posted on 2021-11-18, 11:25authored byTom Matthews, L Baker Perry, Deepak Aryal, Aurora C Elmore, Arbindra Khadka, Mauri Pelto, Dibas Shrestha, Robert WilbyRobert Wilby
On 16 January 2021, a team of Nepalese mountaineers claimed the last great prize of high altitude mountaineering with the first winter summit of K2. Here, we examine to what extent the weather on the “savage mountain” may have aided the intrepid climbers during their ascent. We find that, whilst the team had to endure brutal temperatures and winds earlier in the season, the arrival of an upper-level ridge on 16 January brought uncharacteristically high pressures and temperatures, but low winds. Notably, the cold hazard was still extreme by the standards of summit climbs of mountains above 8,000 m a.s.l., but uncharacteristically favourable for K2 in winter. Extraordinary ability therefore aligned with a weather window of opportunity to set up this moment of mountaineering history.
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Matthews, T. ... et al., (2022). Weather on K2 during historic first winter ascent, Weather, 77 (2), pp.49-52, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/wea.4094. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.