25 June, 2010
Our team is all now at BC and everyone is feeling well and ready for the climb. In fact most members have already gotten out of BC and made some progress!! They now are settled into the base camp and have the month long view of K2 ahead of them!
K2 from Broad Peak © stu remensnyder
After arriving in BC on the 22nd and resting up for a day the first group decided to get going on the route as they were feeling so strong. On the 24th Chris, Meagan and our 5 HAP's (Taqui, Asgar, Ghulam, Aziz, Farhad) did the near impossible and fixed the route all the way to C1! In most years this takes us a few days at least and is shared with other teams. This year, with the small number of teams on the hill and most planning to climb without any fixed ropes, the task looks to fall to us for the entire hill. This will end up giving our members more of a chance to be involved in the effort to that is great!
Climbing to C1 © stu remensnyder
In 2003 we arrived in similar circumstances and shared the mountain with a small group of greek climbers for 2 weeks until the next team arrived....awesome to have a big hill and lots of room! This year the team has the company of a few other teams including some old friends from last year and other mountains. The team sounds in great spirits and happy to be settled into BC. They have had quite a bit of snow the last few days after a clear spell on the walk in. As such they are having a hard time charging pda's and sat phones so the bc coms are remaining pretty simple with voice dispatches for the moment and calls to the office.
Broad Peak BC © stu remensnyder
Fabrizio called in from BC on the 24th to let us know the plan and here goes:
24th - chris and crew put in the route to C1 and also brought the entire load of tents needed for C1. Fabrizio was amazed by the effort and when we spoke he wanted make it clear that "Chirs and Meagan had kicked ass!" While they were on the hill the rest of the first group enjoyed the day wanding the "trail" from BC to the base of the route. This job is a fun one that lasts through out the trip as the wands tend to melt out and fall over every few days. It is a very beautiful walk and one that required route finding, scrambling up short but steep bits of snow and ice, hopping over rivers of frigid glacier melt water and lots of patience!
Maze from BC to the base of the route © stu remensnyder
25th - Ben, Rob and Brian will make a load carry to c1 with all the tents needed for C2 and C3.
26th - Fabrizio will head back up with the HAP's for a night at C1 and hope to put the route in to C2 on the 27th.
FTA guide Mike Hale approaching C1 in 2003 © stu remensnyder
On the 28th we'll hope to have the updated plan after we see how the first round of acclimatizations go but hopefully on 27, 28 and 29 everyone can get a night in at C1 and a walk up towards c2. We expect good weather to hold through this period with some snow expected again by 29/30.
Chris dropped an audio disptach from BC...enjoy!
Field Touring Alpine Audio Dispatches #84 - K2 & Broad peak 2010 - June 23 update team in BC!
Chris calls in to let us know the team reached basecamp and all is well. He reports on the plan for the days ahead which include getting the route fixed up to C1 in the next 48 hours.
View from C2 on Broad Peak © stu remensnyder
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