K2 summit push is on!
Jul 25, 2004 21: 29 EST
The Italians are going for it! History will hopefully repeat itself tonight. The Italians were the first to summit K2 back in 1954 and now they might become the first to summit it after the two-year summitless streak.
Who’s on deck? Silvio Mondinelli, Mario Merelli, Stefano Zavka, Walter Nones, Alex Busca, Massimo Farina, Ugo Giacomelli, Karl Unterkircher, and Michele Compagnoni. Also up there are four Spanish climbers from the Al Filo team, including Edurne Pasaban and Juanito Oiarzabal.
So, they’re all in Camp IV and are probably moving upwards right now if they decided to go for it. Mondinelli called down to Base Camp as soon as he arrived in Camp IV, 7800m. What did he say? “Tomorrow morning I call you from the summit!”
Most climbers leave for the summit between 10 p.m and 1 a.m. (local time at the mountain right now is about 6.30 AM). They will have to encounter the Bottleneck, a 100-meter narrow couloir at 8300 meters that is 80-90 degrees. If it is windswept and cold, the ice in this couloir can create extremely challenging, sustained climbing. At least 10 of the climbers who have died on K2 lost their lives in the Bottleneck. Unlike Everest, if these guys summit, it will most likely be closer to noon than earlier in the morning.
Stay tuned, we’ll be updating as soon as we hear the latest!
ExplorersWeb image of K2 high up.
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