Posted: Jul 20, 2007 12:17 am EDT
(K2Climb.net - second update of this story Friday 2.15 am EST)
At 8:03 am local time Chris called in on a Russian radio, SharedSummits just reported. They are above the bottleneck - the main crux of the route! Ahead, a traverse of a flatter field - a horribly exposed section of loose snow over ancient glacial ice.

At one point, Chris had the lead on the pitch but a Russian has taken over the lead and Chris and another Russian Climber, Ronan, are working together, on belay, in front of a backlog of other climbers including Joao Garcia, some of the Korean Team, Don, Bruce, and the Italians. They have now been out for almost 7 hours - and still have about 8-15 hours to the top.

Go to SharedSummits.com for all details and continuous updates through the push!

About two hours back, SharedSummits' US webmaster got off the phone with the American BC who had received visits from the Portuguese, Italians, Koreans and Russians. "From what we can piece together, the Americans and Koreans left first this morning. Followed by the Italians around 2 am. The Russians and Portuguese Teams departed Camp 4 around 3 am. All of the teams are likely within 150 meters of each other at this still early stage," the American team reported.

In latest news that ExWeb received by sat phone from Karakoram - the wind had picked up some, aborting summit pushes on the Gasherbrums. The sky was however a clear, dark blue.

Tired climbers

The climbers left Camp 4 between 1 am and 3 am local time for the summit. C4, at anywhere from 7600 to 7900 meters on the Shoulder, is still a solid 16-22 hours from the summit. That means climbers should begin to arrive the top late afternoon local time.

5 teams - Russians, Korean men and ladies, Portuguese, one Iranian climber, Americans and Italians were sharing the few tents they have still standing on the ravaged higher camps, and moving according to a common strategy. Weather reports look good, clear and little wind. K2 however suffers a bit more wind coming from China to be added to the forecasted speeds, and the peak is also infamous for sudden local weather patterns.

Remember the climbers are pushing following several days of hard climbing in deep snow to upper camps. Imagine how incredibly tired they must be. Add to that the icy slope, the cold, wind and long hours ahead - and cross your fingers tonight.

Few summits on K2

Statistically, triumphs on K2 are few. Only since the start of the new Millenium, the peak has been left entirely without summits in 2002, 2003 and 2005 . And last year, only four people topped out - and only two of those without oxygen; Italian Nives Meroi and Romano Bennet on exactly the Abruzzi route the current teams are facing.

Check out K2 stats here

This is how Nives described the climb to ExplorersWeb:

"Well, it is a tough mountain - any route you climb. After attempting the north side, I thought the Abruzzi spur would be easier, but it is not. It includes difficult sections, it's very high, and the mountain is dangerous in itself: Avalanches and rock falls are a constant hazard. It took us 12 years and three attempts to reach the summit!"

"No guide can make things easier for their clients at the technically difficult sections – with perhaps the exception of 2004, when crowds of Sherpas and porters fixed the entire route."

"Danger always lay ahead on K2. We sadly had that confirmed to us, when four climbers died soon after we summited. I would ask the climbers to never, ever let their guard down when on K2. Not even on the easier sections, not even in good weather and in good conditions."

"Secondly, they must be completely sure about their skills, they need to have clear in their minds what are they doing and where they are going. Focusing on each step is not enough, they need to look up to the route above them. And of course, they must know when to turn around."

"Summit is not the most important goal on any mountain, but least of all on K2. Never forget the mountain will be there next year, but you may not - if you push too far beyond your limits."

Americans Chris Warner and Don Bowie returned to Broad Peak and K2 this summer after a previous attempt in 2005. The expedition was gunning for a new route on K2’s east spur - which proved too exposed to avalanches. They changed for a new line to the left of the Abruzzi, but finally settled for the Abruzzi Spur normal route.

Chris Warner, owner of Earth Treks, is emerging as one of America's top high altitude climbers. Out on his third attempt for a Broad Peak+K2 double-header, Chris has earlier summited Everest, Lhotse, Shisha Pangma, Cho Oyu, and opened new routes on Shivling and Ama Dablam. Don Bowie teamed up with Polish Piotr Pustelnik on Cho Oyu and Annapurna last year. Other climbers in the current expedition are Pasquale (PV) Scaturro, Bruce Normand, and BC manager Joel Shalowitz.

Expedition links:

K2/Broad Peak:

Warner & Bowie�fs Shared Summits | Gerfried Goeschl (German) | Czech BP/K2 (Czech) | Russian K2 Direct West Face updates on RussianClimb | Russian K2 Direct West Face site (Russian) | Broadpeak.at | Hungarian K2/GI expedition's news (Hungarian) | Joao Garcia K2 expedition's blog (Portuguese) | Zdenek Hruby's report on Radek's website(Czech) | Kuban BP & K2 expedition (Russian)| Pompili's blog (Italian) | K2 Freedom 2007's news (Italian) | Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner(German) | Ralf's Amical (German)| Silvio Mondinelli's BP news (Italian) Marco Confortola (Italian) | Ivan Vallejo (Spanish) | Edurne Pasaban's BP news (Spanish) | Mexicans Badia & Mauricio (Spanish) | Jorge Salazar's Veracruz al Himalaya (Spanish) | Santiago Quintero (Spanish) | Nicholas Rice's BP dispatches | Fernando Gonzalez (Spanish) | Georg Kronthaler (German) | News on Iranian climbers on Damavand Club's blog (Farsi) | Piotr Morawski (Polish) | Peter Hamor (Slovak) | Dodo Kopold

Gasherbrums:

FTA's Gasherbrum dispatches | Project-Himalaya's Gasherbrum II dispatches | Alex Gavan's GI & GII expedition website | Hiro Takeuchi's blog (Japanese) | Slovak GI/GII expedition website (Slovak) | Valles al GII (Catalan) | Mario Merelli GI's news(Italian) | Jean Troillet (news in French) | Mike Horn's website| Mountain Madness | Kari Kobler (German) | Carlos Pauner's reports (Spanish)

Nanga Parbat:

Chilean Nanga Parbat 2007 website (Spanish) | Chilean Nanga Parbat 2007 blog (Spanish) | Chilean USACH team | Jean-Noel Urban (French)

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