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
K2 2017 Season Coverage: Climbers Dodge Wild Weather
It is business as usual in the Karakorum. The weather is driving some teams crazy creating stop/start summits pushes on Broad Peak and the Gasherbrum while those on K2 seem to be taking their time to acclimatize. Broad Peak: Stalled … Again Òscar Cadiach stopped his attempt over the weekend due to deep snow above C3. They reported great weather but the deep snow and avalanche danger was too much. Another weather front is moving in thus Oscar will wait until 18 June to try again. Grace McDonald also on Broad Peak posted a nice update in Instagram on Sunday that she is moving over to K2 given the poor conditions on BP. So after days of snow and nasty weather that contradicted all reports, this was Broad Peak last night. There are at least 7 people heading for that summit now. Fingers crossed – perfect weather but DEEP snow. The number is down from the army of 20 I joined two days ago. We all split up yesterday. When my team retreating from C3 over avy concerns and a pile of new snow I decided to make it my final acclimatization rotation and returned to BC the next day. Some did a spin up to C3 and back and some stayed in C2. I know people are kicking themselves BUT we all have our own risk profiles and for most this just felt too risky. If this group of 7 does summit there will be a new member in the 14 x 8000er club and that’s worth celebrating. I’ve always said luck has a lot to do with summiting in Pakistan and I so enjoyed my last spin up the the mountain that I can hardly feel disappointed. So – I’m off to K2 in a couple days. We’re leaving the door open for one more shot at Broad Peak but later in the season. Lucas Furtenbach of Furtenbach Adventures also stopped their summit plans for the moment. They are planning to try K2 do may move over as well. Kari Kobler & Partner is there as well. K2: Climbers Acclimatizing Climbers on K2 are at the lower camps acclimatizing. Fredrik Sträng and Vanessa O’Brien both reported in at C2 on the Abruzzi. The commercial team run by Russell Brice, Himex , on the Česen Route aka Basque Route, has not posted any recent updates. Slovenian Davo Karnicar, who wanted to ski a direct line i.e. without stopping, from the summit of K2 has abandoned his effort due to a back injury. He also is reported to have said the key section of the South Face was currently snow-free. That section is extremely rocky and does not hold snow well. Gasherbrum I/II Aborted Sumits Karakorum Tours Pakistan has a small team of Americans and Spanish climbers. Last report had Juan Vallejo, Mikel Zabalza and Alberto Inurrategi had turned back from a summit attempt due to deep snow above Camp 2 on GI. They are planning a traverse from GI to GII Nanga Parbat Summits Kim Hongbin and Lakpa Sherpa summited on 7 July after taking nine days. They are reported by Altitude Pakistan to be safely made it back to Base Camp. Note that NB is relatively far away from GI/II, Broad peak and K2 thus has quite different weather. Alberto Zerain and Mariano Galvan Search Update Please take the time to read a very informative and detailed report by Alex Găvan, co-initiator, coordinator of the technical part of the rescue and helicopter searcher of Alberto Zerain and Mariano Galvan on the Mazeno Ridge of Nanga Parbat-8125m, between June 26th to July 1st 2017. One of the more interesting parts are the description of problems with rescue insurance and getting information from the home team for the search. This is one of the sections: But here is not Europe, here is Pakistan, and there are certain and precise steps to be made when organizing such an undertaking. There is only one company to do it, a monopoly, the military controlled Askari Aviation. And even if you have one of the best rescue insurance policies in the world, like I do (mine is done with the Global Rescue and it gets me covered up USD 500 000), you still have to deposit in advance via bank transfer 15,000 USD, money that you will get back, minus a service fee, if nothing bad happens. They got duped in the past by insurance companies or by people not getting them paid and now they will simply not fly otherwise. At the same time, it is their policy that a mission of such a magnitude needs and must be sustained by two helicopters flying in tandem. This is good information for anyone climbing in Pakistan. As Gavan notes, the cash requirements alone are drastically different than in Europe or Nepal. And on the search itself: Finally, on July 1st, the weather was crystal clear and I was picked up by the helicopter from the basecamp at 6 o’clock sharp. We soon reached the given GPS point and saw on that place precisely significant evidence of a massive slab avalanche: the