Sonoma man summits K2, world’s most dangerous mountain

At the end of July, Ang D Sherpa, the owner of Sonoma Taxi, flew back to his home in Nepal and embarked on a major adventure: summiting K2 alongside three of his brothers.

After nearly 40 days, they accomplished their goal, possibly becoming the first team of four brothers to climb to the summit together.

Ang started climbing big mountains in 2002 when he was 17 years old. He had climbed Mount Everest five times by 2008 and then decided to take a step back from climbing. The risks were getting to him, and many friends had died trying to reach the summit.

He moved to Sonoma in 2007. Friends and family members had already arrived in the Valley and were successfully making a living there, so he decided to join them. He has lived there ever since.

A few years ago, he began plotting his return to the world’s highest peaks. He decided to climb K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth, and considered by experts as the most dangerous to climb.

“The mountains are not easy,” Ang said. “It’s a very dangerous game.”

According to a piece by Insider, K2’s summit is 28,251 feet above sea level, just shy of Mount Everest's height of 29,032 feet. At least 91 people have died trying to summit K2, making its death rate around 18%, while Everest's is around 3%, according to estimates from veteran mountaineer and climbing coach Alan Arnette.

In 2021, the brothers were unable to commit to the K2 trip for financial reasons. The following year, one of them fell ill just before the climb and the group was forced to cancel. But this year, they were finally able to make their way to the mountain’s base camp.

Since he was born in Nepal, where the brothers he climbed with still live, Ang didn’t feel the need to do an intense training regiment before the trip. He simply walked and ran on the Sonoma Overlook Trail and other local spots to keep fit and prepare for the challenge.

“K2 is one of the most dangerous mountains in the world,” Ang said.

He feels a section that he refers to as the “bottleneck” is the most terrifying. This section, which leads up the summit, is very difficult because climbers must traverse nearly vertical rock, coated in ice.

This climbing section finishes in an area named “the chimney” or “house’s chimney,” where climbers have to shimmy up an ice crevasse using a technique called stemming — climbing with their feet on either side of the crack while attached to a fixed rope. But even if a climber takes all of the proper precautions, there is always significant risk.

On their way to the summit on July 27, the group was surrounded by many climbers. Since a storm was predicted to come in the following day, more than 100 climbers were attempting to reach the top. Mohammad Hassan, a Pakistani porter tasked with carrying equipment for a rope-fixing team, died after slipping on the bottleneck section.

Ang’s most frightening moment on the mountain occurred in the bottleneck section, when avalanches came down the mountain three separate times. The third one was so strong that the climbers behind Ang and his brothers were unable to reach the summit.

Ang and his team were attached to a rope, securing them to the mountain at the time of the avalanches.

According to Ang, the mountain was coated in a fresh layer of snow, making it susceptible to avalanches. The weather proved to be an issue throughout the climb, causing Ang’s group to spend eight days at base camp to wait out the worst of it.

That delay, plus other weather-related complications, caused their climb to take nearly 40 days, whereas it typically takes closer to 30 days.

The incident was a perfect example of how quickly conditions on the mountain can change and how climbers are always at the mercy of natural elements.

Luckily, the group was determined, experienced and well-equipped for the challenge.

When the four brothers began planning this trip, they picked K2 to be the first of four vertical voyages. Kilimanjaro, Denali and Makalu will follow — one mountain for each brother.

Ang and his brothers took on the climb with the help of Seven Summit Treks, a Nepalese adventure operator that specializes in climbs over 8,000 meters (26,247 feet) and offers major logistics for climbers in the Himalayas. The company covered half of the expenses for each brother, which helped immensely (the cost of the climbing permit alone was $11,000 per person in 2022).

Ang served as the team leader of his group and was surrounded by other accomplished climbers.

The brothers summited the mountain alongside two climbers who accomplished a record-breaking mountaineering feat.

According to an article by Outside, 37-year-old Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila and Nepalese climber Tenjin Sherpa (Lama) reached the 28,251-foot summit of K2, the world’s second highest peak. on July 19. Just four days earlier, they summited neighboring Broad Peak (26,414 feet).

By reaching those summits, they set a record by climbing the world’s 14 peaks above 8,000 meters faster than anyone in history.

The final push to the top was brutal for the four brothers. Due to continuously bad weather conditions, Ang and his brothers didn’t think it was a good idea to stop to rest at Base Camp 4, the final camp. Instead, they decided to push all the way to the summit without stopping.

The brothers left Base Camp 3 at 1 p.m. on July 26, and reached the summit at 10:30 a.m. on July 27, meaning their ascent took just over 21 hours of nonstop climbing.

Photos were taken of them holding the California flag, United States flag, a Nepal flag and one that read “Mt. K2 Summit (8611M) Expedition 2023, 4 siblings, Seven Summit Treks.”

The group also had hats and jackets made with the same wording.

It wasn’t the first time Sonoma was represented at one of the world’s tallest peaks. At the end of May 2023, Mingma Dorchi Sherpa, a Nepali mountaineer and professional trekking guide from the Sankhuwasabha District in Nepal, smiled as he held up the flag of La Casa Restaurant & Bar of Sonoma before leaving it at the tallest point on earth. He happens to be friends with one of the restaurant’s owners.

Ang and his brothers were back at the base of the mountain by the end of the next day. Ang said he sent their accomplishment to the “Guinness Book of World Records” because to his knowledge, they are the first team of four brothers to summit the peak together.

They were congratulated by members of the Government of Nepal after their adventure. Ang is back in Sonoma, and currently planning to climb another summit with his brothers.

You can reach Staff Writer Rebecca Wolff at rebecca.wolff@sonomanews.com. On Twitter, @bexwolff.