The Karakoram forecast was wrong again. Relentless snowfall and high winds forced Broad Peak climbers back from their summit attempt.
“This was supposed to be the best day of the summit window, and it has turned to be the worst,” Tom Kitta reported.
The Canadian-Polish climber explained that almost all the climbers left in Base Camp, around 30 of them, had agreed to join forces to break trail to the summit. It didn’t work, though.
The Karakorum Expeditions rope-fixing team said that the day looked promising when they set off from Camp 2 at 9 am. Then the wind picked and soon was blowing at 50-60kph. They fixed some ropes above Camp 3 but didn’t reach the Col, despite two attempts. They eventually returned to Base Camp.
“The ropes are fixed to 7,600m,” Kitta noted. “If the weather continues so bad, there will be no summits on Broad Peak this year. The situation in K2 is similar; the wind is too high. Yet,” Kitta added, “there is already talk of another push.”
