Posted: Jul 21, 2009 10:00 am EDT
(K2Climb.net/Madrid) More news is to arrive soon on the reported Iranian GII summit yesterday.

Jorge Egocheaga detailed his recent K2 summit to friends back home in Spain. Check the ExWeb report below (straight from Madrid).

One who may follow next weekend is Christian Stangl, currently checking forecasts and conditions in BC before making a decision on his upcoming speed attempt.

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“Tehran and Sarab expeditions from Iran reached GII's summit yesterday around 13:45 pm,” IMZ’s Ehsan Darabi told ExplorersWeb earlier today. “Details will follow soon,” he added.

K2

“I’m fine – tired, but fine,” Jorge Egocheaga told his buddy Javier Feito over sat-phone yesterday. “I summited on Sunday at 7.30am, local time, and the returned to C3, where my mates were waiting, in order to return to BC. I am currently resting in BC, getting ready to help Martin and Joelle as much as I can on their upcoming summit push. Please call my parents and tell them I'm OK.”

“Jorge climbed up together with his mates on an acclimatization trip to the Abruzzi Spur’s C3 last weekend,” Javier reported. “Early on Sunday morning, he saw the weather was fine and just set off towards the summit on his own. He topped-out at 7.30 am, local time; then returned to C3 in 3.5 hours.”

“My acclimatization process is over,” Santiago Quintero reported. “Last Saturday I reached C3 at 7,300m, above the Black Pyramid. I spent the night there, although I didn´t sleep at all due to bitter cold.”

“On Sunday morning I woke up to loads of fresh snow – it was scary,” Santiago noted. “I asked where Jorge (Egocheaga) was, and his mates told me he had gone up towards the summit. I thought he was mad to attempt a solo ascent in such conditions. However, I must congratulate him. He summited on his own from C3. He then told us that he’ll remain with us and will try to help Martin and Joelle on their next summit push.”

Also in BC, speed climber Christian Stangl is waiting for a fresh weather forecast today, in order to decide whether to launch a speed ascent on K2 next weekend. “Conditions are definitely not the best, since the mountain is overloaded with snow,” Christian told ExplorersWeb over sat-phone. “In such circumstances, I really need good weather to consider a speed ascent.”

“I’ll be definitely climbing up the Abruzzi Spur,” Christian added. “As for the style though, I need to study forecasts and probably will check conditions on the way. Should it be too dangerous for a 24-hours single push, I’d turn to “normal style”, aiming for C3 on the first day, and then the summit.”

Asked about Jorge’s summit, Christian was not positive though: “As I understood, Jorge may have stopped at 8,570m, due to dangerous conditions on the upper sections.”

(Ed. Note: Details may be unclear due to translation problems and /or misunderstandings between climbing teams. Egocheaga is neither fond of sharing his achieved goals among other climbers or media. He’s got no website and no sat-phone. Anyway, facts will be settled down as Jorge calls back or returns home with further details and summit pictures. Javier Feito stated that climbers pushing for the top next weekend may also check the Spaniard’s tracks, unless further snowfalls cover the trace.)

Meanwhile FTA team, aiming for the Cesen route, has another member airlifted yesterday. ”Unfortunately, we've lost another member of the team, who has wisely decided to head out after sustaining a painful (although non-critical) injury a few days ago in BC,” FTA’s team member Jake Meyer reported yesterday. “It was very sad waving him off in the helicopter this afternoon.”

Askari Aviation crew confirmed the evacuated climber was Andrew Mark. He was successfully airlifted from K2 BC yesterday at 4:00pm, local time.

Chinese climber Yang Chun Feng is also in K2’s BC, sharing permit with Gerlinde’s and the Kazakhs’ groups. Yang is fresh from summiting Everest in May this year - his second summit on the Big E, after a previous ascent in 2007. He has also topped out cho Oyu (2008) and Muztagh Ata (ten times). Outfitted by Saltoro Summits, Yang is currently climbing with Asghar, a high altitude porter from Shigar Valley, who climbed Broad Peak last year, ExWeb-Pakistan’s Karrar Haidri reported.

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Korean Oh Eun-sun’s Sherpas are already in GI’s BC, while the South Korean 12x8000er lady summiteer is expected to follow soon.

According to Miss Oh’s sponsor Black-Yak, there’s been some confusion among westerns climbers, who mistook her with the late Go Mi-sun in several occasions during the ascent. Italian Giuseppe Pompili posted an image pointing out Miss Oh was dressed in a yellow down suit. “However, Miss Oh’s suit was not yellow, but red,” Blak Yak told ExWeb correspondent in Korea Kyu Dam Lee.

Links to climbing teams in Pakistan 2009

Broad Peak:

Eelco Jansen
Field Touring Alpine
Iran Mountain Zone News
Leonardo Perez
Carles Figueras
Rosa Fernandez
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
Askari Aviation

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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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