K2 2018 Summer Season Coverage: Weekend Update 30 June – SNOW!
It’s been a difficult week in Pakistan’s Karakoram Mountain range. Heavy snow brought most teams to a complete halt forcing them to stay at base camp. Over a foot was reported at some camps. With this amount of heavy snow, the smart move is to wait for it to settle and that takes days for this amount. Big Picture We all know that snow is part of 8000-meter climbing and what is happening now in Pakistan not that unusual. In 2015 and 2016 dangerous snow conditions prevented all summits on K2 and last year, only one team summited and that took an unusually strong team of Sherpas breaking trail for two clients. Will this snow event stop soon? Who knows. The computer forecasts available on the Internet give a hint but are often, very often wrong. So the teams at all five 8000ers need to be patient and ready to move higher when the weather calms and the snow settles. One concern however, is that almost all the teams are now at base camp so when the window opens, there could be a bit of a rush. Real Estate is limited on these peaks with spots often supporting only a handful of tents – 3, 4, 5 at most. I’ve seen tempers flair as climbers literally fight to get a spot for their teams. Let’s hope the leaders are talking and coordinating activity, but it is tough and often degrades to every team for themselves. K2- Snow Japanese climber Akira Oyabe sums up the situation at K2 Base camp: “6/23-28: a week in bc with strong wind and snow (30 cm snow in BC).” That’s 12 inches, one foot. They had fixed the rope almost to C3 but they are buried now and it will take a lot of work to retrieve them. Canadian Nathalie Fortin and her teammates Serge Dessureault, Maurice Beauséjour also at K2 base camp reports plowing paths between tents at Base Camp: BC, 29 June – how to say!, from the same to the same? Today because of the lack of blowers and the owner of a single snow shovel, we made originality to free the passages between tents (read igloos) and toilet using containers and barrels of barrels
K2 2018 Summer Season Coverage: Snow Stalls Progress
The weather around the Karakoram peaks is slowing and even stopping progress this week. Meanwhile some teams are not at Base Camp yet. Broad Peak Delays Furtenbach Adventures reports in with big snow stalling progress. They are a bit nervous because they also want to get K2. When this scenario occurs, often teams will abandon BP and get over to K2 for that attempt, but its too early to make that call now. Furtenbach said today 29 June : “Dumping again. Broad Peak basecamp this morning” and a couple of days ago: After one night in C1 and one night in C2 whole team is back in basecamp due to bad weather and heavy dumping again. Our sherpas did again crazy hard work fixing the route and breaking trail to C3 in deep snow. Gasherbrum Delays Dávid Klein and Hungarian Szilárd Suhajda targeting GII and GI are stuck. Their home team of Kalifa also reports everyone is stalled at base camp: heavy snow is now making it impossible to move on the mountain, and with a dangerous amount of fresh snow, narrow visibility is not conducive to climbing. K2 has ropes near 7,200-meters As previously reported, Akira Oyabe and his 10 member team from Japan have the route was completed to Camp 2, “… from now on, you will be able to set up a tent setup for C2 7350 M. It’s progressing nicely for a 1-month attack.” They are back at K2 BC holding for weather. Canadian Nathalie Fortin with her teammates Serge Dessureault, Maurice Beauséjour once again commented on the bad weather even though they did spend at night or two at C1/C2: Who’s There? For review, these are some of the teams in the Karakoram this Summer: Madison Mountaineering Furtenbach Adventures Imagine Climb Adventure Tours Pakistan Karakorum Tours Pakistan (Manzoor Ahmad) Karakorum Expeditions (Mirza Ali ) Nazir Sabir Expeditions Seven Sumits Treks Summit Climb Climbers with blogs that appear to be updated include: Carlos Garranzo on Broad Peak and K2 Fredrik Sträng – K2 Mirza Ali – Pakistani filmmaker/director Nathalie Fortin – K2 Jake Meyer – for his 3rd attempt on K2 David Roeske for BP and K2. Dávid Klein – top Hungarian climber on GI/II What’s Next in Pakistan? This heavy snow is becoming more troubling as it is creating serious delays. That said, the largest team are still on the trek including Seven Summits Treks with 39 members, Madison Mountaineering with 11 Sherpas. Along with Furtenbach’s Sherpa support, they can set the route in fairly quickly if it becomes overwhelming for the Japanese team. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2018 Summer Season Coverage
