K2 2015 Coverage: Karakorum Season ends with Valient Bids, Death … Almost
The summer of 2015 will go down as one of the more difficult seasons in the Northern Pakistan Karakoram climbing season. There have been deaths, illness courageous summit attempts, questionable summit claims and impressive summits. However, casting a huge cloud over everything was disturbing weather that made climbing virtually impossible for many. Broad Peak: At Your Own Risk The entire season started on an ominous note when Pakistani High Altitude Porter (HAP),Qamber Ali Jangjupa, was killed from an avalanche on the low slopes of Broad Peak, just below Camp 1. Yesterday, a determined team from Himalayan Experience gave it their on Broad Peak trying not once, but twice to summit from Camp 3. Yet sugary snow, trapped under a thin layer of icy crust along with dangerous avalanche conditions caused the highly experienced team of climbers and Sherpas to turn back. They are all back at Base Camp now preparing to start their arduous trek back home. This comes on the heels of about 30 climbers a few days ago making another attempt with the same results – soft, avalanche prone snow – forcing an orderly re without a summit. Chris Jensen Burke, making her second attempt on BP in consecutive years posted a complete update on their attempt. She also noted what might be considered “aberrant” behavior amongst some of the climbing teams: At the time of writing, I think the summit count on Broad Peak this season is unofficially one. Lakpa and I did meet one chap on his way down maybe 2 weeks ago now who appeared delirious, but said he reached the summit, didn’t want to talk, descended, and then another climber 60 seconds behind him rolled his eyes in the direction of the delirious chap and said ‘no summit’. A strong Polish chap in his 20’s from the Polish ski team advised us he reached the summit (on 25th or 26th) – I would kind of put him in the category of super human and I would like to have some of what he is on… a nice chap and yesterday he went to another mountain to provide rescue assistance to a fellow Pole. Against this backdrop, Andrzej Bargiel is reported to have summited Broad Peak – alone – and skied from the summit, a first when confirmed. He would own the sole summit of Broad Peak in the summer of 2015. Gasherbrums: A few Yes, Most No Over on Gasherbrum I & II, similar weather forced many to stop or not even start their summit bids. Nic Rice along with several other international teams attempted a new route up GI but in the end felt the conditions were too dangerous to go for the summit and left early. But a few were successful earlier in the season. Kari Kobler put six on the GII summit including an impressive performance by Sophie Lavaud who summited with no supplemental oxygen. Others attempted a few days later and were turned back including Polish climbers and skiers Olek Ostrowski and Peter ?nigórski. who were aiming to be the first Polish climbers to successfully ski down from summit of Gasherbrum II. They tuned back above Camp 3 in difficult conditions and upon the return Olek Ostrowski went missing and is now presumed dead. It is assumed he fell in a crevasse or went off a steep ridge. Fellow climber Andrzej Bargiel expressed his outrage at how the search was conducted in this interview (use Google translate for your language) On GI, a strong team of four, Thomas Seidensticker, Yannick Graziani, Ferran Latorre and Sadiq, from Catalonia successfully summited during this season. However just when the season was thought to be over, Czech climbers Marek Holecek and Tomas Petrecek arrived at GI base camp intending to set a new route on the Southwest Face. This route has been attempted before, taking lives in the process. K2:Absolutely NO! And K2. K2 proved once again to be in a different league than any other 8000 meter mountains inside and outside of Pakistan. As I have written so often based on my own summit in 2014, K2 is steep steep steep with little relief and constant rock fall and avalanche danger. With two major commercial teams, Madison Mountaineering and Himalayan Experience (Himex) plus a large team by Seven Summits Treks, there was plenty of manpower to use a siege approach on the mountain. However, Himex choose the Česen Route aka Basque Route and to acclimatize on the lower camps of Broad Peak while the other choose the more standard Abruzzi Spur on K2 thus splitting the force. The teamwork of Nepali Sherpas and Pakistani HAPs worked hard early to break through deep, soft snow to fix lines to Camp 3 on both routes. Climbers went on one acclimatization rotation reaching Camp 2 on the Abruzzi and C3 on the Česen. Then a very strong and experienced team lead by Mike Horn took the risk during a tiny weather window but turned back just above Camp 3 on the Česen returning with the verdict that K2 was “unclimbable” this year – soft