GILGIT: Tents of foreign climbers at Camp 2 were ravaged by avalanches and roaring winds, causing them to abandon the K2 summit attempt for the time being.
At present, more than 60 climbers from four expeditions from 18 countries are staying at the base camp to try to reach K2.
Camp 2 near the House Chimney Point was recently built by Nims Purja from Nepal with the aid of Sherpas.
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Mr Purja said his team entered Camp 2 via a Facebook post on Monday and discovered it lying in tatters. Our tents and other supplies left for the summit plan were all burned. I have to re-evaluate and re-plan something now,” he said.
On Tuesday, the Nepali climber revised the summit schedule that would be moved a little late in the season.
John Snorri of Iceland, Mohammad Ali Sadpara, and his uncle, Sajid Sadpara, also had ropes tied to Camp 2.
On Monday, John Snorri said a huge avalanche came hurtling down K2 and went all the way to Sunday’s Wide Top, crushing their tent.
Meanwhile, Alex Gavan of Romania and Tumhara Lunger of Italy are also trying to ascend the savage mountain without supplementary oxygen.
Via a text message, Alex Gavan told Dharti News that although he and Tumhara Lunger were part of the SST winter expedition team, they operated as an autonomous expedition.
Tamahra and I just share SST’s base camp service, but we are a fully different expedition,’ he said.
“Our Camp 1 equipment is safe because we’ve secured a tent on the rocks,” Mr. Gavan said.
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“We will climb up to Camp 1, weather permitting, in the next few days,” he maintained, noting that the next day their goal was to climb 6,700 metres up to Camp 2. “If everything goes according to the plan and the forecast does not change, we will even push it for acclimatisation to 7,300 metres above Camp 3 black pyramid.”
You really need sufficient acclimatisation to ascend K2 without supplementing oxygen, he said.
In the summer of 2014, Tumhara Lunger was one of only 11 women to have ever scaled K2 without oxygen.
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