K2 summit fever in increasing winds!
Jul 27, 2004 14: 47 EST
It's a K2 Grand Slam: 10 climbers summited K2 Monday morning, possibly around 20 climbers summited today, Tuesday, and at least 6 or more are heading up right now. If today's numbers prove correct, it's a record: the old one was on August 14, 1996 with 11 summits.
The 10 climbers who summited yesterday were reported safe down in camp 1 in the last report (a few hours ago), and some lower. That includes Edurne Pasaban and Juanito Oiarzabal. Among the summiteers was also Colombian Fernando González-Rubio. His climbing mate Camilo López turned back above C3.
The four Italians who summited today are in camp 4 or lower and report no problems with the descent. There are also rumors of summiting climbers from team Kobler and a Chinese/Tibetan/Pakistani expedition.
Two Italian climbers, Mario Lacedelli and Luciano Zardini, will attempt the summit tonight. They are in Camp 4 with 3 Andalusians (Manuel González, Manuel Morales and Manuel Salazar) and Inaki Ochoa. As the Andalusians have been climbing closely with Kobler earlier, it's estimated that climbers from his team are moving up as well.
After the summit this morning, Mario Dibona of the Italian/Scoiattoli team has descended to Camp 3, while Marco Da Pozzo, Renato Sottsass and Renzo Benedetti are at Camp 4 and report that the descent is going fine.
Right now all five of the Italian K2 team are back at Camp 1 or lower. Gnaro Mondinelli, Walter Nones and Tarcisio Bello are assisting Edurne Pasaban and Juanito Oiarzabal (of the ‘Al Filo’ Spanish team) down the mountain. The other two Spanish climbers are also at Camp 1 or lower. It has been reported that Edurne and Juanito will be evacuated from BC tomorrow.
WNI and SMHI forecast that winds will continue to be moderate today (8-15 m/s above 7500m) but could increase on Thursday (10-17 m/s above 7500m, 15-20 m/s near the Summit) due to an upper level low swings the Jet closer the K2. The winds could reach 20-25 m/s by the weekend near the summit with increased winds at lower elevations as well. Latest satellite imagery indicates low level clouds around K2. Expect a good chance for showers through at least the rest of the week at lower elevations with a slight chance for high clouds/showers on Thursday.
The first to summit K2 this season and therefore break the summitless streak were Silvio Mondinelli and Karl Unterkircher during the morning of July 26th. Silvio Mondinelli has now got his number nine 8,000er and has become the fourteenth person to climb the Top 3 (E, K2 and Kangchenjunga) without O2! Karl Unterkircher has climbed Everest and K2 without O2 in the shortest time (2 months and two days). Juanito Oiarzabal now has 21 8000m-climbs and is only the third person to climb K2 twice. Edurne Pasaban has bagged her seventh 8,000er and is the only woman to have climbed four of the five highest mountains of the earth. Juan Vallejo now has 6 8,000ers.
Image of K2 courtesy of the Andalusian K2 team
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