Climbers from the Imagine Nepal and Alpinist Climber Expeditions (ACE) teams have set off toward the summit of K2, all the way from Camp 3.
“Today we climbed to 7,900m and back to Camp 3,” Mingma G reported on social media. Mingma G led the way with teammate Sohail Sakhi and with Tshering Sherpa of ACE. Mingma explained that he would take a short rest in Camp 3 and then start the summit push.
Climbers on the go
The summit push will be an exhausting effort: Camp 4 is not set up, 1,100 vertical meters remain to the top, and 700 of them, including the crux sections of the Bottleneck and the traverse under the Great Serac, have no fixed ropes.
Prakash Sherpa, leader of Alpinist Climber Expeditions, posted from Camp 3 yesterday — already prepared for a summit push.
One of Prakash’s team members, Lenka Polackova, carries a tracker that shows she has departed Camp 3. However, the tracker could be malfunctioning; it was marking an altitude of 7,700-7,800m for several hours.
Charles Page, with Elite Exped, departed Camp 3 today and was at 7,500m at midnight, Pakistan time.
No oxygen climbers turn back
Seven Summit Treks’ team will follow the summit push one day later. The team’s climbers are in Camp 2 and will proceed to Camp 3 tomorrow, aiming for the summit on Tuesday.
Israfil Ashurli of Azerbaijan, climbing without oxygen or personal Sherpa support, reached 7,000m today. However, he was suffering from some health problems.
“He was feeling sick and understood that although he could continue climbing higher, he might not have enough strength to come back. Therefore, he descended back to Base Camp,” friend Saulius Damulevicius told ExplorersWeb after communicating with Ashurli.
Tomorrow, Ashurli will start the trek back, across the Gondogoro Pass. According to local sources, Serge Hardy of France is also back at Base Camp.
The Madison Mountaineering team has also called their attempt off, deeming the risk of rockfall too high, climber Carlos Garranzo reported.
