K2 2017 Season Coverage: Broad Peak Summits, K2 Push Soon
Broad Peak received more summits this summer of 2017. Climbers on K2 are now positioned at high camp in mixed weather, however they are experiencing deep snow. The next 24 hours will determine summit results and next several days for their safe return to base camp. Broad Peak Summits!! On Broad Peak, Tunç Fındık posted they summited along with Oscar Cadiach, Yusuf and Ali!. Tunc is referred to as Bronze Nuts 🙂 Bronze Nuts Nuts’s’s’s’s………….. It was at saat:10:40 this morning. Bronze @ 7800 M. And He’s on his way down. Team-Oscar Cadiach, Yusuf, Ali Sadpara. Bronze is 7300 m today. He’s going to go to camp 3., and he’s going to stay for 3. Camps tonight. It is reported the Americans have turned back. K2 Starts at 10 pm 27 July There are at least 5 westerners and 9 Sherpas at Camp 4 on K2: Mingma G Sherpa, British-American Vanessa O’Brien’ , Icelander John Snorri Sigurjónsson with Tsering Sherpa , Fredrik Sträng and Polish climber and skier Andrzej Bargiel. John Snorri Sigurjónsson via his InReach on K2 posted they are leaving C4 at 10 pm 27 July Pakistan time. This would have them summiting around 6:00 am 28 July local time: In C4 snow depth 50 up to 100cm it cost all energy took 12h c3 to c4 summit push start in 14h. thank you all who are following But Andrzej Bargiel who wants to ski down from the summit of K2 posted: 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… Best of luck to all Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2017 Season Coverage: Climbers At High Camps – Updated
Climbers on both Broad Peak and K2 are now positioned at high camps in the good weather that was forecasted, however they are experiencing deep snow. The next 24 hours will determine summit results and next several days for their safe return to base camp. UPDATE: John Snorri Sigurjónsson via his InReach on K2 posted. This would have them leaving C4 around midnight on 27 July: In C4 snow depth 50 up to 100cm it cost all energy took 12h c3 to c4 summit push start in 14h. thank you all who are following On Broad Peak, Tunç Fındık has been posting their progress and is currently at 7946 meters. Oscar Cadiach is reported to be with Tunc. It is reported the Americans have turned back. K2 Camp 4 has about 14 Climbers Almost two months ago well over 60 people dreamed of summiting K2 this year but today 9 Sherpas with 5 westerners, primarily with Destination Dreamers and Ascent Himalaya, have pushed to Camp 4 on both the Abruzzi and the Česen routes after the commercial groups of Furtenbach and Himex turned back saying the risk was too high. These two routes merge at Camp 4. The climb from C3 to C4 on the Abruzzi is straightforward and should take only a few hours but with the snow conditions, it took 12 hours according to reports. On their summit bid, they will need to fix ropes at the traverse. There are few options not to but K2 has been climbed without ropes in place. This can take hours, as many as two to four, so the weather needs to be steady during this period. Traditionally K2 climbers reach C4 and move quickly on their summit attempt since it is at 25,080’/7600m. The summit is 28,251”/8611m. Their next big test will be to push through the Bottleneck, make the traverse and climbed the last several hundred meters to the summit, and of course return. Reports of waste deep snow have resulted from the recent snows increasing the avalanche danger. If you are interested in more details, please visit my FAQ page on my 2014 summit. Sherpa Lead? Mingma G Sherpa of Destination Dreamers is most likely leading the entire effort. He has success this season on Dhaulagiri and near the summit of Nanga Parbat where he suffered frostbite. Minga is a strong young Sherpa determined to make his name in guiding by summiting all the 800ers. He summited K2 in 2014 in a week of good weather. British-American Vanessa O’Brien’s InReach GPS device sent the message that she was at Camp 4 along with Icelander John Snorri Sigurjónsson with Tsering Sherpa of Ascent Himalaya. John’s home team posted (translated from Icelandic by Google): Was coming to [camp] 4. He is very tired, after almost 12 hours of travel. A very long day and the snow reached the waist of some places. They are 14 that are going to peak, 5 people and 9 [Sherpa]. The tomb was 1.5m down to the tent and in his tent they were four in a double tent. The plan is to eat and meet the future. Then it turns out whether there will be an attempt to peak tomorrow or the other. He gives a warm greeting to all and was so happy when I told him that there were very many people watching him and encouraging him. Fredrik Sträng is also there as is Polish climber and skier Andrzej Bargiel. That identifies 4 of the 5 westerners but there may be a few more, for example the Mexican couple of Badia Bonilla and her husband Mauricio. I have no word on the Polish team training for their winter attempt. Cancel Update Lucas Furtenbach gave this update on their reasons to cancel: Summit attempt stopped at C2 due to lot of snow and high winds. Sadly weather on K2 played it’s own game again. Avalanche danger became dramatically high very quick so team decided to stop and descend to basecamp. We do not want to send our sherpas up in that danger. All arrived well at basecamp now. It seems like season on K2 is over, we will not wait for an other possible window in august. Our team will leave basecamp tomorrow. Happy about our success on Broad Peak in a very difficult Karakoram season and thankful that all members and staff are healthy. The Himex team plus many others, perhaps