Finally, there’s (great) news from Mingma G: “Today, we fixed the line to the ice section just below Camp 3,” he wrote earlier today. “We three were joined by Nims (Nirmal Purja) and Mingma Tenzi at around 7,000m.”
It seems that both rope-fixing teams are working in tandem. While we don’t know whether Mingma, Purja and their partners are back in Base Camp yet, Seven Summit Treks leader Dawa Sherpa considers that the core rope-fixing work is done on the lower mountain and that the next push could reach up to the very summit.
“All set up done, with pre-acclimatization,” he wrote on Instagram. “On second weather window, [we are] planning to send fixing Sherpa for summit push,” followed, he added, by the strong climbers who have acclimatized.
All other members of the SST team, who arrived in BC yesterday, are enjoying their first day at the foot of K2, under freezing blue skies. Sergi Mingote and Juan Pablo Mohr have carried loads to Advanced Base Camp and returned. Carlos Garranzo, who had some problems with altitude on the first days of the trek in — not surprising, considering that he lives right by the sea — has totally recovered.
Poland’s Magdalena Gorzkowska is also venturing up on her own. “Weather is great and you have to take advantage of it,” she said. Gorzkowska is heading up “as high as possible.” At 3 pm, she was about halfway to Advanced Base Camp, according to her tracker.
Magdalena Gorzkowska didn’t stay long in Base Camp. Photo: Magdalena Gorzkowska
According to some forecasts (Meteoexploration.com and RussianClimb sources), today could mark the end of the long spell of good weather. Winds are expected to pick up significantly tomorrow and continue howling for at least two days.
Meanwhile, one more climber is about to join those in Base Camp who have come not to summit but to acclimatize for future projects — and likely, to share the excitement of this exceptional K2 season: Veteran French climber Marc Batard wants to climb Everest for his 70th birthday in 2022, but he suffered an aneurism last July that set him back several months. He says he’s feeling okay now and plans to trek around Base Camp and possibly venture up to some higher camps.
Before his medical issue, Batard climbed Mont Blanc with Ali Sadpara and had intended to do Annapurna with the strong Pakistani this past fall. Now they’ll meet in a different Base Camp.
