K2 and Everest Winter Teams on the Move
The Polish K2 team is now in Pakistan and the Everest team in the Khumbu. It will be weeks before they begin actually climbing either peak. See this post for full background on both expeditions and the history of winter attempts on the highest two mountains on Earth. Winter K2 I received this update today from the Polish team: News from Pakistan: The expedition crew arrived in Skardu today by morning, all rested and in excellent moods. Repacking and preparing jeeps and tomorrow they will drive to Askole, from where the caravan will go to K2 Base Camp. Everything according to plan Most teams try to fly from Islamabad to Skardu but some have to drive the Karakoram Highway – a 48-hour grueling journey with sharp turns and bumps every other minute. The drive to Askole is on one of the roughest roads around. Pure dirt, blocked by landslides along the way, the teams will cross creaky wooden bridges and across rushing streams. Once to Askole, they begin the 80-mile hike to K2 Base Camp! This is a video I made from my own journey to Askole in 2014. Drive from Skardu Drive to Askole in 2014 byAlan Arnette Winter Everest Alex Txikon and Muhammad Ali Sadpara are already in the Khumbu. They had reported they will acclimatize on Pumori Peak which is located immediately next to Everest Base Camp. This 7,161 m (23,494 ft) mountain is extremely avalanche prone and rarely climbed these days. As you can see from his GPS tracker, and he posted on Twitter, they were at Pheriche at 4371 meters. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 and Everest Winter Climbs are on!
After months of speculation, Alex Txikon will return to attempt a winter, no supplemental oxygen summit of Everest. And the Polish K2 team will leave Poland on 29th December for their winter K2 attempt. UPDATE: The K2 team has left Poland. Winter Dates To claim a true winter ascent of a northern hemisphere peak, the summit must be reached during the calendar winter of the northern hemisphere. For 2017/18 this begins with the winter solstice on December 21, 2017 at 11:28 am EST and ends with the spring equinox on March 20, 2018 at 12:15 pm EDT. Also to be fully certified as a winter ascent, not only the summit has to be reached within the winter calendar, but the start of the expedition cannot be before winter solstice either. Practically this means that the Base Camp must be reached after the winter solstice. Winter K2 I spoke with the team’s project Manager today and confirmed the K2 team will leave Poland on 29th December for Pakistan. It will take a few days to get back on the road to Askole where they will begin the 7 day trek to K2 Base Camp. They should arrive at Base Camp around 15th January, maybe a bit earlier. I also confirmed they will be climbing without supplement oxygen and plan on taking the Česen route. As you can see from this photo, the Česen and Abruzzi routes merge at Camp 3. The entire expedition is being lead by 67 year-old Krzysztof Wielicki who lead the last Polish K2 attempt in 2003. Wielicki has summited all of the 8000ers without supplemental oxygen. The Polish Ministry of Sport and Tourism has funded the expedition to the tune of $275,000. Jasmine Tours in Pakistan is the ground agent for the team and will provide 6 high altitude climbers from Pakistan for the expedition support. The team is composed of Adam Bielecki, Marek Chmielarski, Rafał Fronia, Janusz Gołąb, Marcin Kaczkan, Artur Małek, Piotr Tomala, Jarosław Botor and Dariusz Załuski, Denis Urubko and Wielicki. In my view, its all about the weather. They certainly have the skills and raw power to summit -that’s no question. But to get a few days with winds under 40 mph – that’s the key, so we will see! For more details on K2, winter attempts and this year’s effort, see this post. K2 Winter Attempts There have been few winter attempts due to the difficult and financing involved. 1980 Reconnaissance: Pol Andrzej Zawada and Canadian-resident Polish national Jaques Olek 1987/88 Attempt: 13 Poles, 7 Canadians and 4 Brits / made to Camp 3 2002/03 Attempt: 14 climbers from Poland, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Georgia / made Camp 4 2011/12 Attempt: 9 climbers from Russia / made Camp 2 2014/15 Near Attempt: Denis Urubko and team lost permit Winter Everest Alex Txikon attempted Everest last year but was stopped by deep snow and harsh weather on his second attempt. As you can see from his GPS tracker, he reached 7,950 meters before turning back last year. Now he is returning for another attempt. He made the announcement on Twitter pus on various other media outlets. This is video of his announcement in Spanish. Alex may be one of the few climbers on the planet qualified to attempt climbing Everest in the winter without supplemental oxygen. In 2016/17 he and teammates, Simone Moro and Pakistani Muhammad Ali Sadpara knocked off Nanga Parbat . The 36 year-old Basque climbers will be joined by his Nanga partner, Muhammad Ali Sadpara on this year’s Everest attempt. They are scheduled to arrive at Everest Base Camp the first few days of January 2018. Last year, Txikon carried a significant part of the load to establish high camps and to put the route in the Khumbu Icefall. He was supported then by Seven Summits Treks. This year he is saying he will back off the many days of work and do a better job of pacing himself. Txikon posted this ghostly image of himself last year saying he lost 12kg/26 pounds on his already lean frame. 