Best of 2021: How Nepalis on K2 surprised the world

Mingma G Sherpa, before he left for Pakistan to climb K2 , the second-highest peak in the world, earlier this winter, wanted to prove a point. Having failed to reach the top last year, for Mingma G, this was all or nothing. He had spent a fortune of his own money and taken no clients. But, to put his name and the Nepali flag in the mountaineering record books, he was ready for anything.

K2 was the last great prize in mountaineering: the only 8000-metre peak unclimbed in the winter, hence the last great mountaineering adventure. Since the 1980s, K2 had seen only seven attempts in the winter, all ending in failure. Summiting it would book a place in mountaineering’s hall of fame. But, for Mingma G and his team, it was also a chance to show the world how capable Nepali climbers are when it comes to high-altitude mountaineering.