The first climbers have arrived at K2 Base camp. Mike Horn reported in that he experienced snowfall throughout the entire trek:
Hello everyone, this is Mike reporting from K2 base camp. It has been an intense week trekking up to K2 base camp. Heavy snows started falling from day 1 and didn’t stop until we reached base camp. This is quite a change from our last K2 expedition in 2015, when it only started snowing on our last day before reaching K2 base camp. Occasional snowfalls are to be expected around 5000m and upwards, however I was surprised to witness snow on the second day of our trek.
Madison Mountaineering reports that they got a break with good weather and flew to Skardu instead of taking the 2-day drive along the Karakorum Highway.
A person to watch is young Belgium climber Niels Jespers. He summited Nanga Parbat last Summer with no Os or support. He is with the Pakistani outfitter Lela Peak Expeditions.
Huge Team
As usual, the volume operator on nearly all mountains these days, Seven Summits Treks, reports that their K2 2019 team includes 19 international climbers with 18 Sherpas and 4 Pakistani High Porters. German alpinist Herbert Hellmuth is part of their team.
It will be interesting to see how all the teams coordinate tent space at Camp1 and 2 which have notoriously small footprints. There are over 160 climbers on K2 this summer.
Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything
