TWO Cumbrian men attempting to climb the world's second highest mountain have reached base camp.

Pete Brittleton, of Kirkby Stephen, and Paul Etheridge, of Windermere, are part of an intrepid team of eight that is tackling K2.

In a bid to acclimatise, the team made their first trip to advanced base camp (ABC) on Sunday.

"It took us about two-and-a-half hours to reach ABC which is at the foot of the Abruzzi Spur at 5,300 metres," expedition leader, Di Gilbert, said in an update. "It was nice to walk on the crispy glacier in the morning and for us, it felt like we were finally starting to climb this impressive mountain."

Carrie Gibson, who works in logistics at Adventure Peaks, the Ambleside organisation behind the K2 attempt, explained what the next few days would entail for the group.

"They will have to start acclimatising on the mountain," she said. "They'll start moving on to the next camp that they will set up. They'll climb up to the camp height but not sleep at it on the first night. That's how they'll start to acclimatise."

The team have been sending regular updates, recently saying that they were slowly learning that K2 was 'no normal mountain'.

Upon arriving at base camp last week, Di Gilbert said that visibility had been poor but they had managed to set a multi-purpose 'palatial' tent up.

She also said that the team are 'doing absolutely great', although Paul had recently fallen in a mini crevasse and Pete was 'constantly cursing his 28-year-old nephew for downloading poor music on his iPod.'

Jake Meyer, who could become the youngest Brit to reach the top of K2 at 32, told the Gazette that Pete and Paul had gone to ABC and were 'back safely'.

"We will be attempting the Abruzzi Ridge and will be working in co-operation with a couple of the other big teams on the mountain," Di said. "We still have much to sort around base camp, our home for the next potentially seven weeks.

"We are a close team now, having spent over two weeks together and even our liaison officer, Fahad, is getting the great British sense of humour."