The Benegas brothers had a near miss of their own on Latok 1 yesterday: "On the second pitch Willie tried to do a different variation and he stepped over a lock device which decided to go down, cutting the rope as it fell," said Damian. "Of course I was belaying him. Luckily the block fell to one side, so my 7 lives were gone in one second there." Image of Benegas brothers' location on Latok 1 live over Contact 3.0 Geo courtesy of the Benegas brothers/The North Face (click to enlarge).
The brothers have updated with pics, voice and video straight from camp 1. Image of Willie in high camp live over Contact 3.0 courtesy of the team.
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Pakistan daily wrap-up: Avalanche on K2; Benegas brothers near miss on Latok
Posted: Aug 14, 2006 10:16 am EST
(K2Climb.net) Early this morning we got word from Banjo’s home team that an avalanche swept K2's summit slope yesterday (Sunday) at about noon (local time). According to the team’s reports, some climbers might be missing, however, the news are yet unconfirmed by other sources. Meanwhile the Benegas brothers had a near miss of their own during their summit push on Latok 1. The brothers are dispatching live, straight from the difficult climb.
K2
At the time of the avalanche, the Russians, Banjo and Jacek were on their summit attempt. Although bad weather had persisted over the last few days Jacek and the Russians had made it as far as Camp 4 by Saturday (Aug 12) but could go no further due to deep snow, they reported. More details on the avalanche are expected soon.
Wilco: Back in Islamabad
Wilco arrived yesterday in Islamabad after a long trip over the Karakorum Highway according to his home team. He is scheduled to leave early Wednesday morning back to Amsterdam.
Latok 1
Benegas brothers: Near miss
The brothers have shot over live images, video and a voice dispatch straight from the climb. Here goes a transcript from the voice reports.
“Today we woke up to fairly good weather at 3am and we left at 4 from BC. We began climbing at 6am on the ridge to try to get to the previous high camp. On the second pitch Willie tried to do a different variation and he stepped over an 42 inch ice piece which decided to go down…it cut the rope and of course I was belaying him. Luckily the block fell to one side, so my 7 lives were gone in one second there. But everything’s ok.”
“We continued climbing - beautiful granite, 5’9, 5’10, 12 pitches. The weather is looking good, looking better, but we had to stop at 12 o’clock because there was an avalanche and it’s tough just knowing we have to belay over ice created now that everything’s going down.”
The brothers reached 18,000 ft today and while the weather was not as good as they had expected it still better than last year’s conditions when they previously attempted Latok 1. “We had a pretty good day but climbing was a little bit hard. We spent 3 hours digging a spot for our tent. Woke up at 2am and started climbing at 5am. Funny enough, we found a stash of food we left in 2004.”
Karakorum teams' homesites:
K2:
Russian Climb | Nives Meroi (Italian) | Wilco van Rooijen (Dutch/English) | Irish Banjo Bannon's website | FTA's team dispatches on Anan Arnette's website | Tokai University K2 expedition (Japanese)
Broad Peak:
Field Touring Alpine's dispatches | HiMountain.pl (Polish)
Gasherbrums:
Mexicans Badia and Mauricio(Spanish) | News on Bulgarians for Nanga+ GI (Bulgarian)
Other Pakistan peaks:
Benegas brothers live dispatches| Swiss Trango expedition| Mountain.ru
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