K2 2018 Summer Coverage: Season Summary
The K2 2018 summer season has come to an end when the Austrian operator Furtenbach Adventures declared the weather window had closed and they spent too much time on Broad Peak thus missing their K2 opportunity. Overall, K2 saw over 60 summits – a record – by several different teams. As always with K2, there were deaths, two this year. Big Picture K2 continues to play hard with climbers in all seasons. Early in 2018, a well respected Polish team gave their best effort to make the first winter summit but were denied. Blame the weather, or botched logistics or poor teamwork – whatever the reason the world’s second highest peak can go for years with no summits unlike many of the other 8000-meter peaks. According to research, plus my own research, from 1986 to 2016 there were 12 years with no summits. From 2009 to 2016, there were only three years with summits – 2011 only from the Chinese side by Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner. In 2012 and 2014 each saw about 30 – 50 people summiting – record-breaking years as a result of a week of excellent and rare summit conditions. Everest went from 1974 to 2014 with summits every year – 40 straight years! The best year ever for K2 before 2018 was in 2004 with 51 total summits followed by 2014 with an estimated 49 summits, including six female climbers – the same number of female climbers as this year! It seems the curse of K2 on female climbers has relented. With less than 10 teams hoping to summit K2 in 2018, the season began a bit earlier than usual with a high-profile Japanese team led by Akira Oyabe arriving in late June. They had been preparing for two years after not reaching the summit in 2009 and 2013. They were somewhat independent with no Nepali Sherpas and only a couple of Pakistani High Altitude Porters aka HAPs. They fixed the rope to C2 before heavy snows buried them leaving the rope fixing to highly supported commercial teams. As for the other four 8000ers; Nanga Pabart, Gasherbrum I and II, and Broad Peak there were only a handful of climbers, many small independent teams hoping to open new routes or repeat rarely climbed ones. There was also activity on at least nine other Pakistani peaks including Gasherbrum IV and Latok I. As we left June and entered July, the notoriously poor Pakistani summer weather turned downright ugly. The conditions were aptly summed up by Luis Stitzinger of the German guide company Amical alpin: “I’ve never experienced such a season with so constant bad weather in the Karakoram.” They gave up on their Broad Peak ambitions and went home by July 6th. Similarly 150 miles away in the Western Himalaya on Nanga Parbat, well respected climbers Mike Horn, Alex Gavan, Tunc Findik, and Maya Sherpa all ended their efforts fairly early into the season due to dangerous snow conditions. 2018 was beginning to look like 2015 and 2016 when no one summited K2 and only a few made the other peaks throughout Pakistan. There were sporadic days of good weather but not enough to allow teams to string together enough time at altitude to fix routes and acclimatize their bodies for the summit push. Usually the Karakoram season ends in early August so by mid July, it was looking bleak. First Summits! Finally the first summit in Pakistan for the 2018 summer came when Austrian Hansjörg Auer posted on Instagram that he had made a historic first ascent, “… climbed the Westface of Lupghar Sar West.” His solo climb on the big wall of the 7,157-meter peak was in fact an impressive first. Then on Nanga Parbat, technically part of the Western Himalaya Range and not the Karakoram, Korean Kim Migon with support from Summit Karakoram made the first 8000-meter summits of the season. He persevered when other climbers gave into the conditions. This was Kim’s last 8000er. Deaths Just as the season seems to have turned around tragedy, often associated with climbing the world’s big peaks, struck. On July 7th, Canadian climber Serge Dessureault fell to his death on K2 near House Chimney as he was rappelling from Camp 2 during an acclimatization rotation. He was the leader of a small Canadian team. They soon canceled their expedition and returned home. Then over on Gasherbrum IV, 7,925-meters high, – a peak with several small and ambitious climbs planned for the season, Maurizio