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2008 K2 and Broad Peak Expedition

Dispatch Fifty: July 19th, 2008

Day Fifty: K2 Base Camp Waits with Fading Optimism

Today, we woke up at 8:30am, and had our usual breakfast; that is aside from the fact that Peter refused to sit with us for no apparent reason, and when questioned about why he wouldn’t join us, he mumbled in German for us to just leave him alone. We did just that. After breakfast, Hugues and I checked our email and received the weather forecast. It definitely wasn’t what we had hoped for. It predicted heavy snowfall for the next two days followed by light snow the following days with high winds on top. This brought us to the 25th of July. It is looking as though I will have to decide in the coming days whether to extend my stay in Pakistan till mid-August and whether to bring down my things from K2 and focus on Broad Peak or remain hopeful that a window will open on K2, and wait patiently. A difficult decision. We are due back in Islamabad according to our itinerary on the 5th of August, and my flight home is on the 9th of August. If I decide to stay in K2 base camp, I will have to reschedule my flight and make arrangements with ATP to stay longer at Base Camp. In the afternoon, we checked on the weather on Broad Peak. There as well, there won’t be a weather window till at least the end of July. Gerard spoke of a glimmer of hope for a small window opening at the end of July. Hope is being kept alive in Broad Peak thanks to the eight recent summits (two Spanish, four Russian, one Portuguese, and one French (Elizabeth)). After lunch, Hugues and I worked on our computers and wrote our messages. Gerard visited and talked about whether we were planning on staying in base camp and waiting for the weather window or throwing in the towel and heading home. We will have to wait and see what the next few weather forecasts say before we can make any major decisions.

 

In Photos:

Left: Gerard nearing Camp III on the Cesan Route (K2)

Right: Hugues close to Camp III on the Cesan Route (K2)