K2: Honoring the Fallen

K2 Gilkey MemorialK2 is well known for taking lives be it from avalanches, mind falls or disappearances, 84 people have lost their lives. This is not lost on anyone who comes to K2, even to base camp.  Art Gilkey lost his in 1953 as part of the legendary belay often called the Brotherhood of the Rope.

I visited the Gilkey Memorial today. It has become a gathering space for all who have lost their lives on K2, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I and II. Friends, teammates, family often place simple plaques on the rock pillars standing high above the Goodwin – Austin Glacier. Some plaques are simple metal plates with a name and date hammered into the soft metal.

One plaque was special to me, Ger McDonnell. I climbed on Broad Peak with Ger in 2006. He lost his life on K2 in 2008 trying to save the lives of others. I didn’t know Ger well enough to call him a close friend, but I knew him well enough to know he was a special person with a gift few have in this life. His spirit shown so bright, it was impossible to be sad around him. His voice so smooth as he sang his Irish songs, impossible not to sing along. His smile so contagious, impossible not to smile back.

I stood there today overlooking K2, base camp, the glaciers frozen in time as are the memories of these climbers. It is hard to visit such a site and explain why we climb, but then it is clear why we do.

Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything

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15 thoughts on “K2: Honoring the Fallen

  1. Give my regards to my good friend, climbing partner and leader of The American South Pilar Expedition ( “Magic Line”) 1986- John Smolich .We miss your strength, smile and companionship. RIP. Your friends!

  2. Give my regards to my good friend, climbing partner and leader of The American South Expedition ( “Magic Line”) 1986- John Smolich .We miss your strength, smile and companionship. RIP. Your friends!

  3. Very Sentimental post. I have always wanted to pay my Respects to the Fallen Heroes at Gilky’s Memorial.

  4. Thank you for sharing this sacred and hallowed ground with us Alan. Honor and respect to the fallen climbers of K2.

  5. Thank you for this. It means so much to see where the plaque is for my brother and father- Marty and Denali Schmidt. One day I will make it there.

  6. Alan: Thanks for showing us the memorials to fallen climbers. It brought up close how heroic these people were, doing something they loved. Climb on, Alan.

  7. What a beautiful peaceful place to honor those women who lost their lives doing exactly what they needed to be doing.. May God always watch over all their friends and families till they are together again. Climb on Alan.. And I cant wait to hear your memories when you come back home.

    1. It’s called “the summit”, poignant film, the man got the climbers from the serac to the top of the bottleneck before a release took him, hero, so sad as the rescue Sherpas had just reached them,

  8. Yes Alan, those are some solid tributes and reminders. Very special, very obvious. And I would not repeat myself, everybody on these blogs knows and feels as if they were there with you. Climb on…… and Write on……..

    1. ….and although I know of the statistics and how people mention those, but why don’t I hear about the most striking and most recent statistic figure?
      22 people made it to the top in the July of 2012 and all came back safe, alhamduliLLAH (Praises for, and thanks to Allah)

      1. That has been the fault of media for all time. They grab the horrible tragic news and dont show the victories and struggles of the common man. Those are the stories people need to hear too..

  9. I’ve always wanted a closer view of the Gilkey memorial and how it was set up. Thank you for the tour. For some reason I’ve always felt drawn to the Alan Rouse’s life story (part of the loss of ’86) and wondered what his plaque may look like. Hopefully some day I’ll see it. You certainly bring K2 alive in a way no other source ever has for me.

    Stay safe!

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