Home
Today's News
8000 Meters Facts
Banners Ads
Bookstore
Classified Ads
Climb
for Peace
Contact
Downloads
Educational
Expeditions
Facts
Games
Gear
History
Interviews
Medical
News
(current)
News Archives
Sat Phones
Search
Seven Summits
Snowboard
Speakers
Students
Readers
Guide
Risks
Trip Reports
Visitor
Agreement
| |
    
 | ||||||||
 | ||||||||
 Expedice HI-TEC V-LITE Nanga Parbat - K2 2005: camp 2 | ||||||||
| ||||||||
|
Update: On Friday, June 12, Radek Jaros and Petr Masek, members of the two-man HI-TEC V -LITE Nanga Parbat-K2 Czech Expedition climbed back to their CII, just above the Kingshoffer Rocks. Their plan was to bypass CI, to move to CII in a single day and to continue up, ideally all the way to pitch CIII at around 7000m. Lately, the weather had been warmer and the sunshine sharper than a week ago, which had two important consequences, a good one and a bad one. The snow down under the mountain and on the lower slopes had become firm and icy, making it much easier and faster to move forward. On the other hand, while week ago avalanches were enormous, but rather rare, now the series of avalanches coming one right after another, resembled of a train traffic on a super-busy track. Eventually, the avalanches took a break and Radek and Petr reached the Kingshoffer Rocks. Exactly as the week before, climbing the rocks alone took them 4 hours. Anyway, they made it from the BC to CII in a single day. No other climbers have been above the rocks this year, as yet. The CII place is an extra-narrow ridge between edges of steep, kilometer-deep throats on both sides. On one side, their tent was just five inches from the edge, on the other one, there were about thirty feet between the tent and the other edge. What a shock -- when they reached the place, their tent that their had pitched with such a wear and tear a week ago and had put every effort in securing it against the high wind in this infernal place, was nowhere to be seen! No sign of it. It took few minutes before they figured out that the tent is just fine, still there, almost right under their feet, totally hidden under the new snow, incl. the five-feet poles. The night was reasonably comfortable. On Saturday, June 11, they try to move up. It was obvious already the week before that moving above CII would be very difficult, due to enormous masses of deep, soft snow. Since last week, the new snowfall has made any progress even more difficult. For a large expedition, breaking the trail in this deep snow might be bearable. However, there is no other expedition up this high on Nanga, and no large expedition is anywhere in sight. Radek first and then Petr start breaking the trail, constantly sinking waist-high into the soft snow. Petr shows an admirable persistence, yet, the progress is very slow and only after some 50 altitude meters it becomes obvious that they will have to retreat back to the tent. They manage to do so just in time before a storm comes. The night -- at this place, between two kilometer-deep holes, in a tent constantly challenged by the storm -- becomes a torture of a sort. Radek spends the night with an ice axe in his hand and he even considers putting on his harness and fixing an ice screw through the floor of the tent, securing them that way. At 4:30AM they get up and it feels liberating. In the snow storm it is clear that their only way leads down, to the BC
| | ||||||
|
Trekking Poles
|
Send email to 
• Copyright© 1998-2012 EverestNews.com
All rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Visitor Agreement, Legal Notes:
Read it