Posted: Jul 06, 2005 09:54 am EDT
A treasure cove of blue rock, a first repeat climb in 29 years, tributes to the memory of K2 heroes, expedition leaders meetings, climbers turned back by weather and a summit fever on the rise - that's today's skinny on the Karakorum giants. It looks that the weather might improve by Friday, and we could get a big Pakistan summit push this weekend.

Here's the weather forecast and reports from the teams:

Weather: Improving by the weekend!

There is no jet in the area. The winds, currently blowing SW at 20-25 m/s at summit level, will decrease from Friday to 10 m/s. Wind speed at 7500m won’t exceed 5-10 m/s from Saturday.

Due to a low over northern India moist conditions and a lot of precipitation shall be expected in the next two days. But by the weekend a weak ridge is approaching from Afghanistan and the weather will become drier and more stable. Only some local showers may still appear.

K2

Irish: Draughts championship

“Without good weather to climb, there is now a 'K2 Base Camp Draughts Championship' in progress,” reported the expedition’s home team earlier today. “Having gone through to the next round Banjo and John decided that due to a slight break in the clouds, they would head off and re-supply Advanced Base Camp (ABC). This proved to be an incredibly arduous task as the snow falls lay heavy on the mountain side. Upon reaching ABC the weather started to close in, so the two of them headed back to Base Camp disappointed at not getting a chance to establish Camp 3.”

”Despite everything, they remain in good spirits, biting at the bit as they wait for their next opportunity.”

Norwegians: No way up for now

The expedition had hoped to continue up the mountain on Wednesday. Yet the weather forecast didn't look too good, and they need at least 3 or 4 days of good weather to get some work done, so they chose to stay in BC. The next target is Camp 3 and ropes up to Camp 4.”

”The members report that the last days has brought heavy snowfall and that expeditions who tried to climb today had to return due to high risk of avalanches.”

K2 West Face reconnaissance expedition: Facing the wall

Victor Kozlov called Russianclimb.com yesterday, reporting on three days of bad weather. The guys made another trip up to the Japanese camp to deposit some more gear this morning. "The crevasses at the glacier aren't too deep but there is a lot of them... Tomorrow Piotr, Pavel and Vassily will go up to the bottom of the West Face for 6 days... I'll stay here in BC. Hope to visit Urubko and the team,” said Victor.

Polish Bulgarians: Remembrance days

Poor weather halted the team’s progress. They need at least three or four days of good weather to set and supply Camp 3 at 7100.

During the slow days in BC, the climbers spent time at K2’s BC cemetery. Mountaineers rest there, along with the plates paying tribute to those whose bodies were never recovered from K2’s slopes. Anna, Leszek and Dariusz lit a candle and took a moment to remember those who perished pursuing their dream of K2.

Nanga Parbat

Carlos Pauner: Change of plans

“It's always the same thing,” vented Carlos Pauner earlier today. “I had my summit bid perfectly scheduled, but the mountain had different plans for me. The weather didn’t cooperate, and we were forced to delay our plans.”

“Well, let’s be patient,” he added. “Times of glory will come eventually. For now, instead of looking up at the mountain top, let’s focus on the mess-tent table to enjoy the rich food we brought from home, and take a well deserved rest.”

Gasherbrum I

Andalusians on Hidden peak: We came, we saw, we held a meeting

The Andalusian team reached BC during the weekend, in bad weather that soon turned worse.

Just as on K2 last year, “BC Andalucia” promptly became a major meeting point: Leaders from the three main G1 expeditions got together on Monday, to divide the work on the wall. The greater share was assigned to a five-man Argentinean team, who’s been on the mountain for more than a week already, and thus better acclimatized. The Argentineans will fix the Japanese couloir, whilst the Andalusians and a Korean team will carry loads for them and take charge of maintaining and improving the fixed ropes.

Broad Peak

Catalans for K-3: Alternative naming

We've just got news of a Catalan (Spanish) expedition from Barcelona, who's progressing at a good pace on... well, K3. The guys are using the less known name of a mountain also mentioned in books and maps as Faltxan Kangri, or... Broad Peak.

The three team members - Martí Gasull, Francesc Carmona, and Xavi Aymar - have already managed to set camp two. They are climbing without altitude porters.

Spires

Batura II: Second climb to Ya Chhish

“The weather was bad but Joby and I didn't want to take another rest day at BC, so we got up at 7:00 a.m. and at 8:05 a.m. we set off for the summit of Ya Chhish (5130m),” reported Simone Moro yesterday. “It is not an easy mountain; one must be especially careful on the summit ridge. It had been climbed only one time before, on the 23rd of May, 1976 by two German climbers. They climbed Ya Chhish to acclimatize before attempting and reaching Batura I (at that time the highest unclimbed peak of the world).”

“History has repeated 29 years after: At 11:30 Joby and I summited the mountain again via the east face and the delicate final ridge. We also reached the summit aiming to acclimatize before attempting the (currently) highest unclimbed mountain of the world.”

“At 2:30 p.m. we were back in base camp eating tortellini, salami, french fries, spaghetti alla bolognese and at the end a good Italian coffee. Tomorrow the weather should be bad again and we want to stay here to take a rest, so that on Friday we can set off for Batura II through Batokshi Peak.”

Chogolisa kids

“Bad weather has persisted all week long - it's making us pay for the beautiful days we had before,” reported Luca Maspes. “As our climbing goals have to wait, we are focusing on – geology. About one hour away from BC, we found an area of amazing deep blue-colored rocks. In the most professional way we can, we are retrieving some samples. I guess we won’t get rich, but at least we will have a nice gift forour folks back home."

“Meanwhile, the maze of ice-covered towers around us provide a wonderful playground for bouldering and ice climbing.”

Quick links to expeditions:

K2:

Fabrizio Zangrilli's website/K2 | Chris Warner Earthtreks/K2 | Polish-Bulgarian expedition/K2 | Polish-Bulgarian expedition/K2 | Norwegians K2 | Irish K2 | HI-TEC V-LITE Nanga Parbat-K2 Czech Expedition

Nanga Parbat:

Edurne Pasaban/Nanga Parbat | Ivan Vallejo/Nanga Parbat | Carlos Pauner/Nanga Parbat | Silvio Mondinelli/Nanga Parbat | Jean Troillet/Nanga Parbat Mazeno ridge | Nanga Parbat Spanish teams

Broad Peak

Iran/BP new route | Denis Urubko/BP new route | Robi Piantoni/BP new route | Mario Merelli/BP new route BP | FieldTouringAlpine/BP | Catalan Expedition Gracia Quiron to K3 (Catalan)

Gasherbrum II

Amical Alpin/Gerlinde/GII | Andalusian GII| First Turkish/GII | First joint Baltic expedition/GII


Spires

Simone Moro's website/Multilingual/Batura II | Joby Ogwyn's website/Batura II | Masherbrum's NF/Russian Climb | Fredrik Ericsson website/Laila peak/GII ski descent | Benegas brothers/Latok 1| Chogolisa dispatches at Montagna |

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