Image of K2 this morning local time, courtesy of the K2 west face expedition (click to enlarge).
Image of K2 yesterday, courtesy of the expedition (clcik to enlarge).
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The battle for the west face of K2: Red sun rising - front climbers still in camp 7
Posted: Aug 21, 2007 02:04 am EDT
(K2climb.net) Climbers on the west face of K2 woke to red storm clouds and 30 mph winds this morning (see live image). In a 10 am radio call, Shabalin and Tukhvatullin were reported holding in C7 (8400 m), while Mariev and Popovich were out scouting above the camp.
Four climbers were holding in C6 at 8150 m after a wrecked attempt to ascend further. The Jannu climbers are meanwhile approaching the high camp 6 as well. Serguey Penzov is still descending, and is now between C1 and ABC.
K2's summit is still covered by clouds. Visibility is poor, with wind speeds of 50 km/h (31 mph) at 8400 meters. All climbers are climbing without supplementary oxygen. Stay tuned for updates throughout the day.
Previous report
Early yesterday morning at 6 am, Pavel Shabalin's group left their C6 for a summit push. One hour later, they were forced back by deep mist, whiteout and very strong wind gusts. Some hours later again, Pavel and his team mates Andrew Mariev, Iljas Tukhvatullin and Vadim Popovich climbed back up to above 8400 meters - this time pitching a camp 7 there.
Following their marathon summit push last week - Jannu climbers Nick Totmjanin, Alex Bolotov and Gene Kirievsky arrived back up in Camp 5 yesterday. Victor Volodin, Gleb Sokolov, Eugeny Vinogradsky and Vitaly Gorelik reached Camp 6.
Two climbers were descending: Serguey Penzov felt bad and decided to turn back, he called in from Camp 3 at 8 pm yesterday. Valery Shamalo descended all the way to ABC, where he was met by Nickolay Cherny.
Pakistani time is +1 to Moscow time. "We're very thankful to all who believe in our team. Wish us good weather! Good night, see you tomorrow," was the 8 pm message from expedition leader Victor Kozlov last night.
It's a big season on the Mountaineers' Mountain. Out of 13 routes on K2, Abruzzi and Cesen share two hundred summits. After that numbers thin out sharply, down to the very zeros: The East Face, the North Face and the West Face still await a first ascent.
For the first time in many years, mountaineers once again attempt such impossible missions.
On the unclimbed West Face - following months of work regardless weather, countless nights in the deathzone and a Berlin wall 100 meters below the summit - Russian Jannu and Everest North Wall legends are now attacking the summit in waves.
Viktor Kozlov, Vassily Yelagin, Piotr Kuznetsov and Pavel Shabalin spent a few weeks by the west face in 2004 scouting access routes through the glacier and possible routes on the wall. The exploratory team had found a pass to the sheer wall near the Chinese border. Right after the scouting expedition, Pavel Shabalin made an alpine-style ascent of Khan Tengri’s North Face with Iljas Tukhvatullin. Pavel paid dearly for it though - losing 3 toes and 5 fingers to frostbite.
But loaded with topos, images and video of the wall, the team has now been feverishly working for months on the new route they hope to open on K2's west face. There's nothing on the wall, and it has never been climbed before.
After opening a new direct route on Everest’s north face in 2005, Victor Kozlov is again leading a strong Russian team to complete the first direct ascent up K2’s west face.
Team members are Nickolay Cherny, Serguey Penzov, Victor Volodin, Valery Shamolo, Dmitry Komarov, Pavel Shabalin, Iljas Tukhvatullin, Andrey Mariev, Vadim Popovitch, Gleb Sokolov, Vitaly Ivanov, Vitaly Gorelik, Eugeny Vinogradsky, Alexey Bolotov, Nickolay Totmjanin, Gennady Kirievsky, Alexander Korobkov, Victor Pleskachevsky, Serguey Bychkovsky, Igor Borisenko, Vladimir Kochurov, Vladimir Kuptsov and Oleg Ushakov.
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