
21:27And now,
21:28because Camp 4
21:29didn't exist,
21:30the 10 Nepali
21:31climbers were going
21:32to have to start
21:33at Camp 3,
21:34adding over
21:35a thousand feet
21:36of steep,
21:37agonizing,
21:38lung-burning
21:39vertical climbing
21:40to what was already
21:41going to be
21:42the hardest day
21:43of their lives.
21:44So at midnight,
21:45January 16,
21:462021,
21:47Camp 3 came alive.
21:50The men
21:50boiled water,
21:52checked their equipment,
21:53and began
21:53preparing for the climb.
21:55They had originally
21:56planned to leave
21:57at 11 p.m.
21:58on January 15,
21:59but the forecast
22:00for January 16
22:01looked unusually clear,
22:03so they decided
22:04they could afford
22:05to wait.
22:06The plan was
22:07they would leave
22:07Camp 3 in waves,
22:09with the strongest
22:10climbers going first
22:11to do the exhausting,
22:12freezing work
22:13of breaking trail
22:14through the deep snow.
22:16At around 2 a.m.
22:17on January 16,
22:192021,
22:20it was time.
22:21Kilu Pemba,
22:23Dawa Tenjin,
22:24Sona,
22:25and Mingma Tenzi
22:26stepped out
22:27into the darkness,
22:28and almost immediately
22:30there was a problem.
22:32Mingma Ji was supposed
22:34to leave
22:34with the first wave,
22:36but he was still
22:37inside his tent
22:38fighting with
22:38his oxygen regulator.
22:40It wasn't fitting properly,
22:41and his freezing hands
22:43were struggling
22:44to make it work.
22:45By the time
22:46he was finally ready,
22:47Nims and the others
22:48had left,
22:48so he could only come
22:50with the second
22:51wave.
22:52Meanwhile,
22:52at the front of the pack,
22:54Nims and his teammate,
22:55Dawa Tenba,
22:56a certified mountain guide,
22:58and one of the most
22:59trusted elite climbers
23:00from his squad,
23:01had stepped out
23:02into the absolute
23:03blackness of the death zone
23:0520 minutes
23:06before anyone else.
23:08They had to,
23:09because Nims
23:10had decided to conquer
23:11this summit
23:11without bottled oxygen,
23:13at nearly minus 40 degrees
23:15on a mountain
23:16that had already tried
23:16to kill every man
23:18on this team
23:18at least once.
23:19This was obviously
23:22extremely risky,
23:23yet there was
23:25Nims and Temba
23:26pushing forward
23:27into the dark.
23:28They were climbing
23:29up a steep,
23:30icy route
23:31toward a massive
23:32section of the mountain
23:33known as the Shoulder.
23:35The Shoulder is this
23:36wide ridge of ice
23:37sitting at 25,600 feet,
23:40and it's the exact spot
23:41where Camp 4
23:42was supposed to be.
23:44In the summer,
23:45climbers get to sleep here
23:46before the final push,
23:48but tonight,
23:49it was just an empty,
23:51freezing wasteland
23:52they had to cross
23:53in the dark.
23:54For hours,
23:55the ten men
23:56climbed through
23:57pitch blackness.
23:58The only light
23:59came from the tiny
24:00headlamps on their
24:01helmets,
24:02cutting through the dark
24:03and reflecting off
24:04the solid blue ice.
24:06Every single step
24:07required them
24:08to kick the sharp
24:09metal spikes
24:10on their boots
24:11hard into the
24:12frozen wall
24:12just to keep
24:14from sliding backwards.
24:15up ahead,
24:17Nims was fighting
24:18his own invisible
24:19battle without
24:19bottled oxygen,
24:21breaking the trail
24:22through the deep snow.
24:24But further back
24:25in the line,
24:26Ming Ma was fighting
24:27a terrifying
24:27physical battle
24:28of his own.
24:29He was exhausted
24:30from yesterday's
24:31efforts,
24:32and the cold
24:33that night
24:33was hostile.
24:34It took everything
24:35for Ming Ma
24:36not to turn back,
24:37but by 5 a.m.,
24:39at 25,600 feet,
24:42his left foot
24:43stopped feeling
24:43like a foot at all.
24:45He knew exactly
24:46what that meant.
24:47The blood
24:48had stopped flowing.
24:50Frostbite was
24:51setting in.
24:52If he kept going,
24:53he was going to
24:54lose his foot.
24:55Or much worse.
24:57He was done,
24:58or so he thought.
25:00He reached for his
25:01radio to call his
25:02two best friends
25:03ahead of him
25:03to tell them
25:04he was turning back.
25:05He pressed the
25:06button and got
25:07nothing.
