Grace Tseng (曾格爾) has become the first Taiwanese mountaineer to summit K2, the world’s second-highest peak, which is considered one of the hardest to climb, without using supplemental oxygen.
Tseng, 29, made the announcement on Facebook on Friday, hours after reaching the summit at 8,611m above sea level.
Besides being the first Taiwanese, she also became one of the youngest women in the world to summit K2 without supplemental oxygen.
Photo courtesy of Grace Tseng
Tseng’s successful ascent came on her second attempt, after failing to summit the mountain, which is on the border between Pakistan and China, in winter this year.
Due to the difficult weather conditions and austere terrain, Tseng had to give up on her first attempt when she was only a few hundred meters from the peak.
Tseng wrote on Facebook that her failed attempt added a psychological obstacle to the already difficult mission.
She said that this time she was more cautious, even though weather conditions were easier.
However, strong winds on Thursday might have prevented her group of more than 80 mountaineers from reaching the peak, she said.
Thankfully, the weather was good on Friday, she said.
Regarding the last stretch to the summit, Tseng said: “After overcoming slopes steeper than on Mount Everest, difficult terrain and low oxygen saturation, I finally summited K2 after climbing the icy peak on my knees in tears.”
Tseng is seeking to climb all 14 of the world’s peaks of at least 8,000m above sea level before her 30th birthday. Having summited nine of them so far, she has four more months to climb the remaining five.
Tseng said that following her ascent of K2, climbing the remaining five would not just allow her to reach her goal, but also add Taiwan to the list of nations that had at least one citizen at the summits of the world’s 14 highest peaks.
Tseng’s expedition was guided by Nepalese climbers Nima Gyalzen Sherpa and Ningma Dorje Tamang.
Prior to Tseng, Taiwanese mountaineers Chang Yuan-chih (張元植) and Lu Zhong-han (呂忠翰) in 2019 teamed up to climb K2 without supplemental oxygen, but they had to turn back at about 8,200m above sea level, 400m short of summiting.
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