Fixing ropes on K2 is a joint effort by all the teams on the mountain. It is also a fight against the elements; the weather has moved from too hot and dry to too wet and windy.
Migma David Sherpa, 36, hoping to summit K2 for the seventh time, described the situation for ExplorersWeb. The Nepalese climber is back at Base Camp after a trip to Camp 1 leading an Elite Exped team.
“Due to unfavorable weather conditions and continuous rockfall, the rope could not be fixed above Camp 2,” he said. “Although the fixing team from Garrett Madison and other teams attempted to reach Camp 3, they were unable to open the route beyond Camp 2.”
K2 Base Camp yesterday afternoon. Photo: Mingma David Sherpa
Nuptse expert Dawa Tenji Sherpa, working with Madison Mountaineering, was among those in Camp 2 last Monday. He confirmed that the wind was very strong and forced his team to retreat (as relayed by Jay Whiting, Tenji’s partner on Nuptse this past Spring).
High winds in Camp 2
Before the weather worsened, Mingma David’s team had made good progress on the rope-fixing work.
“Vinayak Malla, Nima Sherpa, and Phuri Kitar had fixed the route up to Camp 1,” Mingma David said. “Above Camp 1, another team from Seven Summit Treks fixed one anchor just below Camp 2. Later, Nima and Phuri Kitar continued and fixed the route to Camp 2.”
Unfortunately, progress is now stalled until the weather improves.
UIAGM guide Vinayak Malla at K2 Base Camp last week, before the current bad weather. Photo: Vinayak Malla
Waiting for the sun
“The weather is forecast to improve from July 18, and with a collaborative effort from all teams, we will progress fast,” Mingma David said.
The situation is not yet a problem for the great majority of climbers in Base Camp, who use supplemental oxygen and personal guides. In the last two years, K2 summits occurred during a single weather window at the end of July, and summit rates were still very high.
The downside of having a single, massive push on K2 is the impossibility of avoiding traffic jams on the higher sections, especially during the dangerous traverse under the Big Serac and the Bottleneck at around 8,400m. When the time comes, expedition leaders need to be extremely cautious with conditions on that section.
Harder for no-O2 climbers
For climbers going with supplemental oxygen, it is another story. “The lack of ropes above Camp 2 may pose a challenge for climbers attempting to summit without supplemental oxygen, given the limited time remaining,” Mingma David said.
Indeed, climbers without oxygen need to do more rotations and reach well above 7,000m before launching a final summit push. It all depends on conditions on the mountain after the first summit wave. In 2024, the weather remained good for long enough to permit several no-O2 climbers to top out in the three days after the first summit wave.
Some of them, such as Liv Sansoz and Seb Roche of France (who also performed a tandem paragliding flight from the summit), used a smart strategy; they acclimatized, not on K2, but on the more straightforward Broad Peak.
Ropes on Broad Peak
On Broad Peak, the ropes are ready up to Camp 3. Some climbers attempted to go up earlier this week but were pushed back by a blizzard. Like everyone else in Base Camp, they are getting ready to go up again as soon as the weather improves.
Those on oxygen could attempt the summit directly from Camp 3, but they need a team to fix the ropes. Sakhawat Hussain, Managing Director of Summit Karakoram, told ExplorersWeb that his team counts on experienced Pakistani and Nepalese climbers willing to fix the ropes are they go. He also expects strong climbers in other teams to collaborate with the efforts.
Climbers without oxygen may use the next rotation to complete their acclimatization, and then decide if they will go again to the summit of Broad Peak or move on to K2.
