K2 2023 Coverage: Climbing Begins

Climbing on K2 has finally begun for the estimated 250 people there. They’ve been stalled by weeks of poor weather. Similarly, activity is picking up on Pakistan’s three other 8000-meter peaks with the season over on Nanga. Most K2 summits occur at the end of July, so while the delay is annoying for the teams, it doesn’t pose a big problem. The larger issue is the condition of the mountain with the recent heavy snows and, now, an increased avalanche danger. The flip side of this is perhaps with the snow, rockfall will be less this year.

This summer, the Karakorum has seen limited communications because of problems with both satellite and 5G links. It seems some are now back up, but still, not a lot of information is coming out.

There are multiple reports of tents and gear cached at high camps on the five 8000ers being blown away or buried in the snow events, but teams are working together to keep those most impacted climbing.

Various reports have fixed lines set to Camp 3 at 7250 meters.. Most teams will do only one acclimatization rotation to Camp 2, return to base camp to wait for a good weather window and then make their push. Several Nepali-led teams are claiming to be leading the effort on their respective social media platforms.

I reached out to Garrett Maddison of Maddison Mountaineering to see how his team is faring. Garret has been running K2 trips since 2014, when I summited with him, and is one of the few guides that is there every year. He has more K2 summits than any other American. He reported to me from base camp that all is well, and they will start climbing soon.

Hi Alan, good to hear from you! Yes, the weather has been tough, but now it’s great so we’re trying to make hay while the sun shines! Our climbers are doing their rotation now to acclimatize and our Sherpas are carrying ropes to fix from 2 – 3 and drop oxygen. Hoping we can get the ropes installed during this weather window to the summit and open the route so that teams can spread out with their summit attempts. I’ve heard around 250 climbers, similar to last season.

Norwegian Kristin Harila and Tenjen (Lama) Sherpa are on their summit push for GII. They have ten of the fourteen 8000ers shooting to get the last four this month, thus completing all in three months. But she’s hit a financial snag, posting “Prices for flights, food, permits and other necessities have risen more than 50%, making it challenging to manage everything. I’m doing my best to navigate these difficulties, but I need your support now more than ever. Whether through encouraging words or donations, it means the world to me.” She has a GoFundMe and the top donor with $5000 is listed as Nimsdai Purja.

And the Other 8000ers

While K2 gets a disproportionate amount of attention, the other four deserve an equal amount of coverage.

Gasherbrum I/II

At 26,362’/8035m. GII is often considered the most attainable of the Karakoram’s 8000ers. There have been about 380 summits of GI and 970 of GII. Jagged Globe reports in from GII “After some bad weather and snow last week, Robert Anderson on GII now reports that the weather is great.”

Nanga Parbat

The season appears to be over with sixty summits.

Broad Peak

Several teams,s will make an attempt tonight, including the dominant Seven Summits Treks. Also, there will be at least one small team going for the top on July 16, Horia Colibasanu. Furtenbach Adventures made an attempt last week but were stopped by high winds – representative of this season’s weather.

And it’s Over on Denali

The season is over on North America’s highest, Denali, in Alaska. Horrible weather kept hundreds off the tippy top and set a very low summit percentage at 31% or 308 out of 997 registered. You have to go back to 1971 to find a lower rate — in that year, only 29% of the 163 registered climbers reached the top.

Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything

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