Alberto Zerain Berasategi (20 August 1961 – 24 June 2017) was a Spanish

mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

. He is best known as a solo alpinist and the first person to summit K2 during the

2008 K2 disaster The 2008 K2 disaster occurred on 1 August 2008, when 11 mountaineers from international expeditions died on K2, the second- highest mountain on Earth. Three others were seriously injured. The series of deaths, over the course of the Friday asce ...

on 1 August. Zerain summited the mountain solo from Camp III and successfully descended before the series of events that led to the deaths of 11 climbers on 2 August 2008. In his lifetime, he climbed at least 7

eight-thousander The eight-thousanders are the 14 mountains recognized by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) as being more than in height above sea level, and sufficiently independent of neighbouring peaks. There is no precise defin ...

s. Alberto Zerain died on 24 June 2017 on

Nanga Parbat Nanga Parbat () (; ), known locally as Diamer (), is the ninth-highest mountain on Earth and its summit is at above sea level. Lying immediately southeast of the northernmost bend of the Indus River in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-a ...

with his climbing partner, , while on an expedition.

The 2008 K2 Disaster

During the

2008 K2 Disaster The 2008 K2 disaster occurred on 1 August 2008, when 11 mountaineers from international expeditions died on K2, the second- highest mountain on Earth. Three others were seriously injured. The series of deaths, over the course of the Friday asce ...

, Alberto Zerain was on a solo expedition. Zerain lacked the resources that other expeditions had. In order to secure a place on the mountain, he made a deal with a Sirdar (organizer of porters). He agreed to work as a porter to earn his keep. In return, he was given a site for his tent. He worked hard side by side with native mountain workers. Over the course of the expedition, he earned the respect of the locals, who said they had never seen a westerner climb like a Sherpa. While he met with other teams when they were planning the duty roster for fixed lines, he decided to climb alone straight from Camp III. He said he immediately noticed that other climbers were suffering from Summit Fever, and he chose to make the ascent alone while the others were still discussing their problem with fixed ropes. He summited K2 on 1 August 2008. He was the first climber to reach the summit that day. He also descended successfully and was the first climber to do so, only hours before the

. During that expedition, 11 climbers would die after a series of ice falls cut their fixed ropes, stranding them above the death zone. When he reached Base Camp, he was notified of the deaths that occurred behind him. Afterward, that climbing season became known for the 2008 K2 Disaster.

Death

In the summer of 2017, Alberto Zerain was working on the project. The project was spearheaded by Juanito Oiarzabal, who aimed to see 14 of the world's 8,000 m. peaks climbed twice. Part way through, Oiarzabal's health declined. Zerain then met up with Mariano Galván to finish the project. In June 2017, they were both attempting to summit Nanga Parbat via the Mazeno Ridge route. On 24 June both climbers were killed in an avalanche that washed over the slope they were traversing. Zerain was 55 years old when he died.

Expeditions

Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at its ...

in 1993. *

Makalu Makalu (; ) is the fifth-highest mountain on Earth, with a summit at an elevation of AMSL. It is located in the Mahalangur Himalayas southeast of Mount Everest, on the China–Nepal border. One of the eight-thousanders, Makalu is an isolat ...

in 1995. * Everest's North Face in 2000. *

Ama Dablam Ama Dablam is a mountain in the Eastern Himalayas range of Koshi Province, Nepal. The main peak is , the lower western peak is . Ama Dablam means "mother's necklace"; the long ridges on each side like the arms of a mother (''ama'') protecting he ...

and

Lhotse Lhotse ( ; ; ) is the List of highest mountains#List, fourth-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. At an elevation of above sea level, the main summit is on the border between Tibet Autonomous Region of Chin ...

in 2001. *

Gasherbrum I Gasherbrum I, originally surveyed as K5, and also known as Hidden Peak, is the 11th highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is located between Shigar District in the Gilgit–Baltistan region of Pakistan and Tashkurgan in the Xi ...

and

Gasherbrum II Gasherbrum II (; ; ); surveyed as K4, is the 13th highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is the third-highest peak of the Gasherbrum massif, and is located in the Karakoram, on the border between Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan and ...

in 2006. * K2 (both faces) in 2008. *

Kangchenjunga Kangchenjunga is the third-highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at in a section of the Himalayas, the ''Kangchenjunga Himal'', which is bounded in the west by the Tamur River, in the north by the Lhonak River and Jongsang La, and ...

in 2009, *

in 2010, failed to summit via the Hornbein Couloir due to bad weather. *

in 2011, failed to summit via the Mazeno Wall due to an avalanche. *

Dhaulagiri Dhaulagiri, located in Nepal, is the seventh highest mountain in the world at above sea level, and the highest mountain within the borders of a single country. It was first climbed on 13 May 1960 by a Swiss-Austrian-Nepali expedition. Annapur ...

in 2016. *

Manaslu Manaslu (; , also known as Kutang) is the List of highest mountains#List, eighth-highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is in the Mansiri Himal, part of the Nepalese Himalayas, in west-central Nepal. Manaslu means "mountain of the ...

in 2016. *

Annapurna Annapurna (; ) is a mountain situated in the Annapurna mountain range of Gandaki Province, north-central Nepal. It is the 10th highest mountain in the world at above sea level and is well known for the difficulty and danger involved in its as ...

in 2017. *

in 2017, Alberto would lose his life on this expedition due to an avalanche

References

External links

Alberto Zerain's Website (in Spanish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zerain, Alberto 1961 births 2017 deaths Sportspeople from Vitoria-Gasteiz Deaths in avalanches Spanish mountain climbers Spanish summiters of Mount Everest Mountaineering deaths Deaths on Nanga Parbat

The 2008 K2 Disaster

Death

Expeditions

See also

References

External links