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K2 debrief: The Andalusian team
Agu 10, 2004 13: 31 EST
The Andalusian team turned back from the summit of K2 in high winds. Here is their expedition debrief; including their account of the missing climbers:
"On August 23, everyone at BC felt pessimistic. No weather forecast was good enough to launch a summit bid. Some were waiting for the porters to get their gear and return home. Others were making plans to trek back. The general feeling was that K2 seemed to have won the game yet another year. It was hard to believe, considering the vast efforts gathered at BC.
Up the mountain, Al Filo and a group of Italians fought the whiteout in C2. The waited for an expected change in weather that never seemed to ever arrive.
Back in BC we were bored, so at dawn of the 24th, we left for a walk up to ABC. The first daylight showed an spectacular view of K2, crowned by snow feathers flying from the summit and the upper ridges. Everything seemed to indicate an improvement of weather conditions.
We returned to BC around 8:00 am. It was a gorgeous morning; our weather forecasts were totally right: Clear skies and high winds over 7500. BC was in full action when we arrived, everybody were looking up, at the summit.
The million-dollar question
The million-dollar question was "Should we wait or should we go for the summit?" High up, the ‘Al filo’ team was climbing to C3, while others ran up to C2. We decided to wait for an updated forecast before making up our minds although, just in case, we got our gear and backpacks ready.
All the forecasts started to agree on the basics: Clear days were expected, though high winds were to stay at summit level, which would make a summit bid rather difficult.
Cutting the rope
That same day there were also some other events which deserve to be mentioned.
We were discussing plans with Kari Kobler over a cup of coffee, when Sebastián Alvaro (director of ‘Al Filo de lo Imposible’ TV program) came by, asking for our collaboration. We were surprised at his request: The Italian climbers from the national team wanted to use our tents in C3, as they had none up there. All through the season there had been something of a cross-fire between Kobler and the national Italian team, so the Swiss guide refused to lend his tents.
It makes sense, considering that it was precisely Sebastián Alvaro who, during expedition leaders meetings, pointed out the danger of such a procedure, especially on the upper levels. Alvaro finally found collaboration with Carlos Soria's team, who let them use his tents at C3. Alvaro spent the rest of the day searching for more C4 tents to borrow. Luckily no one accepted. The Italians were forced to change their strategy. They sacrificed part of their climbers as far as summit was concerned. Instead, they were placed in charge to carry gear for those few who would remain as the summit team.
This is not the end of the story: At 7.30 pm Alvaro radioed the climbers in C3 reporting on his failure to get some tents for he Italians. Then he asked of Juan Vallejo that as they climbed down, to cut all the ropes they had fixed near the summit. He said that this was not against the Al Filo team, but the Italians. You be the judge on this.
Breaking trail at a cost
The morning of the 25th was another brilliant day, so we were all off on the Abruzzi Spur. Al Filo were on their way to C4. Kobler’s first group reached C3. Kobler’s second group, along with the Tibetan team, Carlos Soria and ourselves got to C2. This way, the summit bid was settled in three consecutive waves. Success could not escape at least one of the groups.
The first team did an amazing job on their July 26 summit push. The Italians and the ‘Al Filo’ climbers broke the trail and fixed 500m of rope. They would pay a high toll for it: Edurne and Oiarzabal came back severely frostbitten, the latter being administered O2 and helped down to BC. The team had no doctor or medical equipment, so our doctor, along with Fernando acting as an assistant attended to the injured. Our tent, formerly known as Casa Andalucia, turned into a ‘battlefield’ hospital.
The gate to the summit was opened
But the door to the summit was opened. Meanwhile, we were fighting the cold and the wind on the black Pyramid, on our way to C3. The weather conditions didn't improve until that evening. The three of us were feeling good, we had a Sherpa, and the weather looked fine…we started to believe that we could actually make it. We started dreaming.
Our next goal was Camp 4. On our way up we met the Italians and the Al filo guys going down. We greeted them and thanked them for their magnificent job. There were quite a lot of people high on the mountain. Above us, the second wave of climbers were on their way to the summit.
Sharing tents
Reaching C4, Carlos Soria offered us to share a big tent that the Italians had let him use. Iñaki Ochoa and both our Sherpas also joined us. Iñaki and Carlos were continuously getting phone calls; so did the Spanish climber ‘Tente’ Lagunilla, overjoyed on his way back from the summit. We almost had to throw him out of the tent, to convince him to go back to the safer Camp 3.
We made water and and rested for a while before leaving for the summit. We felt OK, although I had some problems with my vision, which I relieved with eye-drops.
As we climbed without oxygen, we wanted to avoid jams at the fixed ropes. So we started out at 1:00, calculating 8 to 12 hours to the summit. We couldn't afford more than 14 hours to the summit.
I fell asleep twice
Leaving for the summit is always a tense, almost chaotic moment, but we were off as planned, and it didn't even feel too cold to me. We walked in darkness, silently following the wands and the tracks leading the way on the Shoulder, on our way to the Bottleneck. You can never tell if you are going fast enough or too slow… you just put one foot in front of the other.
