KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A team of 10 Nepalese climbers who became the first to scale the world's second-highest peak during the harsh winter season have received a hero's welcome on return home to Nepal.
Mountaineers, supporters, friends and family lined the Kathmandu airport on Tuesday to greet the climbers with garlands and cheers as a police band played tunes.
They were then driven around city in open trucks.
The winter climb marks another achievement for Nepalese climbers who for decades worked as porters and guides for foreign mountaineers but now are setting their own records and running expeditions on the highest peaks.
K2 had remained the last peak above 8,000 meters (26,240 feet) in the world that was yet to be climbed in the winter.
