The earthquake, 100 miles northeast of K2 apparently had no impact on the climbers throughout the Karakorum. I’m sure those who were on Everest this past spring had a bit of a flashback if they felt the ground moving.
David Tait provided some impressions of the avalanche off K2 as he was in his tent at Base Camp when it occurred:
As I hauled on my clothes, I reflected on the previous, avalanche prone afternoon. At one point a huge chunk of ice, part of a gigantic, threatening serac some 1000m above the foot of the Česen route had let go and plunged vertically into the valley below – directly across the route I had used the previous day to ascend to and descend from C1. I heard the roar, leapt from my tent and gazed in horrified awe and an immense ice cloud ballooned across the valley. The foot of the Česen is a good 45-minute trudge from our BC, but it soon became obvious that this gigantic cloud of snow, ice and impact wind would certainly reach and “dust” BC despite this distance! I had no time to grab my big camera, but had my iPhone [music] to hand and snapped off a few shots before the diving into my tent as the mini snowstorm gale hit us and soaked everything.
This location is a usual suspect for avalanches and was frequent occurrences in 2014. The picture attached is one I took last year from K2 Base Camp. This is the full video:
2014 K2 Base Camp Avalanche in 2014
So, the work of climbing goes on as the teams are working to move higher as they adjust their bodies to the high altitude.
NOTE: I will be climbing Mt. Rainier in the Washington State, US next week so updates will be limited. You can follow my climb at https://www.facebook.com/alanarnettepage
Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything
