Fredrik Ericsson dies on K2
Swedish skier Fredrik Ericsson has died while trying to attempt a ski expedition on K2 in Pakistan. Fredrik grew up in the northern part of Sweden in Umea, a place with long winters and heavy snowfalls. He always had a disposition for the sport and as a young guy Ericsson tried his luck in sports like ice hockey, ice soccer, orienteering and cross-country skiing.
Fredrik soon discovered that he had in him the passion for skiing and thus devoted his time in instructing ski learners in Norway. Later, he decided to move to Queenstown in New Zealand and Fernie in Canada during the winters to practise skiing. Chamonix was the perfect playground for Ericsson where he could practise all his interests including skiing, climbing, mountain biking and paragliding. This was the reason why Fredrik Ericsson started living the city from 2000 onwards.
Fredrick was the first Swede to descend from an 8000 metre peak in September 2004 when he skied down a distance of 8012 metre at the Shisha Pangma in Tibet. This particular descent earned him the rank of Sweden’s top 10 skiers by the Swedish magazine ‘Aka Skidor Magazine’.
In 2005, the Swede launched a project to explore skiing possibilities in other parts of the world and so headed towards a group of islands in the Arctic sea. During this expedition, he experienced many descents on snow and also faced an altercation with a polar bear. He wanted to continue skiing and decided to travel to the Karakoram ranges in Pakistan in June. He combined with the Norwegian Jorgen Aamot before leaving. Both the skiers made their first ever descent to the amazing Laila Peak from a slope of 5940 metres, but could not surpass the summit of the peak which was at a height of 6069 metres. They did not stop and moved up to the Baltoro valley and descended from the 8035 metre high Gasherum 2, which was the second 8000 metre peak in Fredrik’s career.
He continued to his third 8000 metre peak, returning to the Himalayas in 2007. He descended Dhaulgiri which was at a height of 8167 metres. The conditions were not favourable which compelled Fredrik to return making a 3000 metre vertical ski descent.
In 2008, Fredrik made a ski expedition to Iceland and carried out photo shoots in the European Alps and then returned to the Himalayas and made his first ski descent of Kangchenjunga, which was at a height of 8568 metres. Due to harsh weather conditions, Fredrik had to return from the Himalayas without climbing to the top of the peak and just made up to 7000 metres and descended through 1500 metres of high altitude power. The deceased intended to launch another expedition for the Kangchenjunga peak one more time before he attempted a full ski descent in the autumn of 2009. His achievements before his final adventure of climbing the K2, include the first descent of the North Face Centraltind Sor renna fra Gjertvasskaret in Hurrungane, Norway in 2002 and 2003. These attempts were followed by ski descents from the Peak Communism at a height of 7495 metres located in Tajikistan in 2003 followed by Svalbard Norway in 2005.
His aim to climb the third highest mountain in the world was supported by Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and they both decided to launch an expedition which unfortunately ended up in Fredrik’s unfortunate death. The adventure started on the 6th of August 2010. He lost hold of the surface at a height of 1000 metres and died on the spot when he fell. Due to his death, the expedition was abandoned by his fellow skiier Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner.
Fredrick became unstable when he was fixing the rope to the rock just below the peak at around 7 a.m. on the 6th of August.
In a press release before starting the project, Ericsson revealed that his expedition will be spanned over a period of two years and will include his ascent on the three highest mountains of the world - Mount Everest, Kangchenjunga and K2.
The peaks on which he was able to make successful descents include the Peak Somoni, Tajikistan, Shisha Pangma, Tibet, and Gasherbrum 2, situated on the Pakistan-China border.
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