Karakoram Summer 2009 expeditions wrap-up : Summit Push Begins on K2 and Gasherbrums.

It has been a rough season, as usual, in the Karakorum with weather woes, tragedy on several mountains, and avalanches, and conditions that are amongst the most harsh on Earth. But it can all be forgotten if the teams can just finish what they’ve started, and stand on top of those big peaks. A number of teams have begun to take the first steps to do just that today, with summit pushes currently underway on both K2 and the Gasherbrums.

K2 (Czogori 8611 m n.p.m.)

On K2, the most dangerous mountain on the planet, we get word from Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner that today is the day that she and her climbing partners will begin their ascent, and Martin Ramos is projecting the same schedule. If the weather holds, and everything goes as expected, they should be standing on the summit on Saturday. The Field Touring Alpine Team is still in BC according to their latest update yesterday, but everyone is acclimatized, feeling good, and ready to go as well, so they will likely be following along this weekend too.

This comes on the heals of a report earlier in the week from ExWeb that Jorge Egocheaga claimed the first summit of the mountain last Sunday, following a solo climb in deep snow. Well done Jorge and congrats on the summit!

Gasherbrum I (also known as Hidden Peak or K5)

Similar stores are coming in from the Gasherbrums too, where ExWeb is also reporting that five climbers topped out on Gasherbrum II on Monday, just before a storm moved in an blanketed the area. But the weather window is expected to open again in time for the weekend, as apparently teams are spread out across the mountain, from C2 to C3 on both G1 and G2, including Veika Gustafsson and Kazuya Hiraide who hope to top out on G1 this weekend. They set off for C1 this morning with their eyes on the Gasherbrum 1 summit.

The teams on both of these mountains have been very patient and it looks like it is finally going to pay off. The weather seems to be improving and conditions high on the mountains are stabilizing, although there were reports a few days back about avalanches on K2. Hopefully the worst of those conditions are over, and the teams can climb high and safe. Especially on K2, where we are approaching the anniversary of the tragedy from last year.

* Source : – http://theadventureblog.blogspot.com/

** Previous story  : – https://himalman.wordpress.com/category/karakoram/

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AAC Book Club meeting: Next One is August 11th.

The book club had another great meeting discussing Jennifer Lowe-Anker’s Forget Me Not. The meeting was capped with a telephone conference call with Jennifer.  She is an amazing person who opened her heart and her family in Forget Me Not and was equally open on the telephone call. Forget Me Not is a remarkable book.  Thanks are due to Jennifer as well as to Sherry Richardson for arranging the conference call.  This is the second time that a special guest has participated in book club – you never know who might show up next!

Next month’s meeting will be August 11th when we’ll be discussing The Price of Conquest by Lino Lacedelli, Giovanni Cenacchi, and Mark Worthington.

(If you are interested in “renting” rather than buying the book, the AAC Library has three copies available.)

This book covers the events of the first ascent of K2 by an Italian team in 1954. This ascent was remarkable in how it was accomplished and the litigation and acrimony that has followed the ascent to this day.

Other books about the ascent include:

Ascent of K2 Second Highest Peak in the World by Ardito Desio. 1955

The Mountains of My Life by Walter Bonatti, ISBN 0-375-75640-X. 2001

Other great books about K2 include

• In the Throne of the Mountain Gods by Galen Rowell, ISBN 0-87156-764-4, 1986
• K2, Mountain of Mountains by R. Messner and A. Gogna, ISBN 0195202538.
• 1982
• K2, Triumph and Tragedy by Jim Curran, ISBN 0-395-48590-8. 1987
• The Endless Knot: K2, Mountain of Dreams and Destiny by Kurt Diemberger, ISBN 0-89886-300-7. 1991
• K2. Challenging the sky by Roberto Mantovani and Kurt Diemberger. Smithmark Publishers, New York 1995, ISBN 0-8317-1072-1
• Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains by Jon Krakauer ISBN 0-385-48818-1. 1997
• The Last Step: The American Ascent of K2 by Rick Ridgeway, ISBN 0-89886-632-4. 1999
• K2, The Story of the Savage Mountain by Jim Curran, ISBN 0-89886-683-9. 2000
• K2, The Savage Mountain by Charles Houston, ISBN 1-885283-01-6. 2000
• K2, Quest of the Gods: The Great Pyramid in the Himalaya by Ralph Ellis, ISBN 0-932813-99-2. 2001
• K2: One Woman’s Quest for the Summit by Heidi Howkins, ISBN 0-7922-7996-4. 2001
• K2 Kahani by Mustansar Hussain Tarrad, in Urdu. ISBN 9693505239. 2002
• Savage Summit: The True Stories of the First Five Women Who Climbed K2 by Jennifer Jordan, ISBN 0-06-058715-6. 2005

The September 8th meeting we’ll discuss Mountains of the Mind: Adventures in Reaching the Summit by Robert Macfarlane

October 13th: The Fall: A Novel (Paperback) by Simon Mower

Everyone is welcome, even if you are not finished (or even started) reading the book.

* Source : – The Blog of The American Alpine Club Library

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