Marco Confortola and Roberto Manni plan to attempt K2 summit tonight. Image courtesy of Marco Confortola's website (click to enlarge).
Tomorrow, a total eclipse of the Sun will be visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses half the Earth. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow begins in Canada and extends across northern Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia, Mongolia, and China where it will end at sunset. A partial eclipse is seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes northeastern North America, most of Europe and Asia. Image courtesy of NASA.
Google map of the total eclipce path (click to enlarge).
Hugues webmaster asks people to not jam the French climber's (currently in C4) sat phone with SMS at this stage, as Hugues needs the tool for his safety and non-urgent calls deplete his batteries. Image of the route courtesy of Hugues d'Aubarede's website (click to enlarge).
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Pakistan wrap-up: K2 D-day tonight
Posted: Jul 31, 2008 03:13 pm EDT
(K2Climb.net) Norit is moving up the Cesen route trailed by a motley crew of international climbers, some following also Italians Marco Confortola and Roberto Manni with the Koreans on the Abruzzi ridge. Latest is that the Italians and French Hugues d'Aubarede are among those who plan to attempt the summit of K2 tonight.
Latest positions
Norit's home team carry great reports along with videos showing the climbing on the Cesen route including the shoulder of K2. Increasing winds made Wilco and his climbers to consider aborting the attempt yesterday, but after double checking the weather reports, their webmaster assured that the forecast shows no sign of bad weather and when the wind decreased, the Norit climbers decided to continue up to C4 on the shoulder.
Meanwhile, Dutch BC manager Roeland van Oss checked on the whereabouts of French Hugues d'Aubarede, who reportedly climbed towards the shoulder, spending the night below it and moving to C4 where he is now. It is believed that Nick Rice might have descended to C3 on the Abruzzi route.
Norwegian Cecilie latest reported July 29 from C2, where her team was holding in high winds, hoping to move to C3 yesterday.
Hugues webmaster asks people to not jam the climber's sat phone with SMS at this stage, as Hugues needs the tool for his safety and non-urgent calls deplete his batteries. The French climber reports all is well, although he encountered high winds and deep cold on the upper slope.
Italian Marco Confortola and Roberto Manni latest reported from C4 today, confirming the plan for a summit push tomorrow. They note that there is contradicting news on the mountain regarding the weather. Some teams report beautiful conditions while others report hard wind. Forecasts seem to indicate tomorrow as the best day to attempt the push however, so the climbers will start out 2 am this morning local time.
Partial solar eclipse on summit day
The climbers plan to summit tomorrow Friday, August 1, on the day of the total solar eclipse that will be visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses half the Earth. The path begins in Canada and extends across northern Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia, Mongolia, and China where it will end at sunset - but a full shadow will not fall on Pakistan.
A partial eclipse (not offering complete darkness) can however be seen through special glasses in northeastern North America, most of Europe and Asia.
Links to K2 teams in Pakistan:
Wilco van Rooijen's Norit K2 expedition
Gerard McDonnell's dispatches
Marco Confortola's updates
Singapore expedition
Cecilie Skog's updates
Nick Rice's dispatches
Mike Farris expedition's website
Hugues d'Aubarede
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