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K2 and Karakorum Daily Wrap Up
Jun 28, 2004 12: 13 EST
Weather:
AdventureWeather predicts somewhat drier conditions next week. Several
troughs over the K2 area are resulting in this unsettled weather and quite
a lot of precipitation.
K2:
The 'Magic Line' team are hoping to fix Camp 1 at the Negrotto Col before the end of June.
Andalusia K2 reached Base Camp on the 23rd.
Italian K2 North Nives Meroi, Romano Benet and Luca Vuerich are in Base Camp. They report lots of snow and -10 degree temperatures.
Italian K2 South All remaining members
of the team have arrived in Base Camp, including recent Everest summiteers
Alex Busca, Karl Unterkircher and Mario Merelli.
Edurne Pasaban and the 'Al Filo' team; Possibly moving up to Camp 1 today.
International K2/ Broad Peak Iñaki Ochoa and Alex Txicon are in BC.
Broad Peak:
Austrian Broad/K2 double “The weather
cleared up now and we are starting to the summit on 29th, pushing up first
camp 3 at 7300m and continuing then directly to the summit, if everything
runs according to our plan. The mountain gets crowded now and it is time
to summit and head on then for K2, looking there for a quite route (maybe
the Cesen?) to avoid traffic on Abbruzzi Spur.”
Chad Kellogg: “Well I had a slight
delay in the summit bid due to two meters of new snow that fell over the
past week! I have patiently waited for two sunny days for the avalanches
to sweep the excess away. I am heading out tonight with the following three
members of the team: Fred, Rory and Alfred. Our goal is Camp 2. Our strategy
is to let two days pass so that other teams can kick the trail in up to Camp
2. Rory and I should then be ready to kick out the jams up to Camp 3. With
a bit of luck the two Austrians will join us for the summit push at Camp
3. Camp 3 should be set at 7400 meters. It may take Rory and I two days to
get from Camp 2 to 3. We may put in an intermediate camp at 7100 meters since
I expect that we will be the only two on the sharp end.
One thing to note is the objective danger between 6500 meters and 7100
meters. The typical route traverses from left to right across the glacier
above the first pressure ridge. The goal is the small rock ridge bisecting
the upper glacier. However, the traverse to the rock ridge is the highest
avalanche danger. I have scoped a line that is a bit more direct across a
bergshrund to the ridge at 7000 meters. That is the other reason I have been
playing the waiting game despite the glorious sun. Of course we will be moving
through the night into early morning. The weeks rest should equate to enough
reserves for the successful summit bid given weather and snow conditions.
I believe I have further acclimated in base camp at 5000 meters. By the next
dispatch I should be well into the mouth of the wolf.”
Alfred Schreilechner: “Finally the
weather has turned nice. Yesterday evening the clouds started disappearing
and today were a beautiful morning. It is still very cold and so the snow
sticks to the mountain. We hope that there are more avalanches tomorrow so
we can start our ascent on Broad Peak on Tuesday without playing Russian
roulette. Yesterday and today we had meetings of the expedition leaders to
discuss themes like tents, ropes, accidents, the weather report and radio
frequencies. We had a basic agreement on all these tasks, thus the climate
in BC is very good. This afternoon Peter, Fred, Chad, Rory and I had a separate
meeting with the Japan Dosanko Team about the Cesen (SSW) route. If the conditions
on the mountain allow we want to climb it together. The weather report for
the coming week is good, so hope has come back for making some summits. Three
guys from the Austrian Mountain Guides Team have paid us a visit today and
we were talking for a while before they left again for BP Basecamp.”
Adventure Peaks Stuart Peacock reports
“The weather is still bad. Apparently the worst weather in a long time. The
forecast for the next few days is more of the same. Dave arrived in camp
at 2:00pm so the team is now complete.
Field Touring Alpine Jamie McGuiness
reports; “Last night the fog looked ominous, and sure enough it was snowing
in the morning but for our porters, at least, were past the point of no return
and to surprised cries of "what, we are trekking in this?", our 100 or so
porters descended to pick up the loads.
The worry for me (Jamie) was the porters had been given an equipment
allowance, rather than the socks and sunglasses, and of course few had sunglasses,
but they all had friends coming down the trail who would soon enough be out
of the snow, so now at camp about 60% of them have battered glasses. We have
a few tender eyes, but no real snow blindness - yet.
It is frustrating to be in the middle knowing this would happen (it was
obvious from the weather forecast way back in Skardu) but being unable to
persuade the guide, sirdar or porters of the need. The general attitude is
happy-go-lucky rather than meticulously organised.
Tomorrow will be the biggest test for our porters, it is a long 6-7 hours
in good conditions and then they will race back down to Goro II, having left
all their supplies here.
With a good guide (Jalal) we have faired far better than any other expedition
we have met, we have all our gear with us and the majority of food, and are
moving at a pace we want. Roland's Broad Peak mixed team have climbing equipment
scattered from Askole to Urdukas and this morning their porters refused to
leave Goro II camp so we will share the trail with them tomorrow, if the
weather is kind.”
Nanga Parbat:
German Brother from the AlpinClub of Saxony report snow and are still in BC.
Gasherbrums:
Solo 8000 Italian Diego Giovannini reached Base Camp and is expecting three days of good weather.
Field Touring Alpine Sue Fear reports
“It was time for good byes for the Broad Peak team as the Gasherbrum II team
were staying a second day at Paiyu with a couple of people still noticing
the altitude and minor sickness
Ian and Sue both remarked how clean the campsites are; in years gone
by the camping places were surrounded by "brown Mr Whippy's", logs of occasionally
outrageous size, brown porridge and pink paper flowers. Now all the camp
sites up to Urdukas have many toilets, sinks and even solar lighting, all
looked after by a camp manager - a huge improvement. These camps were built
last year by an NGO (non-Government organisation).”
Carlos Pauner the team is holed-up in base camp due to the bad weather.
Alberto Iñurrategi, Jon Beloki and José Carlos Tamayo have been in Gasherbrums BC for several days now.
Adventure Tours Pakistan | Italian K2 | Alfred Schreilechner | German Shisha Pangma | Dutch Broad Peak | Carlos Pauner | Chad Kellogg | Adventure Peaks | Edurne Pasaban | Slovenian Gasherbrum | Solo 8000 project | Iñaki Ochoa | K2 Magic Line | Andalucía K2 | Austrian Broad Peak
Image of AdventurePeaks team trekking in through the scenic Concordia courtesy of Jamie McGuiness.
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