DENVER (AP) – Fort Collins adventurer Alan Arnette made it to the summit of the world’s second highest mountain, K2, on his 58th birthday Saturday, after a grueling and dangerous climb to draw attention to Alzheimer’s disease.

Arnette began the push to the top of the 28,251 foot peak, the second highest on earth after Mt. Everest, at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, MDT, said Arnette’s fellow mountaineer, Jim Davidson.

The team of four Americans and five Nepalese Sherpas arrived at the top at about 8 a.m., Sunday, in Pakistan, when it was still Saturday in Colorado, said Davidson, who is a climbing partner of Arnette’s, tracked the climb, and blogged about it on www.alanarnette.com.

Arnette’s mother, Ida Arnette, who died several years ago, had Alzheimers, Davidson said. “He was part of the care-giving team for his mom,” and he said, “we have got to solve that problem.”

Through his climbing of K2 and seven other summits, Arnette has raised more than $200,000 for Alzheimer’s nonprofit groups, according to The Coloradan of Fort Collins.

In a subsequent satellite phone call to Davidson, Arnette asked him to tell supporters “that we can beat Alzheimer’s. Ask them to donate so that we can beat it soon.”

Arnette, who has been a climber for almost 20 years, climbed all of Colorado’s fourteeners and has made dozens of climbing expeditions around the world.

K2, on the border of China and Pakistan, is considered the world’s most difficult mountain to climb, according to website Xtreme Sport.

While Everest is taller by nearly 800 feet and has a fatality rate of about 5 percent for year-round climbs, the K-2 fatality rate is 25 percent, according to outdoor website Eureka Tent!

Arnette is 16th Americans to summit K2.