2016/17 Attempt The team arrived in Kathmandu on Christmas day, 25th December 2016 with plenty of time to summit before 20th March, 2017 – the end of winter. They spent weeks setting the route thru the Khumbu Icefall and establishing Camp 1 and Camp 2 before leaving Base Camp aiming for a 14 February summit. Their first summit attempt didn’t go well. Txikon, and Seven Summits Sherpas: Norbu, Chhepal left base camp on 10 February for the summit push arriving at Camp 2 in about 8 hours. The next day 3 more Sherpas, Nuri, Furba and Pemba joined them. They reported extremely cold still air temps in the -20F to -30F range, without windchill. They left Camp 2 to establish High Camp at the South Col and began to experience even worse weather -45C/-49F air temp with 60 kph/37 mph winds. This puts the wind chill at -70C/-95F, perhaps a bit lower at this extreme altitude but still deadly cold. Skin would instantly freeze in those conditions and even with the world’s best down suits the climber would soon become chilled beyond recovery. Given they were climbing without supplemental oxygen, the risks were dramatically increased. On the push from Camp 2 directly to the South Col, there were fighting the wind on each step. At the South Col, the high winds made it impossible to set up a tent. They arrived without sleeping bags assuming a short stay in the tent before pushing for the summit. The climbers were becoming dangerously cold. As they struggled to establish camp, the wind broke a pole sending Txikon searching in tents from last spring’s expeditions for a spare. He finds not one, but two dead bodies in separate tents. He didn’t identify them. After only half an hour, with harsh winds making establishing Camp 4 impossible, they all retreated to Camp 3 for a short, cold night then down to Base Camp. But while on the Lhotse Face, an avalanche of snow and mostly falling rock, hits the team sending Txikon sliding hundreds of feet and injuring Sherpa Chhepal. Txikon went
K2 Winter 2017: Final Preparations
After multiple attempts to summit K2 in winter, a Polish team is finalizing their plans to attempt the last 8000er not summited in winter. They will arrive in Pakistan after Christmas this year, 2017. K2 is the world’s 2th highest mountain at 28,251’/8611m. It is located in northwest Pakistan about 30 miles from the border with India. K2 is called the Mountaineer Mountain and the Savage Mountain for its deadly and difficult reputation. Additional Member The expedition has been in the planning stages for years but perhaps one of the biggest last minute changes is that elite Kazakstan alpinist Denis Urubko will join the team. He has held Polish citizenship since February 2015. See this recent interview with Urubko in Alpinsimonline. The entire expedition is being lead by 67 year-old Krzysztof Wielicki who lead the last Polish K2 attempt in 2003. Wielicki has summited all of the 8000ers without supplemental oxygen. This report from PPA revealed a tremendous amount of gear being transported to base camp: 600 kg (1322 lbs) of cargo in addition to 400 kg (881 lbs) they will travel with as they move to base camp. This includes thousands of meters of rope, anchors, pitons, snow bars, tents, food, stove, fuel and a lot more that’s part of modern expeditions. The Polish Ministry of Sport and Tourism has funded the expedition to the tune of $275,000. Jasmine Tours in Pakistan is the ground agent for the team and will provide 6 high altitude climbers from Pakistan for the expedition support. The team is composed of Adam Bielecki, Marek Chmielarski, Rafał Fronia, Janusz Gołąb, Marcin Kaczkan, Artur Małek, Piotr Tomala, Jarosław Botor and Dariusz Załuski in addiiton to Urubko and Wielicki. It is planned that they will take the Česen aka Basque Route but may evaluate the Abruzzi as well. The most significant obstacle the Poles will encounter is the weather. Even in the summer it is unpredictable, harsh and deadly. High winds have blown climbers off the summit, avalanches have killed climbers in their tents at high camps and some have simply disappeared. But the weather is the wild card. They will need winds under 60 kph/40mph for a safe ascent. It appears the team will do the standard siege style climb establishing four camps as they set the route with a fixed rope and stock camps with food and fuel. They will not be using supplemental oxygen while climbing. Climbing K2 While there are multiple routes on K2 including from the Chinese side, most of the summits have been successful via the Abruzzi Spur. On this route, there are multiple camps depending on conditions. The Česen and Abruzzi routes merge at Camp 3. Base Camp: 17,500ft/5334m Advanced Base Camp: 18,650ft/5650m Camp 1: 19,965’/6050m Camp 2: 22,110’/6700m Camp 3: 23,760’/7200m Camp 4: 25,080’/7600m Summit: 28,251”/8611m From my own summit of K2 in 2014, this is my brief description of the route. The climbing starts steep from start to finish as in 40 degree minimum snow slope angles and near vertical rock or ice walls. BC to C2 From ABC to C1 it is a long snow slope with some rock. The rock climbing starts upon leaving C1 to C2 and includes House’s Chimney – a 100′ near vertical rock crack at 21,500′ – just below C2. C2 to C3 The Black Pyramid consumes the entire route from C2 to C3 and is the technical crux in my opinion with sustained rock climbing ranging from high class 4 to mid 5’s. C3 to C4 From C3 to C4 it is a short (3 hour) snow climb but the angle is still very steep – 50 degrees – you don’t want to fall. From C4 you can see the Ice Serac plus the summit. The Traverse and Summit Leaving C4, it starts off on another steep snow slope, maybe 40 degrees then hits the Bottleneck. We avoided the Bottleneck in 2014 since it was filled with rock and huge ice blocks and took a right hand variation onto a large buttress still well underneath the Ice Serac. This was safer with respect to the gulley aka Bottleneck but put us under the Serac longer. The Traverse past the Bottleneck was unrelenting but only about 500 meters in total distance. There was one exposed section that required using your crampon front points on a 2 inch ice stub to support your weight while maintaining balance using the fixed rope at your chest. But most of the traverse allowed for full purchase with crampons. From here it was another 2 hours to climb more steep snow slopes at 50-60 degree angles to the summit. K2 History The first attempts began in 1902 by Brit Aleister Crowley. But it was the Duke of Abruzzi whom made the most valiant attempts in the early 1900’s thus named the ridge most popular used today, the Abruzzi Spur. The first summit of K2 was on July 31, 1954 by Italians Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni. According to research plus my own research K2 has seen a total of 396 summits compared with over 8,000 on Everest. K2 can go for years without a summit. For example after 2012, there have only been summits in 2014 and 2017. The best year ever for K2 was in 2004 with 51 total summits. 