K2 Blog

Hello!

It took a lot longer than I expected, due to computer issues and life in the “real world”, but the slide show is ready.  Have a look!  BTW, there have already been discussions about a 2012 K2 Expedition–I might be back there next year.  If so, I’ll be blogging back to the world as I did this year, but hopefully with increased frequency.

Many thanks to Andy Tague at Interstellar Design for producing the website, blog and slide show!

Slide Show: CLICK HERE For The Slideshow

Also-there are a few short videos I made on the mountain:

Broad Peak-Basecamp:

Broad Peak-Camp 2:

Thanks for all the support!

Rob

Hello there!

It’s been a crazy week–I just got back to Islamabad tonight and I’m doing my best to get on a flight tomorrow morning back to NYC. Anyway–wow, a lot has gone on since my last post!  Thanks to my brother Erik for updating my blog in my absence.  As you know, my climb of K2 ended between Camps 2-3.  Why I turned around is a LONG story.  In a nutshell (and to sugar coat things), our high altitude porters weren’t in position to carry our oxygen/team gear when it came time to move up to Camp 3.  I tried to carry oxygen, a tent, cooking gas, food and all my personal gear to Camp 3 and it just wasn’t going to happen.  I still have an incredibly bitter taste in my mouth about the whole thing, but I am going to restrain myself until I have a full discussion with my expedition company.  Obviously, if you are going to end a climb, you want to do it for a very good reason.  That did not happen in this case.

Once I descended to basecamp, I wanted to get out of there ASAP so I trekked out with two kids, a donkey and my gear back to Askole (where a jeep met us).   This really brought a smile back to my face!  The 2 kids, Walam-nambi and Kajair, are 16 and 13 (I `believe the donkey is 4) and are super hardcore–they did what is normally a burly 60-70km, 4-5 day trek over very rocky terrain in 2.5 days and never complained once.  Walam-nambi actually got a cut on his foot on the first day and wore flip-flops for the last 1.5 days!  Are you serious?  I have mad respect for those kids! (Pic to follow)

Walam-nambi and Kajair

The next step was jumping on the jeep from Askole to Skardu.  Well, it wasn’t that straightforward..there was an active landslide blocking the road midway, so we had another jeep waiting for us on the other side of the slide.  We ran across the landslide area with my bags as baseball sized rocks flew past us.  It couldn’t have been easy, right? I got on a domestic flight from Skardu to Islamabad today–and that pretty much takes us up to right now.

Anyway–I have a bunch of pictures and “bonus features” (short vids) to download to my posts.  I’ll get those downloaded ASAP and put together a slideshow in the next week or so (with Andy’s help)

The last 2 months have been an amazing journey for me–to quote Blade Runner, “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe”.  It’s hard to wrap your mind around the natural beauty above the Baltoro glacier–truly breathtaking.  I’ll never forget some of those images, like my first view of K2 or how the summit pyramid burned red at dawn when I saw it from Broad Pk.  All of that being said, it’s a hard place..humans literally cannot survive there for an extended period of time.  That’s why I have a big smile on my face when I write:  For tonight at last, I’m coming home.

Thanks for all of the comments and support over the last 2 months!  I’ll see you soon!

Video Of Me Back In Skardu

Some Images From the Expedition
Click Images To Enlarge

Rob

FTA K2 2011 – Summit Push Aborted
From Stu in the usa office
6 August 2011

After pushing to C4 and spending the night in preparation for a summit attempt the winds were simply too strong and Sophie, Lakpa and all HAP’s have descended to C2. On Sunday they will drop back to BC and we expect to have more news and updates when they are down safe and sound.

The team will need to clear the higher camps of gear on the 8th and be ready for the porters on the 9th or 10th.

We are glad that our K2 team has given the mountain a good effort but summits attempts are simply not possible in the winds they had and even high winds are coming in tomorrow leaving no more windows for our team this summer.

Chris will be dropping a few audio dispatches in the days ahead and a final report when he gets back to Skardu in a few days time.

http://fieldtouring.blogspot.com/2011/08/fta-k2-2011-summit-push-aborted.html

Hey Everybody – I haven’t heard from Rob, but according to Explorersweb.com the summit push for all the climbers was aborted because of high winds and they are all heading back to Base Camp.  You can read more about this here:

