Denis Urubko summited K2 (8,611m) this morning at 7:30 am local time. “I was alone above Camp 4,” Urubko wrote briefly.
For Urubko, K2 is his third 8,000’er in July, all without supplemental oxygen. He now has 26 summits on 8,000m peaks without O2. Urubko only needs one more to surpass Juanito Oiarzabal’s record total.
He started his push for the summit yesterday. The upper reaches of K2 looked very different from just a week ago, when more than 140 people summited after navigating a crowded Abruzzi Spur. This morning, nobody was above Camp 4 at approximately 7,900m.
Today is also Urubko’s birthday. What an incredible feeling it must be to turn 49 above the clouds, on the top of K2. Urubko is now on his way down.