I still suffered problems with my vision, but what really got me concerned was that I kept losing my balance. At dawn I told my mates that I was turning around. I gave them what they might need from my backpack and began my descent back to Camp 4. But then I sat in the snow, refusing to give up. I decided I would resume the climb as soon as the sun touched the wall, trusting that its warmth would give me the energy I needed. I reached the fixed ropes and, once clipped in, I fell asleep twice. I didn’t risk a third time. I turned back.
Lenticular cloud on the summit
Salazar, Morales and our Sherpa Migma had kept on going, slow but steadfast. The key was to keep the tempo. The snow conditions were good, and there were fixed ropes. The only thing they had to do was climbing and dreaming. At 9 am Salazar had almost completed the great traverse. Morales was close behind, in spite of having lost some precious time with me.
About 10 am, down in BC, people watched as a ‘lenticular’ (lentil-shaped) cloud formed over the summit. The summiteers reaching the top at that moment found wind and clouds. The cloud was getting thicker. At around 10.30 am, around 8400m, Salazar and Migma decided to turn back and reach C4 before the storm got to them. Morales was just finishing the traverse, but joined the other two and all three came down together.
A lethal trap
The climb on the Shoulders turned into a lethal blind trap when the fixed ropes ended. Salazar and Morales reached a wand but couldn't see where to go next. They radioed down to BC and asked for help. I received their warning through Kari Kobler. He too was waiting for some of his climbers who were in trouble coming back. Migma and I left C4 with some wands. Kobler and someone else came with us. We didn’t have to go too far; we got word that all the climbers were now together and had found their way down. Soon we could see them through the clouds.
With the conditions deteriorating, we all knew that we better hurry back down to camp 3 as fast as possible. But we were all tired and it was late already. We decided to stay in camp 4 for a few hours and resume the descent early morning. We all spent the night in the big tent, thinking of the morning to come. The wind outside howled and it was snowing. We knew next day would be though.
A climber came by asking for help
I was standing outside the tent talking with Migma and one of Kobler’s Sherpas about the descent, when a fair-haired climber approached us. He asked me to coordinate the Sherpas on C4 to go and search for one of his climbing mates, who was missing. I told him that it was impossible to search for anyone in the current conditions, and that Sherpas were needed to open the trail down and get us all out of that hell. He must had understood it perfectly, because he made no objections. It was the first clear news of someone missing on the mountain and, looking at the conditions, a possible casualty.
The Sherpas ran down and all those ready to go, followed them. It was about 6 am. After the first steep slopes the Sherpas got out of sight and their track was almost deleted by the wind. We descended most of the way on our bottoms, opening a trench in the snow. If we tried to walk, we would lose our balance, falling in the deep snow.
"We can't find the rope!"
Lucky enough, the route was well marked. Reaching one wand we were always able to spot the next. Morales and an Italian climber fell, but came out alright. We had to find camp3; in a brief second of clear weather we finally spotted the tents.
There was more tension and chaos in camp 3. As we arrived, Carlos Soria was leaving, and his Sherpa was yelling “We can’t find the rope! We can’t find the rope!” We decided to take a rest and make some water until noon, when we would resume the descent. Getting to Camp 2 meant saving our lives. No way were we going to spend a night in Camp 3. When the Sherpas, Swiss and Italians resumed their descent, they asked us if we were OK, greeted us and we wished each other good luck.
The escape
At 11.45 am we were ready to leave. The storm was increasing and we saw no one else around. I found the rope and started my descent. Snow, wind and cold kept us company. We were obsessed to get back down. We arrived in camp 2 well before 4 pm. This was the camp we knew best, as well as the route back to the foot of the mountain. We knew the storm wouldn't be that horrible from that point. We had escaped.
We got back to BC in the evening of July 30. I had to be helped down the final slopes and was taken on a stretcher to the ‘Battlefield hospital Andalucía.’
Sergey and Davoud
Soon afterwards we received confirmation that climbers had remained in the higher camps to try to turn their dreams into reality. On August 1st almost all teams had abandoned BC and nobody paid attention. Our Catalonian mates friends were alarmed by the situation. They would try to go to camp 2, and asked our help to come up with help if they managed to reach the camp. ‘Rai’ and Fernando got their medicals ready and prepared to climb. It was decided that if there was any radio contact with the missing climbers on the night of August 1, confirming their arrival in C3 and capability to descend to camp 2, Rai and Fernando would stay behind and not come back with us on August 2nd. There was no contact. The last contact was on Aug 1: The climbers were saying, in despair, that they were unable to find camp 3.
Possibly three people are gone. Possibly there is an unjust trail of blood.
Manuel González Díaz. Jefe de expedición, Andalucia K2 2004."
Images courtesy of Andalucía K2 (Deporte Andaluz)
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