http://explorersweb.com/everest_k2/news.php

4th Aug 11 at 12:58:41
Satellite Phone Update

Hey there, this is Chris calling from K2 Base Camp with another update for everyone out there who’s watching and listening. So yeah, the team has moved up to basically just below the Shoulder today.   I think they’re gonna be spending another day up high on the Shoulder.  Tomorrow they’re gonna try to fix ropes above the Shoulder which is in an area called Bottleneck, then the rest of the teams on the mountain are going to join them. So up there right now we’ve got basically just Lakpa, Sophie and 2 high altitude porters. Rob ended up coming down, things just weren’t working out for him  so he came down he’s all good but he’s going back tomorrow he’s managed to get himself some porters and so he’s gonna head back down the valley tomorrow so we’ll be kinda sad to see him go, but he’s all good. Yeah in the meantime we got a whole bunch of teams up there all small teams we got Fabrizio (Zangrilli), Kinga (Baranowska), and Gerfried (Goeschl), Nisar, Alex Txikon up there.  Whole bunch of people.  They’re all working together to open the route up between  3 and 4 on the Cesen, or Basque Route on K2 which is a very difficult day, between 3 and 4, almost a thousand meter day with steep rock and snow climbing. As far as I know now, I just spoke to them, they’re … just below the Shoulder.  Tomorrow they have a little ways to go to get to the Shoulder proper and then yeah.   Everything’s good, I’ll keep you posted as much as I can over the next 24 to 48 hours.  Then, they’re going to the summit.  Likely be going on … Saturday, Pakistan local time, so I’ll obviously keep you guys posted.   Ok, so this is Chris and Sierra? from K2 Base Camp, signing out.

http://fieldtouring.blogspot.com/2011/08/ipadio-ftas-channel-27th-phonecast.html

FTA K2 2011 – Summit Push update

from Stu in the USA office

Chris called in to let us know that the summit push is under way and they  reached C3 on the 3rd as planned. Sophie, Lakpa, Farhad, Aziz and Said were in C3 last night and hope to push to C4 today. Rob came back down to BC after pushing towards C3 and is reconsidering his options at this time.

The winds have been very strong even at base camp so they will be watching carefully this afternoon and evening for the very latest reports before making a final call on a summit bid on the 5th. All members are safe and sound and Chris will have more later today on how the push to C4 has gone. Stay tuned!

-Stu

Per the Gerfried Goeschl/Alex Txikon websites, climbers have reached Camp 3 at 7100 meters.  Gerfried Goeschl reports there are at least 11 climbers climbing according to the same summit schedule (likely Rob is in this group although I can’t find direct confirmation at this time).    It took 6 1/2 hours from Camp 2 to 3.   He reports:  “Das Wetter ist gut”. 

Plan is to reach the K2 “shoulder” tomorrow at 7800 meters.  Summit attempt is still planned for Friday, August 5.

http://www.gerfriedgoeschl.at/

FTA K2/Broad Peak 2011 – Update from K2 BC

From Stu in the USA office,
31st July, 2011

Chris has called in with an update from K2 where the team is now resting in preparation for a summit bid. Lakpa, Chris and the HAPs (Farhad, Aziz and Said) have now carried gear (rope, tents etc) and oxygen in C2 in preparation for a summit push this week. Everyone is back at BC with a rest day planned for August 1st. As it stands they plan to ascend to C2 on the 2nd, C3 on the 3rd, C4 on the 4th and then make a summit bid on the 5th.  They are running into deep snow high on the route and this will represent a real challenge to establishing camp on the Shoulder in the days ahead so there will be a need for sharing the hard work to do.

They are hopeful to make a bid on Friday the 5th and the weather will dictate this possibility. The predictions have been for calm summit winds for the 2nd to 5th but there looks now to be rising summit winds on the 5th so that window may close before they can make this push in which case they will hope for another window the following week.

At this time FTA members Sophie, Rob and Lakpa will plan to make a summit bid with Chris planning to be in C2 in support during the bid.  Farhad, Aziz and Said plan to deposit O2 and other gear in C4 and return to C3 on the 3rd. It is a real challenge for them to deliver these supplies to C4 and our success will depend a lot on how successful they are in their role. They have worked very hard for for our team on Broad Peak and have been a tremendous asset to the expedition as a whole.

Chris notes that the group of climbers now assembled on the Cesen are largely familiar to each other and that they are cooperating very well. Among them are FTA alum Alex Txicon who became the youngest Basque climber to reach an 8000m summit in 2003 on Broad  Peak. As well Bruno Buchet who was with FTA in 2005 on Broad Peak is on the hill and joining to push. Fabrizio and Kinga who had planned to climb a different route but have been forced by conditions back on to known ground.  Christian, Gerfried and more round out the assembled group. Initially teams were to have been on up to three different routes but now all hopes lie in the Cesen from the Pakistan side.

We’ll have more news in the days ahead with the team’s progress.

After  long deliberation about making a bid on G2, Wim has decide to come on out and not make the climb. He had hoped that some teams would still be on the hill and the route in reasonable shape but by the sounds of it G2 is becoming quite deserted and not a safe enough objective without others on the hill. He should be out in 3 days to Skardu and we’ll let you know when he is out.

The remainder of the team have all reached safely to Skardu and are on their way to Islamabad. They and all of us continue to have Jeff’s loss very much affecting us and our thoughts are with Jeff’s family and friends.

- Stu

Hey,

I thought everybody might be interested in what the weather is going to be like on K2 – Here is a good site that gives a lot of detailed info:

K2 Weather Forecast