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2019/20 Winter Himalaya Climbs: K2, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I/II

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Dec 092019
 
2019/20 Winter Himalaya Climbs: K2, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I/II

With winter now here, its time to review the Himalayan action for the next few months. There are expeditions planned for K2, Everest, Broad Peak, and the Gasherbrums plus a few other peaks. I’ll cover Everest and K2 in two separate posts. This is for K2 and Broad Peak. See this post for Everest. K2 Money Woes First up is Mingma Gyalje Sherpa‘s Imagine Nepal effort. In 2011, Mingma became the first Nepalese to summit all the 8000ers. He made the grand K2 Winter announcement on September 7, 2019: This winter we will try K2 via Abruzzi Route following the traditional and most continue reading

2019/20 Winter Himalaya Climbs: Everest

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Dec 092019
 
2019/20 Winter Himalaya Climbs: Everest

With winter now here, its time to review the Himalayan action for the next few months. There are expeditions planned for K2, Everest, Broad Peak, and the Gasherbrums plus a few other peaks. I’ll cover Everest and K2 in two separate posts. This is for Everest and the other planned climbs. See this post for K2. Everest 2020 – Two Separate Attempts There are two separate attempts. Jost Kobusch had announced he would attempt from the southside, crossing over the Lho La Pass to the West Ridge and then ascend the Hornbein-Couloir (A on this map) but this may have changed continue reading

K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage – Successful End to K2 Season

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Jul 262019
 
K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage - Successful End to K2 Season

The K2 season started out doubtful, got worse but ended on a happy note … for those who stayed. Thanks to an unusual spate of good weather, it appears that over 30 people made the summit, including at least seven not using supplemental oxygen. While impressive total summits, this is about a 30% summit rate given at least 100 climbers had K2 permits for the summer of 2019. Historically, 30 summits is becoming about average for K2. It appears there were no deaths on K2 this season. Route Opens on July 24 Of course, Nirmal Purja‘s set the tone by continue reading

K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage – Successful Summits!

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Jul 242019
 
K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage - Successful Summits!

Against many unfavorable conditions, Nirmal Purja‘s Project Possible team plus two Sherpas from Seven Summits treks successfully summited K2 at local time 7:50 am Wednesday, July 24, 2019. Also Adrian Ballinger  and Carla Perez summited a few hours later at 11:45 am not using supplemental oxygen. Both climbers have now summited both Everest and K2 with no supplemental O’s. There were a few additional people to summit including one from Iran. Sorry no names available yet. Dawa Sherpa posted this update: A huge congratulations the Fixing team for their successful ascent of Mt. K2 (8611m). The team of Seven Summit Treks and “Project continue reading

K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage – Summit Push Underway Update 2

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Jul 232019
 
K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage - Summit Push Underway Update 2

I’ll use this page to track the current 2019 summit push on K2. Latest Headlines 05:30 July 24 K2 Time Update 2 Dawa Sherpa posted that the SST rope fixer are 200 meter below K2’s summit meaning they are past the avalanche prone area/ Update 1 Dawa Sherpa told me that their Sherpa team reached C4 2:30pm on Tuesday, July 23, 2019.  They hope to reach to summit Wednesday morning safely and return base camp. This suggest the SST Sherpas are working with Nims as expected. Update 0 Adrian Ballinger reports to me that it is only his team and Nirmal Purja‘s at camp 4. They continue reading

K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage – One Last Effort to Summit K2

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Jul 222019
 
K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage - One Last Effort to Summit K2

One by one the major commercial expeditions stating that the conditions on K2 were too dangerous announced the end of their 2019 expeditions. Meanwhile, a few ambitious independent teams have banded together, as expected, to give it one final push as this summer season winds down. Adrian Ballinger tells me “7 of us left on Cesen. About 30 on Abruzzi (Seven Summits Treks and Nims and 2 Hungarians). All Seven Summits clients set up for 25th.” So, as Yogi Berra said “It ain’t over till it’s over.” Big Picture K2 2019 has come down to risk management vs ambition. The continue reading

K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage – Avi on K2 Stalls Ropes, No Injuries. More Broad Peak Summits

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Jul 162019
 
K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage - Avi on K2 Stalls Ropes, No Injuries. More Broad Peak Summits

A small avalanche on K2 has delayed the rope fixing team by a couple of day but no injuries were reported. he Broad Peak summit list from Kobler was released. Look for K2 summits to slip to Friday though the weekend f the weather holds. Big Picture A small avalanche occurred near the Bottleneck that will delay progress a day or so. The major downside is that it might bunch too many teams together on their oust after working so hard to spread everyone out. This from Dawa Sherpa of Seven Summits Treks whose Sherpas are fixing the ripe from continue reading

K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage – More Broad Peak Summits, K2 Climbers enroute to Summit

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Jul 152019
 
K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage - More Broad Peak Summits, K2 Climbers enroute to Summit

We have more summits on Broad Peak and the Gasherbrum as the excellent weather continues. Many of the K2 teams have left Base Camp hoping to summit starting mid week. Big Picture The summit for K2 should begin early Wednesday, July 17, 2019, on both routes, the Česen and Abruzzi. Ropes are set to the respective Camp 4 on both routes I expect to see 50 to 75 summits on Wednesday, then 30-50 on Thursday and 10-20 on Friday. After a break, the following week should see another 20-30 summits bringing the season total on K2 to over 100 – a continue reading

K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage – Summits in the Karakorum, K2 Next

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Jul 132019
 
K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage - Summits in the Karakorum, K2 Next

The weather on K2 continues to behave and looks good well into next week. This is quite unusual and the teams are embracing it fully. Meanwhile there are multiple summits on the Gasherbrum and Broad Peak. Thus far it’s a good year in the Karakorum. Big Picture The summit schedules for K2 are coming into focus with Wednesday, July 17, 2019 being the key date with climbers leaving their high camps on Tuesday around 10 pm. Teams on both routes, the Česen and Abruzzi are leaving base camp this weekend. Ropes are set to the respective Camp 4 on both continue reading

K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage – Climbers on the Move in Good Weather

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Jul 112019
 
K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage - Climbers on the Move in Good Weather

The weather on K2 is revealing a kind side for a change. Low winds, little snow and acceptable temperatures have dominated the conditions for the past 10 days. How long this will last is anyone’s guess but for now, no one is complaining. Big Picture There is talk about a lot of snow above Camp 4 and it’s giving the climbers serious pause. Eduard Ulysses gave his usual solid update noting the conditions: On Abruzzi route, the ropes are fixed up to Camp 4, on Cesen route the ropes end about 500m below Camp 4 it seems. Here it will continue reading

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