Upfront, there is no 100% confirmed news about: John Snorri, Ali Sadpara, and Juan Pablo (JP) Mohr Prieto. JP was climbing without supplemental oxygen. There is no conformation if they summited, their current status or plans. I’ll update when I have 100% confident news.
They left Camp 3 for their summit push almost 30 hours earlier. They were last seen over 15 hours ago. It’s 3 am Saturday morning, February 6, 2021. The first rays of dawn will hit the shoulder in about three hours. Note that none of the GPS trackers seem to be working anymore. I assume their batteries have run out, perhaps also for their headlamps and even radios. Computer generated weather forecast have the summit temps at -42F/-41C with a wind chill at -80F/-62C.
John’s wife gave this update around midnight K2 time, Friday, February 5, 2021:
At this moment we haven’t heard from the team since Sajid descended from bottleneck where the team was located 10.00 PKT this morning. John and Ali are extremely strong climbers so we are hopeful that they will show up in C3 soon.
I just got in contact with Sajid at C3. He went out to check if there is any trace of them. He hasn’t saw any lights or any movement. He has food, sleeping bag and he is holding tight. We’ll publish the news as soon as he informs us.
There is no direct line of sight from C3 to the Bottleneck where Sajid last saw them. He returned to C3 after his oxygen regulator failed.
There is no news of a rescue party being sent up. The winds are expected to build over the next few hours, and many of the Sherpas who went on the summit push reported frostbite.
These climbers are all now reported back at Base Camp:
- Tamara Lunger
- Noel Hanna
- Bernhard Lippert
- Tomasz Rotar
- Colin O’Brady
- Antonios Sykaris
- Bernhard Lippert
- Tomasz Rota
- Atanas Georgiev Skatov (deceased below Camp 3. Body recovered and flown back to Skardu)
Seven Summits Trekking Sherpas
- Lhakpa Temba Sherpa
- Mingma Temba Sherpa
- Lakpa Dendi Sherpa
- Phurbu Kusang Sherpa
- Lakpa Nurbu Sherpa
- Pasang Dukpa Sherpa
- Pastemba Sherpa
- Temba Bhote Sherpa
And these climbers are still on the mountain:
Camp 1
- Antonios Sykaris, should descend Saturday K2 time
Last position at Camp 3:
- Sajid Ali Sadpara
Status unknown:
- John Snorri Sigurjonsson
- Muhammad Ali Sadpara
- Juan Pablo (JP) Mohr Prieto
Climbers have been known to bivy in harsh conditions waiting for the sun to show the way and warm their bodies. The human body and spirit are amazingly strong and resilient. Let’s keep the candles burning in hopes they meet Sajid at Camp 3 soon.
Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything
Resources:
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- A 30-minute documentary of Alan’s 2014 K2 Summit
- Known GPS Trackers:
- The traditional K2 Camp locations are:
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- Base Camp: 17,500ft/5334m
- Advanced Base Camp: 18,650ft/5650m
- Camp 1: 19,965’/6050m
- Camp 2: 22,110’/6700m
- Camp 3: 23,760’/7200m
- Camp 4: 25,080’/7600m
- Summit: 28,251”/8611
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11 thoughts on “Winter K2 Update: Summit Push Update #5”
Thank you for the continual updates Alan. I’ll keep tuning in here throughout the day, wishing for the strength of the climbers to pull through
Thanks Alan for your updates. I hope the 3 gentlemen are ok.
Loving your play-by-play Alan on these winter K2 summit bids. Wishing everyone a safe return. Didn’t the successful 10 sherpa team also use a shallow crevasse above C3 to take a brief refuge during their push?
I know they paused for a short rest just below the Shoulder where traditional C4 is usually set. But it’s pretty flat with no overly large depressions. Of course that changes each year so there might be something.
No I guess it was slightly below C3 where Nirmal Purja Purja Purja Purja and other climbers slept in a shallow crevasse at more than 23,000ft one night because it was too windy to put up their tents.
30 hours since they started their summit push.. that’s a long time to be out up above 7000-8000 meters.. Alan don’t the climbers work with a return time or altitude .. this seems a bit out of norm..
Also in your experience are there spots up that high that can keep them relatively safe for next steps at sunlight..
Praying they’re safe whether summitted or not..
Cheers
Abbas
These are pretty experienced climbers so they may have pushed any limits. Also they were not “guided” as in on a commercial climb so they pretty much called their own shots. As for cover, there is almost nothing from C3 to the Summit, and it’s underneath that giant serac so you want to minimize time there, not “hang out.” It’s also exposed to wind. So all in all not a great place. They could have found a shallow crevasse or some kind of depression to take cover, that’s been done before on other mountains.
But in these temperatures? I read about windchill over -60 degrees Celsius today up there! Could they survive that, for so many hours? Hoping for a miracle …!
Hope they made the summit and return safely..
On Antonios Sykaris IG is that he will stay overnight at the Camp 1, did he descended?
Apparently he overnighted at C1 and will descend today, Saturday K2 time. I updated the post.
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