As per the forecast, high winds kept teams quiet on K2 this week but have now let up and they are planning aggressively to push for the summit. Both K2 teams are scattered over the lower camps. Over on the other 8000er being attempted this winter, Nanga Parbat, the climbers have left for the summit push.<\/p>\n
First, remember that many in the climbing world feel the end of February is the end of winter so our climbers are motivated to attempt the summit in the next 6 days – a hard but not impossible feat.<\/p>\n
The Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan team have climbed as high as the top of the Black Pyramid – around 7,300-meters\/24,000-feet. They have established C1, and C2 with tents and some supplies as well as a fixed rope (that may now be buried) on the Abruzzi route. Next up is to establish their Camps 3 and 4 at 7,300-meters\/24,00-feet and 7,800-meters\/25,500-feet with food, fuel, stoves, medical oxygen, ropes, and personal gear.\u00a0The Spanish\/Galician team has not climbed above C1 soothes have more work to do. Their strategy seems to be one of swift climbing with less acclimatization – a risky approach – but they have five or more Sherpas who might be able to make this strategy happen.<\/p>\n
Even though the huge winds have calmed a bit, the weather forecast over the next seven days stills calls for summit winds as high as 70 kph\/45 mph<\/strong> with still air temps at -40C\/-40F<\/strong> making wind chills as low as -65C\/-85F<\/strong>. The lowest winds are forecasts for the night of Thursday, February 28.<\/strong><\/p>\n K2: Spanish\/Galician Team – Climbing<\/strong><\/p>\n The K2 team lead by\u00a0Alex Txikon<\/a>\u00a0sent Felix Criado, Ignacio de Zuloaga and the doctor Josep Sanchis to Advanced Base Camp.<\/p>\n A nice video showing the conditions at K2 Base Cmap the past few days:![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/031V1ZDCaxn2XJH-w730-637x480.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nK2: Climbing!<\/h3>\n
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