over 50, are now on the trek out via the Baltoro Glacier. Broad Peak: Climbing from Camp 3 – Update I have a inside information that climbers are at Camp 3 on Broad Peak in good weather but deep snow. Those include two Americans, plus Tunc Findik and Oscar Cadiach with Pakistani Muhammad Ali. Nine climbers in total were reported to be on this summit push. It is unclear how many are actually there now. Tunc is a strong climber with 10 of the 14 8000ers completed and Oscar has 13. Ali is also incredibly strong. These climbers should lead the way to the summit if it is possible at all in the deep snow. Previous attempts have traditionally been stopped by deep snow above C3. UPDATE: Tunic ‘s team posted on facebook Tunç @ camp3 and summit attempt has just started now. Risk Profile As I covered yesterday, the commercial teams have turned back believing the avalanche danger was too high and the weather window too short to ensure both a summit and safe return. So seeing these climbers trying to thread the needle is a live demonstration of risk tolerances. I wish them a safe return to base camp no matter their summit results. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2017 Season Coverage: Pushing the Limits
With fresh snow and high winds, K2 and Broad Peak are challenging climber’s judgement. Teams on K2 are threading a narrow window hoping to summit in the next couple of days. Some climbers feel the risk is too great and have already turned back. Over on Broad Peak a similar story is playing out. K2 Gamble Climbers are all over K2 from base camp to at least Camp 3 on both the Abruzzi and the Česen routes. The large commercial teams of Furtenbach and Himex have turned back saying the risk is too much but the Nepali lead teams, Destination Dreamers and Ascent Himalaya still have a climber or two on the mountain. Abruzzi Route Climbing on the Abruzzi, Rupert Hauer, lead guide for Austrian Furtenbach Adventures posted: it did not want to be. We decided to descend to the [Camp] 2 due to the bad weather. For us, the risk was simply too great. The K 2 is risky enough even in good circumstances. We are currently far from good conditions. Therefore, the unanimous decision to abort. LG Rupert and team Mingma of Destination Dreamers said some of his team had already turned back: K2 is all about weather. We had 3 days bad weather though weather report showed good. Some team on k2 are closed already and some in my team are going down too. But remaining, We still want to check jul 27. One of those who turned back was American climber Hari Mix who is now back in base camp after reaching Camp 3 on the Abruzzi. He was climbing without supplemental oxygen and made the courageous and smart decision to turn back: Going down. Despite improving physically, lots of weather and logistics issues are making this too much threading the needle for what I’m willing to take on. Then today: Back in base camp after high stakes descent in storm. Waiting to decide what to do next but in all likelihood K2 is over for me this season Abruzzi Holdouts But British-American Vanessa O’Brien’s InReach GPS device showed her at Camp 3 today. She is climbing under Destination Dreamers leadership. Vanessa once held the fastest female speed record to climb the 7 Summits plus reach both Poles. With her dual citizenship, she is driven to claim the title of first American female to summit K2. She is reported to be climbing with multiple Sherpas in support. This is her third year in a row on K2. Weather and avalanche danger stopped her in 2015 and 2016. Also at C3 is Icelander John Snorri Sigurjónsson with Tsering Sherpa of Ascent Himalaya. John is keen to claim the first Icelandic K2 summit. Česen Route aka Basque Route Over on the Česen route Russell Brice’s Himex operation has ended their attempt. Adam Parore, one of the strongest climbers on K2 this year, posted: In the end heavy overnight snow brought our expedition to an end. With 20cm falling from above C3 our chances to advance we’re now non existent and the danger of avalanche suddenly very real, and life threatening. Despite splitting the Sherps into 3 groups to descend they were still avalanched above C2, and when visibility improved mid morning it was clear that the upper snow slopes were now loaded and the wind was actively ‘transferring’ from C2 and above. The mountain was now not only difficult but dangerous as well. BC will be in mourning for a few days as we adjust to the end of our dream- for this season at least. In the days to come we will venture back to C2 to collect our gear and ‘clean the mountain.’ It will be a fitting way to say goodbye and to pay our respects to a ‘golden summer’ on K2. One final chance to climb her with courage, skill, and a touch of flair. True to form, I hope to lead it in a t-shirt. Česen Holdout However, like O’Brien on the Abruzzi, there are holdouts on the Česen. Polish climber and skier Andrzej Bargiel posted on Instagram: Despite the fact that the weather is a bit depressing right now as we sit in the clouds, I stay positive and I believe the forecast will be accurate. It should get better from Wednesday on… We’ve made a decision to go to camp III tomorrow in the afternoon. Janusz Gołąb and Kuba Poburka will come with me. The plan is the following: we move camp III to 7800 m where we’ll take a rest. Then early in the morning on Thursday I’ll go for the summit! We’re ready so now all we need is good weather. Keep your fingers crossed!!! Then updated with: Waiting for the weather to clear up. Hopefully I can get some of this soon Broad Peak Stalled at Camp 2 