fracture line, much debris and more disturbing, Alberto and Mariano’s tracks abruptly ending on one part of the fracture line and not showing up again in any other place. Other that this, absolutely nothing to be seen out of them. We went back to refuel and in the meantime I consulted with Alberto’s wife and decided for one more search flight. Also, in a pretty heated conversation in Spain I found out more information in five minutes than in all those days when I was continuously asking for more information. According to the Racetracker device, Alberto and Marino went just uphill the Mazeno, had no return tracks showing the intention of an early retreat from the climb, seemed they never reached the Mazeno Peak (on the contrary they were pretty far from doing that) and on their last known position the GPS emitted signal from the same spot for more than
K2 2017 Season Coverage: Weather Stalls Progress
Right on cue, bad weather moved into the Karakorum stopping a proposed summit attempt on Broad Peak and some rope fixing on K2. However, there has been progress in spots. Grace McDonald on Broad Peak with Furtenbach Adventures summed it all up perhaps for everyone in the Karakorum today: I made a stormy descent to base camp this morn while snow continues to dump on the mountain. I’m looking at alternative summit windows with other teams. Broad Peak: Stalled Lucas Furtenbach of Furtenbach Adventures described the poor weather that stopped their Monday summit plans: Weather forecast changed again so team forced to stay down at basecamp and wait. Lead guide Rupert Hauer went up to C2 with a sherpa to recover gear from destroyed tents after a storm. Lots of snow high up on the mountain. End of coming week looks like what could be a stable and calm summit window. Fingers crossed???? No news regarding teams that refuse to contribute anything. Blame and shame will follow after summit push. And a report to the officials???? Also on Broad Peak is Maaz Maqsood with his Team Maaz. This young climber is eager to do the climb for his country. He is accompanied by two high altitude porters from village Hushe. He told me “that’s the theme of my TEAM MAAZ where I climb with local mountain’s people in Pakistan, we are like brothers. Ali Durrani N Rozi Ali will be with me.” He posted: Can it Happen? the challenges r enormous, its gonna be the first Pakistani Expedition to the broad peak, where we all are Pakistani national ..we are really like three brothers, the relationship we have between us is like a brothers even we all the members of TEAM MAAZ are same, we are like brothers n we take care of each other up there, its our first priority always K2: Routes Starting Climbers on K2 are also stalled today but the route is in to C2. Fredrik Sträng on K2 notes the weather has been warm and the avalanche conditions are high. Looks like it’s going to snow for a while… probably will start hearing the avalanches coming crushing down soon. However, Mingma G. noted progress on the Abruzzi: We finished route to camp2 on K2 and we are waiting for next window to go camp 4. The commercial team run by Russell Brice, Himex , posted this update on the Česen Route aka Basque Route: After our good start we have been somewhat hindered by unsettled weather. It has not really been good enough to push through the technical and exacting route from the top of the fixed ropes to C2. We did give it a try yesterday but it was too cold and too windy to fix rope although all Sherpa’s, HAP and members did go to C1 and back to BC for lunch. Another K2 team to watch are the Poles who are scouting K2 for their anticipated winter attempt later this year. Lead by Jerzy Natkański they are also on the Česen. Nanga Parbat Update The sister of Mariano Galvan, who disappeared with Alberto Zerain in Nanga Parbat Mazeno ridge, Marisol Galván is trying to get in contact with three spanish climbers that are currently preparing for GI-GII traverse and that offered their help in the search of Mariano and Alberto before. If anyone can let them know, it would be appreciated. A Normal Year I often use this team to describe a season even when there’s bad weather, stalled rope fixing, discord amongst teams, etc. That is what climbing has become these days. Poor weather and snow conditions thwarted most summit in the Karakorum the last two years, but it is way too early to be sending out dire predictions. Remember, most K2 summits occur in late July and early August – weeks away at this point. This year, 2017, teams seemed to have arrived quite early so they will need to show extreme patience to wait out storms and the ropes before heading higher. Best of luck to all. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2017 Season Coverage: Search Halted on Nanga, Monday Summits on Broad?
