K2 climbers reached Camp 2 at 6,600m on their summit push today. They expect to reach Camp 3 tomorrow.
No one has gone above Camp 3 at 7,300m this season. There are no fixed ropes, and conditions remain unknown. So over the weekend, they will have 1,300m of uncertain terrain before reaching the top of 8,611m K2.
“After postponing the summit window and not fixing the mountain, we are in doubt about our acclimatization,” Lenka Polackova wrote today from Camp 2 via her InReach. “But we are still not giving up on the attempt to climb without oxygen.”
Israfil Ashurli’s tracker also locates him at the altitude of Camp 2 today.
Israfil Ashurli’s tracker this afternoon. Photo: InReach
Charles Page of Canada also carries a tracker. It indicates that he stopped for the night at 6,900m, which is higher than Camp 2’s usual location. In recent years, expeditions sometimes use the so-called Japanese Camp on K2’s Abruzzi Spur route, located between Camp 2 and Camp 3.
Tracker of Charles Page on K2, on August 7. Photo: Garmin InReach
Cooperation needed
In her post, Polackova mentions a topic that could prove crucial: the need for cooperation among everyone on the mountain. She means helping to fix the route to the summit together. However, climbers not using oxygen usually lag behind, since they proceed at a slower pace. They also can’t afford long waits while guides fix ropes ahead of them, as the lack of oxygen increases the risk of frostbite.
Moreover, the dangerous conditions and the long spell of bad weather have made proper acclimatization impossible. It is yet to be seen who actually helps fix the ropes, besides the leaders and guides.
Mingma G of Imagine Nepal recently accused independent, no-oxygen climbers of being “rope parasites.” Some independent climbers, however, may proceed without bottled oxygen, but they have hired individual Sherpa support to the summit, so they pay for logistics all the way up the mountain.
According to her social media, Polackova, for example, is climbing without oxygen but has at least a high-altitude porter with her.