Giordano was hit by ice and died as he was descending on July 11th. He was part of an Italian Army team. They abandoned their expedition after his death. And Austrian climber Christian Huber died in an avalanche that hit his tent at Camp Two on Ulter Sar (7338 m) in Pakistan in late June. While not in Pakistan, the death was reported of Pemba Sherpa who was assumed to have fallen into a crevasse on Saser Kangri, the highest peak at 7,672 m (25,171 ft) in the Saser Muztagh Range, the easternmost subrange of the Karakoram range, located in India. He was with a team of climbers led by Basanta Singha Roy from West Bengal and another team from Pune, India. Summit Attempts With the weather playing serious tricks on the teams, several attempts were made hoping to thread the tiny needle of random weather windows, none succeeded. Furtenbach Adventures attempted to summit BP over the weekend of July 7/8th but stopped short. They posted, “Summit bid stopped at 7800m short below the col due to avalanche danger. The couloir is filled with masses of unsettled snow and this will not change in a few days. Now all on the way down to basecamp. We will see if we give it another try or switch over to K2.” On the Gasherbrums, Masha Gordon and Helias Millerioux, Yannick Graziani made an attempt to traverse G1/G2 but stopped after dealing with unfavorable conditions. K2 skier, Andrzej Bargiel, who was acclimatizing on GII abandoned his plan as he didn’t like the dangerous conditions on GII. A Weather Break and Summits! Finally in mid July, the Weather Gods smiled on K2 and the weather forecasters gave the climbers a green lite to
K2 2018 Summer Coverage: K2 Ski Video, Attempts Come To An End
Monday, July 23, 2018 saw the few remaining climbers give up as poor weather once again took over K2. Perhaps some will try to stay for another try but it is looking more and more unlikely. David Roeske, who was climbing with Fredrik Sträng, posted on Instagram from Camp 3 on K2: This morning we woke to high winds and snow, which had been forecast for mid-week, but we were expecting another day or two of good weather in order to squeeze in a summit. With the bad weather arriving and another week of it predicted we turned back. We had rushed after our Broad Peak summit to try to catch this window but it looks like with simple bad luck on timing I missed the K2 window by two days. This particularly hurts as I felt ready for it, and we were going without supplemental oxygen, of course. Alas, the fickle Karakoram weather fooled us. This must be very disappointing for Fredrik as this was his third attempt and he was on K2 inn 2008 when 11 people died. Furtenbach Adventures still has a small team at K2 BC but there are no updates as to their plans. Ski Descent Video Red Bull, one of Andrzej Bargiel‘s sponsors posted a teaser video and a few images of his ski descent as he connected four routes on the descent: Abruzzi Rib, the Česen the Messner variant and the Kukuczka-Piotrowski routes. He summited Sunday, 22nd July at 11:30am and reached the Base Camp at around 7:30pm local time. By now, its well known that his brother, Bartek Bargiel, was using a DJI Mavic Pro drone to film the descent, and help rescue another climber on Broad Peak! I don’t what the video plans are but similar to Kilian Jornet’s double summit in a week of Everest last year, they will probably create a documentary. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2018 Summer Coverage: Record Weekend on K2 and a Death
It was a record weekend on K2 with over 60 summits breaking the record of 51 set in 2004. Another record set was by Polish climber and skier Andrzej Bargiel who put together an amazing route to ski directly from the summit of K2 to base camp. Death But the celebrations were quieted on news that 41 year-old Japanese climber, Mr. Kojiro Watanabe died on K2. He had summited along with his five Japanese teammates. It appears he fell during the descent in the Bottleneck, a well-known challenging area. He fell around 8,300-meters about 6:00 pm local time. They had summited between noon and 1:00 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2018. This is the second death on K2 this season. Canadian Serge Dessureault fell near House Chimney while descending on July 7, 2018. Big Days Using the same formula on K2 as they do on