Benjamin Védrines climbs K2 in 11 hours

Two years after climbing Broad Peak in a record time of 7 hours and 19 minutes, yesterday French ace Benjamin Védrines surpassed himself once again, this time by climbing K2 in an astounding eleven hours. 10 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds to be precise, needed to ascend from advanced base camp at about 5,350 meters to the 8,611 meter summit of the second highest mountain in the world.

The 32-year-old had reached the Concordia cirque 40 days ago together with Sébastien Montaz-Rosset and, despite bad weather and strong winds, he was the only mountaineer to make three rotations up to Camp 3 at 7,300 meters. Demonstrating great technical ability and tenacity, he was at times alone, and often had to break trail. This fundamental acclimatisation phase was deemed suboptimal and defined by the Frenchman as being "not what I was hoping for", but all things considered it proved more than sufficient for his fast ascent.

It should be noted that Védrines' success comes after having narrowly escaped tragedy in 2022: immediately after his record ascent of Broad Peak, Védrines tried to repeat himself on K2, but at around 8,400 metres he began to suffer from severe hypoxia due to fatigue. Other climbers on the mountain immediately helped him by providing supplementary oxygen, then after recovering he managed to descend on his own accord.

Yesterday on the Instagram page of his sponsor The North Face, Védrines explained "When I reached 8,000 metres I slowed down because I was very worried about reliving the same situation as two years ago. This climb was very symbolic for me and I relived with total lucidity the sections that sometimes appeared in my flashes: I was able to observe and understand better. Reaching the summit, I felt an emotion so intense that I have rarely felt on a mountain." Védrines' initial plan also included a paragliding descent, but currently there is no information about this.

It is worth remembering that the previous fastest known time without supplemental oxygen was set by his compatriot Benoît Chamoux, who on 7 July 1986 needed a mere 23 hours to ascend from base camp to the summit via the Abruzzi Spur. At the time this was hailed as a revolutionary ascent. Just like Védrines' now.

Info: alpinemag.fr

 

 

 

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