The K2 has a reputation as deadly and ineffable, and is known as “Savage Mountain.” There is no one reason why it has this reputation — it is not the tallest mountain and it doesn’t have the highest fatality rate. But since it was first summited in 1954, it has remained uniquely unconquerable. According to The Atlantic, in Himalayan mountaineering, there are three major categories of “firsts”: the first ascent, the first ascent without supplemental oxygen, and the first ascent in winter, when conditions are at their worst. There are 14 mountains with peaks that stretch more than 8,000 meters above sea level and have been climbed with and without supplemental oxygen, and all of those mountains have been summited in the winter — except one. A winter summit of K2 is the last problem of the Himalayas. But currently, a team of elite Polish climbers is attempting to solve that problem. They have been preparing for two years, and the team began ascending in early January, led by Krzysztof Wielicki, one of the most famous climbers in Polish history. But what happens to mountaineering once this final problem has been solved?
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