Pakistan 2012: Summits On K2!!

The details are still a bit light but it appears congratulations are in order for Tunc Findik and his entire team for a successful summit of K2 earlier today. The group included Azim Gheichisaz, Fabrice Imparato, an unnamed Singaporean climber and three Chinese guides.

Yesterday we had news that the squad was in place on Camp 4 and were resting before making the final summit push. The weather, which has been an issue in the Karakoram all season long, seemed to finally be cooperating and the plan was to set out for the summit at 10:00PM local time last night. Apparently that went as expected and the team was able to reach the top of the second highest mountain on the planet at 8611 meters (28,251 ft). They are now back in C4 and resting once again before proceeding back down the mountain tomorrow.

Tunc and company might not be the only ones to top out on K2 this week. Peter Hamor's team is currently in Camp 4 and planning on making their summit bid starting in the evening today. Apparently the weather remains calm, spirits are high and everyone feels good for heading up the mountain. If all goes as planned, we'll have a report of more summits tomorrow.

Still no word out of Al Hancock as to the progress of his K2 attempt. Since he had already acclimatized on Broad Peak, it is possible he's on a summit push at the moment as well. Al only just arrived in Base Camp last week but if his high camps were established perhaps he has decided to take advantage of this good weather too. We'll just have to stay tuned to find out.

It seems strange that so many teams were turned back all season long on Broad Peak, the Gasherbrums and other big peaks in the region, yet we have successful summits on K2 already and it appears that there will be more to come. It just goes to show you how bad weather can really stifle any opportunities to climb these mountains, but when good weather does appear, talented and bold climbers can take advantage of it.

Congrats to Tun, Azim, Fabrice and the rest of the climbers on a job well done. Get down safe.