I always wanted to visit the Himalayas in Pakistan. The
mountains are legendary: Gasherbrum I,Gasherbrum II, Nanga Parbat, Broad Peak and,
of course, K2. The view from the confluence of three glaciers at Concordia is live
postcard few get to see in person. In the summer of 2006, I attempted Broad Peak
(26,401') with the plan to then make a good effort on K2 (28,250'). Please take
a look at the pictures and read the dispatches sent during the climb - follow the
links below the page title.
My thanks to all who purchased T-shirts to raise money for the
earthquake survivors. You raised more than $300.
This Q & A page includes questions of interest about Alan
and the climb.
About me :
Q: Who are you, Alan?
A: I am just a guy who likes challenges and accomplishments. I am
49 years old and have a full time job at a high-tech company. I started climbing
in 1995 with a summit of Mont Blanc being my first big mountain. I don't pretend
to be anything special or particularly gifted but I am ambitious and have some common
sense. I think I know my limitations and my potential so I like to test myself in
many areas. Alpine mountaineering is a great sport for me since it tests my physical,
emotional and mental strength.
Q: Weren't you too old for this, especially K2?
A: Normally age is not the primary factor in alpine mountaineering.
One of the youngest climbers to summit K2 was Kazuhiro Takahashi, 22, Japanese in
1996. The oldest was Spanish climber Carlos Soria, 65 on July 28, 2004. Most big
mountain climbers are in their mid 30's to late 40's. Unless you are a professional
climber, guide or photojournalist it is difficult to get the magic mix of experience,
time and money to attempt 8,000m mountains early in life. All that said, now at 49,
I do not climb like I did 15 years ago!
Q: You did not summit Everest two years in a row, what made you think
you had chance at K2?
A: Fair question! There were a number of factors for me in this attempt.
I tried to cover them in more detail in this short essay I
wrote before the climbs but the essence is that I simply love mountaineering. It is
the climb, the camaraderie with my fellow climbers, the struggle against the Hill
that I go for. The summit is a gift, not a result of my efforts. My goal was to summit
Broad and make a good effort on K2. I had a great time regardless of not making the
summits.
Q: What was your association with FTA?
A: In February of 2005 I summited Aconcagua along
with Stu Remensynder of Field Touring Alpine. It
was an excellent climb and I was impressed by Stu and Dave Hancock, the
owner of Field Touring (FTA). They ran a value priced climb that depended on each
climber to be somewhat self-sufficient but provided enough basic level of support
that the climbers could focus on the climb and not all the logistics. It was in this
spirit that Dave and I began talking about something "special" in the Karakorum Range
of Pakistan in 2006. FTA has been running treks and climbs in the Karakorum for over
10 years. He is one of the few commercial outfits that runs trips year in, year out.
Once we agreed on a Broad Peak/K2 double header, Dave asked me to get involved with
the organizing and selection of climbers as a member. This website has a loyal following
around the world so we wanted to leverage it to reach out to qualified climbers.
To be clear, Dave and FTA ran the expedition. It was a Field Touring expedition
with all their terms and conditions. Climbers agreed to FTA policies and paid
all money to FTA.
The Expedition:
Q: What was the expedition philosophy?
A: This was not a standard "guided" expedition in the same
sense I went on to Everest or Cho Oyu. While there were professional climbers along
as well as local Pakistani climbers with high altitude experience, this expedition
was more independent in nature. We set up our own tents, cook our own HA meals,
carry a lot of group gear and fix some of our own ropes up the mountains. We
needed to be very self-sufficient. The plan was to acclimatize during the Broad peak
climb while some of the high altitude porters were fixing the route on K2 and stocking
the camps with food, fuel, tents and oxygen. The plan was to move straight onto
K2 and reduce the time spent on the Abruzzi Ridge. Of course, the weather had
the final say on K2!
Q: Who is Field Touring Alpine?
