Posted: Jul 14, 2009 10:19 am EDT
(K2Climb.net) The Korean Embassy in Islamabad confirmed to Askari Aviation that Nanga Parbat BC located Go Mi-Sun's body through binoculars. She is reportedly still in the same location, but could not be spotted due to snow.

"Confirmation of this can only be verified by the pilots when they search the area," Lt Col(R) Ilyas Ahmad Mirza told ExWeb this morning. "The helicopters could not be dispatched today for technical and weather reasons, we hope to begin the search tomorrow subject to weather."

Check in later today for a Nanga Parbat debrief from both Joao Garcia and ÖAV expedition leader Gerfied Göschl.

Vibes are somber all over Karakoram, with climbers on several peaks packing up. The brightest note was sent by Pat Deavoll (NZ) who made a first ascent on the stunning Karim Sar.

K2

“Decision is made: I’m coming home,” Giuseppe Pompili stated yesterday. “I’ve got no permit for Broad Peak, and K2 is too overloaded with snow.”

“The presence of death here is overwhelming,” said Sean Wisedale right before leaving K2’s BC together with Tunc Findik – both climbers have called their attempts off.

“On the way back from a day trip to Broad Peak’s BC, I walked pass the remains of a human torso – decomposed ribs and a spine,” Wisedale wrote. “A few weeks ago at the base of the route, there was a decomposing foot protruding from the moraine. I never wrote about for avoidance of morbid curiosity but I have not been able to block it out of my mind.”

“As magnificent as this great wilderness and K2 is, I have to listen to my gut feel,” Sean reflected. “Michael’s death (skier Michele Fait), the foot and the corpse have affected me. It’s time to call it a day. And so I have withdrawn from the expedition.”

“Tunc Findik also announced that he is leaving the expedition – he told me that he’s been listening to his inner voice and that K2 does not feel right for him now. I wish him well as he moves onto to Gasherbrum II as part of his 14 x ‘8000 meters’ quest.”

“It's snowed a lot today; the wind has also picked up” Jake Meyer reported yesterday. “It's easy to think of the luxuries of the outside world at times like this, of family, friends, food, and fun, but it is important to keep focused on the matter in hand. Although we might feel as though the weather is conspiring against us, the show must go on. The weather will clear for us in a few days time (In sha’Allah!), and then we will try for Camp 3. If that is made, we’ll try and spend a night there to acclimatise, and then no doubt the weather will close in again - this is the way it works out here.”

Kazakhs Maxut and Vassiliy reached Goro-2 camp earlier today in unstable weather. At evening, Max showed the porters a video featuring Vasso and him on their 2006 Dhaula+Annapurna double header expedition. "The guys were delighted to take a look to off-Karakoram mountains," he said.

Gasherbrum II

'Scottish' conditions (Adele's word to describe snow, wind and cold) have thwarted summit pushes on the Gasherbrums.

“The team got as high as Camp 2 (6,450m), but had to descend in heavy snow,” Jagged-Globe’s Adele Pennington reported from C1 today. “David Hamilton pushed ahead further to Camp 3, but conditions were 'Scottish'. Everyone from our team is safe and sound in C1.”

One day after their mates called their summit push off, Nacho Lucero is throwing the towel in as well. “The weather is still very bad so he is now on his way back down to BC - David and Mikel are already there,” their home team reported.

Gasherbrum I

“Veikka and Kazuya started a summit attempt 6 o’clock on Saturday,” home team Tamissuo reported. “They climbed 4 hours up to Camp 1. Waited for 14 hours. Continued pushing forward on sunday on to Camp 2, at 6400m. They faced a snow storm and strong winds at 3 o’clock Monday morning, which forced them back at the increasing avalanche risk and forecasted 100km/h winds.”

“There was no one else on the Japanese Couloir at the time,” the team added. “They saw climbers backing down from G2 also. For the next summit push Veikka and Kazuya need a good solid weather forecast, which haven’t been accurate lately.”

Karim Sar (6,180m)

Back home in New Zealand, Pat Deavoll updated ExplorersWeb on her recent first ascent of Karim Sar (6,180m) on June 21st.

Teaming up with Paul Hersey, Pat forged a route up the 2,600 meters tall south face. On the definitive summit push, she climbed the final 1000m alone while her climbing partner stayed at the top camp at 5100m. "The final 1000 meters took me 12 hours,” Pat told ExplorersWeb.

According to Pat’s research, Karim Sar had one previous attempt in 2007 by Ivo Ferrari and two other Italians. It is located in the Shilinbar Glacier (Hunza region, Northern Pakistan).

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
Jake Meyer
Santiago Quintero
Sean Wisedale
Martin Ramos
Christian Stangl

Nanga Parbat

Gerfried Göschl
Louis Rousseau
Giuseppe Pompili
Joao Garcia

Gasherbrums

Daniela Teixeira & Paulo Roxo
Philippe Gatta
Altitude Junkies
Don Bowie
Valery Babanov
Jagged-Globe
Nacho Lucero
Carlos Soria
Veikka Gustafsson's posts
News on GI/GII Romanian expedition


Lesser peaks and spires

Mt. Noshaq's Afghans to the top
Pat Deavoll - Karim Sar

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