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Edurne Pasabán: "K2 frightens me"
21:51 p.m. EST Apr 18, 2004
Published March 4, 04.
On May 28, Basque climber Edurne Pasabán will depart for Pakistan, where she will try to climb K2 by the Abruzzi spur. Last week, Esp.MountEverest.net caught up with Edurne in Madrid for a chat over lunch.
Edurne's expedition is part of the Al Filo de lo Imposible, the Spanish Television series "To the Edge of the Impossible". With this, the expedition will not only climb the mountain, but also add to its difficulty by documenting it for television. To make this happen, the program has accumulated some of the most prestigious names in Spain: At the forefront, Juanito Oiarzabal, the 8000+ summit record (20) holder, and also Ferrán Latorre, Juan Vallejo and Mikel Zabalza.
In just a few years, Edurne's name has become well known in the world of mountaineering. Before she reached her thirties, the Tolosa girl made the summit of Everest, Makalu and Cho Oyu. But she really surprised the world when she bagged three more 8000ers in just one season - Lhotse and both Gasherbrums last year.
With this, Edurne made it to the top of the list of female Himalayan climbers. And almost involuntarily, she became the unavoidable candidate to the title of the first woman to bag all the 14, 8000ers:
"The truth is that people now push a little. As I had such a good season last year, many now take it for granted that I'll summit K2, and then continue to bag the rest, until I have all the fourteen," Edurne told ExplorersWeb.
But she is cool and just gets on with her life as usual. "There is no way to survive only on mountain climbing. I run a family restaurant and must do my job well. I have to take care of business every day and then try to find time to work out. I have a personal trainer and climb in the Pyrenees once a week."
And it's the business that has prevented her, for instance, to travel to Ama Dablam, where her team mate Juanito Oiarzabal and Eneko Pou are heading in the next weeks for an acclimatization climb.
And yet, as an experienced Himalayan climber, Edurne doesn't for a moment underestimate what a great challenge she is facing this summer:
"To be honest with you, I had not even considered K2 until "Al Filo" called. K2 is a mountain that always instilled fear in me; difficult, exposed, and very high. It's not just any 8000er... Nevertheless, what made me accept the challenge now is that I'm going with a strong and resourceful expedition, and that I am going to climb with people I know and enjoy climbing with. In these conditions, and only in these conditions, I have finally decided to go".
Also, she won't be alone on the mountain this year. Far from it. With the 50 year first summit celebration this year, many teams are heading for K2 this summer. Only from Spain, almost ten expeditions are preparing to attempt the summit of the 8,611 giant! Teams from the Canary Islands, Andalusia, and Madrid (including an expedition led by veteran Carlos Soria, who will try to make the summit at 63 years), are among the Spanish regions that have set their sights on the same challenge. Not to speak of the rest of the world.
Nonetheless, it still won't be easy. Hiding out in clouds and winds, K2 has rejected summits attempts for the past two years.
"That's one thing that worries me", says Edurne, "the shere number of climbers on a mountain like this, and most of them on the Abruzzi ridge. It will raise the risk. We know, for example, of an Italian expedition of more than thirty members. Considering the constant avalanche danger and stone falls on K2, and the limited space in high camps, I have no doubt that we will have a complicated situation." But she also points out the positive aspects: "At least, the route fixing will be distributed between many of us".
The challenge of K2 is more than sufficient to occupy Edurne's mind, but she can't help to think farther: "At the moment, I focus entirely on this climb, but if I am in a good shape afterwards, I would like to take advantage of the fall season and try Shisha Pangma."
Well, if luck continues to smile at Edurne the way it did last season, this Basque climber could very well make history.
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