The Czech team of Tomas Petrecek, Marek Holecek, and Radoslav Groh find themselves in a dreamlike setting, surrounded by beautiful high peaks but far from the crowded 8,000’ers. For the past two days, they have been acclimatizing on the hills around 6,781m Biarchedi, just northeast of Masherbrum.
Near Masherbrum. Photo: Tomas Galasek
They are preparing to attempt the unclimbed West Face of 7,821m Masherbrum. Holecek, Petrecek, and Groh, along with photographer Tomas Galasek and perhaps other support staff, reached 6,200m today after a hard day.
Progress over the crevassed glacier was difficult.
It was not easy. Crossing the highly crevassed glacier was exhausting, especially in the scorching heat. For safety, they had to rope up and jump over the crevasses.
They set up two tents and are spending the night there. “Biarchedi seems quite insignificant compared to the other mountains here,” wrote Petrecek.
The climbers with their cook, Ibrahim, and assistant cook, Zaheer. Photo: Tomas Galasek
Here at least, they had a closer look at Masherbrum. “It is more beautiful than we remembered, yet bigger than ever,” wrote Holecek today. He admits that Masherbrum both amazes and frightens him.
Tomorrow, acclimatization completed for the moment, they return to base camp.
Polish success on K2 and a ski descent of GII
Three climbers from the Polish Beskid Expedition team, Mariusz Hatala, Piotr Krzyzowski, and Radoslav Wozniak, summited K2 yesterday.
Bartosz Ziemski. Photo: Fundacja Kukuczki
Another Polish climber, Bartosz Ziemski, summited Gasherbrum II yesterday and skied down. None of the Poles used bottled oxygen.
And as we reported earlier, Denis Urubko summited K2 this morning, his 26th 8,000’er without supplementary O2.
Broad Peak: More summits today
Imagine Nepal’s second group summited Broad Peak today at 1:30 pm. The summiters included five clients and seven Sherpas. Heavy snow delayed their summit time.
After topping out, they descended safely to Camp 3. Tomorrow, they intend to go down to Base Camp.
The Imagine Nepal team. Photo: Imagine Nepal
Stefi Troguet cancels Broad Peak
After almost two months in the Greater Ranges, Stefi Troguet has returned to Skardu.
“I decided not to climb Broad Peak this time,” the Andorran climber said. “The weather window was very close to my K2 [climb], and I was not ready yet to face the expected 30-40 kph winds, with no O2, and without a proper rest after K2.”
Troguet’s outfitter, Elite Exped, also decided to give up Broad Peak because of unstable weather. Some independent climbers who took part in a rescue some days ago and have been waiting for a second chance at the summit have decided the same.
Stefi Troguet: back in Skardu. Photo: Stefi Troguet
