"The monstrous peak rises straight out of the glacial ice like a New York skyscraper from the sidewalk," reports Don Bowie (click to enlarge).
None of the teams currently climbing are attempting the classic Abruzzi Spur. Bowie’s team is opening a new route left of the Abruzzi, Russians are dealing with the West face, and the Czechs are climbing the Cesen route - C1 in the image (click to enlarge).
Two weeks ago, there were two Czech teams on K2 - a large expedition led by Leopold Sulovski, and the team formed by Radek Jaros and Zdenek Hruby. A falling rock crushed Radek's finger and, in spite of all aid efforts, he was finally evacuated in a chopper. Jaros, currently recovering at home, had hoped to climb K2 and then both Gasherbrums. Zdenek has reportedly joined Sulovski's team on the Cesen route (click to enlarge).
The Cesen route, up the SSE Spur, is considered one of the safest ways to reach the summit of K2 when conditions are right (click to enlarge).
“Each day you spend in BC waiting for the weather to improve and move up, that monster peak kind of ‘grows’ in front of your eyes," a Spanish climber told ExplorersWeb some years back. All images courtesy of the Czech Ostrava 2007 K2 expedition (click to enlarge).
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K2: No easy way up to the skyscraper's roof
Posted: Jun 21, 2007 10:45 am EDT
(K2Climb.net) “The thing about K2 is, if you want to simply touch it you can literally walk up to the base, stretch your arm out, and put your finger on it - the monstrous peak rises straight out of the glacial ice like a New York skyscraper from the sidewalk. When we depart for the route from our tents at ABC we first walk over to a small outcrop of rock, sit down to put our crampons on, and three steps later are literally gaining vertical ground.”
Don Bowie’s is a good description of what K2 involves. And it helps to understand why some seasoned mountaineers who face the mountain eventually abort their expeditions without even reaching the higher camps.
The growing monster
As a Spanish climber once told ExplorersWeb: “Each day you spend in BC waiting for the weather to improve and move up, that monster peak kind of ‘grows’ in front of your eyes. Each time you look at it, K2 looks taller, steeper, more dangerous… If you stay put for too long, it devours your motivation and your self-confidence, until you end up too scared to set one foot on the hill. Many simply can’t stand it and run back home before launching a summit bid.”
There is no easy route up K2. Moreover, none of the teams currently climbing are attempting the classic Abruzzi Spur. Bowie’s team is opening a new route left of the Abruzzi – across an avalanche cone which had member Bruce literally swimming to keep afloat among waves of falling snow two days ago. “It was like being on the beach and suddenly a wave comes, you crouch and let it pass over you, and then you stand up and the second wave gets you,” he reported in a video posted on the expedition’s website.
’Safe’ is such a relative term
The Russians, led by Victor Kozlov, are dealing with the West Face, hoping to achieve the first complete ascent on that side. As for the Czech team, they have reached C2 on the Cesen (vasque) route. The Cesen route, up the SSE Spur, is considered one of the safest ways to reach the summit of K2 when conditions are right. However, the images posted on the expedition's website seemingly tell another story.
Ed. Note: Two weeks ago, there were two Czech teams on K2 - a large expedition led by Leopold Sulovski, and the team formed by Radek Jaros and Zdenek Hruby. A falling rock crushed Radek's finger and, in spite of all aid efforts, he was finally evacuated in a chopper. Jaros, currently recovering at home, had hoped to climb K2 and then both Gasherbrums. Zdenek has reportedly joined Sulovski's team on the Cesen route - after K2 they plan to move to Broad Peak.
Americans Chris Warner and Don Bowie are returning to Broad Peak and K2 this summer after a previous attempt in 2005.
Chris Warner, owner of Earth Treks, is on his third attempt to complete the Broad Peak+K2 double header. First was in 2002, and second in 2005. Chris has summited Everest, Lhotse, Shisha Pangma, Cho Oyu, and opened new routes on Shivling and Ama Dablam.
After helping to rescue injured climber Artur Hajzer on Broad Peak, Don Bowie teamed up with Artur’s team leader Piotr Pustelnik on Cho Oyu and Annapurna in 2006. Now, he's joining the Americans on K2.
The 4000 meter long Cesen route (also dubbed the 'Basque route' or 'Spanish Route'), follows a spur, just on the right side of the South face, which leads to a shoulder at 7800m, where it joins the Abruzzi Spur route, above camp 3. It is technically slightly more demanding than the Abruzzi, but safer if the conditions are good.
Links to K2 2007 teams:
Warner & Bowie’s Shared Summits | Gerfried Goeschl (German) | Czech BP/K2 (Czech) | Russian K2 Direct West Face updates on RussianClimb | Russian K2 Direct West Face site (Russian) | Hungarian K2/GI expedition's news (Hungarian) | K2 Freedom 2007's news (Italian)
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