2018/19 Winter Climbs: NP Drone Search, K2 Resumes

Update: 1 March 2019: No rescue fight today due to poor weather.

In what has become a deadly sad and uncertain season, the K2 climbers have been asked to stand down for helping with the search for British climber Tom Ballard, 30, and Italian Daniele Nardi, 42, on Nanga Parbat instead drones will be used. The K2 climbers are now refocused on their own summit aspirations.

Winter Nanga Parbat – Search Continues After no Contact for 5 days

Daniele Nardi, and British Thomas Ballard were last reported at Camp 3 on the Mummery’s Spur but there has been no contact since Sunday.  There has been two helicopter searches and more to happen on March 1. The initial information that Nardi and Ballard tent was spotted seems incorrect according to a new post by Philippe Poulet is with Muhammad Ali Sadpara.

A tent found half buried at 5500 m but no trace of the mountaineers

Pakistani information is clear. The two reconnaissance flights, from 3 h30 in everything, allowed visual research on the entire spur spur, from 7 000 to 5 100 m.

The only clue found is a red / Orange Tent, half buried in a snow slope around 5 300 m.
For now the authorities believe that it could be the tent of Camp III, established at 5 700 m and which would have therefore been swept into the slope, probably by an avalanche since traces of flows have been observed in The sector.

The Doc provided by the pakistan army however is confused because the tent location is located in the middle of the kinshoffer wall, far too far from the axis of the mummery spur and especially too steep to match the images provided.

In addition, the altitudes do not correspond, 18 000 feet are rather around 5 500 M THAN 5 300 m. Maybe it is a infographic approximation or then the tent spotted has nothing to see tom and Daniele’s material and could thus be the relic of a camp of the way path?

The night arriving the helicopters are anyway back to their base and the research will resume tomorrow.

 

 

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K2: Spanish/Galician Team – Base Camp

The K2 team lead by Alex Txikon are at base camp relaxing and posting about how good the food is

The cooks are very important at the Base Camp. Since Eneko Garamendi Meabe is with us, things are so different. This will be his second winter with us, after the Everest expedition of last year. I used to lose between 10-12 kg in winter expeditions due to the work of carrying material and all the effort made in the mountain at the most extreme conditions. However, now I only lose 6 kg !! With his tasty meals, he makes our days happier. Eating well is fundamental when climbing…

You can follow their movements on Alex’s GPS tracker,  Twitter,  Instagram, and Facebook.

K2: Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan Team – At Base Camp

The Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan team are regrouping and planning for a summit attempt on K2:

The Italian coordination center for search and rescue operations at Nanga Parbat, given the high risk to the lives of rescuers, decided to use drones to continue the rescue operation. Our team remains in K2 base camp and will make a final summit bid attempt in the coming days.

You can follow them on Instagram but Facebook and their site are the best sources.

Plans

The next 24 hours will provide clues as to the fate of the NP climbers and the next attempt on K2 will reveal if its possible this season.

Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything

 

 

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4 thoughts on “2018/19 Winter Climbs: NP Drone Search, K2 Resumes

  1. Always wondered, but do modern day Alpine Style Himalayan Climbers carry distress flares (like yachtsmen) for use in emergency situations?

    1. Weight. Even thou they would be light, every ounce counts on these tough climbs. Also most carry a sat phone or GPS device that sends their location.

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