snow, exposed rock, avalanche and extreme rock fall – everything K2 is known for. The next setback was a huge series of slab avalanches off K2’s flanks that shook up the base camp community and buried most of the climbing gear of Seven Summits Treks. They dug for days and recovered most of the gear from under 15 feet of hard packed snow at Advanced Base Camp at the foot of the Abruzzi. Five Sherpas moving up that same day reported the snow had slid off and down to the glacial ice. A large falling rock hit my longtime Sherpa climbing partner, Kami Sherpa, dislocating his shoulder and breaking his left arm and hand. A heroic effort got him back to K2 Base Camp then evacuated by helicopter to Skardu where he underwent surgery. For Kami this comes on top of losing his home in Pangboche from the earthquakes in Nepal. I set up a fund to raise money to help Kami and his family with ongoing medical expenses and to rebuild his home. Please contribute if this speaks speaks to you. Thank you sincerely. With all this, Himex and Madison Mountaineering
K2 2015 Coverage: K2 Bids end, Kami Update
The poor conditions across Northern Pakistan have effectively stopped all climbs and almost cost my friend, capsule Kami Sherpa, his life. Kami (Ang Chhiring Sherpa – Pangboche) Sherpa was injured when he was hit by a large rock just below Camp 1. His left shoulder was dislocated and arm and hand broken. He was flown out on July 25 to Skardu to undergo surgery, according to an email I received from Garrett Madison. A fundraiser has been started to help Kami and his family. Kami also lost his home from the April 2015 earthquake on Nepal. This incident, plus the thwarted summit attempt by Mike Horn’s strong team and a tremendous slab avalanche off K2 that buried Advanced Base Camp and a large amount of the climbing gear for Seven Summits Treks has led Russell Brice (Himalayan Experience aka Himex) and Garrett Madison to cancel their K2 expeditions. This post from Madison Mountaineering: During the last few days the weather and route conditions have deteriorated significantly on K2, causing many avalanches and also rock fall. The climate here has warmed up dramatically, and as a result snow slides down to the glacial ice have peeled off K2 and the surrounding peaks, in once case the snow avalanches buried another team’s advanced base camp, fortunately no one was there at the time. The weather forecast has much snow ahead as well as continued warm temperatures, so without any indication that conditions may improve we are abandoning our climb of K2. David Tait has now left K2 Base Camp but made this observation on his last post: Mike Horn declare bluntly that despite this being his 4th attempt and having spent 18 months of his life at K2 BC trying to succeed, he was adamant that K2 could not be climbed this year. Coming from just anyone, this revelation could have been taken with a pinch of salt – but coming from such a strong group of climbers [the likes of which I have never previously seen] it struck home like a missile. No one in the Himex team could hold a candle to their strength in sugar snow and one could sense this fact pass through all minds. Both teams are considering Broad Peak but the large number of climbers who attempted it yesterday turned around at 7000 meters, just beyond Camp 3 due to very loose “sugary” snow as reported by Al Hancock and Tunic Fudik. A Spanish team did climb to the saddle where the summit ridge begins but reported it took them more than 10 hours whereas it usually requires less than 5. They deemed the summit ridge too dangerous to climb in the power snow conditions. But it appears some teams will make another effort on Broad. Billi Bierling tweeted about Broad Peak: Will leave for C2 early on Sunday, then C3 and then we’ll take it from there. Maybe we’ll have a chance. It’s unclear to me about the Broad Peak attempt with the forecast of incoming weather, perhaps it changed. Finally, there is one report of Polish ski champion Andrzej Bargiel summiting Broad Peak from Camp 3 in just 8 hours yesterday. It is said he skied off the summit, a first. Apparently the rest of his team turned back and he summited alone, an impressive feat. Bargiel is a speed climber, setting records on Manaslu and Elbrus. So, in summary, there has been 11 summits on Gasherbrum II, GI saw 4, Broad Peak: 1 and K2: 0 Please consider a donation to help Kami. He not only lost his home but now perhaps his livelihood of climbing due to this injury. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2015 Coverage: Summits on G I & II, K2 Stops Bid. More Injuries
