Mike and Don: Broad Peak 2005: The Party's Over

Update: Broad Peak: The Party's Over

July 28: After the summit push of July 21, virtually everybody on every team gave up. Some of us, however, held out hope of a last break in the weather before the porters' arrival on August 1. A period of unstable, but possibly adequate weather was forecast for July 26-28, so a few of us decided to give it a shot. It helped that Don and I both had gear in C2 that needed retrieval in any case.

Well, our summit bid died before it was born. Don and another climber fell prey to the same illness (best called 'Field Touring Dysentary', after the kitchen of origin), while the other climber pulled the plug at C1. I ended up at C2, the last healthy climber still with desire for a summit push. Don gamely reached C2 after vomiting numerous times, but his only choice was to take his gear down.

In retrospect, nothing was lost. Fierce winds sprung from nowhere about the time that Don and I would have reached the summit ridge, and even a day later conditions along the ridge would have been too windy for the true summit.

Last year I reached 7900m on the summit ridge before I turned around. I knew that I was too dehydrated to reach the real summit, and I had no interest in the false 'rocky summit' that seems to captivate everyone else. So I turned around just below, hoping for another summit attempt that never materialized. This year, 2 American climbers bivied at the same spot. The next morning, the winds were too strong to reach the true summit, so they turned around without tagging the false summit.

Several other climbers were on their second or third attempt at Broad Peak, and none of us reached the top. Oh well!

I met Dennis and Sergei on their descent from their new route on

Broad Peak. A stellar achievement and the only two summiters of the

season.

So now we dry out gear, type dispatches, and wait for porters. K2 and Broad Peak are sheathed in clouds above 7000m. Only about a half dozen climbers are left at Broad Peak Base, everyone else having left during the two days I was on the hill. Time to pack up all my dry gear before it decides to snow. But first, a shave! Mike

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