UPDATE 8/9/25: Rockfall too dangerous tor the Madison team, including Ryan, so they called it Now preparing to leave. others continue having a different risk tolerance calculation . Ryan is disappointed but understands the decision.
The unrelenting winds stalled most teams and sent more members home as time, supplies and motivation ran out. Most teams are not updating their social media, so information is difficult to come by. We now understand that the fixed ropes are 200 meters above Camp 3, which would be around 7400 meters or 24,300 feet. Teams are expecting to summit on Monday, August 11.
The upper mountain is reported to be in good condition, with the largest area of concern between Camp 1 and Advanced Base Camp, which has persistent rockfall. There are just a handful of teams left on the mountain, all with few climbers. They include Seven Summits Treks, Imagine Nepal, Elete Expeditions and Madison Mountain Guides.
Today, August 9, 2025, in Pakistan, Imagne Nepal gave a thorough update:
Today our @imaginenepal team dropped 600m of rope and our own equipment to 7100m, or to the point we previously fixed. With this, we have a total of 2400m rope for C4 and the summit, and only our team dropped 1400m rope there, 800m in our previous climb and 600m today. 400m of those 600m were brought by the Madison team from base camp to Camp 2 yesterday, and our team today took them from Camp 2 to 7100m. @prakashguide team did a great job today, and also huge applause to Elite Exped joining Prakash’s team to camp3. Now the way is fixed 200m above Camp 3. The condition above camp1 is good, and the condition above camp2 is perfect. Now we are close to the summit and know there will be a summit on 11th August.Today, 1200 rope to 7100m and above by 3 of our team (Imagine Nepal, Prakash’s team AC & Elite Exped), and the way to camp3 gave hope to everyone, and I am sure the whole team will be there at Camp 3 on 10th August. We are confident in reaching the summit, but worried about rockfall below Camp 1 to ABC. The weather is getting better, we have enough rope, and the whole team is trying to make good cooperation, so we have enough manpower too. We will be moving to camp3 tomorrow and try to fix the way further.Thanks to Scom Telecommunications for the 4G service on K2, which worked until the summit. All our team members are connected to their families and friends from the K2 base camp to the summit.
There are still climbers on K2 hoping to summit without supplemental oxygen, like Czech climber Jan Polacek and Slovak Lenka Polackova, who posted in part on her IG account:
…we are still in doubt with our acclimatization, but we still do not give up the attempt to climb without oxygen. There is only one climb attempt left and the teams that will cooperate will try to jointly fix the route to the top.
Most teams and many individuals have left, but an estimated (very rough guess) that 20-30 total people, split equally between commercial and independent climbers, remain for the summit push starting today, August 5th, 2025.
Popular US climber Ryan Mitchell and Madison Mountaineering texted me from ABC:
Good thing is if a miracle window appears, then we could go abc to c2, on o’s to 3, 3 to summit, summit to ABC / BC. Will be hard but we have strong team
You can follow Ryan on his InReach tracker.
I’ll update this post with news from the K2 attempt. If the weather cooperates—and that’s still a huge IF—look for short-term progress until Sunday, when the summit push will begin in earnest.
Climb On!
Alan
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14 thoughts on “K2 2025 Coverage: Slow K2 Summit Progress But Optimism Prevails – Update 1”
Thanks for sharing the latest update. Ryan and the Madison crew made the best decision with the information they have about the conditions.
Based on Ryan’s tracker, looks like they’re back in base camp, which Im assuming means that they bailed on the summit push.
Correct. Too much rockfall danger and appropriate risk judgement imo.
I’m so glad the right call was made for Ryan, he has decades to climb on, and K2 was just not safe this year. There was no reason for him to take the chance. Well done for your perseverance, Ryan.
I’m so glad the right call was made for Ryan, he has decades to climb on, and K2 was just not safe this year. There was no reason for him to take the chance. I’m sure his mom is very happy, I would be. Well done for your perseverance, Ryan.
V wil pray for your success to summit k2
Just hope they all summitt and get back down! I think they wouldnt be there is they didnt want to be at least i hope so!
Note that Sohail Sakhi from Pakistan and Moving Mountains working in collaboration with Mingma G and Imagine Nepal is also climbing with no O2 and no sherpa.
He does not update any social or public. How can we track him?
It says the Madison team brought ropes up from BC to camp 2, but from what’s being reported there’s only Terray and Ryan left in the Madison team and they haven’t been able to climb from ABC because of the rockfall situation. Could you clarify?
Thanks, Alan
They have 4 or 5 Sherpas with them who carried the rope up. They move very fast, thus minimize the danger, but not 100% eliminate it.
Cheers, Alan
So it’s okay to risk the Sherpas’ lives but not the clients’ in a nutshell, some things never change. I just hope they weren’t coerced into it, as has happened so many times in the past.
I doubt it, the Madison team is very professional.