K 2, seen from Base Camp

It was a tough piece of work. “Finally we are at the summit of K2,” Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of the Nepalese expedition operator Dreamers Destination, wrote on Facebook. Besides him, eleven other climbers had reached the highest point at 8,611 meters, including six Sherpas, Mingma said. Obviously it took them about 16 hours to climb from the last high camp on the K2 Shoulder at about 7,650 meters up to the summit – no wonder considering the large amount of fresh snow, which had previously caused some teams to abandon their attempts due to the avalanche danger.

O’Brien’s fifth 8000er, Zhang’s 13th

Vanessa O’Brien

Among the lucky ones who reached the summit of the second highest mountain on earth was the American-British climber Vanessa O’Brien. For the 52-year-old, K2 was her fifth eight-thousander after Mount Everest (in 2010), Shishapangma, Cho Oyu (both in 2011) and Manaslu (in 2014). In the last two years, O’Brien had returned from K2 empty-handed. The Chinese Zhang Liang also reached the summit today. According to Mingma, the 53-year-old has now scaled 13 eight-thousanders. Since today, John Snorri Sigurjónsson is allowed to call himself the “First Icelander on K2”. The 44-year-old had already summited the eight-thousander Lhotse last May, also as the first climber of his country.

Sherpa power

Mingma had gathered a very strong and experienced Sherpa team around him. Dawa Gyalje Sherpa, Tsering Pemba Sherpa, Nima Tshering Sherpa, Lhakpa Nuru Sherpa, Nima Nuru Sherpa and Ang Tsering Sherpa have all climbed Everest, most of them even several times, in addition other eight-thousanders too. So much Sherpa power was also necessary to break the trail up to the summit of K2. Yesterday John Snorri Sigurjónsson had reported on fresh snow which was up to one meter deep.

Bravo, Mingma!

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa

If there was to award the “Eight-thousander Climber of the Season”, this honor would have to be paid to Mingma Gyalje Sherpa. Last spring, the 31-year-old had already led clients to the summits of the eight-thousanders Dhaulagiri and Makalu in Nepal. At the beginning of the summer, Mingma reached along with his team the summit ridge of Nanga Parbat, but was not sure if they had really found the highest point. Despite frostbite on a toe, which Mingma had suffered during this climb, he now led his team to the summit of K2, which he had climbed for the first time in 2014 – without bottled oxygen. Hats off to Mingma’s performance! However, a climb is only really successful if all members are back in Base Camp safe and sound. This is even more true on the dangerous mountain K2. So, keep your fingers crossed!

Update 29 July: All climbers are back in Base Camp, Mingma reports on Facebook.

Oscar Cadiach

The Beatles can not have meant Oscar Cadiach when they wrote the lyrics for their song “When I’m sixty-four”: “Yours sincerely, wasting away”. The Spanish climber is 64 years old but nothing could be further from wasting away. He is certainly fitter than most 32-year-olds. Today, Oscar completed his big project: The Catalan summited the 8051- meter-high Broad Peak in the Karakoram and has now stood on top of all 14 eight-thousanders without having used bottled oxygen. 33 years ago, Cadiach had scaled his first eight-thousander, also in Pakistan: Nanga Parbat.

“It was very hard”

Broad Peak

“We made the summit! I stand on the top,” Oscar told the Catalan broadcaster Tarragona Radio. “We had wind all the time, it was very hard. I am with Ali, Tunc, and Yosuf.” The 41-year-old Muhammad Ali “Sadpara” is one of the best climbers of Pakistan. Together with Simone Moro and Alex Txikon, he succeeded the first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat at the end of February 2016.  For the 45-year-old Tunc Findik, the most successful high-altitude climber in Turkey, Broad Peak was his eleventh eight-thousander. Pakistani high-altitude porter Yosuf was the fourth member of the successful team.

First Norwegian on Broad Peak

According to a Facebook post by Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, the head of the Nepalese expedition operator Dreamers Destination, Kari Dybsjord Røstad and Pakistani Amin Ullah also reached the summit of Broad Peak. Kari became the first Norwegian on top of this mountain, Amin Ullah the fourth Pakistani, who has summited all five eight-thousanders in his home country. Mingma also thanked the Pakistani Ali Reza. It remainded unclear at that point whether he reached the highest point too.

Summit day on K2?

K 2 Base Camp

On K2, the second highest mountain on earth, there could be on Friday the first summit successes since 2014 – if everything works. 14 climbers, including nine Sherpas, had reached Camp 4 at 7,650 meters on Wednesday. “Snow depth 50 up to 100cm cost all energy,” the Icelander John Snorri Sigurjónsson wrote on Facebook. “It took us twelve hours from Camp 3 to Camp 4.” According to John, the climbers set off for their summit push on Thursday night. So keep your fingers crossed!

P.S. John Snorri Sigurjónsson has a GPS tracker as well as the American-British climber Vanessa O’Brien. If you want to follow the climbers’ progress, here are the links to the devices: John’s and Vanessa’s.