84 climbers have died on K2, 34 while descending from the summit making it was the second most deadly mountain in the world after Annapurna. 11 died in 2008 including my friend Gerard McDonnell. K2 has a special reputation for women climbers. Prior to 2014, of the nine women who have summited, five have died – 3 descending from K2’s summit and 2 on other 8,000m peaks. Basque climber Edurne Pasaban was the sixth woman to climb K2 in 2004 and, until 2014, was the only one of four still alive today along with Norwegian climber Cecilie Skog in 2008, Nives Meroi from Italy and Austrian climber Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner who summited from the north side of K2 in 2010. In recent years, K2 has been kinder to female climbers with
Everest and K2 in the Winter
Will there be a winter summit of Everest and finally on K2 this winter? This is always a question as we approach winter. And teams usually keep their plans quiet. The recent suspects include Alex Txikon on Everest and the Poles on K2. To claim a true winter ascent of a northern hemisphere peak, the summit must be reached during the calendar winter of the northern hemisphere. For 2017/18 this begins with the winter solstice on December 21, 2017 at 11:28 am EST and ends with the spring equinox on March 201, 2018 at 12:15 pm EDT. Also to be fully certified as a winter ascent, not only the summit has to be reached within the winter calendar, but the start of the expedition cannot be before winter solstice either. Practically this means that the Base Camp must be reached after the winter solstice. 8000ers in Winter As this table shows, Polish climbers have dominated first winter ascents of the 8000 meter peaks. Peak First Winter ascent First Winter summiter(s) Everest 17 Feb 1980 Krzysztof Wielicki Leszek Cichy Manaslu 12 Jan 1984 Maciej Berbeka Ryszard Gajewski Dhaulagiri I 21 Jan 1985 Andrzej Czok Jerzy Kukuczka Cho Oyu 12 Feb 1985 Maciej Berbeka Maciej Pawlikowski Kangchenjunga 11 Jan 1986 Krzysztof Wielicki Jerzy Kukuczka Annapurna I 3 Feb 1987 Jerzy Kukuczka Artur Hajzer Lhotse 31 Dec 1988 Krzysztof Wielicki Shishapangma 14 Jan 2005 Piotr Morawski Simone Moro Makalu 9 Feb 2009 Simone Moro Denis Urubko Gasherbrum II 2 Feb 2011 Simone Moro Denis Urubko Cory Richards Gasherbrum I 9 Mar 2012 Adam Bielecki Janusz Gołąb Broad Peak 5 Mar 2013 Maciej Berbeka Adam Bielecki Tomasz Kowalski Artur Małek Nanga Parbat 26 Feb 2016 Simone Moro Muhammad Ali Sadpara Alex Txikon K2 source: Wikipedia Everest for Alex? Alex posted on after his amazing effort last year saying he will be back for another winter Everest attempt. He declined to join another team this winter citing his Everest desire but, to my knowledge, has made no public commitment about this year. This isn’t a goodbye, it’s a “see you later”. Everest hasn’t wanted this year to conquire its heart, but what I do appreciate clearly is that it has stolen my heart. I dream, every day, since we left our home on December 25 that we reach the 8848 meters that separate us from the sky, but greed is useless in the mountain. You never have to go against nature; this is something that has been engraved during my entire career in which I have lived very difficult moments: if you don’t want the mountain defeating you, don’t end with it; respect and care of it. Therefore, although I feel very strong physically and psychologically, the winter hasn’t given a truce, the strong wind tossed us to the ground and the forecast of the next few days is terrifying. However, there is no doubt that it has been the most special expedition of my life, in which I have been surprised by myself, and in which we have achieved the world of mountaineering to have a continous follow up that excites me. In addition, without a doubt, all of you are the icing on the cake, that I have felt you every minute as if you were my family, supporting me in every achievement and every complicated moment. I promise you that I will return to the mountain that has stolen my heart in the purest way. I love you, guys. K2 This Winter? Of course, K2 remains the only 8000er not summited in winter. Last year, Nanga Parbat succumbed to the team of Alex Txikon, Ali Sadpara, Simone Moro, and Tamara Lunger. It took 31 winter attempts before summiting Nanga in winter. Now on K2, Krzysztof Wielicki, 67, who was in the first team to scale Everest in winter in 1980 will lead the Polish K2 attempt this winter. Funding had been a problem but it appears they have received $275,000 from the Polish Ministry of Sport and Tourism according to this article. They will be a team of 10 but only four will be on the “summit team.” They will climb in traditional siege style establishing several camps along the route. Of course weather is the primary concern as K2 is always hit with high winds but in winter the jet stream tends to sit on top of it with 200 mph winds and experience heavy snowfall. The team is scheduled to include: Janusz Goląb, 50, with a Gasherbum I ascent, Artur Małek, who made the first winter ascent of Broad Peak, Marcin Kaczkan, K2 in the winter of 2002/03 to 7,600m and summited K2 and Nanga Parbat in the summer, plus Marek Chmielarski, summits of Gasherbrum II and Broad Peak. Other team members include Rafał Fronia (Lhotse and Gasherbrum II), Piotr Tomala (Broad Peak and Cho Oyu), Dariusz Załuski (filmmaker / climbed five 8,000-metre peaks) and doctor Krzysztof Wranicz. They are not sure which route they will take but it most likely will be either the Abruzzi or the Česen. See this post for a nice overview of K2 winter attempts. But these are the highlights from Gripped: 1980 Reconnaissance: Pol Andrzej Zawada and Canadian-resident Polish national Jaques Olek 1987/88 Attempt: 13 Poles, 7 Canadians and 4 Brits / made to Camp 3 2002/03 Attempt: 14 climbers from Poland, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Georgia / made Camp 4 2011/12 Attempt: 9 climbers from Russia / made Camp 2 2014/15 Near Attempt: Denis Urubko and team lost permit Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