A: From their website: "Field Touring has been developing
and operating alpine and expedition programs at the highest level since pioneering
dozens of Karakorum treks for University students in the early 1990's. The company
is the most active organizer of climbs and high altitude treks in Australia, and
our work in seeking out and administering top end adventure experiences at cost effective
prices has been chronicled in dozens of magazine articles and on National Geographic
and Discovery Channel TV."
Q: What was their history on 8,000m climbs?
A: They ran climbs to Broad Peak in 2003, 2004 and 2005 making
the summit 2003 and 2004. Also to Gasherbrum II in 2004. This was their first
K2 expedition and it was a learning experince for all involved. No expedition
put any climbers on the summit of K2 in 2005 due to the worst snow year in memory.
Q: How did FTA perform?
A: This was a low budget expedition
so nothing was over the top, fancy or luxurious. It was a very minimal level
of service. The climbers all knew this coming in but still there were a few surprises.
FTA coordinated with Adventure Tours Pakistan (ATP) which provided all the porters,
cooks, basecamp group tents as well as most of the basecamp food.
Q: How did ATP perform?
A: There were a few snags with the HAPs not wanting to fix ropes
and confusion over who provided food above BC. But overall they did a pretty good
job of getting 29 people from Islamabad to Basecamp! The food was very basic and
I wish we had had more meat in the diet. The cook was fairly
rigid in his beliefs that a bland diet of rice and lentils were sufficient. He did
respond to our request but could only work with what he had.
Q: Had there been commercial expeditions before on K2?
A: 2004, the 50th anniversary of the first K2 summit, was a banner
year for K2 summit - over 40 summits! Most expeditions were national teams or small
teams of climbing friends. Some climbers paid to become part of larger teams thus
you could consider them to have been on a "commercial expedition". Not
that this was really an important question but we believed that our effort was the
first widely publicized K2 climb that was open to any qualified climber.
Q: How many climbers were on the expedition and how are they selected?
A: The combined climb had 23 climbers plus 7 HAPs and 250 porters
to carry loads from Askolie to basecamp. There were 15 who attempted both BP and
K2, 8 for BP only and 5 trekking to basecamp. Climbers were asked to submit their
climbing application and were selected based on their experience and skills.
Q: Wasn't this too many climbers?
A: Not really. It all worked out quite well. The only sticky point
was coordinating who went to which camp in order to make sure the was enough tents
for sleeping. Otherwise, everyone got along nicely. The key was logistics and organization.
This was one of the reasons only experienced climbers were invited for this double
header.
Q: How long did the climb take? And why so long?
A: 9 weeks for the combined BP and K2 climb. June 1 to August 5. This
about 2 to 3 week longer than a Broad Peak climb due to the additional mountain!
The BP only climbers left BC around July 12th. It took
almost 2 weeks to get to basecamp from Islamabad
as well as more time getting our bodies acclimatized to the higher altitudes.
Q: Was there web site coverage?
A: Yes. On this site on
the dispatch page. Also Wilco sent original
dispatches back to his site.
Also the FTA
site and Carl
Drew reposted all my dispatches. K2climb.net covered
us plus the other Karakorum expeditions that year. A new site Everytrail.net also
provided coverage.
Q: How did you communicate back home?
I used a satellite phone from Thuraya for
my personal use to transmit both voice and data from anywhere on
the mountain as well as during the trek in. Unlike in Nepal, there are no tea houses
with phone service or internet cafes in basecamp. The phone worked extremely well.
Q: What were the climb results?
A: First, all the BP climbers returned home safely. On BP, there
were 5 true summits plus 3 more who climbed to the foresumit or beyond and 3
HAPs who go to the base of the final top but did not stand on the true top out
of respect for the mountain. On K2, 13 climbers climbed the mountain with 4 making
serious attempts for the summit. No one made it due to deteriorating weather
but they did reach Camp 3. Only 4 climbers summited K2 in 2006.
Q: What about you Alan?