Catalina media reports the summit team is stuck at Camp 2 waiting for better weather. This is a difficult spot as it is located on a rather aggressive angle with zero protection from wind and elements. Tunc Findik with 10 of the 8000ers summited, posted on 24 July: If the weather allows tonight, it’s camp3 tomorrow. Oscar Cadiach is with Tunc along with Pakistani Muhammad Ali. Nine climbers in total were reported to be on this summit push. Gasherbrum II Rescue Spanish media El Pais reported that the three Spanish climbers Alberto Iñurrategi, Juan Vallejo Llanos and Mikel Zabalza who were hoping to traverse from GII to GI rescued 59 year-old Italian Valerio Annovazzi at 7100 meters. Annovazzi and 13 other people using the Pakistani agency Lela Peak expedition, with another Italian, Gianpaolo Corona, had summited days before, on 22 July. The media outlet Montagne reports that Annovazzi was abandoned by his teammates at Camp 3. He had summited and descended to Camp 3 but then was unable to move any lower. He is reported to have spent four days without food or water and suffered frostbite on his limbs. The three Spanish climbers hearing of his fate, climbed 12 hours back to C3 for the rescue. “We found Valerio like a little bird. I do not think I would have
K2 2017 Season Coverage: Climbing! Update 1
After weeks of waiting, climbers are finally moving up on K2 and Broad Peak hoping to summit in mid week; some hope to ski down. Their plans are a bit of a gamble but with time running out they had few choices. From early reports the weather is still a factor. UPDATE Monday 24 July: Reports from climbers and Sherpas say persistently high winds are keeping climbers at C2 on both Abruzzi and Česen routes on K2 summit push. Some are questioning if they can make summit on this window if the winds don’t let up. This is probably the last push for 2017. They hope to summit on Thursday 27 July. Let’s start with the latest from Hari Mix on the Abruzzi route posted on his Garmin InReach from Camp 2 on Sunday 23 July: In camp two after nine hours of serious effort. The last few hours were in violent wind/ground blizzard. Most recent forecast had 27th best so I may take rest Climb and Hope on K2 The weather closed in around K2 for the last 10 days or so preventing anyone from climbing. An avalanche was spotted on the Abruzzi route on Friday 14 July. Mingma G Sherpa speculated that Camp 3 was swept away including their tents, oxygen bottles and other supplies. On the Česen route, Russell Brice’s team has made a several trips to Camp 3 but not higher. All this means that the all important Camp 4, where both routes merge, has not been established. There are no fixed ropes to C4 or the summit. There is no cache of oxygen bottles for those using it high on the mountain and of course, the mountain conditions are unknown. During the last week, it has rained at base camp and snowed up high. Teams use telescopes to inspect the upper mountain from base camp but until someone is actually there, the depth of new snow, the consolidation (or lack thereof) is unknown and, most critically, the ever present avalanche danger has not been evaluated. Climbing Conditions? Climbers can anticipate a few different scenarios: Good climbing conditions with reasonable snow depths and low winds – ideal for summiting Deep snow requiring extreme trail breaking – all teams must work together but that means crowds up high and inevitable delays High winds – risky climbing at those altitude – most teams will turn back without a summit In almost all the scenarios, there will be a lot of people on the mountain, perhaps 50 or more. But they are spread over two routes: Abruzzi and Česen. The routes merge at Camp 4 at 24,000′. The fixed ropes will have to be placed while people climb, slowing everyone down. Teams will have to consider carefully when they risk the bottleneck and the traverse above C4 as these are not places to sit and wait with the huge serac looming just overhead. In 2014, it took four Sherpas hours to fix the traverse while 30 climbers waited. Some may choose to forgo the rope but that is Russian roulette with several bullets in the chamber instead of one. Climbing K2 Abruzzi Route On the Abruzzi, teams are moving. Furtenbach Adventures put a few people on the summit of Broad Peak a couple of weeks ago then moved to K2 for the wait. They are moving up now: K2 summit push on the way! After some bad weather days with waiting at basecamp team started today to C1 on K2 with a possible summit day around thursday. But there is still a lot of uncertainty such as weather and conditions. It is not yet clear how much the route suffered from last weeks avalanche and how much snow is high up on the mountain. Team is highly motivated and strong and all forces are joined together for this summit push. Fingers crossed???? Chris Bailey declared his intentions but also acknowledge the uncertainty. He is with Lucas Furtenbach: Well it’s come to this – heading up today for the summit push. Still a lot of variables out of our control-mainly the unknown route condition above Camp 3, and that the weather looks like we’ll have only a brief window… but that doesn’t mean much here. But on the plus side – I’m healthy, mentally in a good place, and body seems to be doing everything asked of it so far. Our tactics are still a bit up in the air, like if we’ll skip camps and which ones, but that gives us some flexibility should things change, and planning to spend as little time as possible around the Bottleneck and Camp 3 areas for safety reasons. I think this will be our one and only summit