Climbing News: The Difficulty of Finding the Summit
If there is one certainty in mountaineering it is not to believe everything you read, and in some cases your own eyes. For the second time this season, well-regarded Sherpa guide, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa seems to have missed the summit. First on Nanga Parbat by his own admission now on Broad Peak according to one of the climbers with him. These are not the first time Mingma has had his summit questioned even though he claims to have summited 11 of the 14 peaks above 8000 meters. For many climbers, these claims end up being honest mistakes where the climber believed they had reached the true summit, but later – based on photos, videos and GPS tracks, reveal they actually reached a false summit or one slightly before the real summit, aka the fore-summit. I have always taken the climber’s word when they say they summit. While there have been false claims over the years, the vast majority of climbers are honest and I’m not willing to paint all climbers with one bad brush. Mark Horrell had made several nice posts about false claims. Mingma is not alone with scrutiny. The late Ueli Steck was questioned about his summit of Annapurna when he offered no independent evidence like a photo, GPS track or witnesses. And even Kilian Jornet is under some scrutiny by a few conspiracy theorists of his claim of two Everest summit within a week this year since he also has offered no similar conclusive evidence to their satisfaction. Sometimes, the fraud is real and, when caught, the climbers admit it. Two of the more famous modern day cases were by Christian Stangl on K2 in 2010 and the Indian police couple who photoshopped their faces into another climber’s Everest summit picture in 2016. Broad Peak “non-summit” Earlier this month, Mingma posted that his team had completed his fourth summit of an 8000 meter mountain by topping out on Broad Peak just days after he summited K2. They summited in bad conditions – low clouds, snow and wind. Mingma was with several Sherpas, Pakistani climber Ali Raza, John Snorri Sigurjónsson and Fredrik Sträng Now Sträng has formally retracted his claim (click this link to read entire post) The reason for me abandoning the claim is that I am not 100 % sure any more if we truly made it to the main summit or not. When we (5 Sherpas, 1 Pakistani and 3 members on Mingma Sherpas team and I) “summited” it was in a snow blizzard, poor visibility and in treacherous terrain. I immediately asked Ali Raza on the “summit”, “is this the summit?”. Ali was on the main summit 1-week prior our attempt and have summited twice before our attempt. He should know where the main summit is and I don’t see why he should lie about being on the wrong summit. When I asked him for the third time “is this really the summit!?” he became irritated and said “YES!”. I looked around, I was confused, I had studied the route many times (I even made 3 summit attempts in 2012 when I tried to climb Broad Peak) but at that altitude and in that snow blizzard I simply did not recognise myself from the pictures that I had seen. But I was also overwhelmed by Ali Raza and other members who where totally convinced that this was the right spot. For those of you who have not been on Broad Peak I would like to inform that Broad Peak summit ridge is a complicated one and especially in a snow blizzard. Nima Sherpas altimeter showed 8047 m so this should be it!? When I came home researcher Eberhard Jurgalski contacted expedition leader Mingma Sherpa and me asking questions about our summit videos. I had long discussions with Eberhard and we e-mailed images back and forth and started an investigation cross-checking summit pictures with other summit pictures. Something was not right. Most of our group was still in Pakistan with chapatti-slow-internet so it was hard scrutinising the material since we could simply not send it. Then finally we got a GPS coordinate from John Snorri Sigurjónsson who climbed with O2 with us on Broad Peak and the GPS showed 8030.89 m (probably 17 m short from the summit). We double checked the position of the GPS coordinate and things did not match with the main summit. Something was clearly wrong but we also know that GPS sometimes works poorly and for instance when John had summited K2 with O2 in Mingmas group one week earlier the GPS did not show the correct altitude on the summit of K2. Instead it showed around 8600 m (about 11 meters short from the summit) so the GPS alone could not verify our true position. We looked further and started comparing summit videos from for instance the Turkish climber Tunc Findik who had been on Broad Peak main summit one-week prior our attempt and when we zoomed in the images (remember that our summit video is in a snow blizzard so this was hard work) I felt and so did Eberhard that they did not match 100 %. Broad Peak summit video by Mingma Broad Peak summit video by Tunc Findik Where is the Summit? This may seem academic or even silly if you have never climbed a big peak. I can tell you that climbing in white out conditions, fog or low clouds makes everything more difficult, obviously, but even finding the true summit. Today, most climbers use a GPS device to track their route. The device shows the altitude and many rely exclusively on that to determine the summit. But it is not that easy. The altitude measurement uses a table based on the barometric pressure. If the device is not calibrated that day, or there is a large change in pressure, the reading can be off, sometime by a lot. The best evidence of a summit are the GPS coordinates. Eberhard Jurgalski says for Broad Peak the approximate coordinates of the main
K2 2017 Season Coverage: How Mingma Gyalje Sherpa’s team Summited K2 when others Stopped