The Karakorum season is off to a sad start with multiple deaths. Meanwhile teams are hoping for Monday summits on Broad Peak and others reach Camp 1 on K2. Search Ends for Climbers Nanga Parbat: search ends After a helicopter search found avalanche debris at the last GPS transmission point for the Spanish-Argentinian team of Alberto Zerain and Mariano Galvan the search has been halted. The last transmission was on June 24th. Desnivle posted this statement from their home teams: After two flights inspecting the entire edge, the helicopter has returned without finding any trace of the two climbers . Around 03:00 am (0600 p.m., Pakistani time), the first helicopter flight of the army began in a new attempt to search for alpinists Alberto Zerain and Mariano Galván. The reconnaissance was carried out in two phases, with a stop in between, at 06:00 a.m. (09:00 p.m., Pakistani time) to refuel and continue the search. The helicopter has crossed the edge several times, arriving to fly until the 7,400m of altitude, to fix its focus, in the second flight, in the penultimate and last known position of Alberto and Mariano, without success. In that last position that indicated the device of Racetracker that carried Alberto Zerain, is where they found a plaque of snow detached that ended up forming a avalanche. Situation that, sadly, leads to rule out the possibility of survivors. Elbrus: search ends The official search has also ended for American climber Steven Beare on Elbrus. He left for the summit on June 14 alone, was due back June 16, but never checked in. Bad weather forced other teams to turn back that day and reported seeing Beare alone climbing toward the summit in close to whiteout conditions. His wife, 11 weeks pregnant with their second child, told her local newspaper that private search-and-rescue teams are still searching for her husband and asks that people continue to pray and donate through Colorado Police Officers Foundation. My condolences to all involved. Broad Peak: Summits Soon? Teams are acclimatized on Broad Peak and looking at a Monday summit, conditions permitting. The last couple of years, deep and difficult snow conditions above Camp 3 stopped almost all of the efforts. There are many teams and independent climbers this year so I assume they will join forces to break trail to the summit, if possible. They include: Kari Kobler‘s team, Oscar Cadiach, Grace McDonald from Canada and Furtenbach Adventures. Rupert Hauer with Furtenbach Adventures posted on their Monday plans: After a few days of rest at Basecamp we received the news yesterday yesterday in the afternoon, that tents in the [Cmap] 2 were destroyed by storm. I then got up with a Sherpa at half-past four in the afternoon, and we could recover the equipment from two completely destroyed tents. It can go on !!! Tomorrow or over the morning the group comes after. The summit is planned for Monday! K2: Routes Starting Climbers are busy on K2. British-American Vanessa O’Brien reports that she just is at Camp 1 on the Abruzzi route today. The commercial team run by Russell Brice, Himex , posted this update on the Česen Route aka Basque Route Today before dawn the weather looked quite bleak with spots of rain falling at BC, but despite this we decided to at least try and make some progress and so the Sherpa’s, HAP and Shinji all left at 03.30 to start the rope fixing. The gamble paid off and so by 08.30 everyone had reached the C1 site having fixed 1,000m of rope. This is actually a very small and exposed place with just enough room for two tents so we do not actually use this. The three Sherpa’s continued fixing another 350m of rope towards C2, but by this stage the snow was to soft and deep so they deposited the remaining equipment and rope before retreating back to BC for a late lunch. The route is now about 500m below C2 and our surprise package which we are eager to reach. The day actually turned out to be relatively clear with long sunny periods in the morning but as the afternoon has progressed the upper sky has filled in with more threatening looking cloud, so again although we are planning on reaching C2 tomorrow we will have to wait and see what happens in the morning. Denali On the other side of the world, the Denali 2017 season has been a hard one with difficult snow and weather. The National Park Service reports a 36% summit rate, which would be the second lowest since 2000. Denali West Buttress Route source: National Park Service Year Total Summits % Top Summit Date # 2017 359 (thru 29 June) 36% May 31 100 2016 676 60% 2015 620 57 TBA 2014 404 35 June 4 99 2013 787 68 May 27 56 2012 492 44 N/A 2011 623 55 June 6 66 2010 630 56 June 21 54 2009 649 60 June 7 77 2008 652 58 May 30 91 2007 513 47 June 12 77 2006 545 52 May 29 50 2005 716 59 June 15 101 2004 628 54 June 4 71 2003 556 58 June 12 115 2002 575 53 June 13 56 2001 670 60 June 4 69 2000 556 53 June 3 71 It appears the Denali summit window is narrowing based on the last few years. Late