Saulius Damulevicius, Israfil Ashurli, and the two very tired Russian skiers, Vitaly Lazo and Anton Pugovkin, left Camp 3 at 6 pm Pakistan time. They are now pushing toward the summit of Broad Peak. As of 5 pm EDT, 10 pm Greenwich time, they’ve already been on the go for six hours.
Lazo, in particular, has had a hectic few days. Last week, he spent several hours trying to save Kim HongBin before Kim fell to his death. Then Lazo spent most of yesterday in a helicopter searching for Kim’s body. He arrived back in Base Camp late and was in Camp 1 by 8 pm. There, he drank some tea and hurried to Camp 2, which he reached by midnight.
Today, he left at 6 am for Camp 3 and arrived five hours later. After a short break, he was ready to go for the summit — sort of, looking at his face.
Vitaly Lazo and Anton Pugovkin show their exhaustion before setting off for the summit of Broad Peak. Photo: Vitaly Lazo
Thomas Lone, devastated by the death of Kim HongBin, has decided to call off his own attempt. The home team of the British “Cumbria to K2” expedition confirmed to ExplorersWeb that Paul Etheridge and Pete Brittleton were in Camp 3. They are ready to move up “if the weather window prevails”.
Broad Boy passes 8,500m (10:30 pm EDT)
Shehroze Kashif and Hushe’s teams were in Camp 4 and are well on their way to the summit. By 10:30pm EDT (3:30 am Greenwich time), Kashif had passed 8,500 and was closing in on the summit, according to his tracker.
A good part of the route is already fixed, according to Garrett Madison. “Our Sherpa team, which was fixing lines today, was able to make it up the Shoulder, through the Bottleneck, around the Traverse, and nearly up to the Bench on the way toward the final pitches to the summit,” he wrote.
Madison and his team will rest for one day and push tomorrow night. They hope to reach the summit on Wednesday, as does Niels Jespers.
Shehroze Kashif’s track shows that he left K2’s Camp 4 at midnight…
…and is now well on his way to the summit.
Sajid: more O2 needed
Elia Saikaly posted via InReach that Sajid Sadpara, Pasang Kaji Sherpa, and himself were leaving tonight to “complete their mission”. He didn’t say whether this included summiting. Saikaly also mentioned that they were running short of oxygen and asked other teams to share some.
Samina Baig cancelled her attempt earlier today. She is back in BC and warns about conditions. Baig and her team had to dodge several rocks whizzing past them above Camp 1. She noted the extremely warm weather on K2 (which Ian Welsted, on the West Ridge, also mentioned).
Marco Confortola prepares to fix rope on a difficult section of Gasherbrum I. Photo: Marco Confortola
On Gasherbrum I, Marco Confortola and Mario Vielmo left at midnight. There have been no previous ascents on G1 this season, so no ropes or trails are in place. Rare for an 8,000’er these days, they are alone on the mountain.
