Category: Climbing News

With the death of Scottish legend, Rick Allen, now Karakorum Expeditions has decided to end their entire effort on K2 this summer. I had been receiving word from climbers that the expedition was already in trouble for the clients on the standard Abrusszi Ridge.

K2 continues to live up to its reputation by taking another life, this time on a new route. Meanwhile, teams are making progress on the Abruzzi but some climbers feel the lack of support and organization make this summer too dangerous and have thrown in the towel. Those remaining continue to target July 27th and 28th for their summit.

The K2 teams are leaving Base Camp for the summit push targeting July 27th and 28th.  The poor weather has finally let up and they are hoping the winds will be calm on the summit.

With the summits and tragedy on Broad Peak subsidizing, albeit, with still much unknown, the K2 teams are patiently waiting out the poor weather for their chance. However, it appears the mountain may have received well over a foot of fresh snow, thus increasing the avalanche danger, especially around Camp 3

Scattered reports are coming in of serious trouble and death from Sunday’s summits on Broad Peak as the peaks are now being hit by bad weather.

There were summits on Broad Peak and Gasherbrum II on Sunday, July 19, 2021. Meanwhile, a big weather event is forecasted to being on Monday, July 19 which should force everyone to stay in their base camp for a while.

Karakorum Big Picture – Tennanicity

Huge props to the summiters on Broad Peak and GII in what has been described as difficult conditions with deep snow. They made one attempt and turned back with chest-deep snow but returned and bagged the top. Well done by all. This is especially meaningful with a big storm moving in on Monday. It’s reported all are back at lower or even base camp now.

Don Bowie paints an unsettling picture on Broad Peak where the summit push was abandoned. It’s unclear on their next step. With weather moving in, most teams will retreat to the safety of their base camps.

Climbing continues on both K2, Broad Peak, and Gasherbrum II. Teams hope to catch this narrow weather window for Broad Peak and GII but later in the month for K2. Heavy snow has been reported across the Karakorum. I remain concerned for avalanche danger on all peaks, all routes. Summits are anticipated this weekend.

Garrett Madison, founder of Madison Mountaineering is one of the few people on the planet to have summited K2 twice. He’s hoping to get his third this 2021 summer. This is his sixth expedition to K2 making him the most experienced western operator to run regular trips to the Northern Terrorities of Pakistan.

With the new 4G Cell tower in Concordia, Garret took the hour walk from K2 Base Camp to Broad Peak Base Camp to talk with me over Zoom about his expedition. We discussed their rotations to Camp 1 and 2, the snow conditions on the mountain, what happens when he finds bodies on the mountain, and more. I think you’ll enjoy getting this first-hand information directly from Northern Pakistan.

A big snowstorm has stalled climbing on K2 and Broad Peak. Meanwhile, the Nanga effort has ended. Some climbers are biding their time at C2 on K2 in difficult conditions. A quick look at today’s news.