Finally we have more summits in this difficult summer 2015 season. Teams topped out on the Gasherbrums. A large number of climbers are currently going for the summit of Broad Peak. The strong K2 attempt was ended by deep snow and strong winds. Meanwhile K2 has injured one of the Sherpas with Madison Mountaineering. The weather is playing a strong hand this year in Northern Pakistan. It has been the small, look experienced independent teams willing to take big risks during small breaks in the weather who have summited. The large commercial teams have worked hard to fix routes on K2 but remain unwilling to thread their climbers through the eye of the weather needle. Gasherbrum I An impressive summit on Gasherbrum I by Yannick Graziani, Thomas Seidensticker, Ferran Latorre and Sadiq, They left Camp 3 at midnight and summited at 3:30 pm local time. They posted this video which I assume but cannot confirm was from their summit today, July 24, 2015. Gasherbrum II The team from Chile, Tomas Road Purcell, Matte Rafael Dominguez and Martin Gildemeister Budge has summited G II, making this the only one of the four 8000 meter mountains in this area to have multiple summits this season. Kari Kobler’s team made it earlier this week. Polish climbers and skiers Olek Ostrowsk and Peter ?nigórskiego turned back on Gasherbrum II at 7600 meters citing waist deep snow. Broad Peak A large group of independent climbers from five countries, perhaps 14 people, are all pushing to summit Broad Peak right now. Al Hancock phoned in that he and three other climbers were now at Camp 3 at 7000m on Broad Peak and would leave around 2:00 am local time for the summit. He expects it to take 12 hours and will update from the summit if/when they make it. Also Turkish climber Tunc Findik has his SPOT tracker working and shows him at the same camp. Best of luck my friends. K2 Mike Horn confirmed that their summit bid was stopped with this Tweet: We are back in base camp after an unsuccessful attempt to reach the summit, Snow and strong wind stopped us. It appears the only team that had substantial gear at ABC was Seven Summits Treks, when an avalanche buried the camp. No one was at that camp when the avalanche occurred. They have tried in vain to dig out their gear, reportedly under 15 feet of snow. The remaining teams at K2 BC seem content to wait out this next storm and consider a summit push next week. Himex reports significant rock fall and avalanche activity all over K2. Kami Sherpa Injured Joe Ashkar with Madison Mountaineering posted this update on the conditions: Our Sherpa team tried to carry a load to Camp 3 but their attempt was thwarted at Camp 1 and couldn’t progress further due to deep deep snow and rock fall danger. Unfortunately and sadly, our lead Sherpa Kami was hit by a rock and appears to have three fractures inn his arm. The route between ABC and C1 is a sight to be seen: water streams running down alongside avalanche debris and rock fall. A gigantic boulder was seen rolling down all the way from C1. All the fixed lines between ABC and above appear to have been damaged and rendered unusable. I’m unclear on the exact identity of the injured Sherpa. Last year, Madison Mountaineering had two “Kami Sherpas” – Kami Rita and Kami (Ang Chhiring Sherpa – Pangboche) Sherpa whom I summited Everest in 2011 and K2 in 2014 with. Both are unbelievably strong, smart and experienced climbers. I wish him the for a speedy recovery. Update: It was Kami (Ang Chhiring Sherpa – Pangboche) Sherpa who was injured. He was hit by a large rock just below Camp 1. His left shoulder was dislocated and arm and hand broken. He was flown out on July 25 to Skardu to undergo surgery. A fundraiser has been started to help Kami and his family. Kami also lost his home from the April 2015 earthquake on Nepal. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2015 Coverage: K2 Summit Bid Ends, Avalanches puts season at risk – Update 2
Breaking news on K2 as a Swiss team lead by Mike Horn has reportedly turned back around 7000 meters from their summit bid. They were attempting the summit on K2 via the Česen Route aka Basque Route and had reached their Camp 3. Other reports mention deep snow. It is rare for a small team to be able to fix ropes AND break snow at these extreme altitudes as it is unbelievably physical. David Tait with Himex at K2 Base Camp posted a well formed update along with very deep introspection that comes on the long high altitude climbs. He made this observation about the Swiss team: Mike Horne, the Swiss/Sth African superman and his equally talented team left BC yesterday morning and climbed to C3 uninterrupted. This 6-man team is the strongest climbers I have ever encountered. I have briefly run into Uli Stech on the slopes of Everest, but these guys take all prizes. Another climber, Phillipe Gatta, is reported by his home team to have most likely called off his K2 summit attempt by the Abruzzi route due to an avalanche that buried ABC. This was just posted on Facebook: Sms from Philippe: Left for summit attempt this morning. Big avalanche buried all our gear depot at ABC. 18 people digging for 2h without finding anything. Camp 1 