25:08He couldn't reach
25:09Dawa Tenjin
25:10on the radio.
25:11Ming Ma was
25:12completely isolated
25:13in the dark.
25:14He couldn't tell
25:15his team he was
25:16leaving,
25:17and if he went
25:17down without them,
25:19they might die
25:20looking for him.
25:21So,
25:22standing in the
25:22pitch black
25:23at 25,600 feet,
25:25he did the only
25:26thing he could do.
25:27He started kicking
25:28his frozen foot
25:29against the solid
25:30blue ice
25:31over and over,
25:33desperately trying
25:33to force warm
25:35blood back
25:35into his toes.
25:37And incredibly,
25:38the numbness
25:39began to fade.
25:40Ming Ma kept
25:41kicking his boot
25:42against the ice
25:43again and again,
25:44forcing his foot
25:45to move,
25:46even though every
25:47part of him
25:47was screaming
25:48to stop.
25:49Slowly,
25:50his foot came
25:51to life,
25:52and that meant
25:53he could keep
25:54climbing.
25:55But there was
25:55no time to
25:56celebrate,
25:56because the rest
25:57of the team
25:58was already
25:58moving higher.
26:00So Ming Ma
26:00took a deep breath
26:01and kept climbing.
26:03For two more
26:04agonizing hours,
26:05the team fought
26:06their way upward
26:07in the freezing
26:08dark.
26:09Finally,
26:10around 6 a.m.,
26:12something beautiful
26:13happened.
26:13The sun broke
26:15over the horizon.
26:16That tiny ray
26:17of sunlight
26:18brought just
26:18enough warmth
26:19to save Ming Ma's
26:21foot and the burst
26:22of energy he needed
26:23to push through
26:24the pain and catch
26:25up with the leaders.
26:26As the morning
26:27light hit the mountain,
26:29the ten climbers
26:30were finally able
26:31to see each other
26:31clearly.
26:32They had survived
26:33the dark and
26:34reached 26,900 feet.
26:36They regrouped,
26:38caught their breath,
26:39and looked up.
26:40They had made it
26:41through the night,
26:42but the most
26:43dangerous obstacle,
26:44this terrifyingly
26:46narrow hallway
26:47of slick blue ice,
26:48was staring right
26:49back at them.
26:50The section is
26:52called the bottleneck,
26:53and this is
26:54statistically the
26:55most dangerous
26:55section of K2,
26:57because hanging
26:58right over the
26:59bottleneck is this
27:00massive, 300-foot-tall
27:02cliff of unstable,
27:04jagged ice.
27:05Huge chunks,
27:06of this frozen cliff
27:07regularly snap off
27:08without any warning.
27:10If a piece of ice
27:11falls while you're
27:11walking underneath it,
27:13well, that's the end.
27:15But there was no
27:16escaping this section,
27:17so Ming-Ma Tenzi,
27:19one of the strongest
27:20climbers in the group,
27:21took the lead.
27:22He hammered metal
27:23safety screws into
27:24the sheer ice,
27:25inch by inch,
27:27setting the ropes
27:28so the rest of the
27:28team could follow
27:29safely.
27:30They moved up
27:31together while
27:32escaping the shadow
27:33of the hanging ice
27:34and finally pushing
27:36out onto the last
27:37snowy slopes.
27:38Hours bled away.
27:40Every single step
27:42was pure agony
27:43in the thin air.
27:44And finally,
27:45at exactly 4.43pm,
27:48climbers at the front
27:49reached the very last
27:50ridge before their goal.
27:52The summit of K2,
27:54completely flat,
27:55empty,
27:56and untouched
27:57in the winter
27:57since the beginning
27:58of human history
27:59was right there
28:01in front of them.
28:02Any other climber
28:03in history would have
28:04taken those final steps
28:05alone.
28:06They would have rushed
28:07to claim the glory
28:08of being the very first
28:09person to stand on top.
28:11But not this team.
28:12Climbers at the front
28:13stopped just 30 feet
28:15from the peak
28:15and just stood there
28:17in the freezing thin air,
28:18waiting until all 10
28:20Nepali climbers
28:21pulled themselves up
28:23onto the ridge.
28:24Then,
28:25they linked arms,
28:26brother to brother,
28:27shoulder to shoulder.
28:29And together,
28:30at 4.43pm
28:32on January 16th,
28:332021,
28:3510 men walked
28:36those final 30 feet
28:37to the very top
28:39of the savage mountain.
28:40Their voices echoed
28:42off the ice
28:42as they sang
28:43the national anthem
28:44of Nepal.
28:51They had done it.
28:53The impossible
28:53was broken.
