Scaling the world’s second-highest peak, K2, in winter is one of the last great feats in mountaineering — and despite what some see as a lack of experience, 28-year-old Pole Magdalena Gorzkowska wants to be the first to do it. If Gorzkowska, a medal-winning runner who also became the youngest Polish woman ever to climb Mount Everest, makes it to the summit, she will have made history and silenced those who see her attempt as a social media stunt with no chance of success. “Everyone can have their opinion, and some believe that it takes many years to be able to face such challenges. I just do what I feel I can do,” Gorzkowska told Reuters by telephone from her base camp. “Why should I limit myself?” Gorzkowska is one of several mountaineers attempting this winter to scale K2, which at 8,611 metres is second only to Mount Everest. Gorzkowska, who is being accompanied by sherpas, said she had returned to her base camp, at an altitude of 5,000 metres, after an acclimatisation trip that saw her spend a night at a camp at 6,550 metres. “The conditions were very difficult.
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