Expedition Dispatches: Descent of Gasherbrum II

Thanks Everyone Who Has Followed Our Adventures...

2008-07-29T08:39:51-07:00

Thanks everyone who has followed our adventures–we’ve gotten lots of good feedback and it was definitely great to feel the love all the way from across the world!

Since my last post we pretty much had a whirlwind of action–I’m still spinning from it, both head and stomach, but that’s another story that we don’t need to get into. Our summit bid began after we got our forecast one night, and it had changed a bit from what we originally thought–it was about 10pm when we made the sat-phone call for the weather forecast, and about 12:30am when we started out for camp 1 as it seemed that this was our weather window–RIGHT THEN–didn’t sleep at all that night. Kip and I arrived at Camp 1 awhile after the others had stopped there to get water and grab some gear and they had all headed up to camp 2. We hung out through the midday heat and then at around 4 headed up the steep face and the “Banana Ridge” to join them at Camp 2. It was, for me, the best climbing of the trip–no one on the lines, solitude, cool temps, over an hour of alpenglow, and rhythmic, enjoyable climbing. The views were stunning, and we felt content when we got to Camp 2 just before dark. The next day it seemed people were feeling tired so we spent one day at Camp 2, and headed up to Camp 3 early the following morning, arriving in the early afternoon.

The weather seemed unsettled that evening, with occasional snowfall and some wind, so we decided we had enough food to wait until the following night for our summit bid–I think everyone in our tent at least slept ok that first night at 23,000ft that trip. The following day we just pretty much hung out–Kip and Hilaree and I were in one tent and we spent a lot of time talking about our favorite places to eat in Seattle (Hil and I both grew up there; Kip is a big Pike Place Market fan), and the foods we would eat if we could–standard tent talk. That afternoon it began to snow off and on, but we went to “sleep” ready to get up and go. At about 11:30 that evening it was still snowing a bit, but you could see the moon and we started up, Kip and I a bit behind the others–I had had a rough time that night and hadn’t really slept at all, so it took me a bit to get my poop in a group, as they say. We had their tracks for a while, but just as it began to snow heavily and the tracks were getting totally covered, we got to the fixed ropes, a lucky break. We could see the others’ headlamps not too far ahead–they were still moving up–we felt warm and comfortable despite the snow and wind, and we moved slowly upwards. After a few hours it became apparent that we were in a full blown blizzard; we had each kicked off at least one shallow windslab, and even the tracks 10 feet in front of you were totally blown in by the time you got there. It was pitch black–if Kip was looking forward I couldn’t even see a light at all outside of my own little headlamp’s circle, and the occasional twinkle from the headlamps of our team up ahead. It was the kind of storm where your hair and your jacket get frosted white; it combined with the altitude and the steep, rocky climbing to create a very surreal effect. At around 4:30 am, as much as we would have liked to wait until first light to get an idea what the weather was doing, we decided we had to turn around–this felt like a full blown storm, and we were exactly where you didn’t want to be in a full-blown storm.

As it turns out, at almost the exact same time, the others were having the same discussion a litle ways above us, and they reached the same conclusion–they got back to the tents about a half an hour after we did. The snow continued all day and all night, keeping us at Camp 3; Kip was getting out of the tent every few hours to dig one side of our tent out as it was getting almost totally buried to the top with blown-in snow. That night was especially hard–I had a bad cough and couldn’t sleep, Kip had a headache and couldn’t sleep, and I think poor Hilaree probably just couldn’t sleep because of all of our restlessness–either way, we all sat up in a panic at about 2 am and unzipped the tent to get some fresh air and contemplated going down right then and there, but it would have been too dangerous. I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. It was a bit scary–but there was nothing we could really do except for relax and hope for good weather in the morning.

Which we got, thank goodness. Everyone descended the fixed lines in deep new snow; I wasn’t feeling too energetic and again was slower than the group. We skied for part of the way, which was exhilarating and exhausting at the same time–I literally would have to stop every two turns or so, and my hands started cramping up at random, making things even more interesting. I’m telling you, high altitude does weird things to you, I’m still trying to figure it all out!

