K2 2017 Season Coverage: High Camp Chaos – Update 2

The scene at K2 high camp is disjointed. Some climbers feel it is too dangerous, while others are going for the summit. The route is covered in deep snow and the weather window is tiny so those choosing to stay will have climb fast and efficient and have a lot of luck on their side to avoid a serious disaster.

UPDATE 2

The team of 14 (9 Sherpas, 5 westerners) are moving steadily. no word on mountain conditions or weather but the window was forecasted to be short meaning if they summit, they will most likely descend in harsh wind and snow – but this could be wrong which is what they are betting on, I assume)

The summit is 28,251”/8611m.

John Snorri Sigurjónsson ‘s GPS show him at  27, 020’/8236m at 8:16 am local time

Vanessa O’Brien’ GPS shows her at 27,112’/ 8263m at 9:30 am local time

They have been moving for over 9 hours.

Climbers Leaving, Some Pushing

There are at least 5 westerners and 9 Sherpas at Camp 4 on K2: Mingma G Sherpa, owner of Dreamers Destination (DD) – a Nepali based guide service posted:

We’ll depart from our camp4 at 11pm local time. We are now 14 climbers ready for summit push. More news will be given tomorrow after 10am.only my team is pushing for K2 summit.

Kami Sherpa and his Singapore member are not part of this team with the member choosing not to try to summit. They are at base camp. British-American Vanessa O’Brien’ is climbing with Mingma, follow her GPS tracker

Icelander John Snorri Sigurjónsson with Tsering Sherpa have their GPS tracker going and showed them at 7834m. John is identified with Ascent Himalayas but also on the DD permit.

C4 is at 25,080’/7600m. The summit is 28,251”/8611m.

Here is my best assumption of who is on this summit push:

Sherpas:

1. Mr. Mingma G Sherpa, climbed Everest-5, K2, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu,Annapurna and Gasherbrum-I.
2. Mr. Dawa Gyalje Sherpa, climbed Everest- 7 times, Lhotse, Manaslu, Gasherbrum-I, Gasherbrum-II and Sishapangma.
3.  Mr. Tsering Pemba Sherpa, Climbed Everest-7 times, Lhotse, Cho Oyu and Manaslu
4. Mr. Nima Tshering Sherpa, Climbed Everst-3times, Lhotse, Cho Oyu and Manaslu
5. Mr Nima Nuru Sherpa, climbed Everest-9 times, Cho Oyu, Manaslu and Sishapangma
6. Mr. Ngatashi Sherpa, Climbed Everest, K2, Kanchenjugna, Lhotse, Makalu, Dhaulagiri and Manaslu.
7. Mr. Ali Reza, Climbed Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum-I, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum-II. (If success-He will be among Pakistani who climbed all 5x8000m in Pakistan. Till now, only 3 have achieved it)
8. Mr. Fazal, climbed K2 and Gasherbrum-II. (If success-only Pakistani to climb K2 twice)
9. Mr Aminlluah, climbed K2, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum-I and Gasherbrum-II. This year going to Broad Peak. (If success-He also will be among Pakistani who climbed all 5x8000m in Pakistan. Till now, only 3 have achieved it)

Members:

1. Vanessa O’Brien (British-American)
2. John Snorri Sigurjónsson (Icelander)
3.  Mr. Zhang Liang (China)
4. Mr Liu Yong Zhong(China)
5. Ms. Dong Hongjuan(China)

Another Day …

 Fredrik Sträng and the Polish team have returned to base camp. Fredrik is suggesting he will wait for a better window later – a big gamble that it will emerge but a smart decision not to push during this small one. His home team posted:

Fredrik just called from BC. They aborted the ascent at aprox. 7400 meters due to bad weather and dangerous conditions with little visibility, waist-deep snow and avalanches. Fredrik and his climbing partner will now wait and think about what to do depending on the next days’ weather. The Polish team is also back in BC and all climbers here are well and fit for another ascent if the weather and conditions improve. The sat-phone connection has been very poor and therefore the lack of updates

Andrzej Bargiel who wants to ski down from the summit of K2 posted 10 hours ago. I assume he is not pushing for the summit.

After a couple days with bad weather, snowfalls and no visibility, the sun has finally came out today. There’s a little “window” but according to various forecasts, the weather will change again in the evening. There is simply not enough time to think about a summit attack. We have to patiently wait for conditions to improve…

Broad Peak Summits!!

As I previously noted, there were summits on Broad Peak today.

On Broad Peak, Tunç Fındık  posted they summited along with Oscar Cadiach, Yusuf and Ali!. This completes all 14 of the 800ers for Oscar and is Tunic’s 11th.

Oscar told the media:

Tarragona, after fourteen hours of climbing, made a peak a few minutes after 8.41. Oscar Cadiach has succeeded. The mountaineer from Tarragona has managed to make the summit of Broad Peak, going through history as the first Catalan in history that has made the fourteen eight thousand of the planet without the need for artificial oxygen and the twentieth to do it in all Planet After starting the climb at 5:00 PM on Wednesday, Cadiach reached the point of 8,051 meters few minutes after 8:30 hours, confirming the summit in a direct call to the program El Puente de Mahoma de Tarragona Ràdio: «I love you , We made the summit, always up Catalonia! I am at the top of the Broad Peak summit, it has been very windy, it has been very hard, we have not been able to communicate before, “explained Cadiach.

Congratulations to all these climbers!

Best of luck to all

Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything