Local Scouter one of two South Africans to conquer K2
The K2SA2022 team consisted of four South African Springbuck Scouts; John Black, Warren Eva, Allan Dickinson and Robby Kojetin.
The sky is the limit. This truly applies to 42-year-old local businessman and mountaineer, John Black. Just weeks ago Black and Warren Eva returned home as the first South Africans who summitted the K2 in the Karakoram mountain range – the second highest peak in the world at 8 611 metres above sea level.
They started the trek to The Savage Mountain’s summit early on Saturday morning, June 18. They reached the summit on Friday, July 22 and finally were back on South African soil on Wednesday, August 3. “We spent roughly six weeks on the mountain,” said Black.
Also read: https://www.citizen.co.za/roodepoort-record/2022/06/09/going-beyond-limitations/
“Over the years I have done a lot of trips to mountains all over the world, and K2 always grabbed my attention because it’s known as one of the most challenging and hardest mountains to climb. It’s always been seen as the ultimate challenge in mountaineering,” he explained.
Black mentioned he had climbed quite a few mountains in his lifetime including Mount Everest in 2009.
“In 2018, I completed the Seven Summits – the highest mountain on each continent”.
The former Constantia Kloof Primary and Princess High learner said when he was not climbing mountains he is at home working on his business, which has 16 stores across the country. “I studied business and then I did my MBA at the University of Cape Town.”
When asked about his experience climbing Mount Everest compared to climbing K2, he said, “K2 is a lot harder; it is not quite as high as Everest, but it is still very high. K2 is also lot more technical, much steeper and has a lot more exposure.”
Wanting to climb K2 for 20 years, he started planning the climb about two years ago with his team of mountaineers. Eight months ago, they officially booked and confirmed the trip.
The K2SA2022 team consisted of four South African Springbok Scouts – Black, Eva, Allan Dickinson and Robby Kojetin.
“Four of us went to climb K2. Unfortunately, Robby got high-altitude pulmonary oedema and he had to get evacuated from Base Camp. Allan climbed with us to Camp One but decided he didn’t want to carry on because there was just too much at risk,” explained John.
In the end only Black and Eva reached the summit. “We met through scouting when we were kids, and we’ve done a number of expeditions together. It’s hard to imagine that a bunch of friends can go away for two months in such a tough, high-pressure environment, in such close proximity all the time, and emerge the other side without having spoken a single word in anger, having become even closer friends,” Black said.
When asked about future adventures he replied that there would probably not be anything for a little while, maybe next year or the following year.
“You’re always looking to do another expedition. There are so many options, but we haven’t decided what we’d like to do next. It’s always nice to have new adventures on the horizon,” Black said.
He encouraged future mountaineers to ‘just go for it’ and said, “It doesn’t have to be Everest; maybe it’s Table Mountain, maybe it’s the Drakensberg, but you have to get out there and get active. Start learning to explore our country and the world, and see where that leads. I’d encourage more youth to get outdoors.
“People should take the leap and commit to doing it and then get ready. So, make a commitment and set a date for the next month or next year.”