For the first time since 2014, K2 saw climbers on the summit. Lead by Mingma Gyalje Sherpa founder of the Nepali guide company Dreamers Destination, this 31 year-old Sherpa pushed the limits when other longtime, well respected guides said “no.” While the Khumbu seems to be the home of Sherpas who have summited Everest, the Rolwaling valley is quickly becoming the home of the K2 Sherpas with 9 summits between the Sherpas who live there. Not only did Mingma summit K2, his second summit of the world’s second highest peak, but he also summited four other 8000ers and nearly got another this year, and he is not finished yet in 2017! The obvious questions include: What did he know that others didn’t? Why did he take the risk with five members in tow? Did he push the envelope too far? Was he smart, lucky or both? I wanted to go deeper than the traditional “How did it feel” question and Minga, true to form, was not shy talking about his experience in this long interview. I met Mingma on K2 in 2014 when we both summited but on different teams. He impressed me then as a super confident, strong, smart young man with tons of ambition. I was to go to Dhaulagiri with him this year but a broken leg got in my way. I caught up with Mingma while he was still in Skardu, Pakistan. K2 2017 Summits For the record this is Minga’s post on who summited K2 in 2017. He cites 6 Nepalese, 1 Pakistani, 3 Chinese, 1 American and 1 Icelandic: 1.Mr. Mingma G Sherpa- climbed in 2014 without oxygen and 2017 with oxygen. 2 times K2 summit/highest summit record. 2.Mr. Dawa Gyalje Sherpa- In 2014, his sister, Ms Dawa Yangzum Sherpa climbed K2 being first Nepalese woman and now they are the world’s only brother and sister to climb K2. 3.Mr. Tsering Pemba Sherpa- His first Summit on K2. Now we are 9 K2 Summiters from Rolwaling valley, Nepal. 4. Mr. Nima Tshering Sherpa- His first K2 summit. 5. Mr. Lhakpa Nuru Sherpa-He became the first K2 Summiter from Juving-1,Nepal. 6. Mr Nima Nuru Sherpa-He is third Nepalese to Summit K2 without oxygen after Pemba Gyaljen Sherpa in 2008 and Mingma Gyalje Sherpa in 2014. 7. Mr. Fazal-only Pakistani to climb K2 twice and also without oxygen 8. Mr Zhang Liang, China climbed 13X8000m peaks including K2 9. Mr Liu Yong Zhong,China climbed 10X8000m peaks including K2 10. Ms Dong Hongjuan,China climbed 9X8000m peaks including K2 11. Ms. Vanessa O’brien from USA completed 5X8000m peaks and became first American Woman on K2. 12. Mr. John Snorri became first person from Iceland on K2 and he will be receiving Medal of Honor from his country’s President. Congratulations John. One note. Brothers Alberto and Felix Iñurrategi both climbed K2 in 1994. As you will read, K2 is not an easy mountain. Often it is the weather that stops teams. High winds, deep snow and avalanches stopped all summits in 2015 and 2016. The terrain is incredibly steep. Unlike Everest, there are no long flat sections i.e. the Western Cwm, and the objective dangers are constantly on the climber’s minds. While Everest is deserving of the utmost respect with regards to altitude, K2 is in different class. A bit of trivia, there are less than 200 people who have summited both Everest and K2. Climbing in Pakistan Pakistan is home to five of the 14 8000 meter peaks. With the unrest, some have been hesitant to climb in Pakistan, especially after the 2013 massacres of 11 climbers and support staff at the Diamir base camp of Nanga Parbat by about 16 militants, reportedly dressed in Gilgit Scouts uniforms. In my two trips there, 2006 and 2014, I felt safe and welcomed throughout Pakistan. The past few years, more and more expeditions are bringing Sherpas from Nepal to support climbs in the Karakorum, especially K2. This has created hard feeling and in one case, a climber was banned due to this issue. With the Karakorum gaining in popularity and more commercial teams now offering climbs, a lack of support staff with High Altitude Porters (HAPs) aka Mountain Workers is seen as a limitation by some or a threat by others. AA: Did you feel personally safe in Pakistan this year? How was the security? MGS: Yes. People believe Pakistan is not safe to travel but once we are in Pakistan we don’t have that feeling. They have armies, policemen, security, rules and regulations as we do. so it is very safe here. AA: How did the Pakistan Government feel about you bringing so many Sherpas? How many HAPs did you hire this year? MGS: I am not sure about how Pakistan Government felt because all our permit and other legal documents to enter Pakistan are taken cared by Pakistani local agency but yes, the local people and our other Pakistani colleagues, staffs were very happy meeting with more Nepalese Sherpa. Also if you see, more foreign people are going on big mountains in Pakistan because there are more Nepalese Sherpa and success rate is higher and that gave more job opportunities to more Pakistani engaged in this field. I feel sad when Pakistani climbers ask opportunity to work together with us. This is their country and we are supposed to ask opportunity with them to work together. But it is also changing now as more educated and responsible Pakistani climbers and organizer are emerging in market so we can expect better service in 4-5 years. Also working together with Nepalese Sherpa,the concept of Pakistani climbers are changing and they are learning together. But there are some example climbers in Pakistan like one I am working together, Ali Reza Sadpara. He is very responsible and stronger than Nepalese Sherpa and I really feel they didn’t get opportunities to show who they are. Also like Ali Mohammad who climbed Nanga Parbat in winter and often hired to work in Nepal too. We had 3 Pakistani HAPS. Harsh Conditions Mingma reported during the climb that an
Mingma Sherpa Continues 8000er Roll with Broad Peak