The weather around the Karakoram peaks are making the early teams work hard to establish low camps. Other teams continue their treks to base camps. Big Picture It is now late June so the weather can still be quite extreme (as if it never isn’t!) Make no mistake, the weather is the biggest challenge standing in the way of a safe summit, and return, for any of the five 8000ers in Pakistan. With K2 standing on its own making its own winds and snow, climbers on other peaks cannot take hints from it. Broad Peak a few miles/Kms away is also unique while the Gasherbrums are closer together thus providing clues. But Nanga Parbart, 170KM/105 miles, to the South has its own conditions. Today’s reports reflect these differences. Overall at this time in a 4-6 week expedition, the priority is two-fold: get the fixed ropes as high as possible and get the climbers acclimatized by sleeping as high as 7,000m/23,000 feet for at least one, preferably two nights. One of the issues is that an early team may get the ropes in but then weather moves in and buries the ropes effectively negating their hard, early work. This summer of 2018 is still early and the entire month of July has yet to begin so we have a long time (and way) yet to go. Excellent K2 Progress, but … Akira Oyabe and his 10 member team from Japan have the route was completed to Camp 2, “… from now on, you will be able to set up a tent setup for C2 7350 M. It’s progressing nicely for a 1-month attack.” They are back at K2 BC holding for weather. The Abruzzi usually has 4 camps on the mountain: Base Camp: 18,600ft/5669m Advanced Base Camp: 18,650ft/5684m Camp 1: 19,965’/6085m Camp 2: 22,110’/6740m Camp 3: 23,760’/7240m Camp 4: 25,080’/7644m Summit: 28,251’/8611m But Canadian Nathalie Fortin with her teammates Serge Dessureault, Maurice Beauséjour reports a tough day on 24 June: “Stuck at base camp, Quebec expedition can’t climb! Snow and wind nail Nathalie, Serge and Maurice At The CB, “… we get used to the decor quickly, but not snow! We just finished lunch, it’s the worst day ever since we got here! We’re not going to camp 1 today…” Fredrik Sträng made an interesting comment given the reports of snow on K2 and Nanga: There was very little snow this season in the Karakorams. Denis Urubko witnessed that on his K2 winter attempt and the Sadpara dam above Skardu that provides electricity to the community is almost dried out. How this will affect our climb and the conditions is hard to say but apparently the weather is much cooler and more humid now than my previous visits to the Karakoram. Several days with snow in Broad Peak BC has been reported and my concern is not so much the snow but if it starts heating up without a protective layer of snow, loose rocks (which becomes more frequent) is a challenge and a potential threat. Gasherbrum – Snow but C1 Established Adam Bielecki says they got the route to Camp 1 from Gasherbrum I. He is with fellow Polish climber Jacek Czech and Felix Berg. They are targeting the Gasherbrums, starting with GII, then hoping to open a new route on the East Face of GIV. Bielecki was on the Polish K2 winter attempt just 6-months ago. After 20 hours (2 days) of effective climbing we managed to open the route to C1. Together with Jacek we have deserved gratitude of the other teams and a good rest in the base camp which we have just reached. Leveraging their work are Dávid Klein and Hungarian Szilárd Suhajda for GII and GI. They also spent a night at C1 according to their home team. Similar to a river of ice that stands between BP BC and the mountain, Gasherbrum has similar obstacle that is proving difficult this season. Nanga Parbart – Deep Snow and Retreat to Islamabad Alex Gavan along with Turkish climber Tunc Findik report difficult conditions on Nanga: Daily snows of the last 15 days and the danger of avalanche on #nangaparbat made impossible for Alex and tunc access under reasonable safety conditions in the superior portion of the girl #diamir, in order to successfully complete the acclimation process. The Personalized weather forecast doesn’t look good until the end of the month. Before we can go to the final ascent, the two first need at least one night spent almost 7000 M, followed by a few days of rest in base camp. Then a minimum window of good weather is required in which conditions on the mountain allow for a good administration of the risk of a climb without additional oxygen. Mike Horn reports in saying a retreat is in order. NB is close to the KKH so easily accessible for a quick “holiday” to Islamabad unlike K2, BP and GI/II. Fred and myself climbed up to remove our equipment deposit we left at 5600m today. We have decided to return to Islamabad due to bad weather forecasted for the next 10 days. It has been snowing at BC for 12 days now and above 7000m there is a lot of snow. This makes the mountain very dangerous! With the snow predicted for the next 10 days it will worsen the situation! The mountain will stay here so we can always come back to amazing Broad Peak – C1 established, now C2 Furtenbach Adventures spent one night at Camp 1 and tomorrow plan to go to C2 after spending a few days back at BP BC holding for weather. A Normal Start in Pakistan All good thus far … but the heavy snow is a bit concerning, especially after the dry winter as Fredrik notes. Hoping for the best for all. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2018 Summer Season: Weekend Update 22 June
