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Women of K2 - summit push Wrap Up
Jul 27, 2004 18: 10 EST
Wanda Rutkiewicz, Liliane Barrard, Julie Tullis, Chantal Mauduit, Alison Hargreaves. Until yesterday, only five women had ever climbed to the summit of K2. On June 23, 1986, Wanda Rutkiewicz became first woman to summit the mountain. All five women have died since, while descending or on subsequent expeditions. Alison Hargreaves was the last woman to summit K2 in 1995, but perished in high winds on descent.
Yesterday, July 26, Edurne Pasaban summited K2 at 16.30 hrs local time. She suffered frostbite and is just being helped down to BC, from where she will be evacuated tomorrow. With 7, 8000ers under her belt, Edurne is now the only living female K2 summiteer in the world.
But what about the other K2 women this year? In the recent ExWeb tribute to the women of K2 we profiled the five of them. Here is a quick climbing update:
Nadia turned back
Nadia Tiraboschi, Italy, has climbed some extremely difficult (ED) routes in her career, but her highest altitude to date was on the summit of Aconcagua (6,962 m). Nadia turned back her K2 summit push at around camp 2 this weekend.
Joelle with Kobler
Joelle Brupbacher, Switzerland, is climbing with Kari Kobler. Not much is known about Joelle and K2 seems to be his first attempt on a 8000er. Koblers team is reported to be positioned high up on the mountain and Joelle could be up there with them, but there is no information from the team.
Eva no news
Eva Zarzuelo, Spain, is climbing on an International permit that she shares with climbers like Inaki and the Colombians. Inaki is high up and part of the Colombian team summited this morning, but there are no news of Eva's whereabouts.
If she is on a summit push, it's likely taking place latest tonight, rumors are however flying in her hometown that she has abandoned the expedition altogether due to bad weather and an expiring climbing permit.
This 32 years old Spanish woman earlier asked Juanito Oiarzabal, from the ‘Al Filo’ team, to join them during the climb to Camp I. It seems that she is focused not on her climbing mates, but on the summit, no matter who might be climbing ahead - or behind - her.
It is her first time on K2, but not on 8000+ peaks. Back in 2001 she made it to the summit of Nanga Parbat (8035m), via the Kinshofer route, and last year she made Gasherbrum I (Hidden Peak).
Nives at around 7000m on the North side
Last summer Nives Meroi (43), Italy, had a stunning grand slam success in the Karakorums: Together with husband Romano Benet and fellow climber Luca Vuerich, she reached the summits of GI, GII and Broad Peak in a mere 20 days. On the16th of May this year, Nives summited Lhotse (8516m). With six 8000m peaks under her belt, Nives is Italy’s leading lady of the mountains.
Nives is now on K2s North side with Romano and Luca. The last report from the team said that they would use the weather window to fix rope and camp at around 7000 meters, and come back down for a later push. Note that before this season, K2 South was last summited in 2001, whilst K2 North was last summited in 1996...
Gerlinde coming up?
Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner has six 8,000ers, most recently bagging Annapurna in May and G1 Sunday. A near miss on Shisha Pangma sent her and the team down – stopping her short of getting 7 main mountains, which would have put her alongside of Edurne at the top of the list for living female high-altitude climbers. Only the late Wanda Rutkiewicz has more, with eight 8,000ers. Gerlinde's earlier plan was to continue to K2 after G1 and G2 - we'll see about that now that the season is getting late.
Lhakpa Sherpa, the record-holder Sherpani climber was expected to K2 this year but the expedition has since been cancelled.
Image of Edurne Pasaban courtesy of El Correo Digital
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| Ireland K2 expedition leaving town Sunday Jun 3, 2005 | | Avalanche alert in Pakistan and media reports of 2005 causalties Jun 2, 2005 | | Vikings for Pakistan sky descents! Jun 1, 2005 | | Russians for K2 West Face first ascent May 31, 2005 | | ExplorersWeb Week in Review May 30, 2005 | | Pakistan's last images of Chinese/Tibet expedition May 28, 2005 | | China/Tibet's great loss - Rena dies, Bianba Zaxi seriously injured May 28, 2005 | | China/Tibet Gasherbrum expedition caught in big avalanche May 28, 2005 | | Simone Moro's Batura II expedition: “Thank God Alpinism is anything but dead,” part 2 final May 26, 2005 | | Simone Moro's Batura II expedition: "Thank God alpinism is anything but dead" part 1 May 25, 2005 |
| | Iridium: "Invalid battery - matches found, 0" May 24, 2005 |
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2004
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