Summit pushes continue apace on Broad Peak and GII, inspired by good weather. Meanwhile, on K2, summit plans take shape.
“Everybody has set off toward Camp 3 [on Broad Peak],” Akhbr Syed of Lela Peak, a Pakistan outfitter, told ExplorersWeb. “The plan is to rest there for one day and then try to reach the summit on Sunday morning.”
Carlos Garranzo, who is currently on K2, reports that a second group set off up Broad Peak today. They plan to skip the rest day and to join the Sunday summit push.
Location of Camp 3 on Broad Peak’s normal route. Photo: Akhbar Syed
Most climbers on Broad Peak have already been to Camp 3 and so are acclimatized for a summit bid. Not many climbers are using supplementary O2: As Billi Bierling explained in our Broad Peak Climber’s Guide, the weight of the bottles and no high-altitude porters to carry them negates the advantage of oxygen on the long, tiring summit day.
It is unclear whether those who have not finished acclimatizing will stop at Camp 3. But certainly, newly arrived climber Nacho Lucero of Argentina won’t join the push. After several flight cancellations, he only reached Base Camp yesterday.
K2: July 26-27 Summit Plan
On K2, Akhbr Syed says that “our clients plan to attempt the summit on July 26-27.”
Climbers headed back up K2 today in nearly perfect weather. Pioneer Adventure’s Mingma Dorchi Sherpa says that the Ukrainian-Nepali group left this morning for Camp 2 and that the Sherpa climbers will start fixing the route to Camp 4 soon.
Sherpa climbers on their way to Camp 2 on K2. Photo: Pioneer Adventure
That means that we should soon have pictures of the infamous crevasse shortly above Camp 3. In February, Tomaz Rotar last saw John Snorri, Ali Sadpara, and Juan Pablo Mohr here before they disappeared. Rotar considered the wide crack “impassable”, but Sajid Sadpara recalls that the three missing climbers (and himself) managed to cross it somehow.
We should also hear soon from West Ridge climbers Graham Zimmerman and Ian Welsted. They last checked in from K2 Base Camp during the bad weather three days ago.
The U.S.-Canadian duo acclimatized on Broad Peak and reached its Camp 3 on July 11. Here, they met Don Bowie and Lotta Hintsa, who had broken trail most of the way.
Zimmermann and Welsted are not trying to summit Broad Peak but are prepping for their planned alpine-style ascent of K2’s West Ridge. They are now acclimatized and ready.
Ian Welsted takes it easy on Broad Peak. Photo: Graham Zimmerman
