The worst fears about K2 have come true: Rocks barreling down the lower slopes have fatally hit a climber on her way down.
Jing Guan of China, a member of the Imagine Nepal team, died after a rock struck her below Camp 1. The accident took place last night, The Tourism Times of Nepal reported.
Mingma G, right, with Jing Guan of China at K2 Base Camp. Photo: Jing Guan
Rockfall in the night
The accident happened yesterday at 10 pm Pakistan time. Pakistan’s Alpine Club confirmed the news of Guan’s passing to ExplorersWeb. It added that an operation is ongoing to recover her body.
Over half the climbers originally on the mountain had called their attempts off, mainly due to the high risk of rockfall. Until Camp 2, the slopes of K2 are not snow-covered but loose, bare rocks. Weeks of extreme heat and then rain had stripped away the snow cover.
The only summit push up the mountain started last week when the weather finally began to improve. Imagine Nepal’s team, led by Mingma G Sherpa, had been at the head of the push. Mingma G reported the mountain was in good condition from Camp 1 and had excellent snow cover beginning at Camp 2.
A total of 39 people from Imagine Nepal and three other teams summited on August 11. The Imagine Nepal group reached the top after a non-stop push from Camp 3 lasting more than 20 hours.
Everyone had worried about that last section of the descent. Steep rock and scree slopes between Camp 1 (around 6,000m) and the Godwin Austen Glacier were at times a shooting gallery of falling rocks.
In her latest Instagram post last week from Camp 2, Guan noted it was the first time she tackled the House’s Chimney, a short vertical passage at 6,600m, not far from the tents. Climber Maria Danila’s home team confirmed that the Imagine Nepal group had only rotated to Camp 1 before the summit push, due to bad conditions on the mountain and the relentless bad weather.
Second fatality
Jing Guan is the second climber to perish on K2 this season. Both accidents happened at the same place due to rockfall. In mid-July, Pakistani porter Iftikhar Hussain lost his life, and three other climbers were injured, in a rock slide below Camp 1.
Throughout the season, reports have surfaced of climbers injured from rockfall on Pakistan’s 8,000’ers. Two weeks ago, on 6,096m Laila Peak, former Olympic gold medal biathlete Laura Dahlmeier was also killed by a falling rock while rappelling.
Guan had also summited Everest with Imagine Nepal in the spring of 2024. She was an avid yoga practitioner.
