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Dispatch #5: Finally on the Hill

Latest news: a possible summit push may start in a couple of days. If so, it may be a week or more before another post. Don't worry if you don't hear anything.

Most of this dispatch was posted on Everestnews.com on July 13

Before the latest news, a follow-up to the porter with HAPE that I reported on earlier. He's alive, but only because our note reached Urdokas quickly. The NatGeo docs dashed up the hill and treated him. They didn't think he would have lived all the way to Urdokas without treatment. Whew!

The Karakoram weather is up to its usual tricks. July 2 we arrived in Base Camp and sat through bad weather until July 9. The sun finally came out and the avalanches were spectacular. On July 10 there was a mass migration up the hill, pent-up testosterone finally going to good use. The initial approach gully seemed somewhat easier than last year, but that may have been due to my foresight in bringing a second ice tool. There was actually less snow and more water ice than I expected.

After climbing the initial gully I exited onto some avalanche debris and looked down to see my left crampon dangling from my boot. It didn't just fall off, the heel and toe sections had separated completely. I had re-installed a device that allows rapid size adjustment for the crampons and apparently this wasn't holding properly. I taped it together and climbed more slowly than I wanted. Luckily, the other crampon waited until after the final water ice section to fall apart. Rodrigo (MEX) helped me reassemble the thing and reshod me like a mule while we were on some 40 degree snow.

I spent a night at 'half camp' (5300m) and at Camp I (5700m), while Don stayed two nights at CI. Don carried a load of rope to CII and sat for hours, waiting for the avalanche risk to subside. He had a sporty downclimb on rotten ice, in the dark. Eventually fixed ropes will run all the way to CII.

We both decided to go down and pick up another load. Also the weather was moving in, so descent looked like a good option. Well, it's July 13 and it's rained and snowed continuously at Base Camp for the last 24 hours. The good conditions on the hill have been replaced by avalanches and rockfall. We're stuck for at least a couple of days.

July 16: The weather still is too lousy to do any real climbing. Down at BC it ranges from cold rain to nice sun. On the 14th I jogged down to Concordia (the massive glacier junction--see the map on the background page), picked up a tent, and walked back. Yesterday I went up to K2 Base Camp and spent an enjoyable couple of hours talking 'American' with a K2 team and the medical staff. It was a relief not to speak pidgin English for a while.

Between BC and the mountain is a maze of ice pinnacles and glacial rivers. It's frustrating to see BC and still be 30 minutes away!

This morning there are arguments about fixed ropes-who contributes, who fixes, etc. We had this same discussion at K2 Base. Essentially, some people wait for others to prepare the route, then prance up it and brag about how easy it was.

Some Impressions: Climbers (well, European climbers anyway) seem very nationalistic about their weather forecasts. Euros are suppposed to be mature cultures, but we've seen scant evidence of that in certain cases!

The number of climbers carrying hypertechnical ice tools is, well, perplexing. I've even seen tools that are made solely for competition. Watching these guys bend over double with a big pack, planting their short, curved tools in low-angle snow is good for a chuckle. Newsflash: there are no WI6/M6 pitches on Broad Peak, guys. Or, people bring ultralight axes and then ask to borrow your heavier axe to dig out the rocks in their tent site. Hmmmm...

A climber on another expedition noted, "I'd forgotten how selfish people are on 8000m peaks." I've seen many instances of selfishness (amongst other climbers) already on the three days we've been able to climb. Selfishness is a natural part of the process, but only (in my opinion) during the summit push. You never know when you'll need help up here, so both Don and I are cooperating with other teams, building relationships that will pay off in the future.

Back to July 13: It's noon, raining/snowing hard again. It's warm, damp, Pacific Northwest weather. I left Don playing euchre in a neighboring mess tent. This afternoon I want to scout the approach yet again to learn the way through the maze of ice pinnacles. Two climbers reached 7500m yesterday and another one had a nasty fall through a bridge over one of the glacial rivers. Gotta quit writing--not enough sun for a battery charge.

Mike