28:54The last great prize
28:56in mountaineering
28:57finally belonged
28:59to the people
28:59who had always been
29:00the backbone
29:01of the mountains.
29:02Ming Ma Tenzi
29:03held the flag up
29:05as the sun dropped
29:06toward the horizon.
29:07Some of the men
29:08were crying
29:09and at that altitude,
29:10in that cold,
29:11tears freeze
29:12almost as fast
29:13as they fall.
29:1533 years after
29:16the first expedition
29:17had tried and failed
29:18to put a human being
29:20on this summit
29:21in winter
29:21and 13 winter
29:23first ascents later,
29:25every single one
29:26of them claimed
29:27by a foreign climber.
29:2810 Nepali men
29:30had just written
29:31their own names
29:31into the history
29:32of the mountain
29:33that had always belonged
29:34in every way
29:35that mattered
29:36to somebody else.
29:37They didn't get to enjoy it
29:39for long
29:39because getting up
29:41is only half the mountain.
29:43Coming down
29:44is the half
29:44that actually kills people,
29:46even the best
29:47Sherpas on earth.
29:48Legs that somehow
29:49held for roughly
29:5016 hours going up
29:52start failing
29:53on the way down.
29:54Judgment that stayed
29:56sharp with the summit
29:57ahead of them
29:57gets foggy fast
29:59once it's behind them
30:00instead.
30:01They got to the top
30:02at 4.43pm.
30:04Now they had to
30:05get back down.
30:06Going down
30:07is when most
30:08climbers on K2
30:09run into trouble.
30:11First,
30:12the sun had been out
30:13for hours by then
30:14and all that sunlight
30:16had started working
30:16on the mountain.
30:18And K2
30:18was a crumbling mess
30:20of loose,
30:20jagged rocks
30:22hidden under
30:22thin layers of snow.
30:24Rock that had stayed
30:25frozen solid
30:26all winter
30:27began to thaw
30:28as the ten men
30:29picked their way down
30:30through the dark,
30:32fist-sized rock chunks
30:33began to come loose
30:35and fall.
30:35There was nothing
30:36the climbers could do
30:37but keep moving
30:38and hope nothing found them.
30:39Even worse,
30:40the climbers had
30:41at this point
30:41spent the better part
30:42of a day
30:43above 26,000 feet.
30:45Their bodies
30:45were almost
30:46completely out of fuel.
30:48Every single step
30:49down the steep,
30:50crumbling rock face
30:51was a pure torture.
30:53But Ming-Ma,
30:54Nims,
30:54and the rest of the team
30:55knew that if they
30:57sat down in the snow
30:58to rest,
30:58even just for five minutes,
31:00they would fall asleep
31:01and never wake up.
31:03It was a desperate,
31:04agonizing crawl.
31:06They had to navigate
31:07back down
31:08through the terrifying
31:09bottleneck
31:09with chunks of rock
31:11and ice
31:12whistling past their heads
31:13in the dark,
31:14relying entirely
31:15on their tiny headlamps
31:17and the brother
31:18tied to the other end
31:19of their rope.
31:20When one man stumbled,
31:22the others held his weight.
31:24When someone started
31:25to drift off
31:26while standing,
31:27the team shouted
31:28to wake them.
31:29And finally,
31:30after hours of stumbling,
31:32they saw the flapping fabric
31:34of their tents.
31:35They had survived
31:36the most dangerous descent
31:38on Earth
31:38and made it back
31:40to Camp 3.
31:41Eight of the ten climbers
31:42later reported frostbite,
31:44while all ten
31:45eventually
31:46made it safely
31:48back to base camp.
31:49Over the next couple of days,
31:51they continued the climb
31:53all the way down
31:53to base camp.
31:55Ming-Ma had kept
31:56the ultimate promise.
31:57He brought his friends
31:58back home
31:59to their families.
32:00When they finally returned
32:02to Kathmandu
32:02and Islamabad,
32:04the reception
32:04was enormous.
32:06Pakistan's president
32:07and army chief
32:08received them personally.
32:10Nepal's prime minister
32:11welcomed them home
32:12as national heroes.
32:14When faced
32:15with a winter hurricane
32:16and the deadliest mountain
32:17on Earth,
32:18they swallowed their egos
32:19and joined forces.
32:21This remains
32:22one of the greatest
32:23climbing achievements
32:24of the 21st century.
32:26But,
32:27back at base camp,
32:28three other men
32:29were quietly watching
32:30this Nepali achievement.
32:32Twenty days later,
32:33those three men
32:35would attempt
32:35the same route.
32:37What happened
32:37to them
32:38is one of 2021's
32:39strangest mountaineering disasters.
32:42Watch this next video.
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