Posted: Jul 31, 2008 11:35 pm EDT
(K2Climb.net/sixth update 8.26 am) At 8.00 PM, Aug 1 Wilco van Rooijen, Cas van de Gevel, Gerard McDonnel and Pemba Gyalje Sherpa reached the summit of K2.

Check our ticket with the latest summit updates at Aug 1 summit updates

Recap

At 6 am August 1 local time, Norit reported that Pemba was already high up in the bottleneck where Wilco, Jelle, Gerard and Cas had just arrived. Complaining about cold feet, the climbers were in fact ahead of schedule by two hours, expedition webmaster Maarten van Eck stated. 3 hours later, Maarten wrote that Wilco, Cas, Gerard and Pemba were way above the bottleneck and in the traverse. Jelle turned back due to exhaustion.

Unfortunately, an accident possibly involving a Serbian climber reportedly took place in the Bottleneck soon after, holding up the Norit K2 team who tried to assist.

At 4 pm local time, Cas was reportedly last in line of about 17 climbers with 400 meters left to go for the summit, and Wilco in front. Other climbers were Gerard, one or two Italians, French Hugues and two Norwegians. The weather was reported perfect.

Last year, summiteers reached the top between 3.30 and 5 pm local time. This year, summiteers reached the top at around 8 pm local time.

The stats

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. In 2006, only four people topped out - and only two of those without oxygen; Italian Nives Meroi and Romano Bennet on the Abruzzi route. 2007 proved more fruitful with 29 summits, thanks to the joint effort of international teams.

Check out K2 route map with route statistics, summiteers stats and fatalities here!

Nives about the climb

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."

The key people

Few people realize that a climb such as this is a team job, where not only cooks and climbing staff but also a great webmaster and BC manager can mean the difference between victory and failure for an expedition.

Norit's Maarten van Eck's practical and moral support encouraged the mountaineers to resume their climb as late as yesterday, thanks to his close watch of the weather reports. The story continued tonight, with Maarten sleepless at the computer back home in Holland.

"Cas is observing some clouds in the valleys on the Chinese side of K2 and is wondering if they may become a problem," he reported. "I think it’s a type of fog caused by condensation from the cold air down in the valleys. I will ask Ab Maas, our meteorologist and give him something to do tonight," Marteen wrote, adding a climbing timetable to the expedition website.

Another sleepless warrior sat in France. "Really, he takes along with him my dreams," wrote Hugues webmaster. The 61-years-old French climber was reportedly on summit push as well, along with Pakistan climbers Karim and Baig, the Italians and the Koreans coming up the Abruzzi ridge. Also the Norwegian polar team were presumed to be around, Cecilie updated today with the team's plans to push for the summit tonight.

The Bottleneck

The crux of the route – the serac-threatened Bottleneck and the horribly exposed and icy Traverse to the summit slopes – is a classic of mountaineering literature. Add bottomless snow, icy rock pitches, and terrifying exposure, this is the place for K2's greatest history of trimph and tragedy.

A 100-meter narrow 80-90 degrees couloir at 8300 meters, the section is windswept and cold, and the ice in this couloir can create extremely challenging, sustained climbing. At least 15 of the climbers who have died on K2 lost their lives in the Bottleneck.

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.

Here is the Dutch timetable for the climb, in both Dutch (NL) and Local (K2) time:

Bottleneck
NL-04.00—–K2-08.00
Top Bottleneck
NL-05.00—–K2-09.00
Traverse
NL-06.00—–K2-10.00
Start last climb
NL-08.00—–K2-12.00
Summit
NL-10.00—–K2-14.00

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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