Everest, Nepali operator Seven Summits Treks put 31 people on the summit of K2 Saturday, July 21st. They provided a support ratio of 2 Sherpas for each member and climbed on supplemental oxygen. The climbers were from Mongolia, China, Japan, Belgium, Switzerland, Mexico and Ireland. Also summiting that day were three members and two Sherpas from the commercial team Summit Climb plus two other Sherpas from Madison Mountaineering who were assisting with the route fixing. On Sunday, 22 July, Madison Mountaineering put 24 people on the summit consisting of eight members, three guides, nine Nepali Sherpas, and four Pakistani high altitude porters. Also on Sunday, as mentioned, the Japanese team had six members summit along with two Pakistani high altitude porters After a miserable beginning to July, the weather turned for the better the last week allowing teams to complete their acclimatization rotations and summit in overall good climbing conditions but it looks like the window is closing as we enter a new week. Notables Among the summiteers this weekend were six women including Gangaamaa Badamgarav who became the first Mongolian to summit K2 as well as the first female from her country. Also summiting were American Lisa Thompson, Chinese Jianhong Li, Japanese Naoko Watanabe, Mexican Viridiana Chavez (first Latin woman) and Swiss climber Sophie Lavaud summited. At least five people summited K2 for a second time and Fazal Ali shimshal made his third summit. Jake Meyer, the youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest in 2005, aged 21 and the youngest Brit to climb the Seven Summits also summited. Noel Hanna and Jason Black became the second and third Irish to summit after the tragic story of my friend Get McDonald in 20o8. Records Of course the ski descent by Andrzej Bargiel stole the show. It was an amazing display of athleticism and courage. He connected four routes on the descent: Abruzzi Rib, the Česen the Messner variant and the Kukuczka-Piotrowski routes. He summited Sunday, 22nd July at 11:30am and reached the Base Camp at around 7:30pm local time. His brother filmed the feat with a drone but I bet we will have to wait for the movie to see it. Both days were good on K2, but not records as that was on July 26, 2014, when 33 people stood on top (source with names) By my count, there are now 432 total summits by an estimated 417 individuals. More to Come? Monday, July 23, 2018 saw a few more summits including Yuki Inayoshi with Karakorum Expeditions and Sergi iIngote, no Os, who also summited Broad Peak this season. In addition to Furtenbach Adventures , there are still a few climbers left on K2 including Fredrik Sträng and David Roeske. Thgye have already left K2 BC for their summit push. They hope to get there by Tuesday, 24th July. They are climbing without Os and summited nearby Broad Peak, another 8000-meter mountain, last week. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything Why this Coverage? As always, I use my blog to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s and if you appreciate my coverage, please consider a donation where 100% goes to Alzheimer’s non-profits and nothing ever to me. Read more about why this cause is so important at this link and how Alzheimer’s took Ida Arnette’s life.
K2 2018 Summer Coverage: Japanese Death on K2
Sad news just now from K2 that Mr. Kojiro Watanabe, 41, died on K2. He had summited along with his four Japanese teammates. It appears he fell during the descent in the Bottleneck, a well-known challenging area. He fell around 8,300-meters about 6:00 pm local time. They had summited between noon and 1:00 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2018. The Bottleneck is a narrow couloir, just 400m/1,300-feet below the summit and directly underneath the giant hanging serac. It is estimated at 50 to 60 degree steepness. Today, many teams bypass the couloir altogether by climbing a rock buttress to the climber’s right on ascending. The Japanese team was closed followed this year. Led by Japanese mountaineer Akira Oyabe, they had been preparing for two years. They arrived at the end of May in Pakistan to get a jump of other teams and hopefully have the time to wait out poor weather. This was Oyabe’s third attempt after being stopped by high winds in 2009, and heavy snowfall in 2013. They were