Alberto Zerain

Alberto Zerain Berasategi was a Spanish mountaineer, born on 20 August 1961, best known as a solo alpinist and as the first person to summit K2 during the 2008 K2 disaster, on 1 August. Without the resources of larger expeditions he arranged to work as a porter alongside local mountain workers in return for a tent site, earning their respect, and when others argued over fixed ropes he climbed alone from Camp III and descended before the events of 2 August that killed eleven climbers. He climbed at least seven eight-thousanders, and he died on Nanga Parbat on 24 June 2017 with his climbing partner Mariano Galván.