April/early May is horribly cold and into July, dangerous crevasses open thus early June is the sweet spot, and of course the crowds. More trivia from Denali: Quick Facts – Denali Climbers from the USA: 677 (60% of total) Top states represented were Alaska (122), Washington (103), Colorado (95), and California (64) International climbers: 449 (40% of total) Foreign countries with the most climbers were the United Kingdom (52) Japan (39), France (28). In a three-way tie for fouth position were the Czech Republic, Korea, and Poland, each with 23 climbers. Nepal was close behind with 22. Of the less-represented countries, we welcomed just one climber each from Montenegro, Iceland, Mongolia, and Croatia. Average Trip Length Overall average was
K2 2017 Season Coverage: Missing Climbers, Cheating Climbers, Weather Windows
The Karakorum season has begun in earnest with teams preparing to fix the route on K2 and those on Broad Peak waiting for the weather window to firm up before they attempt the summit. Also, there are missing climbing on two peaks: Nanga Parbat and Elbrus plus discord at base camps. Missing Climbers Elbrus An American climber attempting Russia’s Mt. Elbrus, one of the 7 Summits, is missing. Steven Beare, a police officer, Army veteran and Colorado National Guardsman, lives in Colorado and left for the summit on June 14 alone. He was due back June 16, but never checked in. Bad weather forced other teams to turn back that day and reported seeing Beare alone climbing toward the summit in close to whiteout conditions. An exhaustive search has been underway the past few days including by aircraft with no success. It is reported today that the formal search has ended. Canadian Don Bowie, participated in the effort posted this image of GPS coordinates for one day of helicopter flight patterns over Mt. Elbrus plotted on Google Earth: Nanga Parbat Meanwhile on Nanga Parbat, the Spanish-Argentinian team of Alberto Zerain and Mariano Galvan have been missing since June 24th when their GPS tracker went silent. They were climbing the long and dangerous Mazeno Ridge in alpine style. Helicopters teams search the route with no success. Bad weather has stopped the efforts as of this post. Desnivle reports the details but also notes that in 2012 Rick Allen and Sandy Allan who performed the first ascent of the Mazeno Ridge on Nanga Parbat spent 18 days on the route and experienced communication problems. They cover it in this article. K2 It looks like K2 Base Camp is full and there will be activity on both of the major routes totalling around 82 climbers. Minga Gyalje Sherpa thru his company Dreamers Destination reports there are 39 climbers on the Abruzzi Route: 18 foreigners, 13 Nepalese, 8 Pakistani and 41 on the Sechen Route: 20 foreigners, 3 Nepalese, 9 Pakistani. The commercial team run by Russell Brice, Himex, arrived at K2 Base Camp yesterday. Brice posted this update: This morning we had a traditional Sherpa Puja for the 4 Sherpa who are with us with the local High Altitude Porters (HAP) who are the local equivalent also sitting in. One of the very interesting aspects of operating expeditions in these remote countries is the close contact that we have to various religions. It is also very interesting to see just how much respect and understanding there is between these people, a fine example to others. This was followed by a trip to Crampon Point (CP) where our Sherpa & HAP had established a route the day before. This point is marked by one solitary tent for storage of gear. Hopefully tomorrow we will start work on the hill in earnest by starting the rope fixing to C1. However the forecast is not that favorable so we will have to see what happens in the morning tomorrow. He also noted that he could see their tents at Camp 2, approximately 22,000 feet, using a telescope from base camp. He is hoping that some of their gear can be retrieved. Last year, an avalanche on 23 July destroyed tents, buried fixed ropes and swept way the cache of food and oxygen bottles at Camp 3 on the Abruzzi. Most climbers were at Camps 1 and 2, several reports said 25 Sherpas were on their way to fix ropes to Camp 4 when they found the destruction. K2 is well known for avalanches and Camp 2 on the Abruzzi is home to shredded tents from the hurricane winds as shown in my photo to the right. Brice was a bit surprised to see tents still there. He is on the Česen Route aka Basque Route, I believe. He added to his update: However we are very keen to get to C2 where much to my amazement I can still see 4 of our tents standing from 2015. With luck we just might find a considerable amount of equipment that we lost at that time, including oxygen, rope, and cooking equipment which will all save us a considerable number of loads that have to be carried from BC. Also various members have personal equipment and sleeping bags there, but we are dubious as to whether these will be useable or not. Time will tell. But at least members are excited