Posted: Jun 24, 2009 08:36 pm EST
(K2Climb.net) K2 climbers are shocked by the sudden death of Italian Michele Fait, who slipped and fell while skiing down the Cesen route from C2 yesterday.

In other news: "We've seen the beginnings of change in Iran," a White House spokesman said on Tuesday. Also Iran mountaineering seems to be changing - following scant numbers in previous years; an avalanche of Iranian climbers is now hitting Karakoram.

On Nanga Parbat, some climbers hope for a summit chance within the next ten days.

K2

Italian Michele Fait fell to his death on the SSE spur (Cesen route) yesterday while skiing down from C2 with climbing mate Fredrik Ericsson.

Ericsson and Fait had originally hoped to acclimatize on Laila Peak but went straight for K2 after they were denied trekking permit for Laila. They reached K2 BC two weeks ago, and began preparing for the upcoming climb and ski-descent.

Last week, they skied 900 meters from C1 after spending a night at 6,000 meters. “The snow was better than we had expected, cold and just a little windpacked… I had a big smile on my face, cause even if only a third of the mountain, we were skiing on K2," Ericsson reported then.

The climbers set up C2 in a second climb this week. They were skiing back to BC yesterday when Michele suddenly plummeted.

Fredrik and FTA's leader Fabrizio Zangrilli reportedly reached Michele after only 20 minutes, but could only confirm death. Michele was buried on the mountain this morning by a team of 9 climbers, including fellow ski-mountaineer Swedish Fredrik Ericsson.

Nanga Parbat: Summit push brewing

Louis Rousseau reported yesterday that he, Gunther Unterberger and Gerfried Göschl plan to spend the night in C1 today. “Weather forecasts are good - the team hopes to be ready for a first summit bid in about 10 days time,” he added.

Broad Peak: rope fixing ahead

FTA’s Broad Peak team leader Chris Szymiec reported that he and two mates will attempt to fix the route up to camp 1 on June 24, while the rest of the members make some acclimatizing walks on the glacier. “There are a few other teams here at the moment but they are already high on the hill and have not installed any lines,” Chris said.

Eelco Jansen’s International Broad Peak expedition has set up C1 at 5,550m. Two members spent last night there, while the rest returned to BC.

Gasherbrum II: rope-fixing ahead

Altitude Junkies and Jagged Globe met yesterday to discuss the fixed ropes on Gasherbrum II, as out of the estimated six or seven expeditions currently present in base camp, few reportedly have high altitude porters. "We are the only team we believe with Sherpa support present at base camp at the moment,” Altitude Junkies’ Phil Crampton said.

Crampton further reported his team plans to spend the night in camp one today and possibly explore the first part of the route to camp two on Thursday before returning to base camp.

Daniela and Paulo planned to move to C1 across the Gasherbrum glacier today. “Some other teams have already marked the way with bamboo poles, so the going will be easier than last year’s,” Daniela wrote.

Iran update

Iranian climbers are flocking to Pakistan. There's a team of 11 climbers from Tehran, a team of 2 mountaineers from Golestan, and a team of 9 alpinists from Sarab going for G2.

"Sarab’s GII Expedition members are Farshad Khalili (leader) Reza Bahadorani (assistant) Samim Nemati, Ali Sakhtemani, Abbaas Naser, Reza Afsari, Alireza Jalali, Iraj Ma’ali and Dr. Javadi (expedition doc),” reported Iran Mountain Zone news.

Links to climbing teams in Pakistan 2009

Broad Peak:

Elisabeth Revol
Antoine Girard
Ludovic Giambasi
Eelco Jansen
Field Touring Alpine
Iran Mountain Zone News
Karrar Haidri's Saltoro Summits
Serap Jangbu Sherpa
Adventure Tour Pakistan

K2

Fredrik Ericsson
Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner
Maxut Zhumayev
Fabrizio Zangrilli
Santiago Quintero
Sean Wisedale
Nick Rice

Nanga Parbat

Gerfried Göschl
Louis Rousseau
Giuseppe Pompili
Joao Garcia

Gasherbrums

Daniela Teixeira & Paulo Roxo
Philippe Gatta
Altitude Junkies
Don Bowie
Valery Babanov
Kinga Baranowska
Camilo & Anna

Lesser peaks and spires

Mt. Noshaq's Afghans to the top

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