{"id":30999,"date":"2018-06-09T16:50:06","date_gmt":"2018-06-09T22:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=30999"},"modified":"2018-06-22T21:42:02","modified_gmt":"2018-06-23T03:42:02","slug":"k2-2018-season-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2018\/06\/09\/k2-2018-season-coverage\/","title":{"rendered":"K2 2018 Summer Season Coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to my annual coverage of the 2018 K2 summer climbing season. I will be reporting from my home in Colorado this year based on my personal experience of our successful 2014 K2 summit and covering the action the last three years. I try to report on K2 in the same style as my annual Everest coverage but accurate information is much more difficult to obtain from Northern Pakistan than from Nepal. I\u2019ll do my best to throw in occasional coverage for climbers on Broad Peak, Nanga Parbat and Gasherbrum I and II.<\/p>\n

As always, I use my blog to raise awareness of Alzheimer\u2019s and if you appreciate my coverage, please consider a donation <\/a>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<\/a> and how Alzheimer’s took Ida Arnette’<\/a>s life.<\/p>\n

\"donate<\/a><\/p>\n

The Savage Mountain<\/h2>\n

As I discussed in a post a few years ago, “Why K2 will not become Everest<\/a>“, K2 is a totally different climbing experience requiring a honed set of skills and alpine experience.\u00a0It is the second highest mountain in the world at 28,251\u2019\/8611m and remains the only 8000er not summited in winter.<\/p>\n

\"Down<\/a>
Down Climbing K2 Houses Chimney in 2014. \u00a9 Photo by Alan Arnette. All rights reserved<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The climbing is technical – meaning you are using feet and hands to climb; the exposure is dramatic – meaning if you fall you will most likely die; and the weather is extreme – meaning it is less predictable due to standing alone to the west of nearby mountains thus creating its own systems. It is common to have very different conditions on K2 than on Broad Peak or the Gasherbrums that are only a few miles away.<\/p>\n

Unlike Everest, there are no long, flat sections i.e. the Western Cwm. K2 starts steep, ends steep and never lets up. Objective dangers are constantly on the minds of K2 climbers. Avalanches and rock-fall are rampant and injuries are common. These are not bravado or ego-based comments on my part given I have summited both peaks, but my effort to help readers understand that K2 is in a different league than most of the other 8000ers. Just because you summited Everest, doesn’t mean you are ready for K2.\u00a0A bit of trivia, there are less than 200 people who have summited both Everest and K2.<\/p>\n

It is well documented that K2 sees significantly more deaths than Everest. Thru 2018, I estimate 8,950 summits by about 5,500 people and 295 deaths on Everest – 3.3% compared to 367 summits with 84 deaths on K2 – 23%. Of the 8000 meter peaks, Everest has the highest absolute number of deaths at 288 but ranks near the bottom with a death rate of 1.23. Annapurna is the most deadly 8000er with one death for about every three summits (71:261) or a 3.91 death rate. Cho Oyu is the safest with 3,681 summits and 50 deaths or a death rate of 0.55. While some will quibble with these statistics, it is a measure of risk.\u00a0The number one reason listed for death on K2 is “disappearance” suggesting that the climber fell in a highly exposed area, was blown away by winds or buried in an avalanche. 33 climbers have died while descending from the summit. 11 died in 2008 including my friend Gerard McDonnell when the towering ice serac just below the summit let a tiny fraction of its 100 meter vertical face loose.\u00a0<\/span>If you attempt K2, you must accept that dying is a real possibility.<\/p>\n

\"Downclimbing<\/a>
Down climbing below the K2 infamous ice serac in 2014. \u00a9 Photo by Alan Arnette. All rights reserved<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Years with No K2 Summits<\/h2>\n

The first summit of K2 was on July 31, 1954, by Italians Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni. The first attempts began in 1902 by Brit Aleister Crowley. But it was the Duke of Abruzzi who made the most valiant attempts in the early 1900’s thus named the ridge most popular used today, the Abruzzi Spur.\u00a0After five separate American attempts, Louis Reichardt and Jim Wickwire summited on September 6, 1978, and John Roskelley and Rick Ridgeway the next day. Amazingly Jim Wickwire spent a night in the open just below the summit at 27,000 feet without food, oxygen, or shelter in temperatures of -40 degrees.<\/p>\n

According to research<\/a>, plus my own research, from 1986\u00a0to 2016 there were\u00a012 years with no summits. From 2009 to 2016, there were only three\u00a0years with summits \u2013 2011 only from the Chinese side by Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner\u00a0who became the first woman to get all the 8000ers san Os. \u00a0In\u00a02012 and 2014 each saw about 30 \u2013 50\u00a0people\u00a0summiting \u2013 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 \u2013 40 straight years!\u00a0The best year ever for K2 was in 2004 with 51 total summits followed by 2014 with an estimated 49 summits, including six female climbers.<\/p>\n

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2017 K2 Results<\/h2>\n

2017 was a mixed year on K2 with most teams choosing not to risk a summit push but one strong Sherpa team gambled and made it for the first summits since 2014. Lead by Mingma Gyalje Sherpa<\/a>, 31, founder of the Nepali guide company Dreamers Destination<\/a>, now Imagine Climb<\/a>. This was the second time he has guided a team to the summit, 2014 was his first. Long-time legend Russell Brice’s Himex team attempted the \u010cesen route but stopped due to dangerous conditions and all the other teams on the Abruzzi stopped their attempts after an avalanche wiped out Camp 3 and Advanced Base Camp burying most of their gear.<\/p>\n

Of course, K2 saw a rare winter attempt just six months ago. It ended poorly with botched logistics, in-fighting within the team and just plain old bad luck with the weather and snow conditions. As if that was not enough, several members of the Polish team left K2 in the middle of their acclimatization work for a rescue mission on nearby Nanga Parbat. You can read my full coverage of these events at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"K2
K2 Routes: Abruzzi and \u010cesen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Routes<\/h2>\n

There are 9 named routes on K2: \u010cesen, Northeast Ridge, North Ridge, South Face (Central Rib), South-southwest Pillar (Magic Line), Northwest Face, Northwest Ridge and West Face with the Abruzzi Spur aka the Southeast Ridge.\u00a0No one has climbed the East Face, due to the instability of the snow and ice formations on that side. There are no easy routes on K2.<\/p>\n

The Abruzzi 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.\u00a0The Abruzzi usually has 4 camps on the mountain:<\/p>\n