alone on K2 in early July and fixed the route to Camp 2 but then heavy snows hit cancelling all their work. They had no Sherpa support but two Pakistani High-Alttiude Porters on their summit push. Kojiro Watanabe was from Mombetsu, Hokkaido, Japan and lived in Sendai, northeast of Tokyo. He had posted on Facebook before leaving: Heading to narita. In the afternoon flight to Pakistan. I’m going to take a few months off, and I’ll challenge you to the summit of 8611 M. For the last two weeks, I am truly grateful to have a send-off party of various kinds of tastes like every day. I had to save a lot of drinking while I wasn’t on the expedition lol. Please forgive me for not being able to thank you all by yourself. I hope you’ll have a good time and return home safely and thank you again for your report. Since there is no communication environment during the expedition, it will be difficult to make information, but the progress of the climbing team is sometimes up to the official fb page of the Northern Japan climbing study group. If you’d like, I’d be happy if you’d like to see your page. Okay, I’ll go. My condolences to Mr. Wantanabe’s family, teammates and friends. Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2018 Summer Coverage: More K2 Summits – Weather moving In
Following a near record day of K2 summits, more teams stood on top of K2 on Sunday July 22nd, 2018. Big weather is forecasted to move in on Tuesday thru Thursday so now is the time to push for the summit of K2. I’ll update this post as new information becomes available over the next 12 hours. Masherbrum Expedition providing some support for Madison noted: “11 members, 9 Sherpas and 2 Pakistani highporters summit K2 on 22 July.” Before leaving, Garrett told me he had, “… a team of 10 clients, 2 guides plus myself (Geoff Schellens and Robert Smith), 11 sherpas, and 5 Pakistani HAPs” The Japanese team posted this update: Japanese K2 expedition, Summit push: Six members (Mr. Higashiyama, Mr. Taguchi, Mr. Watanabe, Mr. Iizawa, Mr. Yusa, Ms.Hayashi ) and two HAPs left C4 last night for summit push. Today(7/22), at 4:00 local time, Mr. Higashiyama reached Bottle Neck(8200m). Two members (Mr. Oyabe, Mr. Shirakura) decided not to pursue the summit push, due to health condition. Of note yesterday Noel Hanna with Seven Summits Treks and today Jason Black with Madison became the second and third Irish to summit after the tragic story of my friend Get McDonald in 20o8. Well done to both. More to Come! Furtenbach Adventures has two logistics-only members pushing the schedule to avoid potential weather moving in. Fredrik Sträng and David Roeske went on their own aiming to skip camps to make the K2 summits as quickly as possible. K2 skier Andrzej Bargiel is on his push, you can follow at his tracker page Why So Many Summits? I made the case a few years ago that K2 will never be Everest and I stand by that even with the good summit numbers over the last two days. Everest is all about altitude while K2 is all about altitude AND climbing. Remember that Everest saw close to 700 summits this Spring while K2 may see around 50. What we are seeing in 2018 is similar to what I personally experienced in 2014 – good weather and good support. As I’ve noted in previous post, Seven Summits Treks has taken their high volume Everest model and exported it to Pakistan. By that I mean a support ratio of 2 to 1 for support to members all climbing on a generous flow of supplemental oxygen. Now, this is not to take way from their accomplishment because summiting K2 is damned hard – and almost impossible without these support systems as evidenced with the approximately 400 summits and 84 deaths. A view from the air Bilal Munir Sheik sent me this video taken from Pakistani Air PK451 as it took a deviation to fly by K2 on July 17, 2018. Look for K2 starting at 5:00 into the clip and Gasherbrum at 7:10 Congratulations to all and a safe journey to the rest. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything Why this Coverage? As always, I use my blog to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s and if you appreciate my coverage, please consider a donation where 100% goes to Alzheimer’s non-profits and nothing ever to me. Read more about why this cause is so important at this link and how Alzheimer’s took Ida Arnette’s life.
