Islamabad - An Italian climber who was stranded after an avalanche on K2, the world's second highest mountain, managed to descend to base camp on Tuesday, officials said.

The ice fall struck eight international expeditions on the 8,611-metre peak Friday, leaving 11 mountaineers dead, and Marco Confortola struggling to climb down safely.

"Around 11 am (0500 GMT) this morning he reached at an advance base camp, which is located at around 5,800 metres altitude, and is waiting for evacuation by a helicopter," Italian embassy spokesman Sergio Oddo told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

But the poor weather hampered the airlift of the survivor.

"Two helicopters are on standby in Skardu, waiting for the weather to clear up. If it doesn't get clear by around 3 pm local time (0900 GMT) this afternoon then we will have to delay the operation till tomorrow morning," said Colonel Mohammed Ilyas a spokesman for Askari Aviation.

The climber was out of danger even though he was suffering from frostbite in his arms and feet. "He has been a very brave person. Despite injuries and hostile conditions he never gave up," said Oddo.

Last night a team of US climbers and Pakistani porters reached him and assisted him through the night in the deadly cold weather of the mountain, Francefca Fteffanoni, a spokeswoman from the Ev-K2-CNR mountaineering group told dpa by telephone.

Pakistan's government on Monday confirmed that 11 climbers - three Koreans, two Pakistani high-altitude porters, two Nepalese, a Frenchman, a Norwegian, a Serb, and an Irish national - died on K2 this weekend.

Two frostbitten Dutch survivors, Wilco van Rooijen and Cas van de Gevel, were rescued by an Ecureuil helicopter and were shifted to Skardu town for medical treatment on Monday.

The tragedy was the deadliest in K2's history. The previous highest death toll in a single incident was seven, in August 1995. (dpa)