Posted: Aug 06, 2009 01:42 pm EST
(K2Climb.net/Madrid) “I'm sitting in my BC tent watching the clouds that prevent the rescue helicopter to come,” wrote Portuguese Daniela Teixeira last week.

“I have mixed feelings: sadness, anger, melancholy... and a number of headlines for this post crossing my mind, such as 8000 egos, or 8000 fever, or 8000 lies...”

Teaming up with Paulo Roxo, Daniela originally planned to repeat her attempt of GII's French Spur from last year but bad conditions once again thwarted the climb. Trying the normal route two weeks ago, the climbers learned in C1 that their friend Luis Barbero had not returned from his summit bid. A few days later, Daniela wrote her debrief. Here goes parts of it, with added info below.

Daniela's debrief: celebrations, silence, and junk on G2

My Gasherdreams project belongs to the past. It will stay in my heart as a memory of an unfinished reality. Something that could never come true on a 8000+ meters mountain whose "normal route" is the route of selfishness.

We are back in base camp, due to a combination of tragic events and bad weather. Again, there were some attempts to summit GII, by an Iranian mountain federation’s team, a Polish climber and a Spaniard. Once again, nobody got to the real top of the mountain, that highest point from where one can only go down. Still, the Iranian team was celebrating the summit of some members!

As for us: July 21st Paulo and I once again crossed the glacier separating BC from C1. Rumors of a weather window opening up on the 24-25th made us believe that we still had a chance.

This time we were heading for GII’s normal route. We had given up the idea to climb the French Spur due to loads of snow making it impossible to break trail for just two people.

We arrived in C1 feeling good at about 11:00 am - a lot of climbers were descending from C3. Word was that some Iranian climbers had summited GII in high winds the day before. There was also a Polish climber, Jacek Teler, and a Spaniard, Luis Barbero - who was a friend of ours.

Luis’ dream was to summit GII, no matter how – he was on his second attempt. As evening approached, Iranians started to reach C1, some of them happy for getting the summit (later we knew that although they were close, they never made it).

Curious and worried, about one hour later we asked the Iranians about Jacek and Luis. We were particularly concerned about Luis, because we knew that the "8000er fever" had been consuming him since the start.

The Iranians said that Jacek was coming down. Luis was reportedy missing since summit day. We found it strange that until we asked, nobody said a word about his dissapereance.

Apparently the Iranians stopped about 50m from the summit, as the summit ridge was sharp and dangerous, and they did not have enough rope to fix a safe way to the top. Still, they deserve congratulations for getting so close on such a windy day.

We also want to congratulate Altitude Junkies for their great attitude in C1. Some members of that same Iranian team fixed a rope to approach a crevasse and tossed 2 huge bags of garbage inside, in front of Altitude Junkies members. Immediately, there was an argument.

2 days later, Altitude Junkies' members went inside the crevasse, recovered the garbage bags, brought them to BC and silently emptied them right in front of the Iranians mess tent. The bags contained gas canisters, plastics - all kind of junk.

Ed. Note: Iran's Sarab and Tehran teams were to send a complete report and images once they reached Skardu, according to IMZ news.

More on Luis: Marta Alejandre and Pakistani rescue pilots

Luis Maria Barbero (47) was member in a GI/GII team of independent climbers sharing permit and BC. Fellow Spaniards in the team were Carlos Soria (appointed leader), Marta Alejandre, Sechu Lopez, Oskar Porras, Unai Zendoia and Arkaitz Lasa.

In a first report posted on Marta's website on July 24th, it was stated that Luis was missing since July 20th and that there was no hope to find him alive.

The post was inmediately followed by several comments from Luis' family (posted on Marta's blog). They were asking for information and trying to organize a rescue party. "Please get in touch with us... we have virtually no information [...] We've been told we could ask the Korean team's Sherpas, to go to C3 and look for him," Luis' family wrote. "Please help Luis - don't leave him for dead," they pleaded.

The fellow climbers in BC however stated repeatedly that rescue attempts were impossible due to bad weather and avalanche risk on the route. Carlos Soria told Spanish media that chances of survival at such altitude for so long and without supplies are zero.

On July 27, Marta ensured that the climbers and local outfitters were in contact with the family, and reporting news straight to them. "Misinformed suggestions posted on this blog about actions to be taken are doing nothing but harm Luis' family and the climbing team," said the entry.

That same day, one week after Luis went missing, Pakistan's rescue pilots from Askari Aviation made a helicopter rescue attempt. "Luis Maria Barbero, Spanish Expeditions is missing on G2," they reported. "The helicopters were sent for search & rescue, but the mission was aborted due to bad weather."

Links to climbing teams on the Gasherbrums

Daniela Teixeira & Paulo Roxo
Altitude Junkies
Carlos Soria
Veikka Gustafsson's posts
News on GI/GII Romanian expedition
Tarragona's La Pedrera club expedition
Sechu Lopez
Marek Holecek and Zdenek Hruby
Marta Alejandre
Serap Jangbu Sherpa

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