shot – all or nothing! So I guess you’ll hear from me in about a week. Or you won’t. Mingma of Destination Dreamers said they were a go. Kami Sherpa, whom I summited K2 with in 2014, is with this team. British-American Vanessa O’Brien is also on that team and at Camp 1 today. Mingma posted yesterday: Ready for K2 summit push. Today first members of the team left from BC. They will join other team members tomorrow at camp1. American climber Hari Mix is also with Mingma and climbing K2 without supplemental oxygen. He gives us a great update and insight into the schedule this this post. Checkout his site with some outstanding pictures from this year on K2. As I opened with on this post, Hari is at Camp 2 today: Tomorrow it starts. I am attempting K2 without supplemental oxygen. We have an intricate and excruciatingly hard plan…not out of choice, but necessity. The hope for perfect conditions and a beautiful, long weather window has predictably come and gone. K2 isn’t so much inviting us up as it is allowing us a glimpse of what we need…48 or so hours of 30 km/hr or less wind on the summit before it goes back to nuking. We are betting on the 26th (historically K2’s most popular summit
K2 2017 Season Coverage: Summit Plans
A plan has been hatched to attempt the K2 summit this season. Climbers were beginning to worry if 2017 will be a redux of 2015 and 2016 on K2. The weather seems to have stalled leaving base camp covered in a soupy mix of cloud, rain, hot, and cold. As Russell Brice says, four seasons each day. Gasherbrum Retreat Alberto Iñurrategi, Juan Vallejo and Mikel Zabalza, are reported to have turned back on their latest attempt to traverse from GII to GI. They have experienced deep snow but this time it was high winds. Their sponsor posted: The ridge was too risky due to the intense wind. They are going down now. More news in the following hours. They are ok. K2 Doldrums and Summit Plans! Russell Brice’s post today said it all. They are stuck in a weather pattern with the only choice to wait, but time is now running out: There is nothing to report, we still sit at BC waiting for the correct weather to arrive. It is bleak and quite frustrating to have clear patches at times, but only to see that it is still blowing at altitude. But what is encouraging we can see that it is not snowing up high on the mountain. This means that we might be able to more early without too much avalanche danger. Chris Bailey, also on K2 but with Furtenbach Adventures, posted they are now being entertained by fake news, including the death of an entire team!: Base Camp is a weird place; all the teams (including ours) are hearing wonderful rumours about themselves from back home. Everything from fights, to infidelity, Sherpa strikes, evacuations, avalanches destroying the mountains… one team even heard they were dead (quite a shock to them). Pretty much all I’ve heard are complete lies, half-truths or exaggerations but it does make for great entertainment! Today is 6 weeks since we’ve started, time flies when you’re having fun! But in a note of optimism, Adam Parore, with the Himex team, said they leave for the summit on 24 July: Confirmation this morning we will leave BC for the summit on the 24th. We will spend a day at C2, potentially 2 days at C3, depending on how quickly and easily the route to C4 is fixed. Above C3 we will be on O’s with a day at C4 to rest before we leave for the summit at somewhere around midnight on the 27th. All things being equal July 28th will be our summit day. The weather appears to be playing ball at this stage- I can feel the change, we have a different pressure system on us now. Russ is relaxed and confident- the excitement is building.???? I’m trying to be cool, there is almost a sense of disbelief that this is really going to happen. Familiar territory for me. So, the plan is to leave base camp on the assumption the forecast is accurate and the winds will drop as they reach Camp 4. They are on the Česen route. Over on the Abruzzi, Mingma G says they are ready for their summit push as well. Broad Peak Summit Plans Over on Broad Peak, they are also making sumit plans based on the same forecast. Tunc Findik posted: Continuing waiting for the good weather condition, they expect the summit attempt in 2 days according to the weather condition. Oscar Cadiach is with him hoping to finish his 14th 8000er with a summit of Broad Peak. Let’s hope the weather forecast is correct. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2017 Season Coverage: Weather Watch
As Yogi Berra said: “It’s déjà vu all over again.” And with that activity on K2 has come to a complete stop. High winds, rain at base camp and snow up high has teams on hold but not on Gasherbrum I where we saw some summits. K2 The result of Friday’s avalanche on the Abruzzi route on K2 remains unknown. Minga Gyalje Sherpa provided this short update today: K2 is known for bad weather. This year too, K2 is same. She covers herself with cloud in day time and enjoy beautiful stars in night time. Legendary climber and expedition organizer, Russell Brice says it is equipment eating mountain and I do agree with him. Everyone knows 2015 and 2016, K2 was closed because equipment of all expeditions were lost from camp3. Himex team is covering their 2015’s equipment on Česen route. We are still unknown about our deposited equipment on Abruzzi route. This morning there was snowfall so we cancelled going to camp2 and above. Our weather reports say there is no chance to go up till July22. Time is running out and we are just hoping for good weather to come. Rupert