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2008 K2 and Broad Peak Expedition

Dispatch Twenty-four: June 22nd, 2008

Day Twenty-four: Rest Day at K2 Base Camp

Today, we woke up at 8:00am, had breakfast with one less member. Last night, our Liaison officer fell ill to cerebral edema. This to us, was not unexpected, considering that from the start, he had had quite a bad cough, and in Urdukas, he had been forced to wait behind because of AMS symptoms, and despite our advise, had decided to continue up to K2 base camp only a day later. Upon presenting symptoms to us, we quickly got another liaison officer from the Serbian camp to translate, and one of the Serbians who was educated in first aid. We did this after our attempts to treat him had failed (we had tried  to give him half a diamox, and he spit it out immediately, and upon questioning him regarding his symptoms, we received no answer). Finally, Qudrat and Karim rushed him down to Broad Peak base camp and then to Concordia camp, where he began to improve. Qudrat and Karim didn’t return to K2 Base Camp until 3:30AM. Anyway, after breakfast, we paid a visit to the Dutch team who are also attempting the Cesan route on K2. We discussed when they were planning on going up and how we could coordinate our ascents in order to minimize the number of people on the route at a time. We must also keep in mind the route conditions, as there had been quite a bit of snow the last few days, and the route was very susceptible to loose snow avalanches. After returning to our camp, we were met by the Serbian Liaison officer who was quite upset by our apparent lack of reaction to the situation the night before. Despite us trying to treat him, getting another liaison officer to aid in communication, offering Hugues’ oxygen, giving the others medicine to treat him, and telling Qudrat and Karim to help him down to Concordia, he felt that we hadn’t offered sufficient attention to the matter. I argued that neither Hugues nor I were doctors, and on top of that fact, our attempts to help were rejected; therefore, it was prudent to stay out of the way and allow the people who could offer REAL help to him to do their job, without us hovering over him hindering their work (much as family members would get out of the way of a doctor treating their loved one so that they could do their job without interference or distraction) Once we felt that he was in capable hands, we felt that we could do nothing more to help, and therefore, got out of the way. The argument remained unresolved between us and the Serbian LO. We were just pleased that Imran had gotten down safely to Concordia, and that his condition had improved. Moving away from that issue, Hugues and I plan on climbing to Camp I on the 24th, then up to Camp II and perhaps Camp III the following days, depending on how we feel. Another unpleasant development today; my laptop has somehow gotten a virus, making it impossible to connect with my Thuraya in order to send my dispatches. Instead, I will have to send them using Hugues computer and BGAN. They may be a bit less frequent due to this fact.