Mike Farris K2 2008: Summit attempts?

Tag : cargo rope

In the last few days, most of the teams on both the Abruzzi and SSESpur have agreed to cooperate to increase the chances of asuccessful summit attempt. There have been two meetings in whichthe teams decided who would fix rope above C4, what gear would beneeded above Camp 3, and who would supply the gear. This lead teamwill be made up mostly of high-altitude porters from Nepal andPakistan, and most will be using oxygen. A weather report today hassome teams prepared to start a summit bid on July 21, though theyare awaiting additional forecasts to confirm the summit weatherwindow.

Teams are also hoping to summit Broad Peak and Gasherbrum I and IIover the next two days. The winds will be the deciding factor.
Earlier: Unstable Weather : July 10th, 2008 : July 10: Greetings! Weve been sitting throughmany days of unstable weather, which is the norm on K2. Weve beenmaking forays up the hill to sleep a night or two at Camp I, butbad weather has kept us from getting much higher since our lastreport. Today, three climbers are hoping to sleep at C2 and anotherwill stay at C1. Tomorrow, the rest of us will climb to C1 and thenspend a couple of nights at C2. The goal right now is toacclimatize to Camp 2 altitude and sleep at Camp 3 over the nextcouple of weeks, which will prepare us for a summit attempt. Stilla long time before any summit attempts from our team. Most of theteam helped re-establish the mess tent one morning. The ice meltsout and you have to reset all tent platforms every couple of weeks.We moved lots of rock and the newly pitched tent is betterorganized and seems to be more spacious. All other teams arewaiting for good weather as well. We wander between the variousBase Camps, checking on the weather reports and picking up bits ofinformation. Patience is the key to this game, and we have a monthleft at K2 to get the job done. Next time, I hope to have moreaction to report. The weather looks better for the next two days,so well try to make good use of it. Mike
July 5: We are experiencing a beautiful day, and all members are inBase Camp. We have established a tent at Camp I, and yesterday twomembers reached the site of Camp II and stashed a tent and othergear. It was too windy to do more, but they did a great job justgetting there.
Today we plan to take a team photo (since all members are now here)and strategize for the upcoming days. Getting all membersacclimatized and Camp I and II established with two tents each arethe top goals. The weather forecast is decent but you never know onK2!
The whole team was assembled in BC, so we had a big planningsessionquite productive. The trick is to get the right gear to theright camps at the right time, and to let everyone have plenty oftime to acclimatize at the various camps. We now know our jobs thenext few days, so there will be a lot of activity on the hill untilthe weather goes bad.
Please note that we cant keep you posted on the exact movements ofevery climber every day. We agreed to function as a teamnotindividuals so it really doesnt matter who does what, as long aswe continue to make progress. Everyone is healthy and motivated,though the goat stomach we had for lunch tested even the mostgrizzled veteran. It was actually quite nice smothered in chiles.
Mike
Earlier: July 2nd, 2008 : July 2: Our long-awaited cargo arrivedyesterday. We had spent the past three days scanning the morainebelow our camp for porters, much like sailors used to search forland from the crows nest of their ship. 4000m of rope, ice screws,snow stakes, pitons, and lots of other group food and equipment nowcrowd our mess tent. We expect Paul and Kirsty to arrive thisafternoon, so our team will finally be complete. Yesterday sawEric, Chhiring, Fred, and Chris K. getting halfway to Camp 1 aftersleeping in Advance Base Camp (ABCget used to the acronyms!).Today, Fred and Chris K. are attempting to reach C1 and get a tentin place. Tim and Chris W. have carried gear to ABC in support ofFred and Chris K. and will stay the night in ABC. Tomorrow theywill head up to C1. Mike will finally be able to organize his foodetc. (much was in the cargo shipment) and will head up to ABC thisafternoon and stay the night. Our short-term goal is to establishtwo tents at C1. The weather is predicted to be good for the nextfew days, after several days that saw alternating sun, clouds, andsnow showers. We have hopefully worked out the political issuesthat occur when multiple teams attempt the same route. A fulleraccount of this is best left for post-expedition discussion. Theseissues are a normal part of climbing a big and crowded mountainthese days.
Earlier: International K2 Expedition: Saturday, June 28. Today mostteam members carried loads to Advanced Base Camp through light snowand wind. We hope that our tardy air cargo arrives within the nexttwo days, as we have no tents or rope for the mountain. PaulWalters is scheduled to arrive in a day or two, bringing the teamto full strength.
We continue to meet the other occupants of K2 Base Camp and hope todevelop good relationships with the other climbers on our route(Abruzzi Ridge). Most of us are also renewing old acquaintancesforged on other mountains.
Our goal is to climb K2 without the use of supplemental oxygen andhigh-altitude porters. Since other teams have been in BC for awhile,
they are already placing fixed ropes on the climb. Most of thiswork is being done by Sherpa and Pakistani high-altitude portershired by the Korean and Serbian teams working on the Abruzzi. Mike
Earlier: Hi! I havent won the technology battles, but Im gainingan advantage. My phone will only acquire a satellite signal if itsheated to 100 degrees F or higher! This makes life difficult. Also,my iBook has no idea how to regulate its battery, so it will gofrom 100% charge to 0% within seconds. Argh.
Things are getting under control. We are still waiting on our aircargo with all of our mountain gear. Until we get it (2-3 days)were limited in what we can do. Nobody is in a big hurry (which isgood) and Im finally getting organized. I cant wait to get up onthe hill, as it means Im not doing organizational crap.
Aside from a terminally-runny nose, Im feeling pretty good.Sleeping better, coughing very little. Administrative duties aredecreasing, but we still have some issues to deal with. Today Imight actually be able to get together my gear to visit ABCtomorrow! Cheers,
Mike
Earlier: Hi, Im going to keep it short again. Im fighting way toomany technology battles. My brand new and expensive Thuraya 2520sat phone now refuses to pick up the sat signal. Its been nothingbut trouble since arriving in Pakistan. You cant use it in the USAbecause there is no satellite coverage. Luckily Chris K. has thesame phone (which works for calls but has other problems) so werecovered for now. And, my computer battery has a very short lifespan(so Im typing quickly).
Aside from a minor cough and some sniffles, all is well with me.Im still in the middle of a three-ring circus, with our main groupin Paiju, cargo in Skardu (tomorrow), and Paul coming to Islamabadin two days. The hike is the easy part!
Today is a rest day, which I need. The trip will get simpler for methe further we go, so Im looking forward to simply climbing themountain. I didnt realize how buried I was in logistics until mostof it went away.
Time for another cup of tea.
P.S. Now my phone is working-at least for the moment!
P.P.S. Its three days later. Were in BC tomorrow. More soon
Mike
Earlier: Greetings! If youre reading this, our technology isworking, at least in part. We are in Paiju, at 3300m just below thesnout of the Baltoro Glacier. Today (Friday, June 20) is a restday. This may seem silly since weve only been walking two days,but in reality weve been traveling for several days (first byplane, then jeep, then by foot).
The trek has been uneventful so far. The first days are alwaysdusty- the valley is full of dust and sand that is formed as theglacier grinds up rock. Luckily it rained the first night on thetrail, and yesterday the dust was minimal. The sun can be brutal,so an early start paid off yesterday.
Paiju is a campsite on a hillside with some trees. The tents arepitched on a series of terraces. This rest day is used to preparefor the trek up the glacier, and many goats have met their end asthey are slaughtered to provide meet for the porters.
T he team is in generally good health. We have the usual collectionof sore throats, sniffles, and the occasional person with diarrhea.Hopefully today will allow us to rehydrate and rest.
All of our air cargo is in Pakistan and will arrive a couple ofdays after we get to Base Camp. This, along with various technologyissues, have been the biggest headaches so far. Mikes brand-newThuraya satellite phone seems to have quit working, and hiscomputer battery is also erratic.
We should arrive in Base Camp on June 23 or 24, and well post anew dispatch then. Mike