After some slow days because of bad weather in the Karakorum and on Nanga Parbat, climbers have begun to head up again.
K2
In the interim, all the teams on 8,000m expeditions have had time to reach K2 Base Camp. This includes an all-Pakistani team from Hushe that includes Mohammad Taqi, Ali Durrani, Muhammad Hassan, Mushtaq Ahmad, and Yousuf Ali.
Nepal’s Pioneer Adventure team, with a strong Sherpa crew and three Ukrainian clients, have arrived as well, after a “boring trek to BC”, according to member Olya Koroleva. A very unusual view of the spectacular hike through the Karakorum.
Meanwhile, Mirza Ali’s Karakorum Expeditions squad battled cold and fresh snow to fix the route to Camp 2. “The team started from C1 at 8 am despite heavy fresh snow and by 4 pm they had fixed rope to Camp 2,” Mirza Ali wrote.”A truly remarkable job.”
Jalal Uddin, Eid Muhammad, Ahmed Baig, and Faryad Karim lead the fixers, supported by Inayat Ali, Ghulam Abbass, Basharat Hussain, and Younis Ali.
Broad Peak
On Broad Peak, Karakorum Expeditions has its own team, which has already set up tents in Camp 2.
Lotta Hintsa reported yesterday that she and Don Bowie were preparing to leave again for Camp 3, despite an avalanche that swept that area recently.
Broad Peak has also had its first partial ski descent when Thomas Lone skied down from Camp 1. Lone has joined the Russian Dathzone Freeride team of Vitaly Lazo and Anton Pugovnik. Last year, that duo made an almost complete ski descent from Nanga Parbat. Back then, they teamed up with the late Cala Cimenti.
Here is Thomas’s video, shared by Carlos Garranzo on Twitter:
⛷ #BroadPeak, descenso es esquís de Thomas Lone desde C1 de Broad Peak.
El noruego, junto con @freeridefreezone pretenden escalar y descender esquiando Broad Peak. Su tracker ahora indica 6179,96m (C2) pic.twitter.com/Ct35QUXDZd
— L. Carlos Garranzo (@CarlosGarranzo) July 5, 2021
Gasherbrums
Nearby, on the Gasherbrums, the Altitude Team climbing GII are back to Camp 1. They report that high-altitude porters have already fixed the Banana Ridge, thus clearing the way to Camp 2. The weather was still iffy when they left yesterday, but the Catalans trusted an improving forecast for tomorrow and Thursday.
Marco Confortola and Mario Vielmo, who had intended to break trail to Camp 2 on Gasherbrum I, had to retreat after a night at 6,000m because of lack of visibility. But the excursion did help their acclimatization.
Above Camp 1 on Gasherbrum II. Photo: The Altitude Team
Nanga Parbat
Further west, on Nanga Parbat, Lolo Gonzalez and Sergio Carrascoso observed avalanches sweeping down the Diamir Face all day yesterday, after nearly a week of non-stop snowfall. Because of the relentless bad weather, they are not yet acclimatized, even after 23 days. At this point, it’s now or never.
“Let’s hope snow conditions improve and the weather stabilizes because we need to stay eight days at altitude,” Gonzalez told his home team. “[We need to be] as high as we can get but in any case, not lower than 6,500m in order to acclimatize.”
Gonzalez says that in his 16 Himalaya expeditions, he has never had to stay so long in a Base Camp with so little altitude gain. At least, their relatively low Base Camp, set up on a grassy alpine meadow, is warm and comfortable.
Base Camp at Nanga Parbat some days ago. Photo: Andalucia 8000
About the Author
Angela Benavides
Senior journalist, published author and communication consultant. Specialized on high-altitude mountaineering, with an interest for everything around the mountains: from economics to geopolitics. After five years exploring distant professional ranges, I returned to ExWeb BC in 2018. Feeling right at home since then!
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Pakistan 8000'ers: On the Move at Last - ExplorersWeb
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