Indonesian Digital News Archive

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.

The summer climbing season in the Karakoram is just starting to ramp up and we have another major expedition to keep an eye on in the weeks ahead. A team of climbers, mostly from France, has set its sights on not only climbing the 6240 meter (20,472 ft) Nameless Tower – one of the Trango Towers – but also BASE jumping from the top. They all this project the Trango Air Wall expedition and it is set to get underway next month.

The expedition, which looks to get underway around the 20th of July and last about a month, will go up the Eternal Flame route. That approach is on the Southeast Face and will require roughly three to five days to complete, all of it spent on the wall itself. The team, which consists of Liv Sansoz, Jérôme Blanc-Gras and Manu Guy, all of France, as well as Brit Tim Emmett, will attempt to free climb the face in a fast, minimalist approach. To do that they'll have to overcome a difficult 800 meter (2624 ft) sheer rock face with 30 very challenging pitches, at altitude no less.

Of course, the climb is just the first part of the expedition because when they get to the top the four men intend to make the first-ever BASE jump off the tower itself. Using wingsuits and parachutes they hope to glide safely back where they started, with impressive views of the Baltoro Glacier, the Karakoram and K2 surrounding them. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but that is one helmet cam video that I'm already looking forward to!

You can find out more about his project, although you may need to use Google Translate, at the expedition's official website.