A: I reached 21,000' or Camp 2 on Broad Peak then I left around June
30 to return home. I contracted a severe bug on the trek in that absolutely destroyed
my strength. I felt the safe decision was not to push myself higher and get into
trouble but to return home where I could seek better medical attention to resolve
the problem.
Preparation
Q: What was your training like?
A: Aerobic capacity, muscular
strength, balance and attitude. I ran, lifted weights, stretched and used
visualization techniques to address these areas. I climbed Colorado 14ers through
out the previous winter. I had to reduce my running since
my knees just would not take it anymore so I used an elliptical machine instead.
When I did run, I changed from long 8 mile runs to 3 miles runs with intervals. Also,
I actually put on weight since I knew that I would lose 20lbs or more (and I did
lose 22lbs) during the expedition and on Everest that weight loss made me weaker.
To see what I did for Everest, please see the short story about my training that
provides much more information.
Q: Can you prepare for the altitude?
A: As you go higher, the barometric pressure decreases, although the air still
contains 21% oxygen, every breath contains less molecules of oxygen.You cannot do
much to acclimatize at low altitudes but there are companies that claim to help the
acclimatization process through specially designed tents that simulate the reduced
oxygen at higher elevations. I have no personal experience or knowledge of these
systems but you can find more details at the Hypoxic website. They cost about $7,000.
However, the common approach is to take several on-mountain weeks to prepare for
the summit bid on a big mountain. The body needs to create more red blood cells that
carry oxygen. By climbing higher than the previous day then returning to a lower
altitude, your body creates these red blood cells. This process cannot be avoided
otherwise you will suffer from cerebral edema (the brain swells) or pulmonary edema
(fluid build-up in the lungs). The only cure is to get lower fast (at least 1,000
feet) but if you are high up on the mountain this is often impossible and death is
the result.
The Broad
Peak Climb Plan
Q: Which route was used for BP?
A: The west ridge route. This is what is considered the "normal" route.
There were four camps at roughly 19,000', 21,000', 22,000' and 24,200'.
The summit is 26,401'. I believe we all found it more difficult than we had believed.
It was unforgivably steep from base to summit - a surprise for must of us.
Q: Anything special or unique about Broad Peak?
A: BP is often called an "easy" 8000m mountain in the sense that
there is almost no technical climbing (e.g. vertical walls). However there is always
avalanche dangers plus the biggest challenges is that Broad Peak actually has three
summits. Many climbers who claim they have summited Broad have actually only attained
the fore-summit. It is another hour, more or less, across a clean ridge that allows
climber to claim the true summit at 26,407. As I said, we found it challenging. Also
one climber from another team died near the summit from dehydration and exhaustion
plus another climber also from another team had to be rescue from a crevasse.
Q: What kind of weather conditions did you experience?
A: We had unbelievable good weather with almost three straight weeks
of clear skies and no winds. However at the summit it snowed often and was windy
which obscured the route after it was pout in by our leaders. June 2006 was very
unusual.
Q: How was climbing Broad?
A: I only climbed to 21,000' or camp 2 but I can safely say that every
person on our team was surprised about the difficulty of Broad. The walk from BC
to the start of the route was 2 hours. The route started with a several hundred foot
scree climb and then maintained a steady 45 to 60 degree angle all the way to the
col at around 25,500' It was steep and never let up. All the camps were on at least
30 degree angles. In 2006, the snow started to melt out near the base resulting in
mushy conditions and revealed rock hard frozen ice below Camp 1. Near the summit,
the snow was crusty and deep which exhausted the early summiteers due to trail breaking.
The K2 Climb
Plan
Q: Which route was planned for K2?
A: The Abruzzi Spur. This is what is considered the "normal" route
on K2. There are five named routes on the Pakistani side and two on the Chinese side.
There are four camps on the Abruzzi route at 20,000', 22,000', 23,500' and 25,000'.
The summit is 28,250'.
