There’s summit news from Gasherbrum II. Sanu Sherpa, leading the Pioneer Adventure team, has broken trail and fixed ropes between Camp 3 and the summit.
By reaching the top, Sanu Sherpa has become the first person to summit all the 8,000’ers twice (at least according to the statistics pre-Jurgalski). Sanu climbed with Japanese climber Naoko Watanabe who, after summiting Nanga Parbat last week, takes his 8,000m total to 11. Watanabe will next go for Broad Peak and then on to Gasherbrum I.
The Alpenglow team, led by Topo Mena, has put four climbers on top, but there are no further details.
Blue Sky Treks and Tours report summits by Romanian Adrian Laza, plus Nepali climbers Tenjing Sherpa and Chhangba Sherpa.
The 360 Expeditions team is currently in Camp 3 and will attempt the summit tomorrow. They report lots of snow on the route.
How about K2?
Progress is not as swift on K2 as expected. At 11:30 am Pakistan time, a group of Sherpas had reached the Bottleneck, according to 8K Expeditions. This is significantly later than planned.
The sun rising at K2’s Bottleneck. Photo: Nga Tenji Sherpa
Nyma Gyalzen, leading Grace Tseng of Taiwan, reported pretty strong winds some hours ago. The team was in a tent pitched 100m below Camp 4. Gyalzen told outfitter Summit Karakoram that they were waiting for the wind to abate before setting off toward the top, after the rope-fixing Sherpas.
Most K2 teams are heading for Camps 3 and 4 today. A few clients, including record-seekers Kristin Harila, Pasdawa Sherpa, Dawa Ongchu, and Tseng (climbing with at least two Sherpa guides), intend to follow the rope fixers to get to the top as soon as possible.
In a tweet at noon Pakistan time, The Karakoram Club blog wrote that the summit push had stopped because of bad weather and harsh winds, and that some teams were even returning to Base Camp. We are checking for confirmation and further details.