that they might be reunited with some of their own gear. The Swedish climber, Fredrik Sträng, is back on K2 this year. He was on K2 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. Gasherbrum I/II At 26,362’/8035m. GII is often considered the most attainable of the Karakoram 8000ers. There have been about 340 summits of GI and 935 of GII. Karakorum Tours Pakistan has a small team of Americans and Spanish climbers in 2017. Last report had Juan Vallejo, Mikel Zabalza and Alberto Inurrategi at 6400 meters. Nanga Parbat At 26,660’/8126m Nanga is known to be one of the more technical 8000ers. – some will say harder than K2 by some routes. There have been around 360 summits including several in the 2016 winter leaving K2 as the only 8000er not summited in winter. An attempt is scheduled for this upcoming winter by the Poles According to the website Altitude Pakistan, Korean Kim HongBin on the Kinshofer route has hit poor conditions stalling his progress. Broad Peak 26,414’/8051m The Austrian team lead by Lucas Furtenbach reports the route is in to Camp 3 and they are awaiting a good weather window. Spanish climber Oscar Cadiach is also there as is Canadian Grace McDonald. Kari Kobler’s team has slept at Camp 2 and is ready to summit. Furtenbach posted: All team members back in basecamp. Acclimatization completed, route fixed to C3 by our sherpas. Now rest until a good weather window opens for a summit push. Strong team Climbers “Cheating” Finally, there are a lot of comments on climbers arriving
K2 2017 Season Coverage: Teams Begin Climbing
The climbing season in Pakistan’s Karakoram Range is well underway with teams arriving at base camps and some already spending a few nights at Camps 1 and 2 during their acclimatization rotations. There are reports of significant snow on the mountains. K2 Teams have just arrived at K2 base camp. British-American Vanessa O’Brien reports that she just arrived at K2 base camp today. Minga Gyalje Sherpa thru his company Dreamers Destination is doing the logistics for Vanessa on K2 plus three Chinese, another American, two Icelanders, one Norwegian and one Singaporean. They are also planning on Broad Peak. Russell Brice and his Himex team should also be there so we will have good reports soon. In the annual battle of who will be the first “American” woman to summit K2, it appears that both Vanessa O’Brien with both a British passport and an American passport is competing against Badía Bonilla from Mexico – geographically considered part of North America – for the obscure title of “First American Woman to Summit K2.” Bonnilla along with her husband Mauricio López were also on K2 last year when avalanche conditions stopped all climbers. Gasherbrum I/II At 26,362’/8035m. GII is often considered the most attainable of the Karakoram’s 8000ers. There have been about 340 summits of GI and 935 of GII. Karakorum Tours Pakistan has a small team of Americans and Spanish climbers in 2017. Juan Vallejo, Mikel Zabalza and Alberto Inurrategi have reached 6400 meters. Nanga Parbat At 26,660’/8126m Nanga is know to be one of the more technical 8000ers. – some will say harder than K2 by some routes. There have been around 360 summits including several in the 2016 winter leaving K2 as the only 8000er not summited in winter. According to the website Altitude Pakistan, Alberto Zerain and Mariano Galvan have ended their attempt via the Mazeno Ridge on the Diamir side of Nanga due to bad weather. On the other side of NB, Korean Kim HongBin on the Kinshofer route hit poor conditions as well. Broad Peak 26,414’/8051m Teams are all over Broad Peak, including a few who just arrived this weekend. Spanish climber Oscar Cadiach and Furtenbach Adventures are already at base camp. Furtenbach reports spending nights as high as Camp 3: Team up on the mountain again. Direct ascent to C2 (pic below) at 6200m yesterday, today to Camp 3 at 7100m and back down to C2 for another night. Tomorrow back to basecamp and acclimatization completed. Route was fixed by our sherpas. Ready for summit push when weather window opens. Grace McDonald from Canada reports about difficult snow conditions: Team was only able to tag about half way to C3. Rope fixing slowed by deep snow. 4 of us will go again tomorrow others go to basecamp. All sleep in C2 now. Rupert Hauer with Furtenbach is posting excellent reports. Kari Kobler’s team is reported to be at Camp 2. A Normal Start in Pakistan Thus far the season is starting like most do, the lower camps getting established, and climbers doing their acclimatization rotations. Once again we are seeing Nepal Sherpas doing a lot of rope fixing whereas in previous years, it was mostly the climbers themselves. Thus the Karakorum is becoming more like the Himalaya. The big question will be snow conditions above 7500 meters, and of course the unexpected weather. This is where the problems began the last two years. Hoping for the best for all. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything