K2 2017 Season Coverage: Weather Watch

As Yogi Berra said: “It’s déjà vu all over again.” And with that activity on K2 has come to a complete stop. High winds, rain at base camp and snow up high has teams on hold but not on Gasherbrum I where we saw some summits.

K2

The result of Friday’s avalanche on the Abruzzi route on K2 remains unknown. Minga Gyalje Sherpa provided this short update today:

K2 is known for bad weather. This year too, K2 is same. She covers herself with cloud in day time and enjoy beautiful stars in night time.

Legendary climber and expedition organizer, Russell Brice says it is equipment eating mountain and I do agree with him. Everyone knows 2015 and 2016, K2 was closed because equipment of all expeditions were lost from camp3. Himex team is covering their 2015’s equipment on Česen route. We are still unknown about our deposited equipment on Abruzzi route. This morning there was snowfall so we cancelled going to camp2 and above.

Our weather reports say there is no chance to go up till July22. Time is running out and we are just hoping for good weather to come.

Rupert Hauer, lead guide for  Furtenbach Adventures posted today that they were waiting for better weather. They are on the Abruzzi:

No news at this time. We are waiting for good weather. The route could only be insured up to camp 3. There is probably no activity on the mountain until the weekend. This is just the K2 …

Adam Parore climbing with Himex had a nice post on Instagram about his feelings while climbing K2. Of note the 46 year-old something Kiwi was a New Zealand cricketer. They are also at base camp today on weather watch:

My energy levels appear to be returning- I’ve got my ‘bounce’ back.????Whilst all eyes now focus on the weather my attention is on rest and recovery. In the afternoon I had a few hours to kill so I watched the GoPro footage we have captured to date- an opportunity to reflect on our progress. One of the unexpected joys of this expedition has been the opportunities Woody and I have had to climb the mountain alone- either carrying loads, descending, or extending the route. Without realizing it at the time our footage clearly shows two guys having fun, laughing, joking and enjoying their surrounds. Appreciating their opportunity, and pushing each other to climb harder and cleaner. A reminder of what sport is all about- getting out there with your mates and giving it a go. Magic.

Broad Peak

No update from  Òscar Cadiach, who is trying to finish all 14 of the 8000 meter peaks with a summit of Broad Peak or Turkish climber Tunc Findik.

Gasherbrum I/II

Over on the Gasherbrum,Frenchmen Mathieu Maynadier and Jeremy Rumebe summited GII on 16 July before the weather moved in. These were the first Gasherbrum summits of the season. Their logistics operator, Alpine Adventure reported this on Twitter.

Alberto Iñurrategi, Juan Vallejo and Mikel Zabalza, are reported to have left their base camp for another attempt to traverse from GII to GI.

Nanga Parbat

The last search for Alberto Zerain from Spain and Mariano Galvan from Argentina has ended. Mirza Ali posted on his Facebook page that the rockfall and avalanche risk below the Mazeno Ridge was too high to reach the point from where the last GPS signal of the two climbers had been received. Ali had driven the search in spite of no evidence the climbers had survived an avalanche.

Weather Perspective

If you are curious why there are summits on Gasherbrum and not K2 or Broad Peak even though they are somewhat close together, well so do the climbers. But K2 sits a bit alone a short 15 miles from the Gasherbrums thus is hit by westernly fronts before the other peaks along this gigantic series of 8000ers.

This map gives some details. But note that with K2 as the starting point, Broad Peak is about 5 miles to the south. Gasherbrum II is another 5 miles away and GI 3 miles from GII, thus the distance from K2 to GI is only a scant 13 miles but seasons apart for wind and snow.

Looking at all the 8000ers in Pakistan, Nanga Parbat stands truly alone over 120 miles to the southwest.

Normal but the Clock is Ticking

The teams continue to wait out the poor weather on K2 and Broad Peak. As I have covered, weather forecasting in this part of the Karakorum is very difficult so climbers bide their time. Some will lose their patience and go home or try to make a push. The anxiety grows stronger with each day.

In 2014, I left K2 base camp on 22 July and summited on 27 July, so there’s still time but it is getting near the end. If there is another 3 to 5 days of bad weather, K2 may see the third year in a row with no summits.

Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything