K2 2018 Summer Coverage: Broad Peak, Gasherbrum Summits, K2 Push Begins
Not to be denied, the second summit push on Broad Peak was successful for most as was a clean summit of Gasherbrum II. And there are still climbers hoping to get Nanga Parbat. A large group of climbers have left K2 Base Camp hoping to summit later this week. Big Picture With good weather continuing, the routes are set and teams are pushing quickly to summit before conditions change. Its is reported to be quite warm, which can worry some leaders but thus far, the conditions seem to be about as good as they get in the Karakoram. Broad Peak – Summits!! Furtenbach Adventures reported they summited on their second attempt. They tried last week but were stopped by avalanche danger above Camp 3. Good on them for giving it another go and not just moving on to K2. They posted, “SUMMIT!! Congratulations to all our members, sherpas and guide Roli to top out Broad Peak this morning after fixing the route. All back in C3 now. More information will follow. Safe descent!” The summit team reportedly included: Leader: Roli Striemitzer (Austria) Members: David Roeske (USA) Fredrik Strang (Sweden) Mark Mueller (Switzerland) Afi Gigani (Georgia) Support Mingma Sherpa Ram Nurbu Sherpa Nima Sherpa Hassan Dilawar hussain adil No direct word on the summit status of Mingma G. Sherpa, but if everyone else summited, I’m sure he did. Gasherbrum – Summits!!! Adam Bielecki and German Felix Berg summited GII. Jacek Czech and Kazach Boris Dedeszko turned back. All were not using supplemental oxygen or any kind of external support staff during the climb. After nearly 18 hours of climbing together with Felix we came back to C3. We managed to traverse the summit – we reached it by fragile and surprisingly difficult west face and went down the regular route. Unfortunately, Jacek turned back on 7500m and Borys used the regular route and turned back on 7800m. Best regards from C3. Tomorrow the base camp Hungarian climbers Dávid Klein and Szilárd Suhajda are on their summit bid today, hoping to reach the top tomorrow. Laszlo Pinter tells me that Masha Gordon and Helias Millerioux, Yannick Graziani have ended their effort along with the Ukraine team: Bielecki was interviewed by a Polish magazine. He told that during their last rotation last weekend the French and the Ukrainians continued straight for a summit bid with no success. The French trio (2 French: Millerioux and Graziani +Masha Gordon) broke the trail to camp 2. Then Adam, Berg, Czech and Dedeshko took over and moved a bit further up to build their camp 2 a little higher up. Next day they established camp 3, followed by the French and the Ukrainians. The next morning Adam and company reconned the way up to 7200 metres and turned back to descend to BC (July 11th). That was the time when the French and the Ukrainians launched a summit bid. The French did not get much further than the high point of Adam &CO. The Ukrainians were stopped at the end of the traverse under the summit pyramid. The snow was too deep and their acclimatization was not ready.. They all returned back to BC. K2 – Summit on Thursday? Noting a team of 10 members and 13 Sherpas and 3 Pakistan High altitude guides Dawa Sherpa of Seven Summits Treks (SST) says they have begun their summit push looking to top out on Thursday, 19th July, 2018. He noted the Sherpas and HAPs fixing the ropes as leader Mingma David Sherpa and Muhammad Ali Sadpara, Mingma Thindu Sherpa and 2 Pakistan High Altitude guide and from Madison Mingma Tenjing Sherpa and 2 High altitude guide. They plan to fix the Bottle Neck before going for the summit suggesting they feel they have a lot of good weather ahead so no need to rush. 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 Apparently Madison Mountaineering’s team is along for this summit bid but may lag a day to draft off SST’s work. Also the Japanese team is expected to join in. All the teams have done a nice job of working together this season to fix the route. Reader Dominik Kasprzak tells me that Andrzej Bargiel will ski Abruzzi -> Cesen -> Messner variant -> Kukuczka/Piotrowski routes. Andrzej’s bother, Bartek Bargiel, posted a drone video from the acclimatization rotations and plans on capturing his entire ski from the summit of K2: Nanga Parbat – Still Climbing The Czech team had a bit of a setback with rockfall hurting one of their climbers: After two days of acclimatisation Kořen descended to C2 camp to gain power. In the meantime, the whole expedition was climbing uphill. Unfortunately, Jirka Janák was hit by a piece of stone in his arm and so he decided to get back to the base camp to recover. In the meantime, Drobek and Jura Domanský managed to reach C3 camp and the rest of the team even somewhere higher between C3 and C4 camp, where they will spend tonight. The weather forecast says that tomorrow night there will be a snow storm, so I suppose they should all get to C4 by then and wait there until the weather gets better. Mike Horn, Alex Gavan, Tunc Findik and Maya Sherpa all exceptional strong climber choose not to risk the dangerous conditions on NB this year. However, two climbers, both supported to some extent by Karakorum Expeditions said they summited: Niels Jespers from Belgium and Korean Kim Migon. Gasherbrum IV –
K2 2018 Summer Coverage: Weekend Update July 15
