Expedition on K2
After I had climbed the “7 Summits”, I was looking for a new challenge. And that challenge I found in Pakistan. K2 is the second highest mountain in the world and has never been climbed by a Belgian. For this expedition, I joined a group of climbers that was led by Fabrizio Zangrilli. On 11th June, 2009 we left Islamabad for a 2 day bus ride to Skardu: a journey of 800 km over the Karakoram Highway. We stayed a few days in Skardu to pack all the equipment. On 15th June, we loaded all our luggage on jeeps and drove over mountain roads to Askole, the starting point of the K2 basecamp trekking. There, we were welcomed by the 247 porters that would carry 25 kg each to K2 basecamp. The trekking takes you from 2900 meter to 5100 meter. It is very different from the Everest basecamp trekking. The environment is much dryer. There are no lodges or teahouses so everyone sleeps in tents. And the K2 basecamp trekking is not as busy as the Everest basecamp trekking because apart from climbers hardly anone else makes this journey. What both trekkings do have in common are the magnificent views.
After 6 days we arrived at the base of K2. Basecamp is located on top of a glacier. The movement of the glacier made the ice underneath our tents crack loudly during the entier expedition. At night we were often woken up by this cracking. Because the glacier was melting rapidly, we also needed to move our tents every two to three weeks. Even in basecamp, you are dependent on porters. They bring fresh food regularly. K2 is also a challenge from a logistical point of view.
As of the first day in basecamp, we started climbing. The weather was good and on K2 you need to use every weather window you can. The weather is very instable in the Karakoram. During my Everest expedition we didn’t have a single day of snow. During the month and a half I spent on K2, it snowed on 20 days. This seriously limits the amount of climbing days. As soon as the weather is reasonable, you need to use that time to climb higher and set up the route.
We choose the Cesen route instead of the more popular Abruzzi route. The most important advantage of the Cesen route is that this route is safer. But even then … Up until 5800 meter the Cesen route is also prone to avalanches and rock fall. So you need to be alert all the time.
Fabrizio had climbed the Cesen route during a previous expedition in 2007. Because he had fixed all the ropes then, he rembered all the anchor points. Many of these anchors could be reused. Above camp 2 there were also parts were we could reuse the ropes from previous years. That saved us a lot of work on the way to camp 3.
The Cesen route is steeper and more technical then the Abruzzi. Because of the heavy snowfall, the climb up to camp 2 was a steep snowclimb. As of camp 2, there was a first piece of mixed climbing: technically not impossible but you are climbing at 6500 meter at that moment. The camp sites on the Cesen are very limited. In camp 1 at 5900 meter there is hardly enough space for 3 tents that are too wide to fit. In camp 2 (6400 m) there is space for more tents, but 2 person tents are a little too wide as well for the space. We only used camp 1 in the beginnin of the expedition for acclimatisation. Once camp 2 was set up, we skipped camp 1. We even broke it up partially. We only left a tent there for emergencies.
Our goals was to be fully acclimatised by the 20th July. More specifically: every expedition member was supposed to have spent one night in camp 3 (7200 m). At the beginning of the expedition, a month seemed plenty of time to climb up to 7200 m and set up all the ropes and camps. But the heave snowfall disrupted those plans. In the beginning, everything went smoothly. During the 2nd climb, I spent a night in camp 1. During the 3rd climb we managed to reach camp 2 and spend a night there. but then things changed. During the next climb, we wanted to reach camp 3, but we didn’t get beyond camp 2. A few climbers got sick. And when we got a fresh load of snow during night, we had to return to basecamp in the early morning. Continuous snow and strong winds kept us in basecamp for several days. In the end, we installed camp 3 on the 26th July. The only other expedition on the Cesen route had already attempted to reach the summit at this point. Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and David Gottler got stuck in deep snow at 8300 meter.
7th August, the end date of our expedition was getting near and we had an awful lot of work to do. All of our equipment (tents, oxygen, ropes, etc.) had to be brought to cammp 4.There was no more time for a seperate trip to camp 4 to carry of this equipment up. On top of that, we couldn’t rely on our High Altitude Porters for this last climb. For safety reasons, it was decided that they would not go beyond camp 3. So we had to carry all the equipment ourselves from camp 3 to camp 4. After a meeting with all the other expeditions on K2, we decided to join forces. On 4th August, we were going for summit attempt together. The weather forecasts for that day were the good: windspeeds up to 40 km per hour at 8500 meter.
