Route and Camps

The original plan was to climb K2 via the Abruzzi Spur. This is the standard route. More then half of the successful attempts have been undertaken via this route. The drawback of this route is that it is prone to rock avalanches. That is why Field Touring is planning on using the Cesen route.

The Cesen route is also called the South South East Route. It was climbed for the first time by a Basque team in 1994. The Cesen route provides more protection against rock avalanches.  Some sources call this route safer then the Abruzzi Spur. Others state that it all depends on the circumstances.  If there is a lot of snow, the Cesen route apparently would be more prone to snow avalanches.  It is therefore not impossible that we will still use the Abruzzi spur once we have verified the situation locally.

The upper part of the Cesen route and the Abruzzi Spur are exactly the same. At about 7600 meter, both routes join up. The Cesen route has 3 camps of which the highest one is the same as camp 4 on the Abruzzi Spur.

• Basecamp: The basecamp is located at 5100 meter. When we arrive here, we will have been on the road for 12 days already, of which 7 by foot. To get to 5100 meter, we need to give our body enough time to acclimatize to the altitude. That is why we sleep a few of hundred meter higher each day.
• Gear depot: This camp is actually no more then a temporary storage place for our equipment on the way to camp 1.  In the beginning of the acclimatisation we will probably use this depot as a camp, but I assume that after a couple of trips up the mountain we will just pass by this camp and go straight to camp 1. In this first section, we do need to be careful for rock avalanches. There are rocks that have come down in avalanches in the previous years, so it is better to avoid those or walk through them quickly.
• Camp 1: As of the gear depot, the climb becomes a lot steeper. Up until camp 1, the climb is technically fairly simple. I believe camp 1 will be at around 6400 meter. Depending on the local circumstances of rock and snow, we will need to find a safe spot to up a number of tents. So it could be that the camp is a little higher or lower then originally planned.  On top of that, it could be that all the tents of a camp are not all right next to each other because of limited space, to the difference in altitude between the lowest and the highest tent can be more then 100 meters.
• Camp 2: Right after camp 1, there is a first technical challenge. A traverse of about 250 meter on a very steep section.  After this travers, there is a small “chimney”. Camp 2 is located at about 7100 meter.
• Camp 3: At about 7600 meter we will reach the shoulder where the Cesen route and the Abruzzi Spur join. Above canp 2, the route continues on snow and ice. We need to be mindful of avalanches here as well. Camp 3 is located somewhere between 7800 and 8000 meter, depending on the circumstances.
• Summit: From camp 3, there are about 600 to 800 meter to climb to the summit (as a comparison, on Everest the last climb from the highest camp is almost 900 meter). But to get to that summit, we need to overcome two challenges. First of all, there is the “Bottleneck”, a steep iceclimb at about 8300 meter. Right after the “Bottleneck”, there is a “Traverse”. The “Traverse” runs across a icefield of about 50 degrees beneath a wall of ice of about 100 meters high. From there on, we need to climb another 150 meter to the summit at 8611 meter. And once we get to the summit, we need to descend anothyer 3500 meter to get back to the safety of basecamp !