K2 2018 Summer Coverage: Good Day for K2 Summits, More to Come
July 21st 2018 was a good day for K2 climbers. 31 people summited – all from the Nepali company Seven Summits Treks (SST). With 100% success, they had 13 Sherpas, 2 Pakistani High Altitude Porters and 7 clients on the top. The members were from Mongolia, China, Japan, Belgium, Switzerland, Mexico and Ireland. Also three clients and two Sherpas from Summit Climb and two Sherpas from Madison Mountaineering, who were helping with the rope fixing, completed the total of 31. See this post from SST for the names of their summiteers. Of note there were five women climbers who summited including Gangaamaa Badamgarav who became the first Mongolian to summit K2 as well as the first female from her country. Also Chinese Jianhong Li, Japanese Naoko Watanabe, Mexican Viridiana Chavez and Swiss climber Sophie Lavaud. Briton climber Jake Meyer, the youngest Brit to climb Mount Everest in 2005 at age 21 and the youngest Brit to climb the Seven Summits has summited. K2 Summits in Perspective It was a good day on K2, but not a record as that was on 26 July 2014 when 33 people stood on top (source with names) By my count, which could be slightly off, K2 had seen 367 summits through 2017 with 82 deaths. Adding in today’s 31, there are 398 total summits by an estimated 375 individuals. The best year ever for K2 was in 2004 with 51 total summits. In 2014, there were 49 summits and 1 death: 33 on July 26, 12 on July 27 and 5 more a few days later. Included in these numbers are 6 women: The Nepali women’s team (Oasang Lhamu Sherpa, Maya Sherpa and Dawa Yangzum Sherpa); Chris Burke (New Zealand), Luo Jing (China), Tamara Lunger (Italy). There were no summits in 2015 and 2016 and in 2017, Mingma G. Sherpa put 12 climbers on the summit made up of 6 Sherpas, 1 Pakistani HAP and 5 members. Up Next With so much traffic on the upper mountain the boot path, and fixed ropes, are well established. Assuming no new snow, the next teams will have a well marked trail to follow. Andrzej Bargiel reports in at Camp 4 and is expected to summit Sunday morning and descend by skis. The Madison Mountaineering left Camp 4 at 9:00 am Saturday, 21st July looking to summit in about 12 hours or early Sunday morning. You can follow one of their member, Lisa Thompson on her tracker. Fredrik Sträng and David Roeske have left K2 BC for their summit push. They hope to get there by Tuesday, 24th July. They are climbing without Os. Congratulations to all and a safe journey to the rest. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything Why this Coverage? As always, I use my blog to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s and if you appreciate my coverage, please consider a donation where 100% goes to Alzheimer’s non-profits and nothing ever to me. Read more about why this cause is so important at this link and how Alzheimer’s took Ida Arnette’s life.
K2 2018 Summer Coverage: K2 Summits – Update 1
UPDATE 1: It’s a good day on K2 with many summits. There are 31 summits thus far on 21 July Saturday 2018. Seven Summits Treks clients have summited K2. They post: Here are the list of successes summiteers: 1. Jianjonh Li (China)
K2 2018 Summer Coverage: K2 Summits Expected over Weekend
As usual, tracking progress on the Pakistani 8000-meter mountains is like herding cats. I think I have an understanding of whats going on, but I can easily be missing something. There is summit activity on K2, Broad Peak, the Gasherbrum I/II/IV and VII plus Nanga Parbat 150 miles to the South. The Big Picture Heavy snow over the past few days have complicated the summit push plans at least on K2. Low clouds, and snow have caused some teams to hold in place at Camps 2 or 3. Meanwhile Sherpas supporting the large commercial teams have been ensconced at Camp 4 for a few days trying to get the fixed line in through the infamous Bottleneck and Traverse features. These are dangerous areas and time-consuming tasks. For all the criticism of commercial teams, those who lag a few days behind and use their ropes, should be grateful and pay the small amount asked. But more to the point, the longer any individual, whether Pakistani High-Altitude Porters, Sherpas or foreigners spend at altitude, the weaker they get so time is of the essence. Thankfully, the winds have remained manageable according to most reports – even though some drama-oriented outfits known for their “delicious food” at every meal, and “everyone is great” have