Yesterday evening, Nirmal Purja and his group reached Base Camp in record time, considering that on December 21, he was still in Skardu.
Karakorum Expeditions explained that there is a new road to Jhola camp, built for jeeps supplying the military settlement. Thanks to it, “you can trek the same day to Paiju, which means you save two days trekking in and two days trekking out, and therefore, the trek to K2 Base Camp is now reduced by almost four days,” the outfitter wrote.
Such a quick approach is not an option for the large Seven Summit Treks group, whose members will need a slower pace in order to acclimatize. Nims’ team, however, has been climbing in Nepal for the last few weeks, so altitude should not be a problem, at least to Base Camp (5,100m).
Mingma G (left) and partners, as ready as they can be for a windy night at K2 Base Camp in winter.
The group arrived just in time to find shelter from a “terrible night,” according to Mingma G. “The wind didn’t stop the whole night and still continues,” he wrote. He and his Sherpa companions had to stay awake all night, checking the state of the wind-battered tents.
Overall, though, the weather forecast looks good for the next few days, providing a golden chance to progress further up the mountain. As we reported earlier, Mingma G’s team has already fixed ropes and set up Camp 2 on their impressive first push up the mountain. Right now, manpower for further work has increased substantially, with Snorri and the Sadparas, Mingma G’s Sherpa team, Purja’s group, and at least the first wave of SST Sherpas all ready to pitch in.
