K2 2021 Summer Coverage: K2 Summit Push Starts

K2 Climbers 2014. © www.alanarnette.com

The K2 teams are leaving Base Camp for the summit push targeting July 27th and 28th.  The poor weather has finally let up and they are hoping the winds will be calm on the summit.

Karakorum Big Picture – It’s Time

Climbing is all about patience and waiting for the right weather, after years, months, and days of training, gaining experience, and preparation for the summit push. It is all coming together for the teams on K2 as they depart Base Camp for the summit. The schedule has become clearer and appears to be targeting summits on July 26th, 27th, and 28th.

  • Day 1: Climb to C1
  • Day 2: Climb to C2 (potential rest day added)
  • Day 3: Climb to C3
  • Day 4: Climb to C4 and leave at midnight for the summit
  • Day 5: Summit and return to at least C3 if not C2.
  • Day 6: Return to Base Camp

I remain concerned about the snow depth on the upper mountain and the crevasse that created issues for the winter team just a few months ago. Hopefully, the big winds from this past storm cleared much of the soft snow away and the bright sunlight will bind the layers before the climbers go above the Black Pyramid.

K2 – Climbing!

Pioneer Adventure gave this update as their teams leave Base Camp:

With the weather being clear out First team lead by Mr. Lakpa Sherpa is headed towards Camp 1 from Base Camp today for their final summit push.
Our Second team lead by Mr. Mingma Dorchi Sherpa will be making their way from Base Camp to Camp 2 tomorrow for the final summit push. Both the team have planned the final summit on 27 July 2021.

And Madison Mountaineering is leaving Saturday, July 24:

After a nice rest in base camp we’re off on our summit rotation! Heading up tomorrow to camp 1, and looking at a potential summit day of July 28th. Fingers crossed for good weather and route conditions!

No update from the other large team on K2, Karakorum Expeditions. They are just coming off a difficult time on Broad Peak so they may lag a day or two longer at BC.

The West Ridge team of Graham Zimmerman and Ian Welsted have not updated in a few days but fully expect them to be climbing during this window.

Finally, Sajid Ali Sadpara who is searching for his father and two teammates who went missing this past winter will probably return to Camp 4 and the Bottleneck to continue the search.

Broad Peak – Another Summit Attempt

It appears some of the climbers who didn’t make it to the true summit in the last push will try again this Sunday, July 25, 2021. It may include Asif Bharti, and Sa’ad Mohamed with their Project Thin Air. They want to climb with no HAP support or Os.


Teams and Trackers (partial list)

Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything


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3 thoughts on “K2 2021 Summer Coverage: K2 Summit Push Starts

  1. Hi Alan, it seems that you missed some Romanians on GII. Laura Mares was on top with Justin Ionescu and Paul Diac with another expedition. All of them were without O2. Cheers, Lucian

  2. Alan, I have been following this post after reading several books on the 2008 K2 disaster. I love checking in and seeing how the climbers are doing! Thanks for keeping the world up to date…..

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