K 2, the “King of the Eight-thousanders”

Will K2, after all, stretch out its hand for reconciliation? Despite the difficult weather and snow conditions on the second highest mountain on earth, today more than a dozen climbers have reached the highest camp on the K 2 Shoulder. “He just arrived at Camp 4,” Lina Moey, partner of the Icelander John Snorri Sigurjonsson, wrote on Facebook. “He is very tired, after almost twelve hours of climbing. This was a very long day and the snow reached up to his waist at some points. Fourteen people are planing to summit the peak, 9 of them are Sherpa. They had to dig 1.5 meter down to be able to put the tent down.” On 16 May, the 44-year-old Sigurjonsson had summited the 8516-meter-high Lhotse in Nepal. He was the first Icelander on the fourth highest mountain on earth. Also on the summit of K2, he would be the first climber of his country. John’s GPS tracker showed an altitude of 7,650 meters.

Furtenbach team returns home, Bargiel still in Base Camp

The British-American mountaineer Vanessa O’Brien also reached this height. “Camp 4”, the 52-year-old tweeted concisely, with a link to her GPS tracker. Like Sigurjonsson, O’Brien also belongs to the team of the Nepalese operator Dreamers Destination. Vanessa tries to climb K2 for the third year in a row. If she reaches the summit, it would be her fifth eight-thousander. Today the team of the Austrian expedition operator Furtenbach Adventures descended. “Sadly weather on K2 played it’s own game again,” the team said. “Avalanche danger became dramatically high very quick so team decided to stop and descend to Base Camp. We do not want to send our Sherpas up in that danger.” The team members arrived safe and sound at the foot of the mountain and want to go home tomorrow. “We are still sitting in the Base Camp waiting for weather to improve,” wrote Andrzej Bargiel today on Facebook. The 29-year-old Pole wants to ski down K2 for the first time from the summit without interruption to Base Camp. However, Andrzej and his team are running out of time.

Cardiach and Co. reached last high camp

Broad Peak

On the neighboring eight-thousander Broad Peak, the Spaniard Oscar Cardiach and his companions reached Camp 3 at 7,200 meters and are planning to climb up to the 8051-meter-high summit on Thursday, if the conditions allow an ascent. Cardiach’s team includes Tunc Findik, who has already summited ten eight-thousanders, making him the most successful high altitude climber of Turkey, Muhammad Ali “Sadpara”, who was among the winter first ascenders of Nanga Parbat in 2016, and Yosuf, a Balti HAP (High Altitude Porter). Broad Peak is the last of the 14 eight-thousanders which is still missing in the collection of the 64-year-old Catalan Cardiach. Oscar has climbed all 13 eight-thousanders so far without bottled oxygen.

Shadow of K2 falls on Broad Peak (there was better weather in 2004)

Damn hard or impossible? This question is likely to be answered in the next few days on the eight-thousanders K2 and Broad Peak. Summit bids are running on both mountains. “K2 is all about weather,” Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, expedition leader and head of the Nepalese operator Dreamers Destination, writes on Facebook today. “We had three days bad weather though weather report showed good (weather). Some teams on K2 are closed already and some in my team are going down too. But remaining, we still want to check 27 July.”

High risk of avalanches

Most teams had assumed next Thursday to be the most suitable summit day with favorable weather conditions. The British-American mountaineer Vanessa O’Brien also belongs to Mingma’s team on the Abruzzi route. The GPS tracker of the 52-year-old shows that she reached today an altitude of about 7,000 meters. Vanessa is trying to climb K2 for the third consecutive year. She has already summited four eight-thousander: Mount Everest (in 2010), Shishapangma, Cho Oyu (both in 2011) and Manaslu (in 2014).

The New Zealander Adam Parore and his companions have abandoned their summit attempt on K2 due to heavy overnight snowfall. “With 20cm falling from above Camp 3 our chances to advance we’re now non existent and the danger of avalanche suddenly very real, and life threatening,” the former cricket star writes on Instagram. The 46-year-old is a former member of the “Black Caps”, the New Zealand cricket national team. In 2011, Parore scaled Mount Everest.

Cadiach and Co. on hold in high camp

On Broad Peak, next to K2, mountaineers are also fighting against the adverse weather and the difficult conditions on the mountain. Continued snowfall and wind speeds of 50 km/h halted the ascent of the Spaniard Oscar Cadiach and his team. They wanted to wait in Camp 2 at 6,300 meters, whether the weather was turning better, it said. Broad Peak is the last of the 14 eight-thousanders which is still missing in the collection of the 64-year-old Catalan. Oscar has climbed all 13 eight-thousanders so far without bottled oxygen. He is accompanied by a strong team, which includes Tunc Findik, who has already summited ten eight-thousanders making him the most successful high altitude climber of Turkey, Muhammad Ali “Sadpara”, who was among the winter first ascenders of Nanga Parbat in 2016, and a Balti HAP (High Altitude Porter).