ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — At least nine climbers were feared dead on K-2, the world’s second-highest mountain, after an avalanche cut ropes used to cross a treacherous wall of ice, officials and other climbers said Sunday.
Several other mountaineers were missing, prompting a rescue effort on the peak in northern Pakistan, which is regarded as more dangerous to climb than Mount Everest.
A total of 22 people, mostly foreigners, in eight groups scaled K-2’s summit Friday, said Nazir Sabir of the Alpine Club of Pakistan.
As they made their way down, an avalanche carried away ropes fixed 1,148 feet below the peak, sweeping some climbers to their deaths and stranding others at a height where they would likely succumb to exposure, Sabir said.
Accounts varied on the number of dead and how they died.
Sabir said nine people died in the avalanche, including two would-be rescuers, and another two fell to their deaths Friday on the way up.
Mohammed Akram, vice president of the Adventure Foundation of Pakistan, a nonprofit organization, said six climbers died in the avalanche with another three killed in other accidents Friday. He said several others, including local porters, were missing.
Akram said one rescue team dispatched Sunday had reached a Dutchman and an Italian suffering from frostbite and were helping them down toward a camp at 21,325 feet.
He said helicopter crews spotted survivors but could not rescue them because the air is too thin for them to operate.
The fixed rope lines were strung across a point on the mountain known as “The Bottleneck.” Chris Warner, an American who climbed K-2 last year, said it was the deadliest place on the mountain. The fall from there down the south face is about 9,000 feet.
He said hope was fading for anyone still alive and separated from their group.
“Once their hands and feet are frozen, they really are unable to move on their own power, and it takes other people to carry them down,” he said.
At 28,251 feet, K-2 stands about 785 feet below Mount Everest but is a “phenomenally dangerous mountain,” said climber Alan Arnett.
The toll from the avalanche was the highest from a single incident on K-2 since at least 1995, when seven climbers died after being caught in a storm.