might be lost too where we have clothes and food… Expedition probably over… Still digging. Keep you posted. Note from Anna: ABC is not a camp where people sleep since it is highly exposed to avalanches. So no people should be touched. It also seems like Mike Horn has gone down from 7000 to 6300 this morning from looking at his tracker but no confirmation… ABC is used a depot more than a real camp but is crucial as many team store gear there. But more importantly is the fact that ABC sits at the base of a long snow slope that leads to Camp 1. If that slope has become so snow loaded that is is releasing, that does not bode well for the overall route. Of course the flip side is that is has now released. But more snow is predicted to arrive this weekend so the K2 teams have some tough decisions to make. No firm updates on the progress for the other peaks. From all indications, the deep, soft snow on all these peaks are making it virtually impossible to summit. Those who did on GII earlier this week were smart and strong to go when they did Update 2: Al Hancock phoned in that he and three other climbers were now at Camp 3 at 7000m on Broad Peak and would leave around 2:00 am local time for the summit. He expects it tot take 12 hours and will update from the summit if/when they make it. Best of luck my friend. It appears the only team that had substantial gear at ABC was Seven Summits Treks. No one was at that camp when the avalanche occurred. The remaining teams at K2 BC seem content to wait out this next storm and consider a summit push next week. Polishi climbers and skiers Olek Ostrowsk and Peter ?nigórskiegoturned back on Gasherbrum II at 7600 meters citing waist deep snow. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2015 Coverage: Summit Pushes on all 4 Peaks
Looking at an extremely short weather window, climbers on all four the Northern Pakistan 8000m peaks are climbing today. Heavy weather is predicted to begin around July 26 and some speculate it will take over a week for conditions to be suitable for another summit push. This delay has caused multiple teams to abandon their expeditions due to commitments back home. K2 Let’s start off with an excellent post by Irish climber Jason Black who, in spite of the poor weather forecast will start up K2’s Abruzzi route July 24th: 23rd July 2015 and bad weather halts progress on the mighty K2. After much debate over weather forecasts from many different sources showing clear not so clear weather ,high to low winds ,predictions of incoming snow at multiple levels. It’s thrown a real shadow over basecamp and with every turning head everyone’s an expert to when we should go for a summit push. To say it’s frustrating is an understatement ,however it’s the nature of high altitude expeditions above 8000meters on the 14 of the worlds toughest mountains. Patience a real virtue and mentally been tested to the limit. For the last few nights we have had meetings after meeting moving from one cold tent to another with tempers frayed between im mountaineers and the expedition leaders of seven summits. But as competitive mountaineers this is typically normal in a world as we bid for success.Concerns is safety and rightly so as rescues as zero and the risk of getting it wrong will come at the ultimate cost in our sport our life’s because on the K2 it takes no prisoners Tonight the decision has been made we can see window of opportunity so it’s a GO we leave in the early hours of the morning on a solid five day push for the summit hoping to reach successfully the summit on 28th July. The Abbruzzi route will see me return to….. Camp one – 24th – 6050mt Camp two – 25th – 6650mts Camp three – 26th – 7300mts Camp four – 27th – 8000mts Summit early hours 28th – 8611mts Mike Horn and his small Swiss team are now at Camp 3 on the Česen route. They worked with the Himex Sherpas to get the route set on this alternative to the more normal Abruzzi route. Multiple avalanches have been reported on K2 and around the Česen for several weeks so this is a big gamble to get up and down safely in these conditions. The large commercial teams of Madison Mountaineering and Himalayan Experience are sitting tight at K2 Base Camp. Their member report it is hot, boring and many are having a tough time. David Tait said: Point me in the direction of the mountain, tell me to climb and I am good. Tell me to sit in isolation, away from the one who means the most, waiting for a possible chance to climb and I suffer. Broad Peak Al Hancock called in an audio dispatch saying he and others climbed from Base Camp to Camp 2 on July 23 in 10 hours. He said he was tired but would push tomorrow to Camp 3 and then the summit before the weather hits. I believe he is climbing with Chris Burke, Lakpa Sherpa, Margaret Wartroba. Another team threading the eye of the weather needle are Spaniards Oscar Cadiach, Anna Pujol, Patxi