Climber Contemplating Making First Female Ski Descent of K2

Climber Contemplating Making First Female Ski Descent of K2

ExplorersWeb reports that American ski mountaineer Sarah Strattan is currently at K2 Base Camp and is considering skiing all or some of the world’s second highest mountain. Strattan says she will decide on that depending on how things go.

“I am here to try and climb K2 this summer, but I will also have my skis with me. I want to ski what I can safely. Hopefully from the summit,” Strattan told ExplorersWeb.

Last year Strattan attempted Broad Peak, another of the world’s 14 peaks above 8,000m and skied from 7,700m.

“When I saw K2 towering above Broad Peak Base Camp, I was in absolute awe. It was the most amazing, imposing, and beautiful mountain I had ever seen,” Strattan said.

K2 is considered one of the most difficult of the so-called “8000ers” to ski, all of which take exceptional skill, nerve and talent to ski as it is. The feat, was finally accomplished from the summit  by Polish ski mountaineer Andrzej Bargiel on July 22nd, 2018, (below) after a number of unsuccessful attempts by others in previous decades.

Bargiel’s feat is recorded in the Red Bull film K2: The Impossible Descent released in 2020.