K2: How Yorkshire climber conquered The Savage Mountain 30 years ago
Thirty years ago, Alan Hinkes was on the brink of one of his biggest – and most dangerous – triumphs.
The proud Yorkshireman – Britain's most successful mountaineer and the only Briton to climb all the world’s 8000-metre (26,247ft) peaks – said it was the culmination of three consecutive expeditions.
He had spent nearly 12 months over a three-year period attempting K2. Known as the Savage Mountain, it has a reputation for difficulty and danger.
Former teacher Mr Hinkes, of Northallerton, said: “K2 is not much lower than Everest, but it is much more difficult to climb.
"It is a more serious, arduous two-week trek to a remote BC (base camp), the weather is worse, the climbing is more technical and there are more avalanche and rock fall risks.”
Straddling the Pakistan-China border in the northern Karakoram, it pokes up dramatically from the rock-strewn glacier.
At 8,611 metres K2 is a mountain of almost perfect proportions. It soars up over 3000 metres in a striking pyramid of ice, snow and rock.
His first attempt on K2 was abandoned to help rescue an exhausted climber whose partner had fallen to his death.
The following year he made an attempt on the remote north side. This expedition was so remote that it lasted five months UK to UK.
He had a “close shave” at 6000 metres when an avalanche struck the narrow bivouac ledge he was on.
He planned for his third attempt on K2 in June/July 1995. Unfortunately, in April 1995 he had a serious leg injury after slipping off the path trekking in to Makalu.
He said his leg healed well and he was ready for K2.
He said: “I teamed up with Alison Hargreaves and we set off together to join the 1995 American K2 expedition.
"I knew Alison well, she was an old friend and we had climbed together a lot, especially in winter on Ben Nevis.
“We trekked in for 12 days and climbed together for two weeks, acclimatising on the mountain, before changing to an American climbing partner.
“This was my third attempt on K2 and I was focussed and determined to summit. I had a lot of local knowledge of the mountain and area.
"Also, this was my 13th 8000er expedition and I had summited four 8000ers.
"K2 felt like an old friend, it did not faze me, I felt confident, although I was acutely aware of the dangers it posed and knew that I must not get complacent and underestimate the risks on what was becoming familiar terrain.
"I was fit, ready and felt a sense that a good weather window was opening. I knew I had to go for it. My American climbing partner had to drop back as he was not acclimatised enough and I pushed on alone.
"I reached the top solo at the same time as two Dutch and two Pakistani climbers on 17 July 1995. It took me 15 hours from my last bivouac on the shoulder at 7900m and I descended in the dark back, to the shoulder, overtaking the Dutch and Pakistani climbers.
“Luckily as my senses had suggested the weather held and I descended to BC the following day. I was elated but utterly exhausted.
"Sadly, Alison perished in a storm a couple of weeks later. That year only five people summited and survived and eight were killed. K2 truly can be The Savage Mountain.”