Goñi and Carles Figueres. They also report in at Camp 2. In 2006 I enjoyed the views from Camp 2 but it is situated on a 30 degree angled snow slope at 6200m. You must bring snow shovels to carve out a reasonably flat platform for your tent. It s exhausting work, especially after climbing for 10 hours. Himex’s Billi Bierling was not part of that group and stayed at BC waiting for improved conditions. She Tweeted: A big group of people went up towards C2 on broad peak today. I wish them luck and hope they won’t encounter too much snow below the col. We are staying put to sit out heat and ensuing bad weather. It’ll be early August for us but fortunately we have time. Gasherbrums After the route was broken to Camp 3 by the Catalans a few days ago, today teams from Chili, and Peru were last reported at Camp 3 on both GI and on GII. They intend to go for the summit on Friday night, making thr top on Saturday morning. Their home team posted on Facebook along with this great picture climbing to Camp 3 on Gasherbrum I: They are fine, they will take advantage of this day off to rest with and recuperate. The window of good weather, is lengthening, so they will have more room to descend safely. That the happy lot. OK, so the summit pushes are on. I wish those up there now the and hope another window emerges for those ly waiting. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2015 Coverage: Summit Pushes Despite Poor Conditions
With the aftermath of the death of Pakistan High Altitude Porter, discount Qamber Jangjupa, on Broad Peak quieting, the weather is now the main story in the Karakorum. Most teams are waiting for a better window but some are pushing to squeeze a summit in now, and others had said enough and have quit. The injured Japanese climber, Sumiyo Tsuzuki, has been helicoptered from base camp after receiving triage from doctors on other expeditions to a compound fracture of her leg. Summit Push on the Gasherbrums and Broad Peak Ferran Latorre and team posted that they are at Camp 2 on GI but the fixed ropes are buried. While they note the weather is “fair”, this window is not expected to last. Iván Vallejo also posted their intent to try to push the weather window on Broad Peak: The question is, why do not we wait a few more days? The answer is because as of 25 the weather is going to worse. Well, this is what is there now and it’s what we can take at this time. The plan that we have is the following. Tomorrow Wednesday we went straight from base camp to camp two. On Thursday we are going up to the field three, and to the middle of the night of Thursday to Friday we will go to the summit. I wish that the snow will give us good conditions, I wish that the weather will be kind and the Lord and my beautiful mountains will give us the summit. Al Hancock, posted an audio dispatch saying he also was going for the summit on Broad Peak. Climbers Ending Efforts Meanwhile Nic Rice has had enough and called the end of to his effort on GI along with two other teams: Perhaps one or two climbers might sneak up the peak and get off safely, however, I’m not willing to take the risk. I’ve had a great expedition overall, having the opportunity to climb a new variation from Camp II to Camp III on Gasherbrum I, to make new friends from all over the world, and to take in some of the most breathtaking scenery in the world from high in the Karakorum. This mountain will be here for centuries and I don’t doubt that I will be back for another attempt. K2 On K2, the tension is building as some want to climb, others are to wait it out. Phillipe Gatta noted the need for teamwork as it is difficult for a small team to climb K2 alone. Each team has it’s weather report, strategy, constraints and they are often contradictory. Unfortunately the results is a lack of enthusiasm and collaboration on a mountain where both are mandatory for a success. It seems that there is/was a window for the 23-26th but it is short with important snow falls behind. Most teams do not want to take the risk or feel that they are not ready. We were ready to give it a try but without any support from other teams to break trail and fix the route above C3, the task seems too risky. So we hope that the bad weather coming in the 27-30 wont drop too much snow on the mountain – which could jeopardise the expedition – and that high pressure will get back afterwards to allow for a summit push. Both Madison Mountaineering and Himex seem content to wait for safer conditions on both K2 and Broad Peak. These teams have the bulk of the on-mountian support with Sherpas and HAPs so similar to Everest the smaller teams not wanting to go it alone will be dependent on the large teams to lead the way. Best of luck to those pushing the window this week. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2015 Coverage: Death and Injuries from Avalanche
