Just as the Chinese were celebrating the Lantern Festival, tragic news came from K2. Yesterday (February 6) at 11:30 AM, 44-year-old Vitaly Gorelik of the Russian national mountaineering team died of “heart failure” after failing to receive timely medical treatment. Vitaly Gorelik had previously been forced to descend to base camp and wait for rescue due to second-degree frostbite. For days, K2 has been battered by blizzards, preventing rescue helicopters from taking off.
This team had previously climbed Jannu, one of the world’s most technically challenging peaks, and completed the North Face route of Everest. In early August 2007, they pioneered a new route up the West Face to summit K2, at which time they were known as the Russian National Alpinist Team K2. After safely descending, the team set a new goal—winter climbing on K2—and spent several years conducting surveys and preparations.