Climbing into the fog

No photo, no video, no GPS data. It’s not possible to prove clearly where exactly on the seven-thousander Latok I in the Karakoram the two Russian climbers Alexander Gukov and Sergey Glazunov finished their ascent on 23 July. The GPS tracker didn’t work properly. The mini-camera they had used to document the ascent was carried by Sergey when he fell to his death on 25 July. The body of the 26-year-old could not be recovered. Two days before, the two Russians had reached their highest point in the fog. “By 7 pm, Sergey climbed up a small col between a rock and a snowy serac. I was standing ten meters below him. The snow was almost vertical,” Alexander recalls on “mountain.ru”, where an English translation of his statements was published today.

“I did not feel the summit”

The versions of Glazunov and Gukov

„I started shooting the video, commenting that we climbed up somewhere. ‘What do you mean, ‘somewhere’: it’s Latok I, Sanya,” Sergey shouted. ‘Take me,’ I shouted to him. ‘This is unreal(istic), Sanya. Everything is covered with snow mushrooms and vertical slopes here,’ Sergey answered and began to descend.” Was Sergey really standing on the highest point of Latok I at 7,145 meters? He is still in doubts, Gukov admits: “I did not feel the summit, I don’t remember the pre-summit ridge, we did not stand together and hug one another and enjoy ourselves on the summit as I dreamt to,” Alexander writes on “mountain.ru”. “I think that it was the top of the North Ridge or the western ‚summit‘ of Latok I.“

Either on top of North Ridge or main summit, says Gukov

Alexander Gukov (r.) and Sergey Glazunov (l.) before their ascent

I ask the 42-year-old whether he is convinced that he and Sergey really have climbed the North Ridge to its end. “Of course I am sure,” Gukov answers me adding that the only alternative is that – as Sergey assumed – the highest point of their ascent was not the highest point of the North Ridge, but the main summit of Latok I. Actually, Alexander continues on “mountain.ru”, “it does not matter to me whether we climbed this 360m summit ridge or not.“ It was a good climb, writes Gukov, although he and Sergey were together en route for the first time, they harmonized well as a team.

After Glazunov’s fatal fall, Gukov had been trapped on the North Ridge at 6,200 meters for almost a week before being flown out of the wall by a Pakistani rescue helicopter on long line. He was severely dehydrated and suffered from frostbite on his feet. “I am getting better quite fast,” Alexander writes to me from Russia. Get well soon!

Thomas Huber, Rainer Treppte and Simon Gietl (from l. to r.)

Thomas Huber is sitting on packed expedition barrels. “I’m really looking forward to the expedition,” says the 51-year-old. The older of the two Huber brothers is leaving for Pakistan this Saturday. Thomas wants to tackle the northern side of the 7,145-meter-high Latok I – together with 33-year-old South Tyrolean Simon Gietl and climbing old hand Rainer Treppte, aged 59, who comes from Saxony and has been living in the Allgäu region for a long time. “I have already climbed with them,” says Huber about his two climbing partners. Last spring, the trio succeeded in repeating for the first time the difficult “La Strada” route on the Cima Grande in the Dolomites, which the Poles Piotr Edelman and Jan Fialkowski had mastered for the first time in 1988. “We harmonize very well as a team, and we have every chance to tackle such a goal as Latok I,” says Thomas Huber. I also talked to him about the drama on this seven-thousander in the Karakoram that had kept us in suspense for days.

Thomas, yesterday we got the relieving message that the Russian climber Alexander Gukov was rescued from the North Ridge of Latok I. How did you experience this dramatic story?

Gukov rescued – after 19 days on the mountain

I checked “mountain.ru” every day to see what happened. I was hoping for good weather and studied the weather forecasts. My thoughts were always with Alexander Gukov on the North Ridge. Of course, it’s a very special feeling when you know that you will soon be on this mountain yourself. You just hope it ends well. But we should not forget the tragic death of Sergey Glazunov, who fell to his death while abseiling.

Things like that are never easy if you burn for a mountain. And for me, Latok is a very special mountain. My career on the very high mountains began with the first ascent of the Latok II West face in 1997 (together with his brother Alexander Huber, Toni Gutsch and the American Conrad Anker). And 21 years later I travel to Latok I – to a mountain where an incredible drama has just happened.

North Face of Latok I, on the right the North Ridge

Is that why you travel there with mixed feelings?

It’s not that easy. However, I am relieved at the moment that all the energy put into the rescue was finally rewarded and that Alexander could be brought alive and safe from the mountain. I think it was a salvation for him. I am glad that if everything goes well, we will pitch up our tents on the Choktoi Glacier only after another two and a half weeks. So some time will have passed, in which everything can calm down a bit.

Why do you set off so late in the season?

I believe it’s better to go later because of global warming. I think the mountain will be safer then. After all I read about the Russians and the Slovenes, it was extremely warm on Latok I in July and therefore also extremely dangerous. Alexander Gukov and Sergey Glazunov have nevertheless ascended. I don’t think the conditions were optimal.

I have to say, however, that I didn’t search information on these expeditions intensively. I rather went climbing. I wanted to get out of what was happening on Latok I because I felt the competitive situation. I am glad that I was not on the mountain at the same time, because definitely all decisions can no longer be made objectively when other expeditions are on the same mountain, on the same route, with the same goal. I look forward to us being alone on the mountain. We will seize our chance or even realize that it is too dangerous. We’ll try everything, of course. I enjoy taking up challenges that seem impossible. But I will also accept if the risk is incalculable. Then I’ll say: Okay, it doesn’t have to be.