On 1st August we left basecamp early in the morning, heading for camp 2. Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner climbed with us because her climbing partner had returned home already. The next day we climbed to camp 3. Up until that moment, everything went according to plan in our summit attempt. But the next day we had to continue without porters, pick up all our equipment in camp 3 and climb 800 meter to camp 4. My pack weighed more then 25 kg because I also had 4 bottles of oxygen with me. To limit the risks I had decided to climb with oxygen. I’m not a professional mountaineer but a good amateur that has no experience in climbing above 8000 meter without oxygen.
As an extra safety measure, we had agreed a time limit for our climb to camp 4: whomever was not in camp 4 at 5pm would turn back. That meant that we had to climb 80 meter per hour on average which didn’t seem impossible. Especially becauseI was going to start using oxygen as of camp 3. But my heavy pack made climbing extremely challenging. On top of that, the snow of the last weeks was becoming a problem more and more. The higher we got, the deeper the snow. After 3 hours, we had only climbed 150 meter. At that moment, I realized that it would be very hard to reach camp 4 on time. Another 3 hours later – we weren’t even half way at that moment – my oxygen mask stopped working. On top of that, the climber behind me said that he was going to turn back. I would have to take over his group equipment if I wanted to contineu. There was no chance that I was going to reach camp 4 on time like this. There was only one safe option left for me. I picked up my radio, contacted Fabrizio and ended the climb with these words: “Fabrizio, I’m not gonna make camp 4. I’m turning back with Paul.” After a short silence, the reply came: “OK. Good work on K2. Safe descent.” A painful decision, but safety is my highest priority.
A few hours later we were back in camp 3. Another two team members would return to camp 3 later that day. The next morning we descended to basecamp with the 4 of us. In the end, about 15 mountaineers reached camp 4, 4 of which via the Cesen. On 4th August a few of them left for the summit. But the snow was also very deep above 8000 meter. A few of them tried to plough through chest deep snow for hours and hours. But in the end, they all had to turn back. 2009 was not a good year for the Karakoram. Nobody reached the summit of K2 or Broad Peak. And only very few mountaineers reached the summits of Gasherbrum I and II.
Op 7 augustus hebben we het basiskamp na een verblijf van anderhalve maand ontruimd. De trektocht over de Gorghondoro La door de sneeuw en regen was nog een uitdaging, maar 4 dagen later stonden we terug in Skardu waar we voor het eerst in 2 maanden van enige luxe konden genieten.
K2 is located in the Karakoram mountain range, on the border between Pakistan and China. It can be climbed from both countries. At 8611 meter, it is the second highest mountain in the world after Mount Everest in Nepal. Just like Everest, K2 is formed by the fact that the Indian subcontinent is pushing against the Asian continent. And just like Everest, K2 is still growing every year. K2 is a very steep pyramid in all directions. De northern, Chinese side is the steepest, but the southern, Pakistani side is a pretty steep climb as well: 2400 meter ascent in less then 4 km horizontal distance.
The name K2 wa given to the mountain in 1856 during a European survey that researched the peaks of the Himalya and Karakoram mountain range. At the start of the survey, each mountain was given a number based on the sequence in which it was observed from a distance of 300 km. The peaks in India and Nepal were called “Peak” and a number. Everest for example became “Peak 15”. The mountains in the Karakoram range were called K and a number, starting from K1 to K9. All these mountains were given a new name afterwards, except for K2.
Although it is lower then Everest, K2 is considered to be the harder climb. The slopes are steeper, the climb is more technical and the weather is less stabile. On top of that, support as provided by the sherpa’s in Nepal that put up tents and ropes, is a lot less common. This means that climbers need to take a lot of these tasks upon themselves.
Because of the lack of sherpa’s to carry up oxygen bottles, the mountain was mainly climbed without supplementary oxygen until recently. This makes the climb even tougher. But since a couple of years, the majority of the climbers climb it with supplementary oxygen. Because I realise that I am not a professional mountaineer but merely a good amateur, I will be using supplementary oxygen as well to limit the risk and to increase my chance of succes.
So K2 is not a mountain for beginners. You are expected to have experience with 8000 meter peaks, before you start with this one. Everest is the ideal preparation for K2. That experience I already have. If you would like to know more about my previous expeditions, then check out www.wimsmets.be.
By the way, the movie “Vertical Limit” is supposed to take place on K2. I can only hope that our climb is going to be less spectacular.