Hauer, lead guide for Furtenbach Adventures posted today that they were waiting for better weather. They are on the Abruzzi: No news at this time. We are waiting for good weather. The route could only be insured up to camp 3. There is probably no activity on the mountain until the weekend. This is just the K2 … Adam Parore climbing with Himex had a nice post on Instagram about his feelings while climbing K2. Of note the 46 year-old something Kiwi was a New Zealand cricketer. They are also at base camp today on weather watch: My energy levels appear to be returning- I’ve got my ‘bounce’ back.????Whilst all eyes now focus on the weather my attention is on rest and recovery. In the afternoon I had a few hours to kill so I watched the GoPro footage we have captured to date- an opportunity to reflect on our progress. One of the unexpected joys of this expedition has been the opportunities Woody and I have had to climb the mountain alone- either carrying loads, descending, or extending the route. Without realizing it at the time our footage clearly shows two guys having fun, laughing, joking and enjoying their surrounds. Appreciating their opportunity, and pushing each other to climb harder and cleaner. A reminder of what sport is all about- getting out there with your mates and giving it a go. Magic. Broad Peak No update from Òscar Cadiach, who is trying to finish all 14 of the 8000 meter peaks with a summit of Broad Peak or Turkish climber Tunc Findik. Gasherbrum I/II Over on the Gasherbrum,Frenchmen Mathieu Maynadier and Jeremy Rumebe summited GII on 16 July before the weather moved in. These were the first Gasherbrum summits of the season. Their logistics operator, Alpine Adventure reported this on Twitter. Alberto Iñurrategi, Juan Vallejo and Mikel Zabalza, are reported to have left their base camp for another attempt to traverse from GII to GI. Nanga Parbat The last search for Alberto Zerain from Spain and Mariano Galvan from Argentina has ended. Mirza Ali posted on his Facebook page that the rockfall and avalanche risk below the Mazeno Ridge was too high to reach the point from where the last GPS signal of the two climbers had been received. Ali had driven the search in spite of no evidence the climbers had survived an avalanche. Weather Perspective If you are curious why there are summits on Gasherbrum and not K2 or Broad Peak even though they are somewhat close together, well so do the climbers. But K2 sits a bit alone a short 15 miles from the Gasherbrums thus is hit by westernly fronts before the other peaks along this gigantic series of 8000ers. This map gives some details. But note that with K2 as the starting point, Broad Peak is about 5 miles to the south. Gasherbrum II is another 5 miles away and GI 3 miles from GII, thus the distance from K2 to GI is only a scant 13 miles but seasons apart for wind and snow. Looking at all the 8000ers in Pakistan, Nanga Parbat stands truly alone over 120 miles to the southwest. Normal but the Clock is Ticking The teams continue to wait out the poor weather on K2 and Broad Peak. As I have covered, weather forecasting in this part of the Karakorum is very difficult so climbers bide their time. Some will lose their patience and go home or try to make a push. The anxiety grows stronger with each day. In 2014, I left K2 base camp on 22 July and summited on 27 July, so there’s still time but it is getting near the end. If there is another 3 to 5 days of bad weather, K2 may see the third year in a row with no summits. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2017 Season Coverage: High Winds Strike Once Again
Climbing continues on K2 and for a few on Broad Peak but once again the weather, specifically high winds, are slowing progress. K2 The result of Friday’s avalanche on the Abruzzi route on K2 is still a question. Minga Gyalje Sherpa provided this short update today: Avalanche on Abruzzi route on 14July is still unknown. Yesterday our 7 climbers reached camp2 and they were supposed to go camp4 today but it couldn’t happen because of high wind. They are on their way back to Base camp now. So tomorrow I will go myself with 2 other Sherpa to check way to camp4. We are hoping Summit window coming closer but we need to be sure about our deposited oxygen and ropes up to camp4. The K2 base camp has more residents as Furtenbach Adventures has now moved over from Broad Peak and almost all the climbers are down at base camp awaiting the next weather window. Depending the route conditions, we might see a few summit attempts starting this next week. Almost all the climbers on K2 have completed their acclimatization rotations. For those climbing with supplemental oxygen, they usually only spend a couple of nights at Camp 2 but those not using Os try to get to C3. This generally applies on both the Abruzzi and the Česen routes. Remember that most K2 summits occur near the end of July or early August so climbers schedule return flights around the second week of August. However, after their summit attempt, they still have to take three days for the 80 mile trek and then the two day drive to get back to Askole, the nearest airport, or worse take another two days to drive the Karakorum Highway back to Islamabad. Bottom line, there is still plenty of time but the clock is ticking. Chris Bailey shared he how he is passing time at K2 base camp waiting for good weather: Been flat out at K2 base camp. Throwing rocks at other rocks has filled a lot of my time. My tent space has a river running through it so I’ve been building a bridge/road, I’m about to put a toll on it. Manfred has been making a dam