First West Face K2 Summits…EVER! Mariev and Popovich Capture Historical First Ascent!

Andrew Mariev and Vadim Popovich have claimed the first summits of K2’s West Face.  After spending weeks of battling the weather and days bunkered down in the dreaded Death Zone, the two finally made contact by radio at 10:23 am this morning telling the world that they were definately on the summit.

K2’s West Face had never played host to a successful summit bid…until today.  K2’s North Face and East Face still remain to be conquered.

Mariev and Popovich have successfully descended to Camp 6 as of 6:15 PM and are currently resting up.  Meanwhile, there are currently 2 climbers still positioned at K2’s Camp 7, and another 7 Climbers at Camp 6–still awaiting for their own push to the West Face Summit.

Early this morning the weather looked to be a little shakey.  Red Clouds surrounded K2’s summit and 30 to 50 mph winds were being reported.  Popovich and Mariev set out early to begin scouting the area to see how bad things really were.  Before anyone had realized it, the two were calling back down from the summit.

On another note, it seems the weather system that everyone has been waiting so patiently to pass–has finally began to simmer down.  The clouds have vanished and the winds are slowly abating.  It could be a long and interesting night for the climbers still bunkered down in the higher camps.

Since Popovich and Mariev have successfully summited–in what many considered questionable weather–you can bet that the teams still waiting in Camps 6 and 7 will be trying to shoot up K2’s West Face on their final push as quickly as possible.  Possibly tonight.

The Adventurist congratulates Andrew Mariev and Vadim Popovich on the first ever summit of K2’s West Face.  This has definately been a historical climb in every sense of the word…AND…did I mention that they done all of this with no supplemental O2?  Well done guys!

If you would like to read more on this historical achievement, head on over to K2Climb.net for the latest on this Expedition.