Late June continues on schedule in Northern Pakistan but the weather is causing some delays. Teams are arriving at K2’s base camp and climbing has begun there and on Nanga Parbat and other 8000ers Trekking! Garett Madison called me from Skardu saying their team is doing well and ready to begin the 8 or so day trek to K2 Base camp. Of course Garett has recently emerged as on of the steady K2 operators. His first climb was in 2014 that included me and another American, Matt DuPuy. We summited on July 27th but the summit eluded Garret the next two years. Garrett posted on his blog some large numbers for support: “Last week our advance team of 77 porters and 5 Pakistan HAPs arrived in K2 base camp to begin building the camp and to reserve places at Camps 1 & 2. We will have around 150 porters trekking in with us to base camp, in addition to some horses.” Brit Jake Meyers is doing a nice job of documenting his trek in. He is going for K2 after stopping in 2009 and 2016. He completed the 7 Summits in 2005. In addition to describing the slaughter of a cow that was used to feed the porters, he notes the weather “Once again, the overcast skies certainly made for nice cool conditions to walk in, and we were thankful for the respite from what would otherwise be a scorching sun.” As I’ve written before the trek to K2, Broad Peak and the Gasherbrum base camps is an arduous journey on the Baltoro glacier. There are no “facilities” like on the Everest Base Camp trek and the exposure to the hot sun can be debilitating. It can rain, then snow and get icy as you near Concordia. The terrain undulates increasing the energy required to reach the next camp. All of this and … the mountain scenery is simply stunning. Every rise brings a new view, every turn, a new mountain, a new glacier dropping from the peaks that line the Baltoro. It is yet another opportunity to experience our plant is as close to it’s raw form as we can see, This is a short video I posted as I reached Goro 2, about 14,000’/4,267m in 2014 as I trekked to K2 Base Camp. K2 Progress, Nanga Snow Japanese at C2 Akira Oyabe and his 10 member team from Japan have been at K2 Base Camp for over a week. His wife, Ayako Oyabe, back in Japan is providing updates. She had provided a report from 15 June saying they hoped to have the route up to 6,900-meters/22,637-feet and Camp 1 established by 15 June. In the latest it appears they are at or near Camp 2 with the ropes: ■ 6.15 ~ 16: BC Stay (Snow) ￭ 6.17: C1 (6090M) in tent ■ 6.18: C2 route towards the (6800m) work started (scheduled) ￭ 6.19: C2 directly under ( 6750m) to the root work They are leading the effort to fix the ropes on K2 this season because : “We want to arrive first, because only the first team can do the route work. Route fixing is fun. We want to do it, because it’s fun.” Canadian Nathalie Fortin is at K2 Base Camp and says the weather has closed in “There’s a lot of wind and clouds. We haven’t seen the mountain for 4 days. The rise to the advanced base camp was beautiful through the glacier and cracks. You had to be careful. There was no fixed rope.” She is with teammates Serge Dessureault, Maurice Beauséjour. Broad Peak – Camp 1 Furtenbach Adventures say that “Camp 1 on Broad Peak is a truly stunning place. First rotation with a night up there successfully completed and team back in basecamp now, sitting out the bad weather for the next days. ” Nanga Parbat – Snow, Snow, Snow Mike Horn reports snow is keeping them in base camp. He updated a few hours go on Saturday 23 June: It has been bad weather for more than 10 days now! The prediction does not look good for the next 6 days either. More and more snow. There is a wind from the SW that is bringing allot of snow to Nanga Parbat and up in altitude the risk of avalanches has increased a lot. We can climb to about 6000m more or less safely but higher we can not go! It is very frustrating. All we can do is wait for the weather to change! But the question is when will it change! Gasherbrum – BC Crowds Adam Bielecki reports from Gasherbrum that BC is getting crowded but climbing has not begun: In the Gasherbrum basecamp it’s getting crowded, there are people from Austria, Hungary, Ukraine, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Slovakia. So far nobody has managed to establish c1. Well, we’ll give it a try. Tomorrow I’m going with Jacek up and there are a few km of nasty glacier ahead of us so keep your fingers crossed! He is with Polish climber Jacek Czech and Felix Berg. They are targeting the Gasherbrums, starting with GII, then hoping to open a new route on the East Face of GIV. Other Climbs My fellow blogger, Stefen Nestler reported that 34 year-old Austrian Hansjörg Auer will do a solo attempt of the West Face of the 7,181-meter-high Lupghar Sar West. All good thus far, but the Weather is the Wildcard As usual, teams across Pakistan are commenting on the weather. It’s a bit unusual for trekkers to say its “cool” but not for the K2 climbers to talk of the Hill covered in cloud for days on end. But it’s the start of a month long season so a lot will happen. Stay tuned!! Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2018 Summer Season Coverage: Weekend Update 17 June – Japanese at K2
The summer K2 season is well underway with teams at base camp or making the trek up the Baltoro. And the other big Karakoram peaks are also welcoming climbers to base camps and even higher. Challenge to Base Camp There are multiple challenges to even getting to the Karakoram, starting with arriving in Islamabad. The country is still under high security but in my two visits there, I never had any issues and found the people extremely freindly. Then there is the flight to Skardu. Most teams try to fly direct via a daily Pakistan International Airline flight, but due to regular bad weather in Skardu, and with no radar, it’s VFR for the pilots, thus flights are canceled 20% of the time and very delayed another 25%. Thus some teams are forced to take the 30 hour, 2 day drive along the very dangerous Karakorum Highway. Once teams arrive in Skardu, many stay at the time honored Concordia Motel, enjoying Internet (slow) and evening cookouts (fantastic) with great views of the Indus River. It is here that you begin to