Mingma Gyalje Sherpa founder of Dreamers Destination continues his impressive 2017 with yet another summit of an 8000 meter mountain, Broad Peak. Icelander John Snorri Sigurjónsson also summited BP adding to his two 8000ers this year – K2 and Lhotse. British-American Vanessa O’Brien who summited K2 with Mingma was not with them but apparently, as reported by Mingma, Fredrik Sträng went along to nab Broad Peak thus not wasting his trip to the Karakorum after not being able to summit K2. Mingma posted on Facebook: Finished my 11x8000m peak. Broad peak is my 10th 8000m without oxygen. All safely arrived back to camp3. Congratulation to all my team member. John Snorri became first Icelandic, Ali Reza made twice(on 27july and 4aug), Dawa Gyalje Sherpa, Tsering pemba sherpa completed 11x8000m, Mingma nuru sherpa, Ngima norbu sherpa( both k2 and broad peak without oxygen) Liu yong zhong completed 11x8000m and Dong hongjuan completed her 10th 8000m. Fedrick from Sweden also made it but he is not part of our expedition. Summit videos will be posted tomorrow. Thanks for following us. This is the 31 year-old Mingma’s fourth 8000er summit in 2017: Dhaulagiri on 30 April, Makalu on 14 May, K2 on 29 July and Broad Peak on 5 August. He came very close on Nanga Parbat but said he believes he mistakenly stood on a sub summit and will have to go back. He has summited 11 of the 14 8000 meter mountains. Mingma Gyalje Sherpa on K2 in 2017 Sherpa Success on 8000ers The world’s highest peaks used to be the domain of climbers from Italy, Spain, and the like but in recent years, Sherpas from the Makalu and Rolwaling have taken on the big peaks and are knocking them off in quick fashion. Nationalities of climbers who have completed all 14 of the 8000 meter mountains. Italian – 7 Spanish – 6 Kazakhstani – 3 Korean – 5 Polish – 3 Nepali – 2 Australian – 1 Austrian – 1 Czech – 1 Ecuadorian – 1 Finish – 1 German – 1 Iranian – 1 Slovenian/Italian – 1 Japanese – 1 Mexican – 1 Portuguese – 1 Slovak -1 Swiss – 1 American – 1 Funded by low climbing permit fees in Nepal along with guiding western members, they have been able to summit multiple 8000ers each year when it used to take many years, if not decades, to accomplish this coveted mark in mountaineering. Reinhold Messner took 16 years, 1970-1986, to summit all 14 whereas Irian Azim Gheychisaz took nine years from 2008 to 2017. Leveraging Success Chhang Dawa Sherpa and Mingma Sherpa set the Sherpa standard when they summited all 14 and started the guiding company Seven Summits Treks aka 7S. Today 7S has emerged as one of the largest Nepali guide companies with close to 100 members each season on Everest alone. Dawa set the age record as the youngest climber to summit all 14. His last 8000er was Dhaulagiri in 2014 at age 32. He and his brother were born in the Makalu region, not the Khumbu, thus putting their region on the climbing map. Today many Sherpas on Everest are from Makalu and Rolwaling. Well Earned Praise Sincere congratulations to Mingma, John and Ngima Norbu Sherpa for summiting both K2 and Broad Peak with the rare double summit Also to Pakistani Ali Reza on topping out on Broad Peak twice this season and Tsering Pemba Sherpa and Mingma Nuru Sherpa for summiting K2 and Broad without supplemental oxygen – impressive. Finally, I want to point out that Mingma Gyalje Sherpa did use supplemental oxygen on K2. I am very impressed with his decision as he is clearly capable of summiting without but choose to use Os given he was guiding members. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2017 Season Coverage: More K2 Summit Attempts – Update 2
After hosting 12 people on the summit of K2 on 28 July 2017, another few independent climbers are going to give it a go. UPDATE 2: IT’S OVER Andrzej Bargiel : Time to go home UPDATE 1: It seems it’s over for all. Both Fredrik Sträng’s and Andrzej Bargiel have posted on their social media that conditions feel too dangerous. Plus the Polish team training for a winter attempt turned back. Yesterday’s joy today’s frustration. I was very happy to work and climb together with the polish team and climb for summit attempt. Every member in the polish team turned around and it was only me and Ali left on the mountain. With no fixed ropes between camp 3 and camp 4, I decided to turn around the point was that we together should fix the ropes to camp 4. We are now back in BC and I am disappointed and we don’t know what to do next. The last attempt to climb the mountain has to be made in the next days if we want to make it safe. /Fredrik and from Andrzej: Hi guys! We’re back in the base camp… It wasn’t our day. Early on Janusz Gołąb had to turn around and get back to the camp. He was struggling with an infection for a couple of days and as it turned around he didn’t fully recover. Along with Kuba Poburka we kept on going. It was pretty warm today what quickly increased the avalanche danger. Boulders and stone were falling down on our head. Kuba got hit by a small one, but he’s all right. We’ve decided there is no sense to risk it. Safety first.Unfortunatelly it looks like I won’t ski down from K2 this year… well sometimes you gotta lose the battle to win the war. It’s very likely we’ll come back. New Attempts Fredrik Sträng’s home team posted: The forthcoming plan is to get ready for another summit attempt within a couple of days. It’s all depending on the weather. This time the route of ascent will probably be the Cescen route due to bad conditions on the Abruzzi. Andrzej Bargiel who wants to ski down from the summit of K2 posted: Meanwhile we’re getting ready to leave the base camp. The forecast shows a good weather window after the weekend. Tomorrow early in the morning together with Kuba Poburka i Janusz Gołąb we’ll start the hike. We want to reach camp III where we’ll spend a night. Then we’ll move to camp IV and if the weather holds good we plan the summit attack for Tuesday. Climbers Descend The summit team lead by Mingma G. of Dreamers Destination were supposed to be descending from Camp 4 at 25,080’/7600m on 29 July. Two climbers have their GPS trackers going: Vanessa O’Brien at GPS tracker and Icelander John Snorri Sigurjónsson at GPS tracker Vanessa’s tracker still shows her at Camp 4 and John’s shows he is at K2 base Camp. There are numerous explanations for Vanessa’s position including her device ran out of battery power, it was not turned on, or she left it with another climber for some reason or finally she lost it. I know I dropped my SPOT device while descending House Chimney sending panic through all my followers. We will see what the real story is . Update: looks like both Vanessa and John at now at Base Camp. Best of luck to all the new attempts and congrats again to the summiters. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2017 Season Coverage: K2 Summits!!
