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Gasherbrum II Expedition Dispatch #6
The Tibetan Mountaineering Association Climbing team summated GI on July 12th
with 7 Tibetans and 4 Pakistani climbers in the early hours of the morning.
The summit group consisted of 3 Tibetan sherpas including 1 who completed his
14th 8,000m peak.
We had hoped to climb back to camp I today but the forecast is still snowing
and will continue for the next few days. Base camp is starting to look like a
ghost town with all expeditions packing up for the season except the New
Zealanders and ourselves.
We have a real loose plan to establish camp II on the 17th and Camp III on the
19th. With a possible summit attempt on the 20th if all goes well. Mark and
Eric have opted for using supplemental since we have decide not too establish
camp IV and rather have opted for a longer summit day from Camp III at 7,000m.
We still have another 28 days left at Base camp so if all goes well we will
give Gasherbrum I a try after our success on Gasherbrum II. That’s all for
now, Phil Crampton.
Gasherbrum II Expedition
Dispatch #5, July 12th 2007
Our weather forecast was for clouds in the morning and clear skies in the
afternoon for the night of July. Going on this information we decided to
depart base camp at 6:00 am rather than the usual 4:00 am to Camp I in order
to use the cloud cover for protection against the sun. It was a perfect day,
too perfect in fact, with clear skies all day which made the trip to Camp I
extremely tiresome. By 11:00 am it was reading 110 degrees as we rolled in to
the Advanced Base Camp.
We decided to take temporary shelter here under a tent sheet, and were joined
by our Catalan friends for a quick nap. They decided to continue on to Camp 1
at 4:00 pm, against our advice that their might be weak snow bridges due to
the extreme heat. We decided to stay the night at ABC and then continued on to
Camp 1 early the next morning. We discovered that one of the Catalans had
fallen into a crevasse the previous day and had broken two fingers. They were
successful in extracting their friend from the crevasse but it had taken two
hours and they were left exhausted from the experience. We reached Camp I to
the thundering sounds of avalanches, a reminder that the previous days
snowfall mixed with the high temps can be a bad recipe. Our only moment of
drama was Mark’s broken crampon arriving just before Camp 1. But, we were able
to establish Camp 1, setting up our North Face Tents and readying ourselves
for a carry up to Camp II. More to come, Phil Crampton.
Gasherbrum II Expedition Dispatch #4, July 7th 2007
The weather on the morning of the 5th foiled my plan to climb up to camp I. I
met with the leaders of the Australian and Spanish expeditions for breakfast
at 2:00am and collectively we decided that the conditions were not the ideal
to travel through the icefall and cwm that morning. There had been snowfall
from midnight onwards and the winds had been steadily increasing so we decided
to take a rest day.
The weather improved later in the day much to our surprise and going against
all forecasts we had received. Eric Mark and myself decided to climb to camp I
and we departed basecamp at 4:00am on the morning of the 6th. By 4:30am it was
daylight and we were making our way through the heavily crevassed icefall.
Both Mark and Eric stated that the crevasses here are much larger than any
that they had seen on Denali. We reached the ABC camp or Camp .5 and Eric
decided that this was far enough for him for the day. Mark and myself
continued to camp I and dropped off a load of tents and food.
We are still without our high altitude porter, as his climbing gear has still
not arrived from Concordia. The porters have gone on strike, which is not
uncommon here in the Karokoram and we are still minus one barrel of gear. We
are doing much better than some others, as the catlans are still missing three
loads of high altitude gear and the New Zealanders that have been here for ten
days are still missing the majority of their gear which is hindering their
progress on the mountain.
Last night we received some heavy snow at basecamp and it has continued to
snow throughout the day, so we will wait for the forecast before making our
next move. If the forecast is good we will climb and sleep at camp I on the
9th and 10th and explore the route and climb to camp II if the conditions are
favorable. More to come soon, Phil Crampton.
Gasherbrum II Expedition Dispatch #3
July 4th! but no fireworks in the Karakoram, however we were fortunate enough
to have a good weather day and see K2, Broad peak Gasherbrum V, IV, and I as
well as many other peaks on our trek to concordia. Today July 5th we arrived
at basecamp and quickly jumped to the task of establishing a great camp! We
were visited by friends from an Australian expedition who have been at
basecamp for three weeks and are frustrated with the bad weather they have
been experiencing. Tomorrow Erik and Mark will take a well deserved rest day,
while I and a high altitude porter will carry loads through the icefall to
camp I. We will have breakfast at 2:00am with the Australian group as to not
wake our cooking staff and will start the climb there soon after. The Mountain
Madness porter health clinic is officially closed for the expedition, we have
treated over 35 porters on our trek in with the most serious injury being a
porter with severely gashed fingers from loading a horse. The weather forecast
predicts overcast skies two days from now so hopefully the high altitude
porter and I will be down before then. That's all for now!
Phil Crampton.
Gasherbrum II Expedition Dispatch #2
Today we have a rest at the payu campground 3325M. This was followed by a 7
hour jeep ride to askoli where we camped for the night. Eric Mark and I are
all in good health and setting a good pace to Gasherbrum basecamp in
anticipation for the climbing ahead of us. We are trekking in with a catalyn
group with whom we shared the jeep from islamabad with. They are now a group
of five for one of their team descended because of mild Pulmadary edema and is
descended to askoli and has departed their expedition. They are very keen to
eduacate us on the difference between the catalyn and spanish language much to
the delight of Mark who likes to point out the similiarities of the two
languages. Thats it for now from the Gasherbrum II expedition.
Phil Crampton
Gasherbrum II Expedition Dispatch #1
The Mountain Madness Gasherbrum II expedition started off with the arrival of
Eric and Mark in Islamabad. Islamabad in the summer is always hot and we are
looking forward to getting to higher elevations and cooler weather. The local
Pakistani residents of Islamabad are very hospitable towards us and we feel
safe here even though western media portrays Pakistan as a place one should
not visit due to the safety factor. The Karakoram definitely rival the
Himalayas for pure beauty and climbing objectives and is proven by the more
than 100 expeditions signed in for expeditions in this region. Tomorrow, the
25th, we plan to drive the Chilath and then on to Skardu where we will spend
two days and pack our gear for the porter loads. If all goes to plan, the 28th
we will start our jeep drive to Askoli where we will start our trek to
Gasherbrum base camp the following day. We hope to keep everyone informed with
our progress throughout the expedition, that's all for now.
Phil Crampton
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