In July 2019, Nirmal Purja led the only successful summit push on K2 that summer. He was at the peak of his glorious chain-ascent of all 14 8,000’ers in under seven months. Some days earlier, on Broad Peak, Purja witnessed an extraordinary feat that may have given him ideas for the future.
Austrian climber and paraglider Max Berger, guiding on K2 for Furtenbach Expeditions, paraglided from the Shoulder at nearly 8,000m. He landed in Base Camp 17 minutes later. Previously, Berger had also flown from Camp 3 on Broad Peak.
Max Berger flies down from the Shoulder of K2 in summer 2019. Photo: Max Berger
Fast forward 18 months and Nirmal Purja is back on K2, in winter this time. On Sunday, he described the “wreckage site” at Camp 2. For some reason, their two tents and their contents had not been folded and secured to the ground to protect them from the foreseeable gale-force winds and had blown away. “We have lost everything, including all our kit: sleeping bags, mattresses, heated shoe insoles, summit gloves/mittens, summit base layers, paragliding equipment, cooking equipment, etc.” Purja wrote.
The report surprised experienced climbers, both for the seeming lack of precaution with the gear (either by Purja’s team or someone later using their tent), and for the reference to “paragliding equipment”.
Purja declared himself devastated at his lost gear, although “some damage and disruption was expected,” he said before leaving Base Camp. Luckily, he quickly recovered from the setback and he and his team have continued up with gear and ropes toward Camp 4. He has not made further mention of a paraglider since.
Yet this was not the first time that Purja has shown an interest in flying from a high summit. Purja took a speed-flying course in Chamonix last summer. (Paragliders try to prolong their flight as long as possible, while speed-fliers focus on quick descents from mountains.) It is unknown whether he had any previous paragliding experience, as part of his military training. Publicly, he has never jumped from a Himalayan peak.
It is true that he has not specifically revealed that he wants to paraglide from K2 on this current expedition, but he has never been very transparent about his plans. Probably he wanted it as a surprise exclamation mark to a historic triumph. But his intentions are clearly revealed on the Seven Summit Treks’ climbing permit below:
Whether Purja goes ahead with it depends on a lot of things, not least of which is whether he summits in the first place. But a question remains: Is flying from the top of K2 even possible in winter?
If someone can answer these questions, it’s Max Berger. So we asked, and here is what he had to say:
Berger paraglided from K2 on a windless summer day. Photo: Max Berger/BOA system
Read more on Berger’s flight from K2 in this interview in CrossCountry magazine. Below, the video about his flight.