Perseverance and courage has paid off for Mingma Gyalje Sherpa’s Dreamer Destinations’ team. They put 12 people on the summit of K2 – the first summits since 2014. There was another summit of Broad Peak and Russell Brice, announces he’s ending his guiding career. K2 Summits! I have written a lot this season about risk tolerances, differences of opinions and the willingness to continue when others turn back. So in that environment, Minga deserves tremendous credit for showing the leadership skills to push his members to the summit in what other highly experienced operators determined unacceptable conditions. As I outlined in the previous post the Sherpa on this push were highly experienced with over 35 summits of Everest between them. There was several feet of fresh snow so the Sherpa’s strength to break trail was required for anyone to summit this season. They were the engine behind this summit train. They started with 9 Sherpas but only 7 summited. Mingma G. posted on Facebook around 5:00 am 28 July 2017: Finally we are at the summit of Mt.K2 Mr. Mingma G sherpa Mr. Dawa gyalje sherpa Mr. Tsering pemba sherpa Mr. Nima tshering sherpa Mr. lakpa nuru sherpa Mr. Nima nuru sherpa Mr. Ang Tsering sherpa Mr. Azong Mr. Zhang liang Miss. Jing xue Mr.vanessa Mr.john snorri A sincere congratulations to all these climbers. They spent over 16 hours to reach the summit, an extraordinarily long time. In 2014 we took 8. They summited at 4:00 pm local time and descend to Camp 4 for the night. They hope to get to base camp on the 28th. Icelander John Snorri Sigurjónsson becomes the first from his country to climb, and summit, K2. British-American Vanessa O’Brien will begin to claim that she is the first American Female to summit. Well done to both! The Descent To say the obvious, they now must descend. If the weather remains good, this will take a day or more. To be clear, they are not safe yet, by any measure. The descent from the summit is difficult, arduous, tiring and dangerous, It involves rappelling many sections where you must rig everything 100% perfectly. A mistake will cost the climber their life. Two climbers have their GPS trackers going: Vanessa O’Brien at GPS tracker and Icelander John Snorri Sigurjónsson at GPS tracker It appears they are back at Camp 4 at 25,080’/7600m. The summit is 28,251”/8611m. Broad Peak Summits And there were more Broad Peak summits on this good weather day. This time by Chinese climber Mrs. Lou Jing with two Sherpas: Nurbu Sherpa and Sanu Sherpa. Russell Brice Ends Career – Updated In a heartbreaking newsletter long time high altitude guide Russell Bruce announced he is ending his guiding career. I hope this is a moment of regret and will not hold. Russ’ Himex team was on K2 in 2015, the Česen route, without a summit. Last year he subcontracted his K2 team to another operator who also didn’t summit. In 2012, he made a gutsy and controversial decision to end his Everest expedition one month early when the hanging serac above the Khumbu Icefall threatened to collapse. It didn’t that year and hundreds went on to summit but two years later later it did taking 18 Sherpa lives in the collapse. Russ is a logistic expert and an leader in advocating safety for members and moreover, his staff. He was instrumental in getting the Nepal government’s approval to use helicopters to ferry loads to the Western Cwm on Everest this eliminating hundreds of Sherpa trips thru the Icefall. He is always willing to use his resources to help a climber in trouble, even if that climber was independent or on another team. He tried in vain to save David Sharp who died on the north side of Everest in 2006. Ironically he was widely, and unfairly in my opinion, criticized. Russ prides himself in reading weather forecast and giving his member the best, safest opportunity to summit and get back safely. It was this study of the facts that lead him to cancel this year’s K2 attempt. In his newsletter, he describes in solid detail the process he went through this season concluding the conditions were too dangerous to summit complicated by their exit logistics. He sums up his newsletter with these startling statements: So once again it would appear that I have made a bad judgment call, and should really be still on the hill. I came here at the request of my members because they put their trust in me. I took this on as an honor but also as a great challenge to deal with this mountain. I have failed, it is time for me to give up this game. I have enjoyed the experiences along the way, it has not made me rich or have a stable home life, but I have managed to see many parts of the world and meet many interesting people along the way. It’s time to hang up the guiding boots and put my own personal boots on. Russ I have know Russ for over 10 years. He is the best of the best. I want to thank him for his tremendous contributions to defining a commercial guiding culture of safety and integrity. I wish him success in his future, including, hopefully, guiding on Everest in 2018! Congratulations to all those who summit this season and best wishes on a safe descent Best of luck to all Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2017 Season Coverage: High Camp Chaos – Update 2