The middle of the summer climbing season has arrived in Pakistan and this season continues to all about weather and deaths. But also about near deaths, drones and deep snow. This story continues to unfold in mysterious ways. Big Picture Ten days ago, the 2018 season was looking a lot like 2015 and 2016 with difficult weather and snow conditions that prevented anyone from summiting K2 and only a few made the other peaks throughout Pakistan. However, as is usual with weather, just when you think you have it figured out it changes and the last week was excellent for most of the teams. The forecast of heavy snow on Thursday never materialized but the snow that had already fallen did stop progress, at least on Broad Peak. 150 miles away on Nanga Parbat, some of the worlds best climbers and adventurers abandoned their efforts but a few remained and summited. With talk of winds returning, most teams have completed their acclimatization rotations and are returning to base camp to rest up for the summit push. However a few strong climbers will push hard over the next few days hoping beat the winds and nab a summit. K2 – Climbing Dawa Sherpa, Seven Summits Treks says they are targeting a summit bid after 20 July, but hints as early as the 17th. This implies the ropes will be to C4 and then they will fix to the summit as they make their summit push. I except most of the other teams to follow closely behind. Jason Black has an excellent update after six days at C1 and C2 on K2. In addition to his own experiences, he writes about something no person ever wants to or should see: It’s the 7th July and 5am with a reasonable weather forecast giving the team a head start with a crisp underfoot up that 40% grade wall leading to camp 1. It’s a serious approach and your pretty committed but you’re also surrounded by the most beautiful range of mountains with Broad Peak to the fore. However, just after 4 hrs of climbing, sadly, K2 took its first life, living up to its title as the Savage Mountain. A comrade mountaineer and a guy I was eating butterscotch sweets with just two days prior, tumbled passed us, falling 1000 meters to his death….I was shook to my core, looking down seeing his lifeless body below…RIP Serge. With the exception of Andrzej Bargiel on the Česen, all the climbing on K2 this season appears to be on the Abruzzi Ridge. Bargiel wants to ski from the summit of K2. Its unclear if he will ski the Česen or the Abruzzi which historically has been used on 75% of the summits. The Abruzzi has several technically difficult features including House Chimney, and the Black Pyramid. The Bottleneck Couloir is one of the most dangerous sections serving as a bowling alley for rock and ice fall. The Abruzzi usually has 4 camps on the mountain: Base Camp: 18,600ft/5669m Advanced Base Camp: 18,650ft/5684m Camp 1: 19,965’/6085m Camp 2: 22,110’/6740m Camp 3: 23,760’/7240m Camp 4: 25,080’/7644m Summit: 28,251’/8611m Broad Peak – Summit Bid Underway Furtenbach Adventures has their second attempt underway, “Leaving Broad Peak basecamp today [Saturday 14 July] for an other try. Conditions look promising. Hopefully we can post a summit pic here soon.” It appears there will be multiple other independent climbers and teams trying to go together including Fredrik Sträng, David Roeske, Carlos Garranzo, Jake Meyer as well as Mingma G Sherpa – who may well be the key to getting everyone to the summit this time around. Drones to the Rescue This is quite the story of one of the world’s most accomplished climbers getting injured on Broad Peak, believed dead but found alive and is now at base camp – mostly unhurt. David Roeske talked about a lone climber on Broad Peak who was reported lost but a drone with a camera onboard spotted him. David tells the story: Yesterday just as @fredrikstrang and I were about to leave after a night at camp 3 (7,000 m), we heard a radio call that a missing climber needed rescue high on the mountain. He had fallen off an ice cliff, and been solo on the mountain for 36 hours without a stove to melt water. The climber had been presumed dead until a drone pilot from K2 basecamp spotted him still moving and off route. We headed first down then up the mountain with rope, water, and medicine looking for him and were later joined by Tenji Sherpa from Summit Climb. With the help of the drone pilot we were able to eventually locate him in very dangerous terrain — a fall would’ve taken him either down a crevasse or all the way to the base of the mountain — and the three of us got him down and into a tent at camp 3 just as it was getting dark. Then the Summit Climb team took over Andrzej Bargiel posted that it was his brother who controlled the drone, “My brother Bartek Bargiel flight his drone up to 8400m! Is that some kind of world record?” NEAR Death Well, there is more to this story than just a “lone climber” in trouble. Summit Climb, lead by Dan Mazur, made a cryptic post on their site that “Rick Allen disappeared at 8000m/26,000ft on his way down from the summit of broad peak, the world’s 13th highest mountain. He was reported dead by his team mates who took his sat phone and descended.” After a lot of digging, I’m happy to report that Rick Allen is alive and mostly well. He was on a small private team including Casper Tekieli, Sandy Allan, and Stanislav Vrba attempting a new route on Broad Peak. It appears Rick made a solo attempt on BP, slipped and fell. His teammates assumed he was dead. Dan Mazur updated his post to include ” At 8am Japanese basecamp cook ferman saw a backpack laying on snow at 7500m/24,000ft. Ferman went to polish camp to look
K2 2018 Summer Coverage: Progress
With a span of good weather days, teams have made good progress across the Karakoram, including K2. Talk is starting of potential summit days in about a week. AND it looks like there was another summit on Nanga Parbat! Big Picture The primary reason climbing 8,000-meter Hills takes so long is weather. You can acclimatize at home to 17,000-feet using altitude tents but you cannot control the weather. The Karakorum and Nanga Parbat season started with a lot of snow that slowed teams down, but recently the snow has calmed down as have the winds – in other words – perfect conditions to set the route and sleep at altitude for acclimatization purposes. However, this nice period will surely come to an end. Climbers are planning for another set of poor conditions late next week. Nanga Parbat – Another Summit! Karakorum Expeditions is saying another client summited Nanga Parbat, “Our member Niels from Belgium and the Korean Team have scaled to the Nanga Parbat! dated 9-7-2018 at 8:23am Pakistan standard time.” He joins Korean Kim Migon who also summited with Karakorum Expeditions. It appears they summited on the same day, however fellow Belgium, Sofie Lenaerts tells me “Hey Alan I have good news from Pakistan. Niels Jespers climbed Nanga Parbat without o2 and sherpa. Made it back safe. This is his first 8000 peak. Very proud of this Belgian young guy with lots of potential!” Maya Sherpa‘s “First Nepali Women Expedition 2018 to Mt Nanga Parbat” appears to ended her effort joining Mike Horn, Alex Gavan and Tunc Findik who were stopped this season. K2 – Summit Plans The strong team from Seven Summits Treks continues to work hard at fixing the route and now is talking of summit plans after 20 July. Dawa Sherpa noted on 13 July: We hope to complete the route set up till C4 by today. Yesterday was a nice weather and Sherpa were able to open the route up to 7650m (150m below to the C4). Next 2 days weather is a kind of stable but definitely the summit push will be after 19th July, Hypothetically as per weather report the wind remains (60-80 KM/H) from 16th. Japanese climber Akira Oyabe has a similar schedule, “From the weather forecast, 7/19-23 is going to be attack on the first summit.” And K2 skier Andrzej Bargiel continues to make progress saying he made it to C3. Broad Peak – Weekend Summit Push? After several false starts plus an aborted serious attempt, several climbers, and teams, are hoping to give BP another try over the next several days. Fredrik Sträng posted on Friday, 13 July, “In 3 days from now on you will know how it all went :)” He has been climbing with David Roeske so I assume they will team up on this attempt. By the way, their real objective is K2, so they might not push too, too hard on BP. Mingma G Sherpa who has made quite a name for himself the past few years with multiple 8000-meter summits in short time frames is back on Broad Peak. Last year he believed he summited Broad but GPS tracks and lack of convincing photos suggested they reached the fore-summit, so similar to his experience on Nanga Parbat, he is returning to make sure he stands on the absolute top. He posted that he leaves for the summit this weekend. With his strength, the other teams may be able to join forces and get this done for this season. Furtenbach Adventures had a strong summit attempt last week and will go again hoping the loose snow and avalanche danger above C3 has settled. Lucas told me in a conversation last night, “another summit try on BP starting on saturday. after that move to K2.” Gasherbrum – Progress! Adam Bielecki and Jacek Czech have made excellent progress on GII all the way to C3. Its being reported they will go for the summit on 16 July, Monday fearing incoming weather later in the week. They will team up with Kazach Boris Dedeszko and Germany Felix Berg. Masha Gordo and Helias Millerioux, Yannick Graziani trying to traverse G1/G2 traverse have not provided direct updates recently but Adam Bielecki noted in an interview: We came out with a lot of uncertainty, because this attempt took place after a large snowfall, and the road on the GII is snow-ice. To our surprise, it turned out that two Frenchmen with Masha Gordon came out to the second camp. It must be emphasized that they did a great job, because they broke the way to the “two”. We and Jack came that day a little higher and we pitched our little tent. There were no handrails and quite deep snow, but the cover was fairly stable. Big Weekend? This could be a nice weekend for summits as long as the weather holds. Sending all our best. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2018 Summer Coverage: Another Death in the Karakoram
Once again, there is sad news from the Northern Pakistan Mountains. While attempting the almost 8,000-meter peak Gasherbrum IV, 32 years-old Italian climber Maurizio Giordano was hit by falling ice while on rappel. He died on the mountain. GIV is 7,925-meters. He was on an acclimatization rotation with fellow Italian Army climbers Marco Majori, Marco Farina and Daniele Bernasconi. They had reached Camp 2 but decided to return to base camp as weather moved in. Multiple news agencies report the incident occurred at 6,300 meters. His body had not been retrieved yet. They wanted to be the first to repeat the Bonatti-Mauri route along the northwest ridge on its sixty anniversary. Other GIV Attempts There are several other teams on GIV including Italian Hervé Barmasse and German climber David Göttler. Also the Basque-Catalan group lead by Oriol Baró. Adam Bielecki, Jacek Czech and Felix Berg plan to move to GIV after they climb GII. Finally Oriol Baró, Marc Toralles, Roger Cararach and Iker Madoz are there as well. Other Activity It appears most climbers are wrapping up their acclimatization rotations on the other Karakoram Peaks including K2 for a late July summit attempt. Its now quiet on Nanga Parbat. There was supposed to be another summit attempt on Broad Peak lead by Furtenbach Adventures but it seems they have not left base camp. But Jake Meyer with Summit Climb reportedly left Camp 3 and experienced the same deep snow that stopped Furtenbach a couple of days ago. My condolences to the family, friends and teammates of Maurizio. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2018 Summer Coverage: Nanga Parbat Summit, Broad Peak Playing Tough
After the tragic news of Canadian climber Serge Dessureault’s death on K2 over the weekend, some good news would be welcomed and we have it with a summit on the difficult and deadly Nanga Parbat. Also, on Broad Peak, a summit attempt was halted due to dangerous conditions but they are going right back up. Nanga Parbat Summit Korean, Mr. Kim Migon, has summited NB along with support from Summit Karakoram. Sakhi Rose told me today: The legend mountaineer Mr. Kim Migon has successfully scaled Nanga Parbat dated 9-7-2018 at 8:23am Pakistan standard time. He was with Lu Chung-han and Sanu Sherpa. This was Kim’s last 8000er. Mike Horn, Alex Gavan and Tunc Findik, all exceptionally strong and experienced climbers, gave up a couple of weeks ago on NB citing poor conditions. Maya Sherpa appears to still be there. Solo Summit on Lupghar Sar West Austrian Hansjörg Auer posted on Instagram that he, “… climbed the Westface of Lupghar Sar West for the first time. “This ascent is very unique to me, because I was dreaming of it for the last 4 years. I always wanted to know how it feels to be alone in high altitude. And I’m happy that I made this experience.” Broad Peak Summit Attempt, Again… Furtenbach Adventures attempted to summit BP over the weekend but stopped short, “Summit bid stopped at 7800m short below the col due to avalanche danger. The whole team was giving all in these harsh conditions. The decision to stop this bid for safety was very clear. 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 an other try or switch over to K2.” That seemed clear enough and a wise decision by the team given all the recent heavy snow. That couloir they mention is well-known for being avi prone as well as harboring hidden crevasses, so I was not surprised they stopped but then this was posted today: “All are safe back in basecamp! Looks like we will give it an other try before we move to K2. Now recovering and refilling” Its very unclear how anything has changed since their attempt two days ago, but I wish the the best of luck. Also it appears several other teams and individuals will be tagging along so perhaps with the increase support from HAPS and Sherpas, they can find a safe route. Gasherbrum I/II With better weather Hungarian climbers Dávid Klein and Szilárd Suhajda went to C2. Their home team reports, “Everything is going as plan. Stay two night in C2 6500 and try to go up to touch c3 or at least to 7000 m but not sleep there.” Adam Bielecki is also expected to climb in these good conditions as are Masha Gordon and Helias Millerioux, Yannick Graziani trying to traverse G1/G2. Gasherbrum IV A few other interesting projects on Gasherbrum IV include Italian Hervé Barmasse (Member of the Piolet d’Or Committee) and German climber David Göttler targeting GIV. The Chinese thwarted their plan to attempt the unclimbed North Face of GI when they refused to issue a permit. On GIV, they want to climb absolutely “clean”, so no O’s, sherpas or camps and emissions, pure alpine style, trying to leave no trace. Another nice project is from the Basque-Catalan group lead by Oriol Baró. They are targeting the South Pillar of GIV. Baró attempted this route in 2006 with Jordi Corominas but stopped around 7300 meters. This summer he is with three strong young climbers: Marc Toralles, Roger Cararach, and Iker Madoz. There are no updates on these climbs. K2 Summit Plans for late July Dawa Sherpa added that on Saturday, “It was a nice weather today, 5 members and 11 Sherpa are in Camp II and some others parties are at BC and C1.” and “Rest of all are ok and pushing to high altitude, we are planning to make final summit push after 20th July.” Almost every team attempting K2 this summer had climbers at C1 or C2 today. Weather The Karakoram climbers have enjoyed a nice run of good weather since last Saturday. The next big snowfall is expected on Thursday. If the teams can sleep at 7,000-meter or higher and get back to base camp, then they will be good to go when the summit windows appears, usually in late July. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2018 Summer Coverage: K2 Climber Falls to Death
