Image of Alvaro before the current situation, courtesy Oscar's and Alvaro's expedition website (click to enlarge).
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Latok update: ascent planned for daybreak; more climbers headed to BC
Posted: Aug 11, 2009 10:35 pm EST
(K2Climb.net) Stranded since last Wednesday (August 5), time is not on Oscar's side. Last contact with the climber was on Saturday.
Five Spanish climbers, Jordi Corominas, Jordi Tosas, Jonatan Larrañaga, Simón Elías and Daniel Ascaso, are reportedly enroute to Pakistan. Oscar's and Alvaro's expedition website states that a local Spanish mountain club is coordinating the rescue attempt in a 24/7 effort.
The postings state that Oscar Perez is stranded at 6,300 meters on the NW ridge of Latok 2.
In countless phone calls, the alpine club has tried to gather a team of skilled climbers with the Pakistani army heli rescue as a second option; dangerous and requiring a huge amount of paperwork now handled by the club.
Alvaro Novellón is contact with the alpine club from BC. The club further states that yesterday's flyby showed that an airlift of Oscar is only possible if he is lowered or descends further down. The plan for today is to fly in two more American climbers and two more HAP's to BC which is to be moved closer to the wall.
The second team is to bring fixed rope and gear to secure descent; while Alvaro and Fabrizio are to begin to climb at daybreak in search of Oscar. The club estimates that it will take around three days to reach him. The backup team of five Spanish climbers is expected to reach BC in about five days.
Oscar Perez and Alvaro Novellon were to attempt the unclimbed Latok I’s north face, in alpine style. “Should everything go well, we’ll spend about seven or eight days on the wall,” they told their home team. “That is just an approximate amount of time – since no one has climbed the face completely, we have no references.”
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