in the river to make a drink cooler out the front of his tent. Yesterday there was an avalanche at Camp 3, teams going up today to check damage to camp/ropes, hopefully not too bad. Now I have a tea date with our Pakistan Air Force Liaison Officer, got a lot on! Hari Mix posted an update on his site along with some nice pictures: I’m back down after a three-night all-inclusive vacation to about 7200m (~23,600 ft) on K2. It’s pretty hard! But I handled it quite well and am busy eating fried eggs and paratha, guzzling Coke and Mountain Dew, and slathering aloe vera on my face here in base camp. Maybe tomorrow will be my laundry day. Now we wait for the next stretch of good weather to go back up into the ethereal world of complete detachment that comes with extreme altitude. Here are some photos from the acclimatization trip: Broad Peak A few climbers are left on Broad Peak but one I’m keeping my eye on is Òscar Cadiach who is trying to finish all 14 of the 8000 meter peaks with a summit of Broad Peak. He tried last weekend and turned back due to deep snow, apparently this weekend high winds stopped him. His team reported : the bad weather, especially the wind with very heavy flurries, they go back to Oscar Cadiach and the team at #broadpeak, now have arrived at camp 1 Turkish climber Tunc Findik is climbing with Oscar. Gasherbrum I/II Over on the Gasherbrum, the trio of climbers, Alberto Iñurrategi, Juan Vallejo and Mikel Zabalza, made one attempt to traverse from GII to GI but were stopped by snow. They are sponsored by the Walk on Project Foundation, who raises awareness and funding for research projects in search of therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. The last update had their regrouping at base camp: The team was found with a lot of snow in its initial attempt to link G I and G II and decided to go down to base field, waiting for a new window of good time to face their challenge. Here are some shocking images and statements from the climbers. This is a nice video of their expedition thus far: When they try agian, their tracks will on their SPOT tracker. Best wishes to all. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2017 Season Coverage: Avalanche on the Abruzzi
While this headline is a bit dramatic, it is also quite common on K2. Of first priority, no one was hurt. I had just received a message from British-American climber, Vanessa O’Brien this morning saying that there was a lot of snow on K2 then this came in from her expedition operator,Minga Gyalje Sherpa: Big Avalanche in Abruzzi This morning at 8:12am, we saw big avalanche coming from Abruzzi route. We feel all camp3 is swept away again. I am sure we have all our deposit near camp4 because our sherpa team made it on ice cliff but it is likely sure that all the fixed ropes are washed away. Tomorrow our Sherpa team will go up to check. Every morning the weather is clear and it get clouded in evening. Weather forecast shows snow at 8000m every evening and very high wind at summit which delays our summit plan. Waiting for good weather to come 2013 Repeat It was at this same location in 2013 that professional mountain guide Marty Schmidt and his son Denali were killed while sleeping in their tent at Camp 3 by an avalanche. All the other teams that year had descended fearing such an event. 2016 Repeat Last year a similar avalanche stopped all efforts on all routes on K2. On 26 July 2016, Yuri with Kari Kobler posted (translated from Spanish by google): We just received the news that today, July 23, there was a huge avalanche in the upper part of the k2. Fortunately there is no loss of life and the entire team of expedition, including Laura and Yuri, it’s okay. In these moments are found in the c2 to 6,700 meters in height. The flood swept away with the whole team for the attack on the summit that was in the c3: 45 bottles of oxygen, all the strings fixed and houses of campaign; in addition to all of the deposit that had already been done in the c4. K2=Avalanche These avalanches are quite common on K2 and are one of the primary reasons there are so few summits. Climbers work hard to establish camps, and in a blink of the eye they are erased from the slopes burying ropes, erasing tents, oxygen bottles, food and fuel. With nothing left, teams often have no choice. We’ll See what happens when the Sherpas go the scene tomorrow. This is a video I took from K2 Base Camp in 2014: Fingers crossed that Camp 3 is still there. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2017 Season Coverage: The Rare K2/Broad Peak Double Summit
For some climbers one summit is not enough so they add a second peak on the same trip to claim that all elusive double. Now that there have been summits on Broad Peak this 2017 summer, many climbers will move to K2. This coveted double header is often sought but rarely achieved. The most recent double for Broad Peak and K2 , I can remember, was in 2014 by Bulgarian climber Boyan Petrov. I passed him descending from the summit as he was going up near Camp 2. He was young, strong and confident so I wasn’t surprised to learn he had summited. Becoming More Common For professional climbers like an Ed Viesturs (Dhaulagiri and Manaslu in 1999), Reinhold Messner and their ilk, doubles were common. This is an incomplete list of multiple summits by climbers who have summited all fourteen of the 8000 meter mountains. Note, some of these summits were in spring and autumn so technically not in the same season. I used Wikipedia as the source. These pros had the fitness, the financial backing to take helicopters in some cases from