‘I can’t put a bag in an overhead locker but I climbed K2’

Standing in the “death zone” at the summit of the world’s second-highest peak, Kirsty Mack allowed herself a brief celebration.

Inspired by her late father, motivated to overcome a debilitating shoulder injury, and fuelled by jelly beans, the 41-year-old ski instructor had made it to the top of K2.

A jagged behemoth straddling the China-Pakistan border, it is a mountain with a fearsome reputation.

She is thought to be the first female Scot to make it that far – 8,611m (28,251ft) from sea level to be exact.

But the respite did not last long.

“I was very scared about the descent, really scared, and rightly so as it turned out,” Kirsty told BBC Scotland News.

On the way down, with rocks falling “like bullets” from thousands of metres above, a member of the expedition was hit on the head and seriously injured.

With the team’s primary medic also injured by rockfall, Kirsty, a back-up first aider with just a one week-long course under her belt, was called into action.

The mountaineer and her team managed to get their injured friends to safety, with the help of a satellite call to Kirsty’s sister, a pharmacist.

The fact that Kirsty, who is based in Bridge of Allan, can climb at all is an achievement in itself.

A seemingly innocuous fall while skiing in the Cairngorms turned into years of pain and shoulder surgeries.

Mobility has returned, but not her former strength.

“You would never really know now, except I can’t put a bag in a overhead locker on a plane and silly things like that,” Kirsty told the BBC.

Without the use of her previously dominant arm, the mountaineer has had to adapt the way she climbs, relying more on her legs – and a supportive team.

Her climbing career has taken her across the world, from Everest, Manaslu and Ama Dablam in the Himalayas to Mount Elbrus in Russia.

She has summited North America’s highest mountain, Denali, and South America’s Aconcagua, as well as 25 Alpine peaks higher than 4,000m.

K2, though, has always been the “ultimate challenge” in Kirsty’s eyes.

Remote, rocky and unpredictable, its weather systems offer few chances of success, and an abundance of danger.

It is a peak that has made a grisly habit of claiming the lives of world-renowned climbers.

Kirsty had dreamed of K2’s summit since childhood, inspired by posters her late father Thomas brought back from the Dundee Mountain Film Festival.

Her expedition was dedicated to Thomas and her grandfather, Reuben Rogers, who died within a few months of each other.

At first, it seemed Kirsty’s childhood dream would not be realised. She spent seven weeks camped at the base of K2 in Pakistan, waiting for high winds to subside.

With hopes fading, her team began preparing for the long trek home – arranging specialist baggage handlers for their equipment.

A break in the weather arrived at the last possible moment. “We cancelled the donkeys and went for it,” Kirsty said.

Known as the “savage mountain”, good conditions do not exist when it comes to climbing K2. This year, however, the usual snowpack that binds rocks to steep slopes did not form.

“The rocks come from thousands of meters above, so they have so much velocity,” Kirsty said.

“By the time they go past you, they make a noise like a helicopter. They zoom past you like bullets.”

She added: “It’s the most scared I’ve ever been in my entire life.”

A heady mix of oxygen, Pringles and jelly beans helped propel Kirsty to the “death zone”, where oxygen levels are insufficient to support human life, and the summit.

Having survived the even more treacherous descent, Kirsty is thankful to have made it home unscathed.

“I’m a very scientific person,” the mountaineer said as she returned to the memory of her father Thomas.

“But the only time I really feel like he’s kind of still with me, is when I go climbing.”