Jim Morrison, Christina Lusti, and Nick McNutt are back in base camp after their second try on Pakistan’s Great Trango Tower. They planned an alpine-style climb, followed by the first ski descent from the summit.
The trio started their second push three days ago after their first attempt faltered just short of the top. They labored at it over the weekend.
Christina Lusti, top, on Great Trango Tower. Photo: Drew Smith
“We had one member [fall] very sick,” Morrison wrote on social media. “The goal of going up quickly turned into a goal of going down.”
It turned out that the sick member was Christina Lusti. “The night before heading to high camp, I had fever, chills, and an upset stomach,” she wrote later. “Determined to make the most of the weather window, I tried to take care of myself the best I could…[but] about halfway up, it all fell apart.”
She endured an uncomfortable night at 5,000m, then managed to get down to Base Camp the next day.
Christina Lusti struggled with an intestinal bug. Photo: Instagram
The team doesn’t want to give up and will await the next weather window. After all, they already know what’s up there.
“We know we can do it,” Morrison insists. “If we don’t, it will be there for someone else to try another day.”
At the barren but spectacular base camp of Great Trango Tower. Photo: Drew Smith
