From Benoni to the summit of the K2

Benoni resident, Warren Eva, and his friend, John Black, have summited the K2 mountain in Pakistan, becoming the first all-South African team to do so.

The duo realised a 20-year dream, arriving at the peak at 01:50 on July 22 – after navigating their way up the mountain that is considered the toughest and deadliest in the world.

Eva’s partner, Jana Niemoller, says it was a proud moment as he has fulfilled his 20-year promise.

“Warren wanted to climb K2 for 20-plus years. When he was still in school he gave a friend a book on K2 for his birthday and said, “one day we will climb this together”. In his words it was his dream mountain, ‘the mountain of mountains’,” she said.

Eva and Black were part of a four-person South African team that set out to scale the savage mountain. They began their climb from base camp at 01:45 on July 18, arriving at the summit after four days of a gruelling climb.

In a satellite call with Niemoller after reaching the summit, Eva thanked his supporters.

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“I want to thank everyone for the support and encouragement. It’s been a tough mountain. We haven’t let up for one second on the way to the summit. The first South African summit of K2. It’s done.”

As accomplished climber, he has summited several mountains including the Kilimanjaro (twice), Mount Kenya, Denali in Alaska and various peaks in the Himalayans.

He undertook this expedition to raise money for the Food4Hope charity. If you would like to still make a donation towards Eva’s cause, go to https://pos.snapscan.io/qr/PXW211812 or https://www.backabuddy.co.za/climb4hope.

At 8 611m above sea level, the K2 is the second highest peak in the world after Mount Everest. Lower than Everest by 240m, it is more technical and dangerous to climb with approximately one death on the mountain for every four climbers that reach the summit.

According to media reports, July has recorded more than 100 summits on the mountain – the highest in a single day ever.
However, it was not all joy as Australian Matthew Eakin, Canadian Richard Cartier and Afghan Ali Akbar Sakhi lost their lives while attempting to ascend the K2.

Also Read: South African team to summit the K2 Mountain