We stopped briefly at Camp 2, and then skied down a bit more to the top of the “Banana.” By that point, I was utterly pooped out; totally exhausted. I knew the situation called for one thing only, and I took our our emergency stash–I chowed an entire Snickers and it never tasted so good. I may have even licked the melted chocolate off of the wrapper, I can’t totally remember. Then I steeled my nerves and we started rappeling down the steep ridge, me stopping every so often when my hands or hip flexors would seize up in a wicked cramp. After the banana we had to descend fairly steep, wide-open slope in mid-afternoon, not the best place to be when you can hardly even take one step downhill. But Kip kept us moving, and by 4pm we were safe in a tent at Camp 1–the others had gone on to base camp already but there was no way I could have negotiated the Icefall as worn out as I was.

Our porter friend Ashgar (in a Muslim country, he cruises around wearing a trucker hat that says, “Show your tits!” on it…he gets quite a reaction from all of the Westerners) gave us a few bags of French freeze dried meals (far superior, actually, to American freeze dried meals, quelle surprise), and we actually got some sleep for once, at least in between my coughing fits. The next morning, totally beat down and stripped of any and all pride that I once had, I paid a porter to carry my skis and one sleeping bag down to base camp for me to lighten my load. I’m not even ashamed to admit it now, that’s how tired I was at that point–from the coughing, the lack of sleep, probably dehydration, and not enough food. But we made it to base camp–John Griber, bless his heart, hiked up to meet us and took Kip’s heavy pack and Kip took mine. He brought us some Tang, which also tasted fantastic.

The next day we packed and tried to rest, and then it was ON–we hiked about 75 miles over three and a half days to get to Askole, hopped in Land Cruisers after lunch (and an entire sleeve of chocolate sandwich cookies, just to myself!), drove to a road closure with the porters, hiked over the landslide where the road was closed (the porters carried our gear this time), to another set of Land Cruisers to take us to Skardu, where we arrived at about 10pm. We kept passing villages full of apricot trees laden to the ground with ripe apricots, and when we found the perfect one our guide Karim stopped the cars and we stuffed ourselves and our pockets with the most delicious fresh apricots–I couldn’t have asked for anything better at that point.

Sooner or later we arrived in Islamabad–we ate some fantastic Pakistani BBQ at several meals, and we even had Pizza Hut once–did some shopping….and now I’m in Seattle. I made it just in time for Kitty and Jeff’s wedding, which was amazing, and now I’m enjoying some time with my parents…and still trying to figure out what it all meant. I know for sure that Pakistan is a stunning place–wonderful people, the craziest mountains I’ve ever seen, and the experience of a lifetime for me.

Thanks for reading!

- Ingrid Backstrom

Summit Push and Wrap Up!

2008-07-24T11:40:00-07:00

The night of the 10th we were waiting on a weather call from Jim, the weather guy in Jackson. The reports from the Spanish, from Chamonix, and from the Italians were all varying. So, we were going to make our call based on the final American forecast. Griber talked to him at 10pm, and based on the weather feedback, we made the decision to go.

We left BC two hours later, at midnight, in steady snowfall for a direct push to Camp 2. It was fairly smooth going, and after a very brief pit stop at Camp 1, we arrived at Camp 2 mid-morning. The weather was rough throughout the day with whiteout conditions prevailing on our final approach to Camp 2. We were hoping that by climbing to and through the lower camps in the bad weather that we would get our clear weather window for Camp 3 to the Summit in a couple of days.

As we climbed through the night and the snowfall, once at Camp 2, we were forced with another decision- make the move to Camp 3 or stay one more night at Camp 2 and make the summit push through Camp 3 the next day. The group opted for the former, and a better rest at 21,000ft. It was a long rest day and we were eager to get moving as we hunkered down in the tents and planned for an early am start to Camp 3.

Sunday the 13th we awoke around 4am and headed up to Camp 3. The weather was marginal, and we pushed through the cold and snow once again to our tent at 3. Once there, we again had to redo the original tent platform and then dig out another spot for our other VERY small tent. We squeezed 3 people into each two person tent- warm but very, very tight. We would spend the next 3 nights at Camp 3 during our summit bid process.