The scene at K2 high camp is disjointed. Some climbers feel it is too dangerous, while others are going for the summit. The route is covered in deep snow and the weather window is tiny so those choosing to stay will have climb fast and efficient and have a lot of luck on their side to avoid a serious disaster. UPDATE 2 The team of 14 (9 Sherpas, 5 westerners) are moving steadily. no word on mountain conditions or weather but the window was forecasted to be short meaning if they summit, they will most likely descend in harsh wind and snow – but this could be wrong which is what they are betting on, I assume) The summit is 28,251”/8611m. John Snorri Sigurjónsson ‘s GPS show him at 27, 020’/8236m at 8:16 am local time Vanessa O’Brien’ GPS shows her at 27,112’/ 8263m at 9:30 am local time They have been moving for over 9 hours. Climbers Leaving, Some Pushing There are at least 5 westerners and 9 Sherpas at Camp 4 on K2: Mingma G Sherpa, owner of Dreamers Destination (DD) – a Nepali based guide service posted: We’ll depart from our camp4 at 11pm local time. We are now 14 climbers ready for summit push. More news will be given tomorrow after 10am.only my team is pushing for K2 summit. Kami Sherpa and his Singapore member are not part of this team with the member choosing not to try to summit. They are at base camp. British-American Vanessa O’Brien’ is climbing with Mingma, follow her GPS tracker Icelander John Snorri Sigurjónsson with Tsering Sherpa have their GPS tracker going and showed them at 7834m. John is identified with Ascent Himalayas but also on the DD permit. C4 is at 25,080’/7600m. The summit is 28,251”/8611m. Here is my best assumption of who is on this summit push: Sherpas: Mr. Mingma G Sherpa, climbed Everest-5, K2, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu,Annapurna and Gasherbrum-I. Mr. Dawa Gyalje Sherpa, climbed Everest- 7 times, Lhotse, Manaslu, Gasherbrum-I, Gasherbrum-II and Sishapangma. Mr. Tsering Pemba Sherpa, Climbed Everest-7 times, Lhotse, Cho Oyu and Manaslu Mr. Nima Tshering Sherpa, Climbed Everst-3times, Lhotse, Cho Oyu and Manaslu Mr Nima Nuru Sherpa, climbed Everest-9 times, Cho Oyu, Manaslu and Sishapangma Mr. Ngatashi Sherpa, Climbed Everest, K2, Kanchenjugna, Lhotse, Makalu, Dhaulagiri and Manaslu. Mr. Ali Reza, Climbed Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum-I, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum-II. (If success-He will be among Pakistani who climbed all 5x8000m in Pakistan. Till now, only 3 have achieved it) Mr. Fazal, climbed K2 and Gasherbrum-II. (If success-only Pakistani to climb K2 twice) Mr Aminlluah, climbed K2, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum-I and Gasherbrum-II. This year going to Broad Peak. (If success-He also will be among Pakistani who climbed all 5x8000m in Pakistan. Till now, only 3 have achieved it) Members: Vanessa O’Brien (British-American) John Snorri Sigurjónsson (Icelander) Mr. Zhang Liang (China) Mr Liu Yong Zhong(China) Ms. Dong Hongjuan(China) Another Day … Fredrik Sträng and the Polish team have returned to base camp. Fredrik is suggesting he will wait for a better window later – a big gamble that it will emerge but a smart decision not to push during this small one. His home team posted: Fredrik just called from BC. They aborted the ascent at aprox. 7400 meters due to bad weather and dangerous conditions with little visibility, waist-deep snow and avalanches. Fredrik and his climbing partner will now wait and think about what to do depending on the next days’ weather. The Polish team is also back in BC and all climbers here are well and fit for another ascent if the weather and conditions improve. The sat-phone connection has been very poor and therefore the lack of updates Andrzej Bargiel who wants to ski down from the summit of K2 posted 10 hours ago. I assume he is not pushing for the summit. After a couple days with bad weather, snowfalls and no visibility, the sun has finally came out today. There’s a little “window” but according to various forecasts, the weather will change again in the evening. There is simply not enough time to think about a summit attack. We have to patiently wait for conditions to improve… Broad Peak Summits!! As I previously noted, there were summits on Broad Peak today. On Broad Peak, Tunç Fındık posted they summited along with Oscar Cadiach, Yusuf and Ali!. This completes all 14 of the 800ers for Oscar and is Tunic’s 11th. Oscar told the media: Tarragona, after fourteen hours of climbing, made a peak a few minutes after 8.41. Oscar Cadiach has succeeded. The mountaineer from Tarragona has managed to make the summit of Broad Peak, going through history as the first Catalan in history that has made the fourteen eight thousand of the planet without the need for artificial oxygen and the twentieth to do it in all Planet After starting the climb at 5:00 PM on Wednesday, Cadiach reached the point of 8,051 meters few minutes after 8:30 hours, confirming the summit in a direct call to the program El Puente de Mahoma de Tarragona Ràdio: «I love you , We made the summit, always up Catalonia! I am at the top of the Broad Peak summit, it has been very windy, it has been very hard, we have not been able to communicate before, “explained Cadiach. Congratulations to all these climbers! Best of luck to all Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything