Posted: Aug 05, 2008 11:15 am EDT
(K2Climb.net) “My brother is in BC, waiting to be airlifted,” Marco Confortola’s brother Luigi told ExWeb from Italy this morning. Meanwhile, Pakistani pilots are in a state of alert in Skardu.

“The weather in Skardu and the Baltoro is inclement,” Lt Col(R)Ilyas Ahmad Mirza, General Manager of Askari Aviation, told ExplorersWeb. “Helicopters are at hi-alert and will move as soon as the weather clears.”

Marco coming down

Pakistans' "Fab 5" (or rather "amazing four") is a nickname international climbers have for a bunch of Askari pilots known for striking high altitude rescues in Karakoram's thin air. There's nothing in the world like them; their choppers go higher and closer than anyone in Himalaya, the Andes, Rockies or the Alps.

Yesterday, pilots picked up Confortola’s mate Roberto Manni and took him on a surveillance flight across K2’s slopes to locate Marco, previously spotted between C2 and C1.

Marco managed to reach ABC and then BC at last, helped down from C1 by two Pakistani porters, Mario Panzeri and Eric Meyer. According to his home team, Confortola was barely able to put on his boots. His feet are obviously badly frostbitten and he will be diagnosed and treated in the same Skardu hospital from where Wilco has started to share his tale about the fateful night in and above the Bottleneck.

Initial mix-up in the fixing of ropes on summit push reportedly caused a delay and late arrival to summit for some. Some media headlined Wilco's brief as stating that lack of preparations had caused the accidents. In light of past accusations the Norit home team asks for interviews to hold until climbers are in better shape to give a clear picture.

At this point, a wrapup of events indicates one climber lost in a climbing fall on ascent, one porter lost in attempts to lower the body, two or three lost in the avalanche on descent and around 6 climbers lost in its aftermath, while trying to find their way through the ice rubble to camp 4.

Gerard and Hugues confirmed lost on descent

With no one left high up on the mountain and 4 days passed since Friday night, hopes for more survivals are fading. Irish Gerard McDonnell and French Hugues d’Aubarede are now reported lost by both Norit and Hugues’ websites.

Pakistan's air rescue services:
Askari Aviation

Links to teams in K2 2008:

Wilco van Rooijen's Norit K2 expedition
Serbian Vojvodinean 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
Zerain's team blog.

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