peak to peak and, clearly, the skills to pull it off. Reinhold Messner 1978: Everest, Nanga Parbat 1982: Kangchenjunga, Gasherbrum II, Broad Peak 1984: Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II 1985: Annapurna, Dhaulagiri 1986: Makalu and Lhotse Erhard Loretan 1983: Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, Broad Peak 1984: Manaslu, Annapurna 1985: K2 Dhaulagiri 1990: Cho Oyu, Shishapangma Carlos Carsolio Larrea 1994: Cho Oyu, Lhotse, Broad Peak 1995: Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, Dhaulagiri Juanito Oiarzabal 1995: Makalu, Lhotse, Broad Peak 2003: Gasherbrum II, Broad Peak Park Young-seok 1997: Cho Oyu, Dhaulagiri, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II 2000: Makalu, Shishapangma 2001: K2, Lhotse 1998: Manaslu, Nanga Parbat Alberto Iñurrategi Iriarte 1995: Cho Oyu, Lhotse 1996: Kangchenjunga, Shishapangma 2000: Gasherbrum II, Manaslu Jerzy Kukuczka 1983: Gasherbrum II, Gasherbrum I 1985: Dhaulagiri, Cho Oyu, Nanga Parbat 1986: Kanchenjunga, K2, Manaslu 1987: Annapurna I, Shishapangma Iván Vallejo Ricaurte 2003: Lhotse, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II 2004:Makalu, Shishapangma Veikka Gustafsson 1995 Lhotse, Makalu 1999: Manaslu, Dhaulagiri 2001: Shishapangma, Nanga Parbat 2005: Cho Oyu, Annapurna 2008: Gasherbrum, Broad Peak Andrew James Lock 1997: Dhaulagiri, Broad Peak 2002: Manaslu, Lhotse 2004: Everest, Cho Oyu Piotr Pustelnik 1993: Cho Oyu, Shishapangma Alan Hinkes: 1996: Mount Everest, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II. Edurne Pasaban Lizarribar 2002: Makalu, Cho Oyu 2003: Lhotse, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II 2008: Dhaulagiri, Manaslu Mingma Sherpa 2001: Shishapangma, Makalu 2002: Cho Oyu, Lhotse 2003: Gasherbrum II, Broad Peak 2004: Everest, K2 2010: Gasherbrum I, Annapurna, Nanga Parbat, Cho Oyu Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner 2004 Annapurna, Gasherbrum I 2005: Shishapangma, Gasherbrum II Chhang Dawa Sherpa 2002: Cho Oyu, Lhotse 2008: Makalu, Broad Peak 2010: Gasherbrum I, Manaslu, Nanga Parbat 2011: Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, Kanchenjunga, Manaslu 2012: Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, K2 Radek Jaroš 2004: Cho Oyu,Shishapangma 2008: Makalu,Dhaulagiri 2010: Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II Nives Meroi 1999: Cho Oyu,Shishapangma 2006: Dhaulagiri, K2 Azim Gheychisaz 2010: Dhaulagiri, Nanga Parbat 2011: Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, Kanchenjunga 2012: K2, Manaslu 2013: Makalu, Cho Oyu As you can see the double of Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, is quite common. Everest/Lhotse Perhaps there is no better case in point of modern day doubles than the Everest/Lhotse combo. In 2011 Alpine Ascent (AAI) guide, Michael Horst, made the direct climb of Lhotse after Everest from the South Col popular. He summited Lhotse 21 hours after summiting Everest. Today it is common for guides to offer it for a ‘small’ uplift of $15,000 to their $65,000 Everest fee. It has proved to be popular with members signing up for the double but many go home content with “just” bagging Everest. That said, it has become commonplace with several climbers achieving this double in spring 2017. One aspect of the Everest/Lhotse double is that most of the recent doubles summited Lhotse from the South Col after their Everest summit. While there are no official rules, I believe all of the 34 climbers who have summited all fourteen of the 8000ers climbed Lhotse as a separate climb from Base Camp. Another double that is becoming more popular is Cho Oyu/Everest. This year, Kilian Jornet claimed to have summited Cho Oyu and then Everest twice, but he said he was not sure he reached the true summit Cho Oyu. In 2016 American David Roeske summited both within 11 days. Back in 2013, Kenton Cool also summited both plus Nuptse. Finally making multiple summits of the same mountain has come into vogue for some strange reason. This year on Everest several climbers accomplished this. Of course many do not want their names listed because the Nepal Government would want another $11,000 for that second Everest summit! But one person given broad publicity was Anshu Jamsenpa, a 38-year-old mother of two from India, who summited twice in less than a week. K2/Broad Peak I asked Eberhard Jurgalski who runs research for his analysis of doubles in the Karakorum for Broad Peak/K2 and Gasherbrum I/Gasherbrum II. Eberhard tracks all the 8000 meter mountains and published list similar to the Himalayan Database (HDB) but covers Pakistan whereas the HDB does not. He said for K2/BP there are only 8 doubles and for GI/GII there have been 118 with 2 that are listed as disputed. For this analysis this means a climber summited both peaks in the same season, usually July/August in the Karakorum. Eberhard goes on to tell me these Karakorum doubles were between 2 days 4 hours 30 minutes (Elisabeth Revol in 2008) to 34 days for GI/II and 8 to 15 days for K2/BP. This is the K2/BP list: RAKONCAJ Josef Cz BROAD PEAK-K2 22.06.1986 05.07.1986 13 no ox FUSTER Beda CH BROAD PEAK-K2 21.06.1986 05.07.1986 14 no ox ZEMP Rolf CH BROAD PEAK-K2 21.06.1986 05.07.1986 14 no ox DOROTEI Soro It BROAD PEAK-K2 20.06.1986 05.07.1986 15 no ox MORETTI Martino It BROAD PEAK-K2 20.06.1986 05.07.1986 15 no ox KIM Chang-Ho SK K2-BROAD PEAK 20.07.2007 01.08.2007 12 KIM Jin-Tae SK K2-BROAD PEAK 20.07.2007 01.08.2007 12 PETROV Boyan Bul BROAD PEAK-K2 23.07.2014 31.07.2014 8 no ox Why K2/BP is so Difficult We
K2 2017 Season Coverage: Broad Peak Summits!!
