Winter 2018: Everest Team on a roll, No Camp-1 on K2

Winter teams on Everest and K2 are making good progress despite not-so-favourable conditions. It’s mandatory, nonetheless, as weather windows are few and far between in winter and once available, teams should be ready for working at high altitudes.


Everest
It have been productive few days for Alex Txikon, Ali Sadpara and Sherpa on Everest. On January 15th, they extended the route from C1 (6050m) to C2 (6500m) in a single day and returned to BC in windy conditions. “Great achievement, since last year it took us two days to reach this point. In addition, compared to last winter we have placed the Camp(2) 150 meters higher, where we have fixed 600 meters of rope.” Alex Txikon wrote from BC.

They stayed in BC for a couple of days and are apparently going up Pumori for acclimatization today. This trip shall save them additional visit through treacherous Khumbu Icefall.

Alex Txikon’s tracker showed him at around 6120m this noon.

Resting in BC.

Progress to C2; Alex Txikon.

K2
The Polish team has been able to solve the satellite link issue and are now sending regular updates.

The group of climbers have been working in tandem to fix the route up Cesen route. In last foray, Denis Urubko and Janusz Golab reached 5900m despite bad weather. However, the site wasn’t good enough for C1 and the team have decided to let go the idea of Camp 1 at all. They would rather set up C2 at 6200m. Urubko and Janusz have returned to BC. Meanwhile, another group of climbers will be heading for rope-fixing as weather conditions become stable.

Progress on Cesen route.

Rope fixing on Cesen route
Nanga Parbat
Weather forecast suggests that hurricane winds should recede from the mountain by this weekend. However, it’s yet to be seen if upcoming weather window is good enough for a summit attempt. We don’t have any further update from Tomek Mackiewicz and Elisabeth Revol, though.

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