Tragic news from K2 on Saturday 7 July, 2018. Canadian climber Serge Dessureault is thought to have fallen to his death just below Houses’ Chimney or perhaps while rappelling down the Black Pyramid. He was climbing with fellow Quebecers Nathalie Fortin and Maurice Beausejour who are both safe. Fortin posted on Facebook that they had spent the night at Camp 2 for acclimatization purposes and planned to descend back to Base Camp to wait for a suitable summit weather window. Fortin added, “This morning he left 30 minutes before me to get back to the CB [Base Camp]. We don’t know what happened, but the fall was fatal. It’s very difficult here! I keep thinking about the close family I know… it’s terrible.” His body has been retrieved and taken to Advanced Base Camp. He will be taken to Islamabad as weather allows. The French team was supported by Summit Karakorum who issued this statement: Statement of Summit Karakoram Pakistan We stand with the family and friends of Serge Dessureault a great friend we lost today. We are ground agent of K2 Expedition of renowned climber Serge Dessureault from Canada who fell down this morning at 925hrs dated 7-7-2018 from below chimney while climbing at camp 2. His body is found by his fellow member, High altitude porter and bought to ABC We are in touch with the family to get further instructions, the final decision will be made by the family to bring down the body or buried it near K2 Conflicting Information As is usual with these tragedies, there are multiple versions of the incident emerging however, the common theme is that he fell. Dawa Sherpa of Seven Summits Treks has the largest team on K2. He posted on Facebook, “Unfortunately, a Canadian team leader Mr. Serge (a member at Summit Karakoram) died due to the destructive fall from Chimney House. My deep sympathy goes to his family and relatives, may his soul Rest In Peace.” Garett Madison of Madison Mountaineering posted “Unfortunately, today we witnessed a climber from another team (Canadian) falling down the mountain. The cause of the accident is unclear, however from reports of Sherpas who were nearby it may have been an old fixed rope that broke as the climber was descending below Camp 2. Our team’s thoughts and prayers are with the climber and his family.” The Japanese team posted, “Sad news from K2! In the morning of July 7, Mr. Serge Dessureault, a Canadian-Quebec group, who was advanced to Mount K2 in a guide to summit Karakoram, said that he slipped from under chimney during climbing. The body was found by a team member and a High-Porter, and was brought to ABC. It’s about to drop down on a chopper in askari aviation or bury it near k2 or wait for a family decision.” CBC News added “Karrar Haidri, secretary of Alpine Club of Pakistan, said Dessureault died early Saturday while attempting to scale the 8,611-metre mountain in the Karakoram range in northern Pakistan. Haidri said it wasn’t immediately clear how Dessureault fell. ” Grief in Quebec Serge Dessureault, 53, was a Montreal firefighter for almost 30 years and was the leader of the three-person Quebec K2 team. Dessureault wanted to be the first Quebecer to have climbed Everest and K2. He was stopped in 2016 by avalanche danger on K2. James Proulx of Drummondville, Quebec told me today “I know for a fact that this whole team was very important for Quebecers. Everyone here in Quebec who loved climbing followed their k2 ascent.” The two remaining members of the Quebec team have canceled their K2 expedition. Old Ropes and Risks Many of the off-record reports cite the use of old ropes on K2. I can share my 2014 experience where I saw a spider web of old ropes especial on the Black Pyramid. We were extremely careful, and double and tripled checked to clip into only the new ropes put in that season. The old ropes regardless of quality will rot and weaken after a season of exposure to weather and especially UV rays for the sun at that altitude. If you climb mountains or even read about climbing history, House’s Chimney is like the “old” Hillary Step on Everest but magnitudes of more difficulty in spite of the lower altitude. Free climbed by American Bob House in 1939, it is a 100’ shoulder width crack in a rock wall. Over time, it has been determined to be the safest route to the higher flanks of K2. Some rate it at 5.6 without aid, but at 21,500’ it is a challenge regardless of the rating, or aid. There is an old “rope ladder” in the Chimney that some climbers will occasionally put a foot or hand on but most assume it is unstable and stem up the chimney with their jumar attached to a new fixed line. Going down is a simple rappel or abseil but care must be taken to rig the rappel device properly or a sudden fall will occur. The same warning applies on the Black Pyramid where four to ten rappels may be required depending on the season and skill of the climber. Any mistake can be deadly in this section as it is low 5th class rock but highly exposed with little forgiveness. These are two videos I made in this section 2014. Alan Arnette climbing House Chimney in 2014. Video was taken by Matt DuPuy: Veriglass on the Black Pyramid in 2014: Ropes It’s unclear what brand of new ropes were used to fix K2 but over on Broad Peak, Jake Meyers gives this description: By the sounds of things, the majority of the fixed ropes have been put in by a German Team, and when in place, were of pretty good quality, using more traditional static (very low stretch) Kernmantle rope, with only a few sections using the cheaper ‘Korean rope’. Korean rope is 3 strand braided nylon rope, which is cheap and light, but the quality suffers as a result (it’s often referred to as ‘Korean washing
K2 2018 Summer Coverage: Weekend Update July 6
