The weather forecasts have changed and so have climbing plans. Several climbers will now speed up their summit pushes on Broad Peak and Nanga Parbat.
On a sad note, Pakistani climber Iman Karim reportedly fell to his death on Gasherbrum II.
Camp 3 on Broad Peak. Photo: Furtenbach Adventures
Furtenbach Adventures have been working fast on Broad Peak. They set up their camps before the available space filled up, have at least some of their members fully acclimatized, and have fixed the tricky upper sections of the mountain to bag the first summits of the season.
Yesterday, they launched a summit push from Camp 3, led by guides Ulises Corvalan of Argentina and Christian Wild of Austria. The team also included Sherpa staff in charge of fixing ropes and a yet unconfirmed number of clients.
“They have summited this morning, after fixing the route from Camp 3,” Lukas Furtenbach confirmed to ExplorersWeb. “Both guides have summited but I don’t have a complete summit list yet.”
The last time the summit team was in contact, they were descending to Camp 3. Further details will have to wait until the team is back in Base Camp.
Casualty near Gasherbrum II
Iman Karim. Photo: M. Arif Baltistani
Pakistani climber Iman Karim has reportedly perished somewhere near Gasherbrum II. He was with a group of clients acclimatizing before the climb. Karim was an experienced mountaineer who had participated in several expeditions and rescues, fellow climber Muhammad Arif Baltistani posted.
Reports point to a crevasse fall as the cause of death. It is not clear whether it happened on the mountain itself or rather on the Gasherbrum glacier, which is heavily crevassed and especially tricky in warm weather.
Cazzanelli’s Italian team on Nanga Parbat
On Nanga Parbat, weather uncertainty pushed Francois Cazanelli and his team to run for the summit. Climbing without O2, the Italians have covered nearly 4,000m, from Base Camp to the summit, in just two days! An amazing feat for the team who opened a new route variant on the mountain last week.
The summiteers are Francois Cazzanelli, Emrik Favre, Pietro Picco, Roger Bovard, Jerome Perruquet, and Marco Camandona. Juan Pablo Toro of Argentina, currently in Base Camp, says that Peruvian Cesar Rosales joined the Italians and also summited.
Francois Cazzanelli. Photo: Seven Summit Treks
As for Toro and other no-O2 climbers, they are prepared to be patient. They are acclimatized but they need a long weather window. It is not clear when a good enough, long enough, weather window will open.
Previous weather forecasts predicted high winds for the last couple of days but good conditions again from tomorrow. However, a new front is approaching and there might be snow arriving mid-week. This prediction is what pushed the Italians to launch their speed ascent and also convinced some O2-assisted climbers to take a chance and head for the summit. Among these O2 climbers was Shehroze Kashif, climbing with Fazal Ali from Shimshal, who summited today. Kashif bagged his eighth 8,000’er, at just 20 years old.