feel like you might be a climber and not a tourist as almost every climber in the Karakoram stays there, chatting, sharing dreams and talking mountains. From Skardu, the real journey begins in earnest, and its a trip of a lifetime and for memories. This was how I described my 2014 journey from Skardu to Askole: We left Skardu somewhat later than anticipated as we needed to wait for our Pakistani Liaison Officer, a member of the military who will stay with us throughout our expedition. Once on the road we made good time until, well the video tells it all. The road starts off paved then becomes smooth dirt, then lose gravel and then a muddy trail barely dug into the side of steep mountain sides, thus the problem. The first was a wash out area from a stream high on a hillside, it washed out the “road” creating a primordial ooze of mud that literally sucked our Toyota FJ Cruisers into the abyss. The good news was that we traveled in a caravan, the bad news was the entire caravan got stuck. But through human power, one by one each FJ was rescued to the cheers of the drivers, riders and locals who lent a helpful hand. Next was a landslide on an extremely narrow road, also carved into a steep hillside. This obstacle brought us to a total halt with most everyone standing around staring at rocks falling towards us. Finally a few courageous souls took shovels to clear the debris and each FJ made a brave run under the potential stone burial. Finally, there was the bridge that was not. A 300’ span across the raging river, it had lost a few planks, well actually a lot of planks, so many in fact that there was no bridge. But the FJ drivers came prepared with new wood slats that served the purpose so this delay was not too long. This is a video I created from that 2014 experience: Once the climbers reach Skardu, the 80 mile trek begins. I’ll write about that later. As they begin the trek to base camp, most teams will take 8 days to hike up the Baltoro Glacier enjoying some spectacular views anywhere in the mountains. Base Camp Arrivals Japanese Arrive at K2 Akira Oyabe and his 10 member team from Japan have arrived at K2 Base Camp. His wife, Ayako Oyabe, back in Japan is providing updates. She gave a report from 15 June said they hope to have the route up to 6,900-meters/22,637-feet and Camp 1 established by 15 June. Broad Peak Furtenbach Adventures have arrived at BP BC for the first of their two 8000ers. They intend to attempt K2 after Broad. Nanga Parbat Mike Horn reports snow is keeping them in base camp. Climbers to Watch – Updated Canadian Nathalie Fortin is heading to K2 with her teammates Serge Dessureault, Maurice Beauséjour. She reported in from the trek: today 17 June, we are in gora and arrived from hurdu. The day to get there was up to now with the greatest elevation., about 400 feet. We slept our first night at 4000 meters, I feel great and I have a good rhythm. I think my training strategy (hike with weight) is paid, we’ll see later when we get to serious things. We walk on the Glacier Glacier, sometimes we lose foot because under the rocks there’s ice cream. Finally the sun is back after almost 2 days without seeing it the hoe, we can therefore better appreciate the view of snowy mountains that were partially behind the clouds, it’s majestic. Everyone is fine. The Swedish climber, Fredrik Sträng, is back on K2 this year. He was on K2 last year and in 2008 when 11 people were killed in a variety of accidents and avalanches. He also played an instrumental role in the documentary film, The Summit. Pakistani climber Uzama Yousaf, a self-described housewife and mother of two children, will try to become the first Pakistani female to summit Broad Peak. She told Pakistan’s geo.tv that her husband wouldn’t let her climb but after summiting 20,177-foot Mingling Sar in Shimshal, he changed his mind. Adam Bielecki is back in the Karakorum along with fellow Polish climber Jacek Czech and Felix Berg. They are targeting the Gasherbrums, starting with GII, then hoping to open a new route on the East Face of GIV. Bielecki was on the Polish K2 winter attempt just 6-months ago. Andrzej Bargiel is back again to ski K2. The Polish ski mountaineer was stopped in 2017 by dangerous conditions. He plans to acclimatize and ski nearby Gasherbrum II. He has successfully skied down Shisapangma and Broad Peak. Brit Jake Meyers is back on K2 after stopping in 2009 and 2016. He completed the 7 Summits in 2005. Mongolia climber Gangaamaa Badamgarav is attempting tK2. She was stopped in 2013. Irish climber Noel Hanna is also on her permit and Gheorghe Dimarescu! Previous
K2 2018 Summer Season Coverage: Teams at Base Camp