Attributed to heavy overnight snow and warmer than normal temperatures, an avalanche below Camp 1 on Broad Peak has injured several climbers and taken one Pakistani High Altitude Porter (HAP) life. Progress on K2 and the other Karakorum peaks has been stopped for now waiting for the snow to settle and the weather to calm. Chris Burke has posted a complete update as she is climbing Broad Peak and was at Broad Peak Base Camp when the avalanche occurred. She noted that other climbers rushed to aid the victims and pulled one person out from the debris. While the rescues were occurring, more avalanches were triggered. The injured need urgent medical care but helicopters, operated but the Pakistani military, are grounded in Skardu due to weather. Chris noted: It is a somber time at Broad Peak base camp – many have lost a longtime friend today. Many have lost a friend they only recently met. Meanwhile, avalanches continue to fall in the mountains around us. We are tired. We are sad. We need time to absorb today’s events. The website Altitude Pakistan identified the climbers involved: A group of Japanese and Chinese climbers along with Pakistani HAPs and Sherpa were on the way to C1, when an avalanche came down at around 11hrs local time. Seven climbers were swept down the mountain. One of the injured Sherpa called BC and search & rescue mission was launched immediately. Six climbers, including seriously injured Japanese member of Summit Climb team Ms. Sumiyo Tsuzuki, were lowered to BC and given immediate medication. However, a Pakistani HAP of Seven Summit Treks team couldn’t be located. Missing HAP (name withheld as the family needs to be notified) has been unfortunately presumed dead. I know that section well as I climbed it multiple times in 2006. It is perfect avalanche terrain as it can be wind loaded and sits at a 30 degree slope. Over on K2, Garrett Madison‘s team has just returned from their first and only acclimatization rotation to Camp 2 but are now sitting tight waiting for improved conditions. he posted: Because of daily snowfall, and the inherent risk of avalanches, we cannot plan to climb or carry up supplies until the weather improves and conditions stabilize. Currently we will be resting in base camp at least a few more days before possibly making a move up on our summit attempt. Nic Rice on Gasherbrum also said he was sitting tight: The weather report I have is not very encouraging, however, I remain hopeful that the usual end of July summit window will somehow materialize and that the forecast heavy snow will not. Finally Russell Brice posted on his site he did not expect to move up K2 until at least July 26, Sunday. The standard mountain protocol after a heavy snow is to let it stabilize for at a minimum of 24 to 48 hours. I will update this post with more information as I receive it. My condolences to the families. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2015 Coverage: Karakorum Summits, Bad Weather
There were summits on Gasherbrum II, an aborted attempt on GI, salve fixed ropes on Broad Peak and tired climbers on K2. The climbing has now moved to the end game when it becomes the most dangerous. A seven person team from Kobler & Partner successfully summited Gasherbrum II on Wednesday. They reported 5 members and 2 Sherpas on the summit in difficult snow conditions. Chris Jensen Burke gave us a solid report on Broad Peak saying that the fixed rope has been set to Camp 3 at 6950 meters or 22,801 feet. She and others will now go to C3 for their final acclimatization rotation. This suggests a summit push perhaps late next week. In her report she comments on “waterfalls” near the route. Temperatures have been unusually high in Pakistan this year and it appears to be having some impact in the Karakorum: Lakpa 1 and one of his Sherpa friends returned to below Camp 1 on Broad Peak yesterday to relocate the climbing route more or less out of the avalanche path in that area. The main section of concern was where the ropes had been fixed on a rock section to the left of a waterfall / ice traverse (depending on temperature). But, in the case of an avalanche the place to ‘run’ is to the right, but that requires you to cross the waterfall / ice traverse – the trouble is that that section is actually part of the avalanche path. On my descent of K2 last year around July 29th, I also experienced free flowing water but it was closer to 18,500 feet near Advanced Base Camp, not high on the mountain. Over on K2, it’s reported the route has been fixed to Camp 3 at 7,300m, Abruzzi route. While this is good news, there is still a long way to go from C3 to the summit on this dangerous mountain. Joe Ashkar with Madison Mountaineering blogged that they have completed their acclimatization rotation to Camp 2 via the Abruzzi and are now back in K2 Base Camp, extremely tired: Today we made the gruesome descent from Camp 2 on K2 all the way to Base Camp. It