characterized conditions as “blizzards,” but they are the exception. As usual the best reports are from individuals and not the guide services. The computer weather forecast missed Wednesday’s big snowfall of 30cm/1 foot. For what’s worth, they say little snow through 25 July but then the winds pick up over 30mph/48 kph. The recent snowfall does create one very significant cause for concern – avalanche. Remember back in 2013, expert climber and guide, Marty Schmidt and his son, Denali, were killed when an avalanche swept their tent away while they were asleep at Camp 3 on K2. Every other team had felt the avi danger was too large and had returned to base camp. And in 2008, while technically not an avalanche, the giant ice serac “released” a tiny fraction of its face onto the climbers on the Traverse severing their safety line. This chain reaction of events took 11 lives in total that season. Two of the 11 died prior to the ice release. I’m sure the highly experienced guides this season have a keen eye on snow conditions as does Andrzej Bargiel wanting to ski from the summit. Nanga Parbat – Summits! The Czech team topped out and it seems there are more to follow. Hey, so today we have successfully reached the top of nanga parbat! First at 7 PM Czech time group Pavel Root, radoslav groh and Pavel Bém and then around 8 pm tomáš kučera, Pavel Burda and lukáš dubský. 6 Czechs on osmitisícovce in one day, unprecedented! Amazing day! Now the complicated two-day return. Then we can bang the champagne. Fingers crossed! NB: now there’s one group in c4 and the other in the forward c4 under the head of the head They’re going to pick up their forces tonight, and tomorrow they’re going to be moving together to c2, the next day K2: All over the Place! Dawa Sherpa of Seven Summits Treks (SST) says they will finish fixing the ropes today, 20 July and go for the summit on 21 July. It’s reported most of their team is at C4. The Japanese and Karakorum Expeditions teams are reported at C3 on Friday. Madison is at C3 as well looking to summit on Sunday, 22 July. They report low clouds high on K2 – not a good sign at all … Jason Black gave the best and most transparent update of all today. Thank God for the Irish! Latest dispatch from Jason on July 20th 2018 at Camp 3 on K2. Expedition going really well at this stage as the Team settle into Camp 3 at 24,000ft. It was a very hard days climbing that included the technical ascent of the black pyramid. Lots of snow underfoot is also adding to the tough climbing conditions. All going to plan and the team will head off early tomorrow morning Saturday to Camp 4 where they will rest and re-fuel for a few hours before attempting to summit K2 which will be around 7am Irish time Sunday 22nd July 2018. The K2 skier, Andrzej Bargiel is on the Cesen at C3 Summit Climb has said they have “teams” on both K2 and BP but there are not enough details to really understand if this is one person and if they are really going for the summits. so where will, wait and see if they clarify one day. Furtenbach Adventures seems patient to wait for the next window – if there is one – for their BP summiteers and K2 climbers to give it a go. This includes semi-independent climbers Fredrik Sträng, and David Roeske Broad Peak Mingma G Sherpa arrived at BP last week and gave the impression that they would go right up, but it seems they delayed. Friday he posted “Today we arrived camp2 on Broad Peak. Tomorrow climb to camp3 and try summit in July 22.” The Rare Karakorum Double Summit I’ve written about this in the past (see this post) – that it is rare to see anyone summit two 8000ers in one season in the Karakorum. This year, we seem to have a slew of aspirants on the way to grab K2 after they summited GI/II or Broad Peak. Last year, 2017, I asked Eberhard Jurgalski who runs research for his analysis of doubles in the Karakorum for Broad Peak/K2 and Gasherbrum I/Gasherbrum II. Eberhard tracks all the 8000-meter mountains and published list similar to the Himalayan Database (HDB) but covers Pakistan whereas the HDB does not. He said for K2/BP there are only 8 doubles and for GI/GII there have been 118 with 2 that are listed as disputed. For this analysis, this means a climber summited both peaks in the same season, usually July/August in the Karakorum. Eberhard goes on to tell me these Karakorum doubles were between 2 days 4 hours 30
K2 2018 Summer Coverage: K2 Summit Push Delayed