Teams are arriving at K2 Base Camp so look for climbing to begin soon. Japanese Arrive Akira Oyabe and his 10 member team from Japan have arrived at K2 Base Camp. They are having satellite problems but did get a short update out: 6/10: BC (5000 M) 6/11: Set up a tent on ABC (5250 M) and advanced to 5500 m 6/12: BC stay 6/13: Root maneuver for C1 (scheduled) Rope Wars Once again the Furtenbach team is complaining about other teams using their ropes and not paying for it. Last year this was broken record so we will see how it turns out this year. Lucas makes the point on Facebook: The flight to Skardu was smooth with views to Nanga Parbat. It’s very hot and dry this season in Pakistan with record temperatures since weeks. In Skardu our team repacked all gear for the porters. Yes, lots of ropes and hardware for two 8000m peaks. We shipped Petzl ropes from Europe for Broad Peak and K2, where we will cooperate with Madison Mountaineering. Curious to see what teams bring route fixing gear this year and what teams rely on others or even refuse to contribute anything like most of the „individual alpine style climbers“ or small mixed teams did last year. Route fixing is expensive and a lot of hard and dangerous work. Someone has to do it. Every season. Valuate that work! Be fair and contribute if you use the ropes from others. Yesterday they had the always adventurous jeep ride to Askole. Thankfully all went smoothly again. Today our team started the 8 day trek in hot conditions. The mountains along this trek are out of this world… And the Other 8000ers Gasherbrum I/II At 26,362’/8035m. GII is often considered the most attainable of the Karakoram’s 8000ers. There have been about 350 summits of GI and 940 of GII. Masha Gordon tells me: Helias Millerioux, Yannick Graziani and I are heading for a G1/G2 traverse on Friday this week. I will be updating team’s progress via my facebook account. We will be climbing alpine style without Os and use of porters. Nanga Parbat Mike Horn reports in: It’s been 10 days since we first arrived at base camp. The weather was good at first, then it started snowing and the wind picked up. This didn’t stop our acclimatizing process though. So far we’ve left a deposit at camp 1 (5000m), and made our way to camp 2 (6000m), where this pic was taken. We’re back at base camp now, waiting for the weather to clear before we head up to camp 3 (7000m)! Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2018 Summer Season Coverage
Welcome to my annual coverage of the 2018 K2 summer climbing season. I will be reporting from my home in Colorado this year based on my personal experience of our successful 2014 K2 summit and covering the action the last three years. I try to report on K2 in the same style as my annual Everest coverage but accurate information is much more difficult to obtain from Northern Pakistan than from Nepal. I’ll do my best to throw in occasional coverage for climbers on Broad Peak, Nanga Parbat and Gasherbrum I and II. As always, I use my blog to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s and if you appreciate my coverage, please consider a donation where 100% goes to Alzheimer’s non-profits and nothing ever to me. Read more about why this cause is so important at this link and how Alzheimer’s took Ida Arnette’s life. The Savage Mountain As I discussed in a post a few years ago, “Why K2 will not become Everest“, K2 is a totally different climbing experience requiring a honed set of skills and alpine experience. It is the second highest mountain in the world at 28,251’/8611m and remains the only 8000er not summited in winter. The climbing is technical – meaning you are using feet and hands to climb; the exposure is dramatic – meaning if you fall you will most likely die; and the weather is extreme – meaning it is less predictable due to standing alone to the west of nearby mountains thus creating its own systems. It is common to have very different conditions on K2 than on Broad Peak or the Gasherbrums that are only a few miles away. Unlike Everest, there are no long, flat sections i.e. the Western Cwm. K2 starts steep, ends steep and never lets up. Objective dangers are constantly on the minds of K2 climbers. Avalanches and rock-fall are rampant and injuries are common. These are not bravado or ego-based comments on my part given I have summited both peaks, but my effort to help readers understand that K2 is in a different league than most of the other 8000ers. Just because you summited Everest, doesn’t mean you are ready for K2. A bit of trivia, there are less than 200 people who have summited both Everest and K2. It is well documented that K2 sees significantly more deaths than Everest. Thru 2018, I estimate 8,950 summits by about 5,500 people and 295 deaths on Everest – 3.3% compared to 367 summits with 84 deaths on K2 – 23%. Of the 8000 meter peaks, Everest has the highest absolute number of deaths at 288 but ranks near the bottom with a death rate of 1.23. Annapurna is the most deadly 8000er with one death for about every three summits (71:261) or a 3.91 death rate. Cho Oyu is the safest with 3,681 summits and 50 deaths or a death rate of 0.55. While some will quibble with these statistics, it is a measure of risk. The number one reason listed for death on K2 is “disappearance” suggesting that the climber fell in a highly exposed area, was blown away by winds or buried in an avalanche. 33 climbers have died while descending from the summit. 