Image of K2's Great Serac and the Bottleneck courtesy of Gerfried's website (click to enlarge).
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K2 update: Gerfried, Louis, Gerlinde and others at the Bottleneck - and going!
Posted: Aug 04, 2009 01:20 am EST
(K2Climb.net/Madrid) "Gerfried and approx. 8 other mountaineers are at the end of the bottleneck traverse at 8,250m," Göschl's wife Heike reported. "Progress is slow, because they have to fix some dangerous passages on the way. Gerfried estimates they still have 4 more hours to the top. Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner is also with them, while Sepp Bachmair has turned back."
Over for FTA's climbers
"Jake and three others (Wim and the two Pauls) were forced to turn back halfway to camp 4 and return to Camp 3," Jake's dad Hugh reported earlier today. "Matt had decided to turn back already yesterday."
"According to Chris, who telephoned me from BC today, Jake may have had a problem with his O2 equipment," Hugh ended.
On a later update, FTA's leader Chris checked in to report that members Fabrice and Ron had finally aborted their push in C4, while Fabrizio Zangrilli turned around at the bottleneck.
"It sounds as Fabrizio was confronted with a long wait at the bottleneck and trusted his years of good mountain sense to know when enough was enough," Chris said from BC. "Neither Ron nor Fabrice felt sufficiently strong to mount a summit attempt. . All three are in C4 brewing up at this time and are preparing to descend at least to C3 if not lower. The crew at C3 is loading up and heading down this morning planning to return all the way to BC. "
Kazakhs at Gerlinde's side
As for Maxut, Vassiliy and Serguey, latest news on them were reported by Gerlinde's husband Ralf Dujmovits yesterday: The Kazakh/Russian trio had joined Gerlinde at C4 on the Shoulder, and they were joining forces for the final push.
"Gerlinde knows the friendly, strong Kazakhs from Nanga Parbat," Ralf explained. "Back then, they nick-named Gerlinde the 'Caterpillar Cinderella'. She is actually happy to have them at her side on the current push."
Links to K2 climbing teams
Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner
Maxut Zhumayev
Fabrizio Zangrilli
Jake Meyer
Santiago Quintero
Martin Ramos
Christian Stangl
Gerfried Göschl
Louis Rousseau
Field Touring Alpine
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