Sorry to be such a buzz-kill, but I know some of you have been following Fredrick Ericsson’s expedition to attempt to ski Laila Peak and K2 this year.  Well, as you may know, Laila Peak is out due to not being able to get permits, and now…unfortunately, Fredrick’s partner, 44 year old Italian Michele Fait, fell to his death while descending from an acclimatization climb from Camp 2 on Tuesday.

K2, The Savage Mountain.

The pair were trying to be the first one’s to ski K2 (8611m), known to be one of the most deadly mountains in the world and had placed their second camp on the mountain at 6700m.   Fredrick was below Michele and although the weather conditions have been reported as perfect, Michele must have lost his edge and fallen.  He ended up above Fredrick, who then hiked back up to check on his partner.  With help from Fabrizio Zangrilli, a leader of another climbing party, they found his body in a crevasse, but had to postpone the recovery a day due to avalanche prone slopes.

The following day, a group of 9 climbers were able to recover Michele’s body and bury it in a make shift grave and ceremony.  After the tragic accident in the Bottleneck last season and now this indecent, I think K2 is more that standing up to it’s reputation as “The Savage Mountain”.  Condolences to the friends and family of Michele and to Fredrick Ericsson, his partner on this trip.

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