11 died in 2008 including my friend Gerard McDonnell when the towering ice serac just below the summit let a tiny fraction of its 100 meter vertical face loose. If you attempt K2, you must accept that dying is a real possibility. Years with No K2 Summits The first summit of K2 was on July 31, 1954, by Italians Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni. The first attempts began in 1902 by Brit Aleister Crowley. But it was the Duke of Abruzzi who made the most valiant attempts in the early 1900’s thus named the ridge most popular used today, the Abruzzi Spur. After five separate American attempts, Louis Reichardt and Jim Wickwire summited on September 6, 1978, and John Roskelley and Rick Ridgeway the next day. Amazingly Jim Wickwire spent a night in the open just below the summit at 27,000 feet without food, oxygen, or shelter in temperatures of -40 degrees. According to research, plus my own research, from 1986 to 2016 there were 12 years with no summits. From 2009 to 2016, there were only three years with summits – 2011 only from the Chinese side by Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner who became the first woman to get all the 8000ers san Os. In 2012 and 2014 each saw about 30 – 50 people summiting – record-breaking years as a result of a week of excellent and rare summit conditions. Everest went from 1974 to 2014 with summits every year – 40 straight years! The best year ever for K2 was in 2004 with 51 total summits followed by 2014 with an estimated 49 summits, including six female climbers. [poll id=”30″] 2017 K2 Results 2017 was a mixed year on K2 with most teams choosing not to risk a summit push but one strong Sherpa team gambled and made it for the first summits since 2014. Lead by Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, 31, founder of the Nepali guide company Dreamers Destination, now Imagine Climb. This was the second time he has guided a team to the summit, 2014 was his first. Long-time legend Russell Brice’s Himex team attempted the Česen route but stopped due to dangerous conditions and all the other teams on the Abruzzi stopped their attempts after an avalanche wiped out Camp 3 and Advanced Base Camp burying most of their gear. Of course, K2 saw a rare winter attempt just six months ago. It ended poorly with botched logistics, in-fighting within the team and just plain old bad luck with the weather and snow conditions. As if that was not enough, several members of the Polish team left K2 in the middle of their acclimatization work for a rescue mission on nearby Nanga Parbat. You can read my full coverage of these events at this link. Routes There are 9 named routes on K2: Česen, Northeast Ridge, North Ridge, South Face (Central
K2 Team Ends Winter Expedition
The Winter Polish K2 team ended their effort after K2 had seen over 80cm/31 inches of new snow that buried ropes and destroyed high camps. The climbing community is now 0 for 4 with attempts to summit K2 in the winter since 1987/88. See this post for full background on the K2 and Everest expeditions and the history of winter attempts on the highest two mountains on Earth. Big Picture – Facing Reality With 15 days left, the Poles needed to finish their acclimatization rotation, stock the high camps and then have a multi-day weather window open. Given that all three of these tasks appeared to be virtually impossible, they wisely ended their mammoth effort. To complicate matters, the recent heavy snow increased the already substantial avalanche risk on the upper mountain. Recall that in 2013, two climbers were killed when an avalanche hit them in their sleep at Camp 3. The danger is real on K2. Both winter efforts, Everest and K2, ended without summits even with supremely strong climbers giving it their best. This goes to show how difficult a task climbing 8000-meter peaks is in winter. K2 remains the only one of the 14 not topped out in winter, whenever that is! 🙂 We saw two very strong efforts on the mountains, with Alex Txikon created a tight small team on Everest. They did everything right, and amazing patience but in the end were stopped by high winds. The Poles made every effort on K2, even switching routes, but also acknowledged the one thing they could not control, the weather. Both teams are suggesting they will be back. Txikon spent over USD$400,000 and the Polish gang a similar amount. And this may also control their return. Raising this amount money is an enormous hurdle. I hope the sponsors for both teams felt they got a return for their investment. Personally I throughly enjoyed covering them and am grateful to each member on both teams for their work, and their sponsors for the vision to support these climbers. K2 Team Found What They Feared With better weather on Monday 5 March 2018, climbers Adam Bielecki and Janusz Golab went to Camp 1. Primarily they went to inspect the ropes that were already installed after the recent snows but found ropes, tents at Advanced Base Camp gone, and, without going higher, knew their tents and ropes all the way above 7,000-meters were probably gone. To reinstall all of this would require a Herculean effort. Also they needed to make one more acclimatization rotation above 7,000-meters before attempting the summit. But it was not to be. Expedition leader, Krzysztof Wielicki, posted on their expedition site: Based on a deep analysis of the situation in consultation with the team today decided on completion of the K2 mountain. 1. The result reconnaissance team Adam Bielecki and Janusz Golab today. We found that on the way to C1 all ropes are covered with tent advanced basecamp is damaged, there is also a high probability to destroy camps C1, C2 and C3. 2. Weather forecast, which only confirms the 1 short weather window around 11/03/2018 3. Inability to acclimatize minutes. 1st team at the height. 7200m, after which he would return to the base to attempt the summit on 11.03 4. Impact Avalanche in the upper path. In the last 8 days, we recorded a total of more than 80cm of snowfall. 