Well, it looks like the heavy snow a couple days ago did delay some K2 teams on their summit push with most of the K2 teams have delayed their ascent schedule by one day. It looks like Friday and Saturday will be the big days followed by another push in about a week – if the weather holds. The heavy snow on Wednesday came as a bit of a surprise. K2 – Summits Not on Thursday, but Maybe Friday and Probably Saturday? Dawa Sherpa of Seven Summits Treks (SST) says their plans have changed due to weather: SST team changed the plan, we scheduled 20th for final rope fixing and 21st summit push with members. All team members are safe in higher camps!! Mingma David Sherpa (leading member of Elite himalayan adventures) and Mingma Tenjen Sherpa are now, fixing rope above Camp 4 (7800m), rest of sherpa are in C4, and members + some sherpas are in Camp 3. But Summit Climb‘s said their team was on their push hoping to summit Friday, 20 July which is doubtful since SST is fixing the ropes. The Japanese team reported in on Thursday 19 July that “all of the eight members who attempt summit push are staying at Camp 3.” he K2 skier, Andrzej Bargiel is lookinng to summit on 21 July noting, “I’m on my way to camp ii on the way road where Janusz Gołąb-8A Team is waiting for me, and tomorrow morning, we’re going to the entrance to the summit is planning on July 21th. Fingers crossed! Jason Black reported that the Madison team was returning to K2 base camp after a difficult night with the heavy snow, but later Lisa Thompson posted via her Garmin InReach they would hold on and stay at C2. Nothing official from Madison Mountaineering as of this post. Furtenbach Adventures will begin their climb in a few days after their successful Broad Peak summit. Also Fredrik Sträng, and David Roeske “hope for a summit push within one week”. Lets hope the weather holds for them … the winds look to be picking up. Broad Peak Summit Climb‘s team said their push is tonight, Thursday, 19 July. The Chilean climbers Sebastian Rojas and Diego Señoret hope to summit in a couple of days. Nanga Parbat The Czech team has left for the summit also tonight, Thursday, 19 July Gasherbrum I Luis Stitzinger summited on 18 July. This was his eighth 8000er, all without supplement Os. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2018 Summer Coverage: K2 Summit Push Underway
Teams are spread out all over K2 as the summit push has begun. Most teams left on Monday and are slowly working their way up the Hill. Sherpas are already at Camp 4, the High Camp and reports are coming in they have fixed the Bottleneck withe ropes. Last night, 17 July, K2 was hit was a big snowfall but it will probably not slow the teams down too much. Of course, avalanche danger is always a consideration, especially above Camp 3. The Japanese team reported in on Wednesday 18 July: C2; Mr. Oyabe, Mr. Yusa, Mr. Shirakura, Ms. Hayashi, Mr. Watanabe, Mr. Iizawa C1; Mr. Higashiyama, Mt. Taguchi C3; All three of our HAPs (Mr.Fazal Ali, Mr. Amin ullah baig, Mr. Sarbaz) Elite Himalayan Adventures notes that if Viridiana Alvarez summits K2 this season, she will be the first-ever Latin American women to do so. Gangaamaa Badamgarav is attempting the same for Mongolia. K2 – Summits on Thursday, Friday and Saturday? As I posted a couple days ago, Dawa Sherpa of Seven Summits Treks (SST) says they have begun their summit push looking to top out on Thursday, 19th July, 2018. SST posted their member and support team as : Leader: Chhang Dawa sherpa Nepal Members Ms. Sophie Switzerland Mr. Yoshiharu Nakamura japan Mis. Viridiana Alvarez Chavez Mexico Mr. Noel Richmond Hanna Ireland Mr. Paul Hegge Belgium Mis. Naoko watanabe japan Mr. Marek Novotony Czech Republic Mr. Gheorghe Dijmarescu USA Ms. Gangaamaa Badamgarav Mongolia Support Mr. Krishna Thapa Magar Nepal Mr. Mingma Gyabu sherpa Nepal Mr. Chhiji Nirbu sherpa Nepal Mr. Pemba Thunduk sherpa Nepal Mr. Mingma Tenjen Sherpa Nepal Mr. Ngima Thenduk Sherpa Nepal Mr. Dawa Gyaljen Sherpa Nepal Mr. Ngima Dorchi Sherpa Nepal Mr. Lakpa Temba Sherpa Nepal Mr. Furba Temba Sherpa Nepal Mr. Dawa Sangay Sherpa Nepal Mr. Mingma Thindu Sherpa Nepal Furtenbach Adventures will begin their climb in a few days after their successful Broad peak summit but Madison Mountaineering and Summit Climb’s teams are on their push as is Andrzej Bargiel who will ski down. Also on the push now or in a day or so are Jason Black, Fredrik Sträng, and David Roeske. Best of luck to all, Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything