K2 deaths in 2008 due to “summit fever”

“Summit fever” led to the loss of 11 mountaineers, including Irishman Ger McDonnell, on the world’s second highest mountain, K2, in 2008, according to Nepalese Himalayan guide Pemba Gyalje Sherpa.

A lack of clear thinking at altitude meant some of the mountaineers who had taken advantage of a weather window to make a successful ascent lingered too long above 7,500 metres, he says.

Mr Pemba (40), who was in Dublin last night to mark publication of a book he has co-authored with Irish adventurer Pat Falvey, says the outcome would have been "very different" if climbers had retreated en masse after the first fatality.

The guide's heroism on K2 in 2008 is the focus of the book and a documentary, The Summit, directed by Nick Ryan.

From the SoluKhumbu district of Nepal, Mr Pemba is president of the Nepal Mountain Guide Association. He has climbed Everest seven times, and several of those expeditions were with Mr Falvey. He was with Cork doctor Clare O'Leary and Mr Falvey when she became first Irish woman to ascend Everest in 2004.

Now living in Kathmandu with his wife and two children, he continues to work in mountaineering, but has not been back to K2 since 2008.

He was recruited for the international Norit K2 expedition five years ago by Irish man Ger McDonnell, who had also summited Everest with him in 2003. Some 25 climbers on several expeditions took advantage of a weather window on August 1st, 2008, to aim for the summit.

When a large serac, or block of ice, collapsed, it trapped 17 climbers high up the mountain overnight, including McDonnell's team leader Wilco van Rooijen and Norit team-mate Italian Marco Confortola.

The Irish man died on the descent, having spent several hours trying to assist two Koreans and a Sherpa, while Mr van Rooijen and Mr Confortola were separated. Mr Pemba had descended to 7,500 metres on that first night, but he climbed back up the mountain, located Mr Confortola, revived him and brought him to safety. He then set off again after only a few hours' sleep to find Mr van Rooijen. Mr Pemba was awarded with National Geographic magazine's "adventurer of the year" title for his courage.

'The Summit: How Triumph Turned to Tragedy on K2's Deadliest Days' by Pat Falvey and Pemba Gyalje Sherpa, is published by Beyond Endurance Publishing in association with O'Brien Press.