As we approach the first weekend in July 2018, one word summarizes this season: weather. It is appearing that teams will need some serious relief from the heavy snowfall if there will be summits this year. Big Picture 2018 is looking a lot like 2015 and 2016 when no one summited K2 and only a few made the other peaks through Pakistan. This is what I wrote summarizing the 2015 season, “The ambient temperature at 6000, 7000 and 8000 meters was higher than in previous years. The snowpack was like soft ice cream and the rocks fell like rain. The “normal” routes became death traps. Teams were unprepared to scout out alternatives and yielded to the inevitable choice of life over summits.” And for 2106, “A large avalanche reported on 23 July, 2016 on K2 has destroyed tents, buried fixed ropes and swept way the cache of food and oxygen bottles at Camp 3. There were no injuries or fatalities reported. While not 100% certain, it appears for the second year in a row no one will make the top.” This weekend 6-9 July there are several consecutive good weather days, for the first time in a while enabling at least the Northern Pakistan teams to tag Camps 1 and 2 and the Sherpas to work on getting the route to C3. There has been enough time for the heavy snow earlier this week to settle but avalanche risk is a constant factor. But next week, some forecasts call for 6cm/3-inches of new snow on Monday then 15cm/6-inches additional snow on Wednesday and Friday. Let’s hope this forecast proves wrong. In any event, this weekend is busy with teams trying get at least a couple nights at altitude for acclimatization. This is a rundown on who is still climbing: Seven Summits Treks Madison Mountaineering Furtenbach Adventures Adventure Tours Pakistan Karakorum Tours Pakistan (Manzoor Ahmad) Karakorum Expeditions (Mirza Ali ) Nazir Sabir Expeditions Summit Climb And these climbers have blogs that appear to be updated: Carlos Garranzo on Broad Peak and K2 Fredrik Sträng – K2 Mirza Ali – Pakistani filmmaker/director Nathalie Fortin – K2 Jake Meyer – for his 3rd attempt on K2 David Roeske for BP and K2. In 2016 the American summited Cho Oyu and Everest within 11 days. Dávid Klein – top Hungarian climber on GI/II K2 – Climbing Dawa Sherpa with Seven Summits Treks has taken the lead in fixing the ropes on K2. He reports progress during this good weather break, “SST K2 international Expeditions team 6 members and 6 Sherpas second rotation safely arrived camp one” Japanese climber Akira Oyabe and three of his team “touched Camp 2.” Jason Black and Canadian Nathalie Fortin was planning on reaching C2 this weekend. No current updates. All the climbing on K2 this season appears to be on the Abruzzi Ridge. Historically, it has been used for 75% of the summits. There are several technically difficult features including Houses’ Chimney, and the Black Pyramid. The Bottleneck Couloir is one of the most dangerous sections serving as a blowing alley for rock and ice fall. The Abruzzi usually has 4 camps on the mountain: Base Camp: 18,600ft/5669m Advanced Base Camp: 18,650ft/5684m Camp 1: 19,965’/6085m Camp 2: 22,110’/6740m Camp 3: 23,760’/7240m Camp 4: 25,080’/7644m Summit: 28,251’/8611m Broad Peak – Climbing and a Weekend Summit Push? Furtenbach Adventures, running a BP and a K2 trip said they were going for the BP summit over this weekend of good weather. They are being focused in order to move over to K2 as soon as possible. Other teams may wait out this next week of bad conditions and target mid to late July for they BP summit push. This will also give them time to further acclimatize. Jake Meyer is doing a great job updating his Blog. He is aiming to summit K2 but acclimatizing on Broad Peak, “All things being good, we’ll head back up BP for our second rotation tomorrow morning, this time planning to stay 2-3 nights on the hill, and ideally sleep at Camp 2 (6200m), which will be good for our acclimatisation. My bag is packed, ready to go, and although the weather is still not great, hopefully the forecast of higher pressure tomorrow and for the weekend will prevail.” David Roeske, Carlos Garranzo, and Fredrik Sträng also expected to be at the high camps this weekend. “I’ve never experienced such a season with so constant bad weather in the Karakoram.” I reported this yesterday but desires a special place on this weekend update. German guide Amical alpin decided it was too dangerous and have cancelled their climb asking for porters to get them out ASAP. Their Dominik Müller posted: The entire material from camp 1 could be recovered. Right now it’s snowing again and in the rise some avalanches went off! All save back in bc” Also Luis Stitzinger said “I’ve never experienced such a season with so constant bad weather in the Karakoram.” Gasherbrum – No Updates Adam Bielecki continues his wait and see mode on G but may be up this weekend along with Masha Gordon and Helias Millerioux, Yannick Graziani trying to traverse G1/G2 traverse. Nanga Parbart – Over for Most Mike Horn, Alex Gavan and Tunc Findik, all exceptionally strong and experienced climbers, have ended this summer efforts on NB due to weather. Maya Sherpa appears to still be there. Deaths on Alpamayo I’m deeply saddened to report the loss of a climbing friend this past week. Paul Samuel, 55, from London, Slovenian female climber Eva Zontar Litija, 27, and their Peruvian guide Jaime Quintana Figueroa, 40 were hit by a snow avalanche on the Ferrari Route on Peru’s Alpamayo, 5,947meter/19,511 feet . I summited Manaslu with Paul in 2013 and found him a total delight. He was quite experienced and was on a guided trip. For my 2012 summit of Alpamayo we climbed the French Direct Route. Sadly this is not the first time the Ferrari has dealt death. In 2003, eight climbers were killed by an avalanche in the same flute. My sincere condolences to the friends and families of all the fallen. source Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything Correction: The ill fated Alpamayo trip was not organized by
K2 2018 Summer Season: ” I’ve never experienced such a season with so constant bad weather in the Karakoram.”