5. Warning Portal Ventusky large rainfall on wys.7600m 6. Bad forecasts for the period after 03.11.2018 The priority is the safety of the participants of the expedition. Krzysztof Wielicki Adam Bielecki added his personal observations via Twitter: Unfortunately this year the mountain proved to be difficult and we were too weak. Few days snowfall [buried ropes] and the wind destroyed the tent in ABC and probably tents in the higher camps. Until the action at the top is too dangerous and we lack time to wait for better conditions. will come back here because K2 is up to conquer winter! Thank you for all the warm words and amazing cheering One last look at what they were dealing with from this video from their Facebook account : The Polish team made frequent updates on their website, Facebook, and Adam’s SPOT tracker. Next? I hope you enjoyed my coverage of winter K2 and Everest. Next up I will be shifting to the Everest 2018 season, my 17th year of covering all things Everest. Teams are already packing and staking out their basecamp locations. They will begin arriving at basecamp in early April, about a month from now. I want to remind my readers that I am just one guy who loves climbing. With 35 serious climbing expeditions including four Everest trips under my belt and a summits of Everest in 2011 and K2 in 2014, I use my site to share those experiences, demystify Everest each year and bring awareness to Alzheimer’s Disease. My mom, Ida, died from this disease in 2009 as have four of my aunts. It was a heartbreaking experience that I never want anyone to go through thus my ask for donations to non-profits where 100% goes to them, and nothing to me. Any amount that is meaningful to you is meaningful to me. Select your own Alzheimer’s organization or I have suggestions at this link. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
The Definition of Winter for K2 and Everest Climbs
With the drama dissipating from K2, the Polish team remains at base camp waiting for better weather. Everest is now officially over but the debate about when winter ends, will continue forever. See this post for full background on the K2 and Everest expeditions and the history of winter attempts on the highest two mountains on Earth. Big Picture – When does Winter End? One of the big questions this season on both K2 and Everest is “When does winter officially end?” If you have been reading my blog you might have seen comments from readers with clear views, for example from one reader “They can summit after February, but it won’t be winter.” Other simply say it is at the Spring equinox on March 20, 2018 at 12:15 pm EDT. The reality is, it depends on where you live and the local customs and definition. First off, both Pakistan and Nepal issue climbing permits with different fees according to the season. On Everest, for example, they charge USD$11,000 per person for a spring permit – the most popular time. But for a winter permit, the least popular time, it drops to USD$2,750. Both countries’ tourism ministry define winter as December, January and February for permit purposes. They simply take the year and divide into four equal parts. For most people born and raised in this environment, that is what defines the seasons. However, many people, including myself, were raised and taught that the seasons are defined according to the astronomical definition which is based on how the sun hits the earth and the shortest and longest days each year, in other words the equinoxes and solstices. Then there are the seasonal definitions influenced by length of day and temperatures. Obviously March 1 at the North Pole compared to being on the equator are very different. Also, if it a rainy time of year or dry. To make matter even more complicated, the Hindu calendar has six seasons!! But hold on, it gets worse (or different 🙂 ) Australia and New Zealand use the meteorological definition, so spring begins on September 1 each year. Ireland uses an ancient Celtic calendar system to determine the seasons, so spring begins on St Brigid’s Day on February 1. In Finland and Sweden, the dates of the seasons are not based on the calendar at all, but on temperatures. To make your head spin a bit, take a look at this chart courtesy of Scribd So if the Poles summit K2 in March will it be winter or spring? The answer is “yes.” K2 Team Stalled at Base Camp Look for the K2 news to be slow for a few days. High winds and snow are keeping the Polish team in base camp. They would like to make one more acclimatization rotation above 7,000-meters before attempting the summit. Remember they are climbing without supplemental oxygen so it is mandatory they reach high altitudes to help the body prepare for the summit push. The latest from their Facebook account : Action mountaineering suspended due to snowfall and wind intensifying. Denis Urubko left K2 base camp on 28 February to begin his trip home with a parting shot of “Good Spring” according to Montagna.tv. You can follow the Polish team directly on their website, Facebook, and Adam’s SPOT tracker. Winter Everest – Over Alex Txikon has officially ended his effort as he said there was not a suitable weather window on the forecast. He told Desnivel The truth is that times are not easy, my biggest dream was to move from the Camp 4 to top, but the mountain is the decider, and it was impossible to move forward with these conditions. At the end of the day , the most important thing is that the whole team back safely to keep dreaming and enjoying the mountain Txikon said he would be back next winter. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 Team Focuses on the Summit. Another Everest Attempt?
