{"id":28847,"date":"2018-02-03T09:57:21","date_gmt":"2018-02-03T16:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=28847"},"modified":"2018-02-03T09:57:21","modified_gmt":"2018-02-03T16:57:21","slug":"k2-and-everest-winter-climbs-back-in-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2018\/02\/03\/k2-and-everest-winter-climbs-back-in-business\/","title":{"rendered":"K2 and Everest Winter Climbs Back in Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

The winter climbs of K2 and Everest were progressing normally but with the recent rescue on Nanga Parbat, the activity paused to help out. Now that Elisabeth Revol is recovering in a hospital and the\u00a0Polish K2 rescue team is back at base camp, the on-mountain activity has picked back up. See this post<\/a> for full background on the K2 and Everest expeditions and the history of winter attempts on the highest two mountains on Earth.<\/p>\n

Big Picture<\/h3>\n

Both K2 and Everest are not “easy” anytime but in the winter the challenges are amplified. This past week has shown how the best plans are often stopped by the weather – high winds to be precise. Currently on Everest<\/a> winds are a sustained 160 kph\/100 mph and on K2<\/a>, slightly lower but still high.<\/p>\n

I can tell you from personal experience<\/a> that these winds can easily toss you around like a piece of paper. A well-known story of deadly wind gusts comes from the 1995 death of\u00a0Alison Hargreaves<\/a> and five teammates on K2. They summited in good weather but it deteriorated quickly as a storm approached. The next day, climbers who had turned back fearing the storm found her jacket, boot and harness. A body, presumed to be her, was spotted near Camp 4. It was assumed all six were blown off the mountain during the storm.<\/p>\n

Winter K2<\/h3>\n

The Polish team<\/a>\u00a0is now back together but once again hit by high winds on K2.<\/p>\n

The members who went to Nanga Parbat caught a small break in the weather that allowed the helicopter to fly from Skardu to K2 base camp. Late in the week, other team members, Marek Chmielarski and Artur Ma\u0142ek, slept at Camp 1 and Camp 2 keeping the \u010cesen Route aka Basque Route open and acclimatizing. This is a good video showing Marek and Artur climbing between C1 and C2 on the\u00a0\u010cesen Ridge.<\/p>\n