K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage
Welcome to my annual coverage of the 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 four years. I try to report on K2 in the same style as my annual Everest […]
Everest 2019: Stories to Watch This Season
Even though its late March and most teams don’t start climbing Everest until mid-May, there are multiple story lines developing for this 2019 spring season. Let’s review a few that I’ll be following closely and reporting on often. Climbers to Watch I already did a post of a few climbs that are out of the […]
Winter K2 Attempt Over – Can It Ever Be Done?
With little fanfare, Alex Txikon and team returned to K2 Base Camp yesterday thus ending the only remaining team aiming for the first winter K2 summit this winter. Not a surprise, big winds stopped the climb as it did for the Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan team earlier this month. To keep this in perspective, the two […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
Winter K2 – Denis Urubko Abandons Summit Effort, Leaves Team
Update: Denis Urubko has decided to leave the team. He didn’t summit. The Polish team made this announcement today: Denis Urubko, in accordance with their beliefs about the end of the winter season, decided to leave the Winter Expedition to K2. This decision was accepted by the members of the expedition who did not see the […]
Solo K2, Everest Abandoned – Winter Update 1
Climbers, feeling the pressure of deadlines, records and life, stopped their Everest attempt and set out solo on K2. See the Update below. 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. Both expeditions need to summit no later […]
Winter Everest Summit Bid Starts!
After six weeks of preparation and waiting, the winter Everest summit bid has started. The Polish K2 team is back at base camp waiting out a few days of weather. 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. […]