By STEPHEN GRAHAM , Associated Press Writer
Undated portrait of Irish mountaineer Gerard McDonnell is seen in the registration book of the Alpine Club of Pakistan. McDonnell is one of the eleven climbers those according to the Ministry of Tourism are believed dead. A helicopter lifted two frostbitten climbers from the world’s second-highest mountain, K-2, on Monday, Aug. 4, 2008 after an avalanche at more than 26,250 feet (8,000 meters) left at least 11 people missing and feared dead. (AP Photo/Alpine Club of Pakistan, HO)
A helicopter plucked two frostbitten Dutch climbers from K-2 on Monday after an avalanche and exposure left at least 11 people presumed dead on the world’s second-highest mountain. The rescue of a stranded Italian was aborted but, he told a colleague, “I am surely not going to give up now.”
One of the rescued men, Wilco Van Rooijen, blamed mistakes in preparation for the final ascent _ not just the avalanche _ for one of mountaineering’s worst disasters.
“Everything was going well to Camp Four and on summit attempt everything went wrong,” Van Rooijen told The Associated Press by phone from a military hospital, where he was being treated for frostbitten toes.
K-2, which lies near Pakistan’s northern border with China, is regarded by mountaineers as more challenging to conquer than Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak. K-2 is steeper, rockier and more prone to sudden, severe weather.
Van Rooijen said several expeditions waited through July for good weather to scale K-2 and decided to go for the summit when winds dropped on Friday. In all, about two dozen climbers made the ascent, officials said.
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Tags: bottleneck, climbers, dead, dutch, gerald, k2, mcdonnell, missing, news, pakistan, Rooijen, van, wilco
