K2, at 8,611 metres (28,251 ft) above sea level, is the second highest mountain in the world. Image via Flickr and Google Images by Waqas Anees. Public Domain. For mountaineering fans, this year was special: the Winter K2 Summit was taking place for the first time—38 years after a Polish team went to K2, the world's second highest mountain, to gauge the feasibility of a winter climb. However, the joy was short-lived, as contact with three expert mountaineers, from Pakistan, Chile and Iceland, was lost just near the Bottleneck, short of the summit, on the night of Friday, February 5, 2021. The search for the three climbers, Muhammad Ali Sadpara, John Snorri and Jp Mohr Prieto, was temporarily halted because of bad weather and they are feared dead. Still, the families of the missing men have been hoping for a miracle. Any winter climb on K2 is considered dangerous because of unpredictable weather, and in August 2008, 11 climbers died following an ice avalanche. On the afternoon of February 6, two Pakistani Army helicopters began an aerial search and rescue operation which was unsuccessful as of February 9, four days after contact with the climbers was lost. As a result, the remaining winter summit expeditions have been called off for this year. American summit coach and mountaineer Alan Arnette tweeted: The Seven Summits Treks expedition is leaving K2 Base Camp, thus ending the effort for more winter summits. History will show 10 winter summits, 2 deaths and 3 missing for 2020/21 https://t.co/O6VuYJ5ube — Alan Arnette (@alan_arnette) February 9, 2021 At 8,611 metres (28,251 ft) above sea level K2, also known as the “Savage Mountain,” is second only to Everest in height, and is part of the Karakoram Range on the border of Pakistan and China. It is one of 14 mountains higher than 8,000 meters; Pakistan is home to five of these: K2, Nanga Parbat, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I and II; the remaining are in Nepal and China. The first winter summit on Mount Everest took place in 1980. Only eight expeditions have attempted a winter ascent on the “deadly” K2, said Pakistan Alpine Club secretary, Karrar Haidri, with success finally coming this season. On January 16, 2021, 10 Nepalis reached the summit of K2. A second group of climbers, which included Muhammad Ali Sadpara, his son Sajid Ali Sadpara from Pakistan, John Snorri from Iceland and Jp Mohr Prieto from Chile, attempted to scale the K2 summit. During the climb near the Bottleneck, short of the summit, Sajid Ali's oxygen cylinder malfunctioned and he returned to base camp, while the others headed towards the summit. They lost contact with base camp late on Friday. On Saturday, February 6, after their support team stopped receiving reports from them, they were reported missing. Apart from Pakistan Army Aviation, a number of experts, including local high-altitude climbers and members of the Seven Summit Treks (SST) winter expedition team, joined the rescue mission. The Pakistan government assured that the country would spare no effort to find the missing mountaineers. Chhang Dawa Sherpa, a Nepalese mountaineer who has scaled 14 highest peaks, including K2, and is leading the SST winter expedition tweeted : It’s already been more than 30 hours, we (at basecamp) have received no news of John Snorri??, Ali Sadpara ??, and Juan Pablo Mohr ??, since none of the GPS trackers seem to be working. ? #k2expedition #k2winter #k2winter2021 #karakorum #sherpa #nepal #pakistan pic.twitter.com/Q4j9krGJ8e — Chhang Dawa Sherpa (@ChhangDawa) February 6, 2021 Sadpara's son Sajid returned to base camp with a heavy heart, and has said he believes the trio made it to the summit but something went wrong on the descent. Later, he flew in one of the helicopters to assist the mission. As there was no positive news, he returned home to Skardu, a city in Gilgit−Baltistan, Pakistan. Karim Dad Chughtai from Gilgit-Baltisan tweeted: Receiving Sajid Sadpara, the son of Muhammad Ali Sadpara at Aviation Skardu. He returned from Bottleneck , K-2, on 5th Feb due to want of oxygen while his father left to summit K-2 the same day. Ali Sadpara is missing and search operation still continues. @RandhawaAli @DCSkardu pic.twitter.com/davHjB156Z — Karim Dad Chughtai (@KarimdadChught2) February 7, 2021 Ali Sadpara's cousin and nephew, both expert climbers, also reached the base camp to assist the search. Everest Today, a mountain blog, tweeted: Elia Saikaly: “Imtiaz and Akbar, Ali Sadpara’s cousin and nephew arrived at basecamp a little more than 24 hours ago, both incredibly talented Pakistani climbers who have summited K2, to assist in bringing Sajid Sadpara down from the base of K2.