It continues to be wild in the Pakistani Mountains. The week started with heavy snow delays, cleared for a day before the snow came back and now it’s mixed across the five 8000-meter peaks. All of this has taken a toll with multiple teams ending their expeditions saying the avalanche conditions are too dangerous, and time is running short. But other teams are staying put planning a shortened acclimatization process then hoping for a window long enough to allow a credible attempt. Big Picture 2018 is turning into a high-stakes game of risk management. There are usually very few large commercial teams on the five 8000ers: K2, Broad Peak, GI, GII and Nanga Parbat thus many of the climbers are a loose collation of independents supported by Pakistan operators and minimal support from High Altitude Porters and/or Sherpas from Nepal. This configuration is radically different from what is seen on Everest where expeditions follow what I call “formula climbs”. The routes are known, the difficult spots are over-fixed for safety, there are more support staff than members climbing and the weather forecast have been honed after decades of observations and advances in technology. Pakistan couldn’t be more different. In recent years, the Kathmandu based and Sherpa owned guide company, Seven Summits Treks, has taken their “volume” model from Everest to K2. They staff with a generous ratio of well-qualified Sherpas to members. They provide logistics for other teams and often they take the lead in fixing the ropes to the summit. Knowing this, independents often come to K2 assuming others will fix the route so they kind of tag along – not a dig to their competency but a commentary on how the style of climbing K2 has changed. Meanwhile on the other 8000ers from Broad to Nanga, its much more difficult to summit. With a handful of climbers and minimal support, they fix the entire mountain and often are forced to retreat when weather moves in abandoning camps that can be susceptible to Avalanches. This week we are seeing both of these models play out with most of the canceled efforts on other peaks than K2, and there, the largest team has taken over. The weather forecast calls for a clam period over the weekend, maybe extending into early next week but then a series of heavy snowfalls every other day for the rest of the week – this is the nightmare scenario – a lot of snow with no time between events for it to settle. We could be looking at 10 days of no activity if this materializes. So with this scenario, some climbers are making a life risking gamble and ignoring basic acclimatization protocol with only one trip up to 7,000-meters. While this may work for some extraordinary climbers, it’s a huge gamble for the rest. K2 – Climbing and Retreating Now that all the commercial teams have arrived at K2 Base Camp and there is a break in the weather, look for some progress until the next system arrives next week. Japanese climber Akira Oyabe and his team were the first to arrive at K2 base camp this season. They set the fixed ropes to C2 but then the snows came and buried them – it’s a shame because he took great pride in the work. In any event, he is now working with the other large teams staffed with many, many Sherpas to do the work for the other members. He reported: ” 7/4 report: It is said that he set up c1 and c2 in cooperation with the main unit of the main unit. The Rope was damaged, and it had to be replaced by about 200 meters. It’s going to snow again, and its back to the base camp.” Jason Black made a succinct post with “-20 and snowing like crazy, I had food poison over night and I’m now officially lord of the “both” rings in BC – with the support of this awesome team that helped in any way they could getting me back on my feet & slept it off 13hrs straight awoke feeling in top form – another obstacle overcome let’s keep moving forward… the power of positive people.” Canadian Nathalie Fortin laid out her plans with a limited acclimatization schedule “4 July – tomorrow is finally leaving for the continuation of the acclimatization. In Theory The 5 at c1, on 6 at c2 dépendemment how it goes, I may stay 2 nights at c2 because it will be the end of the acclimatization. It is scientifically proven that sleeping at c3 around 7000 M INCREASES ONLY 2 % of the acclimatization, and in general this increases fatigue. It’ll be different for me because I slept 7400 feet without o2 at Everest! I want to believe in scientific advances.” Broad Peak – Climbing and a Weekend Summit Push? Broad Peak has had some tough weather this season with a report that an avalanche wiped out one of the high camps – details unclear but there are no reported injuries. Many of the K2 climbers are attempting acclimatize on BP feeling it is easier, safer and more predictable than K2 – this year is testing that thesis. Furtenbach Adventures, the largest and probably most experienced commercial team on BP this season gave an update: “After a period of unusual heavy snowfall in the Karakoram range weather calmed down a bit. Two sunny and warm days made the massive snowpack on the mountains settle down and unload the slopes and couloirs. Now climbing can start again. Breaking new trail and dig out the ropes under the snow will be heavy and cost a lot of energy. The latest weather forecasts confirm a solid window for the weekend so our team will give it a try on Broad Peak.” Jake Meyer noted on a long, detailed and very good blog post: “The perfect weather conditions of this morning are no more, as I finish typing this blog on my iPhone, the temperature has dropped significantly
K2 2018 Summer Season Coverage: Climbing Again
