First, the UK climbing legend Doug Scott died in his sleep today at age 79. Amongst his many accomplishments, he was the first Briton to summit Everest along with Dougal Haston.This on his Facebook page:
It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that Doug passed away in the early hours of this morning (Monday, December 7) peacefully in his sleep. He was diagnosed with brain cancer at the start of the first lockdown and was able to spend the summer with family at his home in the Lake District.
He will be remembered as the first British man to climb Mt Everest, as a pioneer of alpine-style climbing in the high mountains and for creating the charity, Community Action Nepal, which created shelters for porters, schools, and health posts in remote mountain communities in Nepal.
He loved visiting the area to give talks in support of the charity. Our thoughts should now be with his family and friends.
John Heald
This excellent interview with Doug from 2013:
Doug, along with many UK climbing Icons such as Sir Chris Bonington, recently held a fundraiser for his Community Action Nepal by climbing their stairs 20 times. They raised almost £50,000.
Winter K2
At Base Camp
Looks like tough weather out of the chute for our Winter K2 teams. Icelander John Snorri Sigurjonsson posted on Facebook on Monday, December 7, 2020:
The weather was crazy last night and some of our tents and kitchen tent exploded. Today we worked all day to build up our camps, we moved our camps a bit and fixed all the tents. So now we should be ready for the next crazy weather.
He is teaming with Muhammad Ali Sadpara and his son Sajid Ali. Aschar Ali Porik of Jasmine Tours is providing the logistics. You can follow them on their tracker.
En Route
Mingma Gyalje Sherpa: no foreigners, 3 Sherpas have their climbing permit from Pakistan and are on their way to Islamabad, Skardu and the trek to base camp. Mingma told me he expected to be at K2BC by December 19, 2020.
Mingma summited K2 in 2014 and 2017 plus made an ill-fated winter attempt last year. He will not be using supplemental oxygen. The rest of the team includes Dawa Tenzing Sherpa and Kili Pemba Sherpa. Their Pakistan logistic is being managed by Lela Peak Expedition.
And the K2 Rest
There are at least two other teams (at least more may show up!):
Seven Summits Treks: 24 clients supported by 21 Sherpas. With so many clients, this effort seems to be well funded and the leaders of SST have all summited K2, but not in winter thus they seem to have the best chance.
Nirmal Purja Purja Purja Purja: has confirmed he is going but still no details.
Overall it looks like there will be close to 60 climbers this winter, similar to a normal summer season.
Other 8000er
There are also plans on nearby Broad Peak. Russian-American Alex Goldfarb and Hungarian Zoltan Szlanko are planning a climb, hoping to ski from the summit. Over on Manaslu, long-time climbers, Simone Moro and Alex Txikon will go for a winter summit.
Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything
5 thoughts on “Winter K2 Teams Travel to Base Camp, Doug Scott Dies”
thanks Alan regarding the Doug Scott link
i first met Doug Scott after attending his lecture at Bury Grammer School in 1976 after he returned from his succesful summit of South Face of Everest.
i then attended a lecture at Bolton Town Hall 10 years later when he informed us of his trips to Greenland,
No one in my life regarding the moutains has ever affected me more than Doug Scott.
i first travelled to Nepal in 1993 and have since repeated that trip on 14 occasions visiting many of the areas where Doug did his greatest work
Doug Scott epitomised the era of adventure and dare..
He took risks that most of us will never realise to push the edge
Doug…..RIP….
My heroe..
Martin Berry
I am so sad about Doug . I know death will take all of us eventually and he crammed more in his life than most. I hope he finds new adventures in the afterlife whatever it is. He lived long enough to cram more adventures in the afterlife which I hope exists eve though I don’t really believe it. Keep setting your sites HIGH Doug. Say hello to Joe, Pete and all the lads.
Allan, has there ever been a busier winter season over there as 2020/2021?
Not that I know of. There has occasionally been more than one team but never a Commercial guided effort, or an all Sherpa team. This is one for the books, and most likely through brute force, will succeed.
From Doug Scott. . The Best Quote since Mallory’s ” Because it is There” answer to why do you want to climb Everest ?. . Doug. .”Because I get Grumpy when I Don’t”. . answer to why do you climb? Another Legend sadly gone. . .Climbed with him in Wales in the early 60’s. .showed him my routes on Stony Middleton, played soccer against him in the Biolet Campsite at Cham in “64 just before getting arrested , almost did the Frendo Spur . .followed him and the Nottingham Gang to the Atlas . . . all before I moved to the Bahamas and he became a Super Star . . It’s been a rough year saying goodbye for my generation of 50’s and 60’s Rock Rats.
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