Due to heavy snowfall, and the need for able bodies to break trail to the summit, we opted to make an attempt the following night. The 14th turned out to be a beautiful day, with avalanches careening around us, and several other teams making their way to Camp 3. We had committed to leaving the night of the 14th and aimed to summit the next morning with an agreed predetermined turnaround time of 2pm.

As we started assembling our gear, packed in like sardines at 11:30pm that night, the snow and the wind pounded our tents. We had committed to leaving, and with limited fuel and food reserves, our options were limited. By that point, all the other teams had backed out of the plan to move, but we pressed on.

Our two tents set in motion around 11:30 pm, and Griber and I headed out about 12:30am to start breaking trail. As he and I changed up lead on the initial slope, I flicked out the line and a small soft sluff cascaded down upon us- that was to occur several more times ahead. We were looking at a lot of new snowfall above. Kris and Hil followed up behind and we started leap frogging up the mountain. It was a very cold, very windy, and a very snowy effort.

We made our way to about 7400+ meters, regrouped, and made the decision to turn around. The avalanche danger was high and we were breaking trail in extreme conditions. After six hours of some serious work, we returned to Camp 3. On the return, Griber and I got some pretty nice turns on the last pitch back down to the tent, limited but worth it.

As we proceeded to get bombarded by unbelievable weather forces, every two hours or so, we had to dig out the tents, and though we felt safe in location, we were still concerned with wind transported snow crushing our very small tent spaces. It was an intense 24 hours back in camp 3…our plan was to be at BC the next afternoon, with another alpine departure planned for the next morning.

We rose at about 4am on the 15th to a beautiful but cold morning. We had some additional concerns for the snow pack in our descent. Due to some frozen extremities on some folks, we got a later start then planned but headed down the lines safely.

Immediately out of Camp 3, we encountered thigh deep snow and deep trail breaking. Due to the conditions, we opted to ski the last 1/3 of the climb down into Camp 2. The snow was decent but we were wary of crevasses and of slide potential, not only for us, but for those potentially climbing below. Turns out, however, that no one chose to climb up from Camp 2 that morning.

Our packs were about 70lbs plus each coming down, as we cleared each Camp. The heavy loads limited our agility, speed and progress. Arriving to the lowers of Camp 2 and into Camp 1, we encountered severely isothermic snow. The crevasses had opened up significantly, and the farther we moved down from Camp 1, we found ourselves making big leaps across the open gaps. Each step was arduous as we punched through into our knees and deeper, worsened with the added weight. The temperature gradient continued to be extreme as we were below 0 degrees leaving Camp 3, and by the time we hit the lower glacier, it was well into the 90s.

Due to loads, timing, team health etc, we had to time our last push and this journey as we did. Though not summiting was a great disappointment, we all feel good about our efforts, and as climbing as a team. As Kris has mentioned- if we had endeavored only to climb, without the combined climb and ski goal, we may have been able to move quicker on our 1st or 2nd trip up to Camps 2 & 3, but then also lost some members in those bids. By the end of this trip, most of us had spent 4 nights at Camp 3 at 23,500ft, 3 nights at Camp 2 at 21,000ft, 5 at Camp 1, hauled our ski gear to 24,500ft+, and broke trail for most of our big efforts. We headed out of BC on the 18th.

Our departure was preceeded by a garbage bonfire party and a final singing/dance session with the porters. Kris also pulled out a pretty fun fire trick to entertain the masses. The next few days we got our move on- It took us 2 weeks to get to BC from the States, and it took us 4 days to leave. We combined some long days of trekking (25+km) to make flights back from Skardu to Islamabad to home. The atmosphere on this return was much calmer for us, and temps much cooler with overcast skies and rain. We have befriended porters and are no longer such an anomaly for our foreign hosts. As we now sit in Islamabad having our first pizza (and beer in Muslim country) of the trip, we have some fond memories upon which to reflect.

- Kim Havell

Summit Attempt

2008-07-23T16:14:00-07:00

The North Face

A Call From Base Camp

2008-07-15T11:05:00-07:00

The team just called via satellite phone with an update from Camp 3. The weather window they were hoping for never materialized and due to dangerous snow conditions they had to turn back from their summit attempt at 7400 meters. They have been waiting out a snow storm for the past couple of days at Camp 3. Despite wishing they had a bit more food and better weather everyone is healthy and feeling good. They plan to descend the fixed lines from Camp 3 and return to Base Camp in the next couple of days at which point they will send a full dispatch of the past week on the mountain.

