Ishii Sports, Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima’s main sponsor, continues to try to organize a team to reach the two Japanese climbers. So far, there is nothing concrete. Although many climbers are currently descending K2’s normal route after summiting, it is doubtful if any of them could take part in such a technically difficult rescue.
On Saturday, Hiraide and Nakajima fell an unknown distance from 7,000m on the West Face of K2. They had been trying to open a new alpine-style route up that formidable and dangerous face. Hiraide, in particular, is widely considered one of the outstanding climbers of this century, and this was to be his masterpiece.
On Saturday afternoon, a military helicopter spotted Hiraide and Nakajima from the air. They seemed to be motionless, but their condition is unknown.
According to Ishii Sports, the climbers’ film crew, who were at Advanced Base Camp, have returned to Base Camp. Other BC staff include a filmmaker, a liaison officer, and two or three kitchen workers. The film crew left gear at ABC that may be needed by future rescuers.
Pavel Shabalin speaks
In the meantime, several knowledgeable climbers have weighed in on the possible line that Hiraide and Nakajima were attempting. They agree that it was likely along the couloir to the left of the 2007 Russian route.
Pavel Shabalin was one of the Russians who climbed the West Face of K2 during a massive expedition that lasted two and a half months in 2007. To date, this has been the only successful ascent of K2’s West Face.
Shabalin told ExplorersWeb that he believes the Japanese pair has been trying to climb Voytek Kurtyka and Jean Troillet’s attempted 1987 route up that couloir. Kurtyka and Troillet reached 6,400m before turning back because of heavy snowfall and avalanche danger in the couloir.
The 2007 Russian route of 2007, marked with a red line. The yellow dots indicate the unconfirmed line that Hiraide and Nakajima may have been attempting when the accident occurred. Photo: Russian Climb
Shabalin thinks that it is impossible for a ground rescue team to reach them in a reasonable time. There are too many crevasses on the glacier at the foot of the couloir, he says, and the safety of the rescuers is impossible to guarantee.
After the Russians’ successful ascent of the West Face, leader Viktor Kozlov told the Russian climbing magazine Verticalniy Mir in September 2007 that team members agreed that the West Face of K2 combines the North Faces of both Jannu and Everest. A frightening proposition.
The North Face of Jannu. Photo: Shutterstock
Everest’s North Face, showing the North Face direct route done by Shabalin, Tukhvatullin, and Mariev in 2004. Photo: Mountain.ru
Hope lives; reality intrudes
Although time is not on the side of Hiraide and Nakajima (even if the alpinists are somehow still alive), mountaineering history is rife with cases of survival against the odds. Most recently, consider miracle man Anurag Maloo, who was stuck in a crevasse for three days on Annapurna last year and given up for dead. Or Joe Simpson’s 1985 self-rescue on Siula Grande. Or Doug Scott’s remarkable ordeal on the Ogre and Gukov’s difficult rescue on Latok I. Japanese alpinism also features riveting episodes, including Omiya and Okano’s rescue on Latok IV and Matsuda’s miraculous survival on Minya Konka.
Kazuya Hiraide, left, and Kenro Nakajima. Photo: Kazya Hiraide/Kenro Nakajima
