On Monday, 5th of March, Krzysztof Wielicki, Head of the Polish Winter K2 Expedition, announced the end of the mountain operation. As he emphasized, this hard decision was made in consultation with the team, after analyzing a number of factors making further climbing impossible. ”
So, This is the End of K2 Winter Conquest!
On Monday, 5th of March, Krzysztof Wielicki, Head of the Polish Winter K2 Expedition, announced the end of the mountain operation. As he emphasized, this hard decision was made in consultation with the team, after analyzing a number of factors making further climbing impossible.
Only a day before, the weather situation has improved. The weather window, that was forecasted for 3rd and 4th of March, opened finally on Sunday. It also opened an opportunity to start climbing again.
“After a few days of breaking the weather, we are finally moving up. Together with Janusz Gołąb, we are going towards C1. I am very curious how our road (and ropes) look after such a fall of snow. One thing is certain – we will have a lot a of work with paving” – Adam Bielecki wrote on his twitter just before he and Gołąb left the base.
The results of recognition they made appeared really inauspicious, as Wielicki informed in the announcement: “It turned out that on the way to C1 all ropes are filled up, the tent in the base is damaged, there is also a high probability that camps C1, C2 and C3 have been destroyed.”
This is one of the factors that influenced the decision to end the expedition. As we read in the statement, further actions are impossible to continue due to:
„- Weather forecast confirms only 1 short weather window around 11th of March
– No possibility to acclimatize at a height of 7200m of minimum the 1st team, that would be able to return to the base after the attack on the peak on 11th of March
– Avalanche danger in the upper parts of the road. In the last 8 days we recorded a total of over 80 cm of snowfall.
– Warning from the Ventusky Portal with high rainfall at 7600m
– Bad forecasts for the period after 11th of March.”
In this context the most important argument to stop further actions is the sentence to which Wielicki summarizes his short note: “The safety of the participants is the priority of the expedition.”&
By Piotr Chmielinski & &
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