Q: What kind of weather conditions did you experience?
A: Hot, cold, windy and snowy. As the team left BP, the weather turned
back to "normal" for the Karakorum - cold, windy and lots of snow. The Karakorum
is notorious for bad weather. Unlike on Everest where years of expeditions have made
forecasting a science (or maybe not if you ask the 2005 climbers), K2 weather is
almost impossible to predict. However we had access to the forecast via AdventureWeather.com
and make our judgments based on those plus our own observations. 2005
was a horrible year for weather on K2 with so much snow that no one summited K2 and
few made it to the summit of other 8,000 Hills nearby.
Q: What was the bottled oxygen plan?
A: Bottled oxygen is usually not used on Broad Peak. For a few climbers
on K2, they used the time tested Poisk system.
Q: Who are High Altitude Porters?
A: These are Pakistani climbers who work on the 8,000m mountains in
the Karakorum each year. Similar to Sherpas in Nepal, they carry loads and fix ropes.
However, they have a different work ethic than the Sherpas you hear about, It is
not uncommon for HAP to refuse to climb in bad weather or above certain altitudes.
This means we will had to be prepared to be self-sufficient on the climbs. That
said, there are exceptional Pakistani climbers out there.
Q: How did the High Altitude Porters perform?
A: Mixed. They were fine to carry loads up the mountain but refused
to fix lines. They complained a lot about food, workload and the weight of their
loads.
It seemed like there was always an issue to manage with them. On the other side,
they showed great caring and compassion for climbers in need and willingly made extra
trips to the high camps to ferry tents. The bottom line is that we could not count
on them for difficult tasks so it was good we were self sufficient and had capable
leaders to establish and fix the route.
Q: What kind of gear did you use?
A: I used the same gear I took on Everest - lot's of layers and
down. The technical equipment included my ropes, screws, anchors, long handle ice
axe, harness, carabineers and crampons. It was critical to protect my toes, fingers
and face since these were most susceptible to frost bite. I have a gear
page for reference. I was very pleased with all my gear but have a few standouts
during this climb. I note these on my gear page.
Q: Any issue - good or bad - this time?
A: I had a poor experience with my new sleeping mat (pad) from Exped
Downmat 9. I don't know if was me or the product but the inflation technique never
worked at altitude and the pad last air during the night leaving me to sleep with
rocks poking me in my back! Unfortunately I counted on this new pad totally and did
not take my trusty Thermarest - my mistake. My new Feathered Friends down jacket
with hood was excellent. Also my couscous food approach worked well as did using
Accel Gel sports/energy gel. However using their protein sports drink did not work
for me - could not stomach it at altitude.
Broad Peak and
K2 Facts
Q: Exactly where is Broad Peak and K2?
A: In northwest Pakistan about 30 miles from the border with India.
The nearest village is Askolie, about a 6-8 day trek from Base Camp.
Q: How did K2 get her name?
A: Most mountains are named after nearby sites, the surveyor, some
geographical feature or religious symbol. But since K2 is not visible from any village,
it kept the name given by her surveyor, TG Montgomerie, when he was surveying the
Karakorum peaks in 1856.
Q: What were the standout climbs?
A: It was first summited in 1954 by two Italians:
Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni. In 2004, five Catalan
climbers attempted the extremely difficult route dubbed the Magic Line placing
one climber, Jordi Corominas on the summit. It was
a miraculous climb chronicled by K2climb.net.
Q: How many people have summited and how many people have died trying?
A: According to AdventureStats there
have been 191 summits (compared with approximately 1600 on Everest). Forty nine climbers
have died on K2, twenty-two while descending from the summit making it is the most
deadly mountain in the world. K2 has a special reputation for women climbers.
Basque climber Edurne Pasaban was the sixth woman to climb K2 in 2004 and is the
only one still alive today. All five women have died while climbing - 3 descending
from K2's summit and 2 on other 8,00m peaks.
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