Pakistan 2012: Summit Bids On K2?

It was a relatively quiet weekend in terms of updates from Pakistan as most teams are now abandoning Base Camps across the region and starting the trek for home. It has been a very difficult summer there as unusual weather weather patterns have kept most climbers from reaching their summits. But not everyone is finished yet and on K2 it seems that climbers are now moving into position to take a chance at topping out on the toughest mountain of all.

Tunc Findik and climbing mate Azim Gheychisaz have started their summit push. The team climbed up to C3 yesterday and then  up to Camp 4, located at the Shoulder today. According to their brief dispatches they'll rest at 7900 meters (25,918 ft) and proceed up to the summit starting at 10:00 PM local time tonight. The weather appears to be calm (for once!) and there is optimism in the group that they could top out sometime tomorrow. Lets keep our fingers crossed that this weather window remains open.

Similarly, Peter Hamor's team reached Camp 3 yesterday as well but there have been no updates yet on their progress today. Their last dispatch indicated that they would wait until this morning to decide what their next move would be but if we have to believe that if the weather window is open that they've proceeded up as well. K2 doesn't give the climbers many opportunities so they have to take them where they come. Hopefully we'll get update on their progress as well.

Al Hancock is also on K2 but he didn't update his blog over the weekend so his current whereabouts are unknown. Considering he only just arrived on the mountain late last week it is likely that his team is still shuttling gear to their camps. But Al and his crew shifted over from Broad Peak so they should be well acclimatized. It's hard to believe that they would be a part of this summit push, unless they're making an alpine style ascent, but at this point anything is possible. Until we get an update however, we'll just have to wait to see how things are progressing.

There were no updates from the Trango Air Wall team either. They should be arriving in BC on the towers in the next day or two however so hopefully we'll get a progress report from the team as well. The team had originally planned to scale Nameless Tower and make a BASE jump from the top, but they've actually shifted their focus to the Great Trango Tower, a 6286 meter (20,623 ft) granite spire that will test their technical climbing skills to the max. They'll use the opportunity to scout Nameless Tower however with the hopes of a possible climb and jump in the future.

Stay tuned for updates. We could have K2 summits as early as tomorrow.