A Day in the Life at Base Camp

2008-07-10T11:16:00-07:00

The North Face

Shouting "Happy Fourth of July" back and forth between tents.

2008-07-08T10:15:00-07:00

We’ve been at base camp for 3 days now after our last push up the mountain—we spent the night of July 4th at camp 3, over 22,000ft. As we ate our freeze-dried dinners huddled in two tents, we shouted “Happy Fourth of July” back and forth between tents. The views more than made up for the lack of fireworks and red-white-and-blue dessert buffets—even as tired as we were it was amazing to see all of the surrounding peaks as the sun was setting.

On the 5th of July, we made our way all the way back down to base camp, and we’ve been in hog heaven (well, compared to up on the mountain—in base camp you can eat Dedar’s home-cooked Pakistani meals as opposed to freeze dried food and gels, sleep well in your perfectly nested tent as opposed to the restlessness that sometimes comes at night at altitude, and drink plenty of “du chai,” the milk tea that tastes so awesome and that our cook is constantly making for us) ever since.

All of our technology here at base camp—Kris and John even set up a makeshift computer desk in our TNF dome consisting of two boxes spanned by some Styrofoam, for editing and uploading and such—depends on solar power. We were lucky on the 4 days we were up on the mountain to have sunny weather, but since we’ve been back in base camp it’s been mostly cloudy with some occasional drizzle; fine for resting at base camp but not so good for all of the computer and battery needs, which is why we haven’t been able to post our dispatches until today. So, if you’re wondering why we can’t always be as prompt as possible with our blogging, that’s the reason. And now, having had a few days to rest, we’re all ready to get back on the mountain for our final push. However, like the tech stuff, we’re also now waiting on weather. It’s supposed to be unsettled for the next few days, getting worse towards the end of the week, after which we might have a good enough window to climb back up. Fingers crossed! In the meantime, we’ll be figuring out how to finagle another invite down to the Italian camp to snack on some more homemade cheese…..!

- Ingrid Backstrom

Camp 2 & 3

2008-07-08T10:13:04-07:00

Heading to Camp 3 I am beginning to understand what makes high altitude climbing so hard, there is no air to BREATH! Eating is hard, sleeping is harder and that stinging headache won’t go away.

On our last push, the fourth up the icefall and our final before our summit attempt, we made it to camp 3 to spend the night.

From Camp 1 to Camp 2 everyone seemed to be doing well. We all had heavy packs with our skis and gear for up higher. The ropes we fixed earlier on the Banana worked well and allowed us to make good time. Here we had some amazing views looking back toward Base Camp and we could realize our progress. After some rest we decided that we should start to break the trail toward Camp 3 and begin fixing lines for the next day. Kris, Jon and Kim made it about half way to Camp 3, breaking trail and fixing lines. By the time we caught up with them they decided it was time to turn around so we left a tent and some rope there and headed back to Camp 2.

At first our freeze-dried meals for up high on the mountain were a great compliment for our American palates but now they are starting to lose their appeal and aren’t such a treat. It seems for all the work we are doing we should be eating more. I still get excited for my freeze-dried Beef Stroganoff but have a hard time eating all of it now. The high altitude weight loss plan!

The perch that is Camp 2 slowly began to seem further below has we made our way to Camp 3. Each step up meant that each breath provided less of the Oxygen needed to move forward. Camp 3, located high on the shoulder below the summit pyramid, is beautiful. From 22,750 ft. we can look down onto the Baltoro Glacier, can see into India and out into the mighty Karakoram. We were left alone at Camp 3 to take advantage of what little Oxygen was there. Sleep here was restless and not that comfortable but should help with acclimatizing.

From our high point at Camp 3 we descended all the way back to Base Camp for some quality rest before we will attempt the summit. It is hard to leave Camp 3 knowing that we will have to climb the six thousand feet back to Camp 3 before we attempt the summit.

Now we will wait for some good weather, lets hope we get some. Our time is coming to an end and we need a few good days so we can try for the summit.