After almost a week of inactivity due to heavy snow, climbing has returned to the five Karakoram 8000ers but some climbers are saying 2018 is not a safe year and are leaving. This is similar to 2015 and 2016 when no one summited K2, and only a few on other 8000ers. The Karakoram has always had highly variable weather and 2018 is shaping up as a doozy. Big Picture It’s been a difficult past 10 days in Pakistan’s Karakoram Mountain range with the heavy snow keeping most teams at base camp and loading the upper slopes. The avalanche danger is high. However, today’s reports have the snow over and climbing has restarted but the forecast for Wednesday calls for more snow so this respite may be short-lived. The best teams will still give it a few days to settle. Remember that after “disappearances”, avalanches are the leading cause of death on K2. At some point in every expedition, delays will occur. Sometimes its health, other its weather but the stall in climbing always grates on the climber’s nerves. The experienced climbers expect these delays and take them in stride, others tend to get anxious and grumpy. Often this period tests the team dynamics and the skills of the leaders. Communication is critical to maintaining a sense of optimism balanced with a realistic assessment of the situation. K2 – Climbing to C2 Climbing has resumed on K2 with climbers spread out from base camp to Camp 2. Several teams seem to be claiming the rope fixing effort on K2 this year, similar to what we saw on Everest this past season. Mingma Sherpa of 7 Summits Treks with 30+ people provides the logistics for many of the other teams. Mingma posted today: Today’s morning [3 July] our 8 members and 8 Sherpas hike to higher Camps after the completion of Puja Ceremony!! We also had a meeting with the team of Madison Mountaineering, planned to send 8 Sherpas (4 from SST and 4 from MM) to C2 on 5th July and fix the route and set up the camp up to C3 on 6-7 July !! Karakorum Expeditions notes the names of a few Pakistani High Altitude Porters (HAPs) helping the Japanese team with this short update: Today the team Karakorum Expeditions established camp 1 and camp 2 with Japanese team high altitude guides. The guides include Fazal ali, AminUllah baig, Eid muhammad from Shimshal, Hunza and Sarbaz from Aliabad, Hunza. The team has cleared the route from ABC to C2. Japanese climber Akira Oyabe reports the heavy snow has ended and now they expect to go to C2 on K2, “7/1 ~ 2: it was stagnant in bc because of the evil heaven, but It was sunny yesterday and after a while. The snow state seems to have calmed down as well. August 7/3, 7/3 I’m going to go up to c2 first.” Broad Peak – Climbing to C1 Fredrik Sträng says he is headed to C1, “Tomorrow morning we are going to C-1 on Broad Peak. Acklimatization is full on. Inshallah we will make high-point at C-3 at 7100m.” Gasherbrum – Climbing AND More Snow Not sure of the background but other teams are reporting the Swedish team has given up and are leaving. Adam Bielecki had good news and bad news. They got to C1 but it began snowing again, “Yesterday we brought gas and food for 9 days to C1. Unfortunately it’s snowing again. Most teams have gone back to the base camp. We still hope. Tomorrow depending on the amount of fresh show we will go up or down. Safety first!” David Klein notes the poor conditions at Gasherbrum’s base camp and posted this image that says it all, “The weather hasn’t been very kind to us.” Nanga Parbat – Snow and Endings Alex Gavan along with Turkish climber Tunc Findik are having a tough time on Nanga. This post suggest they are ending their effort but it’s a bit unclear, they may be taking break. Due to the increased danger of avalanche in the superior portion of #nangaparbat, Alex and tunc decided to interrupt the ascent. Abundant and relatively continuous as well as warming the date of entry in July, when historically, the route leading to camp 2 becomes a slide for rock falls, it would have made the rise rather a Russian Roulette, a style climbing style and unpracticed by none of the two. It would have passed from a risk management area at risk beyond reasonable limits for an ascent to 8000 m without additional oxygen. When you know you’ve made everything possible, impossible decisions get clarity and assumption. Mike Horn had already given up on his effort due to poor conditions and weather. July is Key Now that we are in July, the real action begins. The early teams have paved the way with ropes to the lower camps but with the big snows, they are buried and it will take some work to dig them out – not an extremely difficult task but it takes strength and manpower to be sure. However, and this is the big bet, if heavy snow continues, especially a few days apart from each storm, progress will come to a halt as it will simply be too dangerous to climb. Let’s hope the climbers get a couple weeks of relatively low snowfall, cold temps and low winds. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2018 Summer Season Coverage: Weekend Update 30 June – SNOW!
It’s been a difficult week in Pakistan’s Karakoram Mountain range. Heavy snow brought most teams to a complete halt forcing them to stay at base camp. Over a foot was reported at some camps. With this amount of heavy snow, the smart move is to wait for it to settle and that takes days for this amount. Big Picture We all know that snow is part of 8000-meter climbing and what is happening now in Pakistan not that unusual. In 2015 and 2016 dangerous snow conditions prevented all summits on K2 and last year, only one team summited and that took an unusually strong team of Sherpas breaking trail for two clients. Will this snow event stop soon? Who knows. The computer forecasts available on the Internet give a hint but are often, very often wrong. So the teams at all five 8000ers need to be patient and ready to move higher when the weather calms and the snow settles. One concern however, is that almost all the teams are now at base camp so when the window opens, there could be a bit of a rush. Real Estate is limited on these peaks with spots often supporting only a handful of tents – 3, 4, 5 at most. I’ve seen tempers flair as climbers literally fight to get a spot for their teams. Let’s hope the leaders are talking and coordinating activity, but it is tough and often degrades to every team for themselves. K2- Snow Japanese climber Akira Oyabe sums up the situation at K2 Base camp: “6/23-28: a week in bc with strong wind and snow (30 cm snow in BC).” That’s 12 inches, one foot. They had fixed the rope almost to C3 but they are buried now and it will take a lot of work to retrieve them. Canadian Nathalie Fortin and her teammates Serge Dessureault, Maurice Beauséjour also at K2 base camp reports plowing paths between tents at Base Camp: BC, 29 June – how to say!, from the same to the same? Today because of the lack of blowers and the owner of a single snow shovel, we made originality to free the passages between tents (read igloos) and toilet using containers and barrels of barrels