was long and arduous due to bad and sketchy snow conditions (lots of deep snow and too warm) but everyone made it ok albeit very tired. I will post some details and pics of our rotation tomorrow. Now we sit and base camp to rest and await a good summit window. The Himex team, and also now apparently including Swiss climber Mike Horn, is still at it on the Česen. They have a large contingent of Sherpas and High Altitude Porters who have set the route to Camp 3. The Česen and Abruzzi routes merge at Camps 4. In practice this means the crowding concern many still develop at the Bottleneck and Traverse just below the huge serac near the summit of K2, but Russ, Garrett, Mike and other leaders are some of the in the business and will most likely work together to avoid this. In 2014, around 40 climbers waited for hours for the final ropes to be fixed in these locations barely avoiding frostbite or worse. It was this same area in 2008 where 11 K2 climbers were killed when the serac released destroying the fixed ropes. But to get a different, an equally valid perspective, Philippe Gatta posted upon his return the K2 BC: I had a good night. Went 150m above C2 toward the black pyramid this am, no wind, warm, amazing views from China to Pakistan. The route is now open up to C3. Now I am back in C2, resting. I am starving since we don’t have enough food, but will eat myself happy at base camp But conditions seems to vary widely across the four 8000 meter mountains in this part of the Karakorum. Nic Rice over on Gasherbrum I posted some great pictures and information on his last sorte attempting to reach Camp 3 on GI. Note his comments on deep snow, winds and also old piton that failed giving him a narrow escape: The deep snow did nothing to help the situation either. It ranged from knee deep to hip deep as we continued making our way up the face to the ridge that we hoped would join the final stretch of the Japanese Couloir leading to Camp III. The combination of deep snow, the high temperature, and route finding made the climb to Camp III take far too long. After more than nine hours of climbing, and having reached an altitude of close to 7000m, I decided that I needed to begin descending if I was to have any hope for my own summit push. We all carried gear for Ferran’s team. I had a spool of fixed rope which I left secured to an anchor at my high point. I began descending the rocky ridge and when I reached the snowy slope, a piton flew out of the rock as I weighted it, sending me tumbling down the steep slope toward Camp II. Thanks to the warm afternoon temperature and deep snow, and the fact that I had stowed a trekking pole between my backpack and back, I quickly came to a stop, facing down the slope. I continued making my way down the slope slowly, double checking the anchors as I clipped into the rope. So, we have some summits on the arguably easiest of these four 8’s, GII, but they had to fight hard to make it happen. The weather is unpredictable as always there and the mountains are making the climbers work hard. Look for a wave of summit attempts across all the Hills late next week, assuming the weather window appears as expected. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2015 Coverage
In spite of a bit of conflict on the mountain, everything appears to be in good order in the Karakorum. Summits are expected any day now on the Gasherbrums, a bit later on Broad Peak and next week on K2. Vanessa O’brien, climbing with Madison Mountaineering, reports she and the team are at Camp 2, suggesting they have successfully climbed Houses Chimney at 20,000 feet. For some this could be their high point because the climbing gets significantly harder from here on up. Garrett’s team will take a short hike above C2 then return to K2 Base Camp over the next couple of days. This will complete their acclimatization program thus the next time up will be for the summit. Garret follows a very short acclimatization program as he supplies his team with ample Os. So, not sure what’s going on over the Cessan route with the Himex team but David Tait made this interesting post that included: We lost another valuable day yesterday owning to a small difference of opinion between some of our staff and a third party on the mountain, which dictated a brief hiatus and suspension of our rope-fixing effort. The differences were debated and resolved back at BC in very short order, but nevertheless the day and the vertical advances we had planned were all shunted back 24 hours. My experience in the Karakorum is that conflicts, disagreements and even fights are regular occurrences. If Everest seems civilized, the Karakorum is the wild, wild West – fists and guns rule the day. Another team on the Abruzzi, Mike Horn, is looking at getting to C4 at 7500 meters. They appear not to be using supplemental oxygen thus the higher acclimatization program. Alec