In spite of changing weather forecast, Furtenbach Adventures and Kari Kobler put climbers on the summit! On K2, Sherpas got ropes near Camp 4. Broad Peak Summits Lucas Furtenbach posted on their summtis: SUMMIT!!! Glad to report that our team made the first Broad peak summits this year. After a start at 7pm at C3 yesterday they were breaking trail to the saddle in 1 meter deep snow. The sherpas made an unbelievable job and worked really really hard. From the saddle to summit our lead guide Rupert took the lead and fixed the rope to the summit. An other group followed our team on the ridge. This morning Rupert, 3 Sherpas and 3 members stood on top of Broad Peak 60 years after first ascent from Austria Herman Buhl. Perfect conditions and no wind. Of course weather reports have said that there is wind today:-) One member made his summit on the foresummit and one at the saddle. Now all on the way back to C3 and Basecamp. Congratulations to all! Now its time to go home for one part of the team and to head on to K2 for the other. Reports from the mountain suggest another 10 people remain looking at the next window. Now that the big teams have summited and will leave or move to K2, it usually leaves a few independents try to figure out how to go without the big groups. As noted in Lucas’s report to reach the true summit is difficult. To climb the ridge in what appears to be deep snow – it’s a quarter mile cornice where people have fallen or descended into China in whiteouts and died – is dangerous. Some will get to the start of it and call it their summit. In any event they have some tough decisions ahead. Òscar Cadiach who gave up his attempt over the weekend due to poor snow conditions is reported to try again: In the base camp there is also an expedition of Americans that just arrived this week and that could be added to the attempt.Cadiach says that the route is “more or less safe on the hill,” as has been demonstrated today, and that in the next few days they will pull up again. One climber who was both independent and with a commercial team was Grace McDonald on Broad Peak with Furtenbach Adventures. She tried for the summit with the team but was still tired after her acclimatization rotations the previous day. 24 hours is not nearly enough time to recover so she showed great courage in giving it a try. She is now off to K2. She posted on Instagram: I last posted we were done with Broad Peak. For days we’d been told members must leave on the 10th and we were going to K2. All planning had circled around these members. It came as a surprise to most of the team when with 3 hours notice we were told those members could stay and surprise, they were going for the summit – now. It was like we were on different teams. It’s been an odd situation here. Lucky me had just finished two laps up and down from Camp 2 in 3 days when this dropped. Could I go up again? The next day? To the freakin’ summit?! Some members with more rest declined. I figured I could go for one more lap up to C3 MAYBE? I did it but people who had seen me up and down the mountain expressed pity for my legs and laughed at how often they had seen me up and down. I made C3 and made a futile attempt to go higher. About 300m out of C3 my legs finally gave and I returned to Base. Turns out you need some rest before you go for a summit. A few of those with rest reached the top today. Perfect weather. We will party tonight. Other teams have asked me to join them in a couple of days but I think recovery time is due. Time to let the legs get ready for K2. K2 Ropes reach C4 on Abruzzi Mingma G. noted progress on the Abruzzi: I am back to Base camp opening route to 7500m yesterday and on rest now because of my toe which almost got frostbite at Nanga Parbat. I started getting blisters on it again so I returned back for some recovery. Today my team made great effort and left rope nearby camp 4 as they got lost in clouds, too much wind and importantly not enough rope too. We will wait for next weather window to make further progress. We are done with acclimatization. Only my Singaporean friend with Kami is staying one more night at camp 2, remaining all are back to Base Camp now. Again, no news from Česen with Russell Brice. New Search for Alberto Zerain and Mariano Galvan on Nanga Parbat In spite of Alex Găvan, saying the new search is “irresponsible and only endanger more people’s lives” the Pakistani mountaineering company Karakorum Expeditions announced a new search the Tribune.com reported: “The team will search on the Mazeno Ridge of the Nanga Parbat, where the missing climbers are believed to be buried under an avalanche,” company spokesperson Mehboob Ali said. Alex Găvan had posted a complete detailed report on his search that concluded the climbers were killed by an avalanche. Their tracks were found to end at the avalanche fracture line, the same spot of the last transmission of their GPS device. This video tells the sad story well: Published by RaceTraker: From the different videos and images that Alex Gavan has sent, taken from the helicopter, which has overflew the area where the Racetracker marked the last signs of Alberto Zeraín, there has been a real reconstruction of the route of the avalanche. Again, my condolences to their families. Congratulations to all on their summits and best of luck to those climbing today. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything