Posted: Aug 21, 2007 05:15 am EDT
(K2Climb.net/Madrid. Story updated 10:35 am, EDT) At 12: 50 pm, local time today, Andrew Mariev and Vadim Popovich checked in over the radio - from K2's top! The west face has been finally climbed.

Summiteers back in C6 - 9 more climbers in camps above 8000m

At 6:15 pm, local time the sumiteers have reported safe and sound from C6. Back from the summit, Andrew and Vadim had rested for some time in C7, currently occupied by Shabalin and Tukhvatullin.

In addition there are seven team members currently in C6, while Penzov, Shamalo and Cherny provide with support from ABC.

Weather improving

As night falls on the Karakorum range, Victor Kozlov has reported on weather conditions finally improving: "Clouds are not wrapping K2 any longer, and the wind is decreasing," the expedition leader told Russian Climb.

Sun rising among red clouds

Earlier this morning, the Russian climbers on the west face of K2 woke to red storm clouds, poor visibility and 30/50 mph winds. 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 were meanwhile approaching the high camp 6 as well. Serguey Penzov is still descending, and is now between C1 and ABC.

None of the climbers is using supplementary oxygen.

Summiteers Vadim and Andrew: Two views

K2 is Vadim's first 8000er. For Mariev, this summit was a long-time pursued goal: He was a member of the team which, led by Togliatti, achieved the latest summit of K2 via the NW ridge in 1996. Back then though, Andrew couldn't reach the summit.

However, Andrew did succeeded on the 2005' Everest North Face expedition, and kept himself also in the frontline: He was one of the firt group to reach the summit, together with Shavalin and Tukhvatullin.

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 and the North Face still await a first ascent. The West Face has fallen today at the Russians' siege.

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 have been attacking the summit in waves. At about 1.00 pm, local time on August 21, Mariv and Popovich stepped on the top.

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. Expedition leader is Victor Kozlov, also head of the team whose members opened a new direct route on Everest’s north face in 2005.

K2 West Face Russian Expedition 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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