Stuart Peacock K2 & Broad Peak Expedition 2004 Dispatch 9

Several Days Updates

Hi All, Now from K2 Base Camp. The move up the glacier went well, we have a good position next to the Korean clean-up team. They have been working hard clearing rubbish from camp 3 down and on the glacier. There is still a bit of discussion regarding Broad Peak, if teams made the main summit or the pre-summit. From the route description given by the Swiss guide Kari, and time taken, the Sherpas and I seem to think we could have made the main summit, however we just can't be sure. Sonam & Purba spotted some Tibetan Flags in the snow on the summit, which I didn't see. I also recorded a GPS waypoint just off the summit which I hoped would line up with one of our maps. When we checked out the Longitude & Latitude the Northing placed us as far as the main summit, however the Easting placed us 300 yds west of the ridge in free space, which could be a fault of the GPS or the map. At the end of the day we cannot guarantee with any certainty that it was the main or pre-summit, especially as the cloud had come in. Although it's only a few meters difference in height and people still bag the  mountain on the pre-summit, it would be nice to know one way or the other, not that it changes much. We'll just have to be content with where we got to wherever that may be.

The weather is due to start taking a turn for the worse later on tomorrow. We are planning to make a cache at camp 1 before the weather sets in. All being well the weather will be clearing by Tuesday. The Swiss have made good progress on the mountain and have established camp 4 via a new more direct route from camp 3.

We are all well and I'm certainly glad of the weather coming in to rest properly, ready for making real progress on the mountain next week. Thankfully tent spaces have become available at camps 1 & 2, which was a concern early on in the trip, so things are looking good so far.

No false summits to cloud this one !!!

Regards, Stu

Stu summited Everest and made a movie in which he filmed most of the route click on the picture below to see more about this video (DVD and VHS).

Dispatches

 

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