August 6: The team expects to leave BC on August 8, assuming the porters show up as promised. Mike will be staying behind to consider an additional attempt (he’ll explain more fully on his personal blog, hopefully today). All other members will hike out over the Gondogoro La, a 5600m pass with stunning views in good weather. It also means you get to trek out a different route and see different sights.
Everyone’s in good shape, and luckily today is nice and sunny, making for easy packing. The glacial rocks are strewn with clothing, gear, and food as everyone gets to clean and organize in preparation for departure.
You might ask why we haven’t posted pictures on this blog. Frankly, it just hasn’t seemed that important. Up until about 6pm last night, our tent was one of the epicenters of rescue operations, and the last injured person was picked up by chopper this morning. We need a little personal time! Most of us haven’t had a shower in 10 days (yuk, and we agree).
Email alert: Please don’t send email to the team email address after August 7. Mike will continue to answer his emails until further notice.
We will continue with the blog until all members are back in their home countries.
We thank you for your concern over the past week. You won’t read about our team in the papers or see us on the news. That’s because our team was successful in summiting K2 and we all descended without injury or death. How boring and non-newsworthy.
Please send your prayers to the friends and family of those who remain on K2. We continue to work to understand exactly what happened, in large part to help the survivors better understand the last hours of the doomed climbers.
Mike