Thomas sets out again

Have you already decided whether you want to try the North Face or the North Ridge?

No. I have a goal, an idea. But the mountain will always show you something new. The conditions and the weather will show you exactly the only way that is possible for you. The whole north side is so complex and so difficult. We’ll see.

This is your third trip to Latok I in four years after 2015 and 2016. Did you sink your teeth into this mountain?

I’ve never done this before, I’m not sinking my teeth into any mountain. But I have never really failed on Latok I, because it has always gone wrong in advance. I haven’t yet hit my ice tool a single time on Latok I. If I get a chance to make a serious attempt and Latok I shows me that it is too difficult for me, I will have made peace with this mountain.

Alexander in the rescue helicopter

Good news from the Karakoram: Alexander Gukov is saved. The 42-year-old Russian climber had been trapped for almost a week on the North Ridge of the seven-thousander Latok I at 6,200 meters, without food or equipment. With finally good visibility, but strong wind, Pakistani helicopter pilots managed to get Alexander off the mountain on a long line. Two helicopters were in action.

Flown to hospital in Skardu

After the pilots had discovered Gukov’s orange snow-covered tent on a small ledge, they tried to lower the lifeline to the climber. After 15 minutes Alexander managed to grab the line and latch on. He forgot, however, to remove his anchor to the mountain. Fortunately, the anchor gave way after a while. Gukov was first flown to the base camp and, after supplying him there first aid – to the military hospital in the northern Pakistan city of Skardu. In the past few days, the rescue helicopters had taken off a total of seven times, but had had repeatedly to return empty-handed due to thick clouds on the mountain.

Frostbite on his feet

Rescue near the North Ridge

Gukov seems to be doing as well as can be expected. He has frostbite on his feet and a slight injury to his chest due to transport with the lifeline, reports mountain.ru, citing the doctors in Skardu. Besides, Alexander is severely dehydrated. “I was about to hallucinate,” Gukov is quoted. “Avalanches went down day and night. I thought they wouldn’t rescue me anymore. I had no more strength to dig my feet out of the snow. I just lay there.”

Gukov had been on the mountain for 19 days. As reported, his 26-year-old rope partner Sergey Glazunov fell to his death on Tuesday last week while abseiling. The two Russians had tried to climb the North Ridge of Latok I up to the 7,145-meter-high summit for the first time. Apparently they turned back at an altitude of almost 7,000 meters.

First aid in BC

Since the legendary first attempt in 1978 by the Americans Jeff and George Henry Lowe, Michael Kennedy and Jim Donini, who were forced back by a storm about 150 meters below the summit, around 30 attempts to master the route failed.

In 2015, Gukov was awarded the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar of the Climbers”, together with his compatriot Aleksei Lonchinsky for their new route via the South Face of the 6618-metre-high Thamserku in Nepal.

P.S.: Thanks to Anna Piunova from mountain.ru for the first hand information during the past days.

Gukov’s position on the North Ridge of Latok I (see arrow)

Fingers crossed for Alexander Gukov! According to Anna Piunova from the website mountain.ru, the 42-year-old Russian climber is trapped at 6,200 meters on the North Ridge of the 7145-meter-high Latok I in the Karakoram. Gukov made an emergency call on Wednesday:  “I need help. I need to be evacuated. I’m hanging in the wall without equipment.” His 26-year-old climbing partner Sergey Glazunov fell to his death while abseiling, said Alexander.

Longline rescue?

Apparently, the two climbers had turned around on Tuesday at an altitude of almost 7,000 meters. Due to bad weather with rain and snowfall, a rescue helicopter of the Pakistan army has not yet been able to take off.  The rescuers want to get Gukov off the mountain by using a long line. Some climbers have offered to participate in the rescue operation – including Italian Herve Barmasse and German David Göttler, who want to tackle the Southwest Face of the 7,925-meter-high Gasherbrum IV this summer. They would have to be flown by helicopter to Latok I.

Two week on the mountain

Alexander Gukov (l., in 2014 with Aleksei Lonchinsky)

On 12 July, Gukov and Glazunov had set off to climb the North Ridge for the first time up to the summit. This goal has been so far a too hard nut to crack for many top climbers from all over the world. Since the legendary first attempt in 1978 by the Americans Jeff and George Henry Lowe, Michael Kennedy and Jim Donini, who were forced back by a storm about 150 meters below the summit, about 30 attempts to master the route failed. Gukov is well known in the climbing scene. In 2015, he was awarded the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar of the Climbers”, together with his compatriot Aleksei Lonchinsky for their new route via the South Face of the 6618-metre-high Thamserku in Nepal.

With broken bones back from the North Face

Other members of the Russian Latok I expedition had tried to climb the North Face. They were forced back by rock fall. “(We) descended to Base Camp alive, but helmet, rib and bones are broken,” Victor Koval reported to Russia. “Finally, an avalanche hit us.” A Slovenian expedition is also on site to tackle the North Face. The two German climbers Thomas Huber (the older of the Huber brothers – the younger, Alexander Huber, is currently with Fabian Buhl en route on the 6,166-meter-high Choktoi Ri, in the Karakoram too) and Rainer Treppte as well as the South Tyrolean Simon Gietl have their bags packed. Their destination: the North Face of Latok I.

Update 27. Juli, 11 am: Alexander Gukov has contacted Anna again: “Damn! Where do all the avalanches come from? I can’t even boil water.” Meanwhile, it is being considered to supply the climber with equipment from the helicopter. It is possible that Alexander would then be able to descend on his own.