Turner who was reported as leaving the Himex K2 team, apparently returned after a tough time with illness and an avalanche scare. He is climbing the Cessan route. I spoke live with Himex climber Bo Parfet this week from his home in Colorado. He left the Himex team last week evacuated by helicopter after feeling ill. He is fine now and is happy to be home with his sick new-born child. Bo reports that the Karakorum was extremely hot but the route seemed in good condition. Over on Broad Peak, the Himex team and independents including Al Hancock, continue to make progress hoping reach C3, return to BC then go for the summit soon. Deep, difficult snow has stalled progress for the second year in a row high up on Broad. Finally, climbers on Gasherbrum I and II are pushing very hard for their summit bids this week. Nic Rice posted this a couple of days ago: We instead will try and reach Camp II directly the following day when the weather is supposed to be good and the new snow will have had time to settle. We are planning on bringing everything we will need for a summit bid in case the weather decides to cooperate and we have sufficient energy after fixing the route from Camp II to Camp III in the Japanese Couloir. OK, there you have it, bad weather, tough routes, fights and pushing hard … another typical week in Northern Pakistan. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2015 Coverage: Weather and Avalanches
Climbing continues in the Karakorum on all the peaks however most took a few days off to allow a weather system to pass by. But the stress of climbing is taking its toll. Bo Parfet, climbing K2 with Himex, took a helicopter out of Base Camp this past week citing higher priorities with his new born child. Another Himex climber, Alec Turner, reportedly also left but took the much less costly option of trekking out, saving about $40,000. He has not made a public statement for his reason. We do know there have been significant avalanches off K2 recently, but that is the norm as I covered on a previous post. Himex seems to be following a unique acclimatization strategy that involves their climbers using Broad Peak to reach mid level camps instead of those on K2. David Tait, apparently having K2 as a priority has spent a night at Camp 2 on Broad Peak while the Himex Sherpas have reportedly established Camp 3 on K2 via the Česen Route aka Basque Route. Russell Brice posted a few updates this week but this seems to be the headline: However K2 did give us a great display of just how savage she can be a few days ago, and it was a great learning lesson for us all, especially myself. During the day we had no less than 5 major avalanches that came down the slopes, one of which the snow dust cloud enveloped the Base Camp for a few moments, although this was of no danger to us. But there was evidence of at least 3 other avalanches that must have occurred during the night. These avalanches were triggered by wind slab releases from the various bowls that are high on the mountain. I must say that I regretted that I did not bring the climbers that day back off the hill early on, when I spoke to Shinji by radio about this danger. I had noticed the transportation of snow by the wind near the summit, and was concerned, but Shinji reported that he was well established on the Cessen Ridge and was out of danger. This proved to be correct as the first of these avalanches came down. Many people had told me that the Cessen Route was a little more technical, but that it was safer from avalanche, so it was reassuring to see that this information was correct. However I was not expecting this same bowl to release 3 times in one day as it eventually did. Lesson learnt, and we will keep a much better eye on this in the future. Various posts mention the Himex climbers were spooked by the close call with the avalanches. Brice said they would skip Camp 1 on both K2 and Broad on future rotations. Meanwhile the other major commercial team on K2, Madison Mountaineering, left today for their first rotation with an objective of Camp 2. French photographer and climber Alex Buisse is documenting their K2 climb and already is posting some outstanding photographs on his website. On Broad Peak, climbers Chris Jensen Burke, Al Hancock, Margaret Watroba are continuing their rotations as independents while Billi Bierling as part of the Himex team tweeted she had reached Camp 2 and was prepared to go to C3 when the weather cleared. And finally over on Gasherbrum, Nic Rice has overnighted at Camp 2, 21,052’/6417m, and is now looking at his summit window: I will spend the next few days of bad weather recovering in base camp and preparing for a potential summit push. So, climbing continues along with the usual weather delays and personal issues. Climbing in the Karakorum is not the usual adventure. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything