On August 11th, Hunan female mountaineer Guan Jing tragically passed away after being struck on the head by falling rocks while descending from the summit of the world’s second-highest peak – K2, at the age of 38. Last year in May, she successfully reached the summit of Mount Everest and even did a handstand for 20 seconds, becoming the first person to do so at the peak of Everest.
Multiple netizens posted on August 13th that Hunan’s Qi Dong girl, Guan Jing, who was the first person to do a handstand at the top of Everest, had met with an unfortunate accident.
That evening, Guan Jing’s husband posted on a social platform, “Last night, I received the worst news that during the descent from K2, Jingjing was hit on the head by falling rocks and died on the spot. Currently, they are at C1 with no signal.”
On August 14th, Cover News learned from various sources that Guan Jing successfully reached the summit of the world’s second-highest peak, K2, on August 11th but tragically met her fate during the descent on the night of August 12th after being struck by falling rocks.
Guan Jing had joined the mountaineering team “Imagine Nepal” for the K2 expedition. On the morning of the 14th, staff from “Imagine Nepal” stated, “Due to poor network reception in the area of the incident, we are in contact with them (the rescue team).”
According to Nepalese media reports, efforts are currently underway to retrieve her body.
K2 stands at an altitude of 8611 meters and is located on the border between China and Pakistan in the Karakoram Mountain Range. It is considered one of the most dangerous peaks in the world due to its steep slopes, unpredictable weather, and frequent rockfalls.
On August 5th, Guan Jing’s expedition team left the base camp to begin their ascent of K2, successfully summiting on the 11th. At that time, the official website of “Imagine Nepal” announced, “We are delighted to announce that the expedition team successfully reached the summit of K2 on August 11, 2025, at 15:32 (Pakistan time), achieving a 100% success rate this year.”
Guan Jing, originally from Qidong County in Hunan Province, had been living in San Jose, United States, and worked as a yoga teacher.
On May 12, 2024, she successfully reached the summit of Mount Everest from the southern slope with the “Imagine Nepal” team and performed a handstand for 20 seconds. Since the first successful ascent of Everest in 1953, Guan Jing is the first person to have completed a handstand at the summit.
Guan Jing once told Chinese media that she grew up in rural Qidong, where she used to pick yellow flowers since childhood, having to collect a lot of them every summer. Enduring the wind and sun while picking flowers toughened her willpower and resilience. She attributed her ability to summit Everest to the perseverance and hardship endured while picking flowers in her hometown.