Cricket legend takes on ultimate challenge, climbing K2

Former NZ cricketer Adam Parore is climbing the second-highest mountain in the world: K2. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Adam Parore may have left the cricket field for good, but he is now delving in the mountaineering field, taking on one of the toughest climbs in the world.

The 46-year-old former Black Cap has started a mission to scale Mount Godwin-Austen, better known as K2, the second-highest mountain in the world.

Parore, who successfully reached the top of Mt Everest six years ago, arrived in Skardu, in Pakistan, on June 16.

He told the Herald on Sunday the mission was the result of 18 months' training and preparation.

"The attraction is really the physicality of it. That really is the thing that captured me when I first started mountaineering five or six years ago - just how physically demanding it is.

"The other key thing that I probably missed more than I realised, when I was retired from professional sport, was just being a part of the team.

"I really enjoy that side of things as well."

Parore has been documenting his latest mission in a series of posts on his blog and via social media.

He has a small team with him, including several Nepalese sherpas.

Photographs show he is in good spirits, despite the rugged terrain - which he called unforgiving and brutal.

Earlier this year, he shared how much he had always wanted to take on the challenge of climbing the second-highest peak in the world.

"Even before I began climbing, it was always K2 - the ultimate challenge. And for me, anything worth doing is worth doing as well as you can,'' he wrote on his blog.

"As with everything I do, it begins as an impossible dream - not quite a fantasy, but certainly worthy of sniggers from those around you, if ever your aspiration was disclosed.''

The team is expected to be back in early August.

**To follow Adam's journey, visit: Adam Parore