{"id":31296,"date":"2018-07-22T14:52:11","date_gmt":"2018-07-22T20:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=31296"},"modified":"2018-08-05T10:08:48","modified_gmt":"2018-08-05T16:08:48","slug":"k2-2018-summer-coverage-first-k2-ski-descent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2018\/07\/22\/k2-2018-summer-coverage-first-k2-ski-descent\/","title":{"rendered":"K2 2018 Summer Coverage: First K2 Ski Descent!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday 22 July 2018 saw another 32 summits on K2 taking the total for 2018 to 63, what I believe is the biggest year ever for the world’s second highest peak. Also,\u00a0Andrzej Bargiel<\/a>\u00a0skied the entire descent taking a quite curious routing down to avoid the highly technical sections like the Black Pyramid and House Chimney on the Abruzzi Spur.<\/p>\n

Ski descent<\/h3>\n

\"\"Andrzej Bargiel<\/a> is reported to have connected four routes on the descent:\u00a0Abruzzi Rib, the \u010cesen the Messner variant and the Kukuczka-Piotrowski routes. He skied from the summit to the High Camp at 25,800’\/7800m before being forced to wait out low visibility for about an hour. Once the route cleared, he continued down the traditional Abruzzi to Camp 3 at\u00a023,760’\/7200m where the route merges with the \u010cesen. He took that lower and then a short traverse Messner used aptly called the Messner variant before connecting to the Kukuczka-Piotrowski. He summited Sunday, 22nd<\/sup> July at 11:30am and reached the Base Camp at around 7:30pm local time.<\/p>\n

The 30 year-old had previously skied Broad Peak in 2015, from the central peak of Shishapangma in 2013 and Manaslu in 2014. There have been previous ski attempts on K2 including in 2009 by David Watson who skied the Bottleneck, and in 2010 by Fredrik Eriksson and finally by Luis Stitsinger in 2011. The original attempt was in 2001 by\u00a0Hans Kammerlander, who skied only 1300 feet\/400-meters before abandoning his attempt to save a Korean who was in trouble.<\/p>\n

\"\"
K2 Ski descent route \u00a0by Andrzej Bargiel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Andrzej Bargiel 2018 K2 Ski descent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Japanese and Commercial Summits!<\/h3>\n

Huge congratulations to the Japanese<\/a> team who summited:<\/p>\n

Mr.Takashi Higashiyama(37)
\nMr.Masaaki Yusa(55)
\nMs.Kyoko Hayashi(45)
\nMr.Kojiro Watanabe(41)
\nMr.Masato Iizawa(32)
\nMr.Atsushi Taguchi(30)
\nand
\nMr. Fazal Ali shimshal (HAP)
\nMr. Sarbaz from Aliabad (HAP)<\/p>\n

And Madison Mountaineering<\/a> announced, “We had a great day, just wonderful weather up high, no wind, great team of climbers, Sherpa, and guides. We had a total of 8 clients on top, 3 guides, 9 Nepali Sherpas, and 4 Pakistani high altitude porters. Great day!” No<\/del> names<\/a> were posted but my friend David Liano was one of them.<\/p>\n

Multiple K2 Summits<\/h3>\n

With this year’s success, there are a number of climbers who have achieved multiple K2 summits. They include:<\/p>\n