Karakoram Summer 2009 expeditions wrap-up : K2 Teams Join Forces, Summit Push Begins Tomorrow!

More news from the Karakorum today, where persistent teams are still hoping to reach the summit of K2, but the mountain isn’t going to give up her prize easily. Meanwhile, another summit push is underway on Gasherbrum I as well.

ExWeb has the latest news from K2, where we learn that the remaining teams all came together for a meeting where they decided it was best if they all joined forces to try to tackle the mountain together. There are still a number of strong climbers who are hoping to summit on the mountain, including Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, who is seeking her 13th 8000m peak, as well as Maxut Zhumayev and Vassiliy Pivtsov, the two amazing Kazakh climbers who have made some of the more daring climbs over the past few years. According to the story, the combined teams will begin their summit push tomorrow, climbing one camp per day until they make their summit bid. That would put them on top around Monday or Tuesday of next week.

The Field Touring Alpine Team returned from their summit bid a few days back, and posted some thoughts on the climb, which didn’t result in any successful summits. The noted that there were high winds up top, and that there are no fixed ropes above Camp 3 as of yet, which made it very dangerous and challenging for everyone. Their current plan is to rest up for a few days and reevaluate their chances, before deciding if and when they’ll make their next bid. Chances are, they may be heading up tomorrow with the rest of the teams.

The weather looks good into early next week, and it seems like it is now or never, but the mood is a bit somber on K2 as we approach the one year anniversary of the tragedy that claimed 13 lives. You know that more than one of the climbers will be thinking about that as they head up this weekend.

Jumping over to the Gasherbrums, another round of summit attempts are underway as well. There are currently teams at various points on both GI and GII, with an eye on reaching the top in the next few days as well. One of the teams still on the mountain is the Altitude Junkies, but their latest dispatch indicates that they won’t be there much longer. Team leader Phil Crampton says that it has snowed for three days straight on GII and that conditions are just too dangerous higher up for them to take any chances. They’ve elected to pack it in and come home rather than take any more risks. They also say that the weather forecast doesn’t look good in the days ahead, so hopefully the other climbers on both GI and GII are keeping an eye on the weather as well.

That’s about it for these two mountains. Activity is underway on both, with the hopes of summits soon, but weather is always dicey in the Karakorum. It’s possible that we won’t see any more summits this year, as the time is beginning to run short. Good luck to everyone in the next few days!

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K2 : Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain by Ed Viesturs.

K2 : Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain by Ed Viesturs – Coming October 2009 – Pre-order your copy today!”

About the Author :

Ed Viesturs become the first American climber to reach the summit of all the world’s 8,000-meter peaks, in May, 2005. This May, he summited Everest for the 7th time.

He is the first American, and 12th person overall, to summit all fourteen mountains over 8000 meters (collectively known as the eight-thousanders), and the sixth climber to do it without bottled oxygen.

* Ed Viesturs homepage : – http://www.edviesturs.com/

* see – Ed Viesturs the famous American climber

ABOUT THIS BOOK :

A thrilling chronicle of the tragedy-ridden history of climbing K2, the world’s most difficult and unpredictable mountain, by the bestselling author of No Shortcuts to the Top

At 28,251 feet, the world’s second-tallest mountain, K2 thrusts skyward out of the Karakoram Range of northern Pakistan. Climbers regard it as the ultimate achievement in mountaineering, with good reason. Four times as deadly as Everest, K2 has claimed the lives of seventy-seven climbers since 1954. In August 2008 eleven climbers died in a single thirty-six-hour period on K2–the worst single-event tragedy in the mountain’s history and the second-worst in the long chronicle of mountaineering in the Himalaya and Karakoram ranges. Yet summiting K2 remains a cherished goal for climbers from all over the globe. Before he faced the challenge of K2 himself, Ed Viesturs, one of the world’s premier high-altitude mountaineers, thought of it as “the holy grail of mountaineering.”
In K2: Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain, Viesturs explores the remarkable history of the mountain and of those who have attempted to conquer it. At the same time he probes K2’s most memorable sagas in an attempt to illustrate the lessons learned by confronting the fundamental questions raised by mountaineering–questions of risk, ambition, loyalty to one’s teammates, self-sacrifice, and the price of glory. Viesturs knows the mountain firsthand. He and renowned alpinist Scott Fischer climbed it in 1992 and were nearly killed in an avalanche that sent them sliding to almost certain death. Fortunately, Ed managed to get into a self-arrest position with his ice ax and stop both his fall and Scott’s.
Focusing on seven of the mountain’s most dramatic campaigns, from his own troubled ascent to the 2008 tragedy, Viesturs crafts an edge-of-your-seat narrative that climbers and armchair travelers alike will find unforgettably compelling. With photographs from Viesturs’s personal collection and from historical sources, this is the definitive account of the world’s ultimate mountain, and of the lessons that can be gleaned from struggling toward its elusive summit.

* Source : – http://www.randomhouse.com/

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