Denis Urubko remains at base camp along with the drama. Now that he is off the team, the remaining climbers are focusing on a potential summit push around mid March. Alex Txikon suggested he ended his winter Everest attempt with his permit expiring on 28 February but today said maybe not! See this post for full background on the K2 and Everest expeditions and the history of winter attempts on the highest two mountains on Earth. Big Picture – Weather Watch Part 5,693 Once again it’s all about the weather. The winds stopped Txikon on Everest and the winds stopped Urubko on K2. Now we will wait and see if a tiny break in the weather will allow the remaining Polish climbers to complete their acclimatization and then make a push for summit K2, and create another moment in mountaineering history. Txikon on Everest is in a similar situation. K2 Team Wants More Acclimatization A few days ago Marcin Kaczkan and Maciej Bedrejczuk tried to reach C3 at 7,200-meters but only got to 7,000m before weather, once again, forced a retreat. They did get the fixed line through the Black Pyramid. Marek Chmielarski and Artur Małek slept at C2, 6,500m. Today all four climbers are back to base camp where they will take a few days of rest. All climbers are reported to be in good health. Wielicki has said he intends to continue running the expedition according to the schedule for a summit attempt in early March. The latest from their Facebook account : After returning to the Base both teams were tested: Marcin Kaczkan, Marek Chmielarski, Maciej Bedrejczuk and Artur Małek. Despite the heavy load: wind, temperature, physical effort, all parameters of the boys are in the full standard, without any complaints or injuries. After 2-3 days of regeneration, the boys will be completely ready for further action in the mountains. KW, Expedition Doctor The highest anyone on the K2 team had reached was when Adam Bielecki and Denis Urubko touched 7,400-meters. At the moment, it appears that Adam Bielecki and Janusz Golab are the strongest climbers and have the best chance for a summit bid but Golab wants to spend one night at 7,200-7,400-meters (C3) before the attempt. In other words, there is another rotation before they feel it is time for the summit push. Thus we are looking at least a week or more. Urubko – No Apologies and Banned from Internet Urubko reached around 7,700-meters/26,262 feet, just above Camp 4, on his solo push before poor weather (high winds and low visibility) forced him back. This was about 300 meter higher than he and Bielecki touched during an acclimatization run a couple of weeks ago. He reached the usual spot for High Camp or Camp 4. From there the climb is straightforward snow slope to the base of the huge serac. You go through the bottleneck to reach the traverse, which is a couple hundred meters of near vertical ice wall. Once past this section, it is a long, but straightforward climb to the summit. In a normal year, from C4 to the summit might take 6-8 hours assuming the ropes are in. Given he had to set some kind of protection, or free climb the traverse, Urubko was looking at an enormously long day from Camp 3 – close to 24 hours round trip. He made a wise decision to turn back. Now back at base camp Urubko will depart on 28 February to begin his trip home. Denis, speaking to the press before his access was cut-off (see below) made his position clear in an interview with Poland’s tvn24.pl I do not think I have to apologize to anyone. They also are not angels. Wielicki allowed me to enter the third camp, and then told me to come back for reasons I do not understand. This is not a situation to say “sorry” . Me no one apologized for their mistakes. My opinion remains the same . It was my chance to do something, and not to sit all the time in the basecamp. I am glad that I made the summit attempt. If I did not, I would be furious. Not won the summit, it was too big a risk. Conditions were very bad: lots of snow, zero visibility. Back was the only right decision. Now I can focus on other projects, prepare for climbing elsewhere. Krzysztof Wielicki, leader of the expedition added this during an interview about seeing with Denis upon his return from the solo attempt: Denis did not talk to me, he apologized and offered a hand. Well, somehow I have to get over it, because I invited him to our team. Tomorrow, Wednesday, is to leave the base, which are now all colleagues. Conditions at the top do not allow any activity. We have to wait for better weather … not true having prevented Denis contact with family and loved ones. He received the opportunity to phone calls (free) which benefited. Personally, I informed about the return of Denis to the base of his wife Olga. This gives full support organizer descent to Skardu, care of our car and airline tickets all the way back. Adding to the schoolroom behavior, Wielicki, banned Urubko from using their internet communications to talk to the press, limiting him to only his family (source): The emerging network information that is not allowed after returning from a solitary output Denis to use Wi-Fi is true, as Denis during the expedition sent to various media critical information about our expedition and its participants, and I saw no reason to using our service continued their subjective opinions Janusz Majer, who is the chairman of the expedition organizing committee weighed in that Urubko’s departure may actually help the team, Denis departure will further strengthen and consolidate the team to achieve the objective. We now have one team and one goal. I’m not going to gloat over it, but that he would not bring the radio going up and talk to the