- Kip Garre

The Push to Camp 3

2008-07-08T10:12:00-07:00

June 30th was a great team day- we have befriended the Italian team, and after their hospitality the night before, they joined us for coffee late morning. Our supplies are beyond limited and so we enjoyed great coffee and great company up at our site at BC. They are energetic, positive, and vibrant people to be around, and we all greatly appreciate the ambiance they create. That same evening, our team watched “Scrapple”, a classic Telluride film, in our fab TNF dome tent. For Hil and I, it was a nice little slice of home.

We ended up heading to Camp 1 on the 2nd of July, due to inclement weather the day before. Another 3am start got us rolling with the ladies as one rope team and the fellas as another. The afternoon at C1 was extremely warm as we geared up for our next push to Camp 2 & 3.

The morning of the 3rd, our team as a whole headed to Camp 2. Hil, Kip and I brought our skis. There was more tent maintenance and camp set up once we arrived but we had the camp to ourselves, more or less. We have been about a day or so ahead of the masses so far and that has allowed us more freedom and privacy on the ropes and at camp.

Early afternoon on the 3rd, John, Kris and I set out to break trail and fix lines to Camp 3 for the next day push. The Swiss team’s Sherpas (whom they flew in from Nepal) followed up behind us about 4 hours later and finished where we left off. The three of us had an incredible afternoon being on the front line again as we worked the route up to about 22,000ft. Griber had some great cliffhanger moves as we moved up the mountain, as this section actually had more ice, exposure and steepness to it then the route to Camp 2 (which is different from years past). Kip and Hil joined us later, after working on tent platform maintenance etc that morning.

On July 4th, Kris, Griber, Ingrid, Kip and I headed up to Camp 3 at 22,750ft. It was slow going once again as we were the first team to move up on the new section, and encountered mixed conditions from pure ice to isothermic snow. We all got to Camp 3 between roughly 3-5 hours, after an 8:30am start from Camp 2. Camp 3 is situated on a steeper snow ridge, and so upon arrival, we had to again dig out tent platforms into the steep and exposed hillside. Kris had already dug out one platform as we all rolled in one by one.

Our ski gear is now scattered about the mountain due to how we individually approached our loads. John, Kris and Ingrid have their gear at Camp 1, Kip and Hil at Camp 2, and mine is at Camp 3. We are constantly and carefully evaluating the ski route and are proceeding with caution as to what sections (if not all) can be skied safely. The mountain has changed dramatically in the past five years, according to several climbers that are here that have been here before, including the Italians. As the conditions are a moving target, we will make decisions based on what is before us on our summit push.

On the 5th of July, the five of us traveled from Camp 3 back to BC. The icefalls are changing rapidly as summer continues, and the melting within the route is extraordinary. It may take some time in our future trip/s to detour from the original route to avoid the opening crevasses and glacial pools.

Now that all of us are back at BC, we await another weather window and are resting up for a summit attempt, which may be a few days away. As soon as we get a good 4 day stretch, some of us will move from BC to Camp 2 direct, and another group will go from BC to Camp 1 to Camp 2. From there, we will have to monitor our progress from Camp 2 to the summit…it is all weather and conditions permitting.

To date, we all are really pleased with the style in which we have climbed the mountain- carrying our own loads, hauling shared fixed line, fixing the route, breaking trail, etc. Each camp arrival has been a success in and of itself, and we are looking forward to going for the summit as a team of 6.

- Kim Havell

Trekking to Camp 1

2008-07-01T14:34:27-07:00

Part 1: Trek to Base Camp

Part 2: Base Camp to Camp 1

Camp One , Camp Two, The Pee Bottle, and a visit with our Spanish and Italian friends.

2008-06-30T10:07:41-07:00

From Base camp we have been hauling gear up to Camp 1 to begin our climb. On our first attempt to Camp 1 new snow slowed our travels and we decided to camp about an hour short of Camp 1. The new snow and hot weather made post holing really slow and taxing. The next morning we made it to Camp 1. We set up our tents, probed out our area and crawled into our tents to avoid the midday heat that has been getting so hot! It is amazing that it can snow and that water bottles can freeze at night and then the sun comes out and it gets so hot, probably close to 100 degrees in the tents. We have been draping out sleeping bags over the tents during the hottest part of the day to help keep things cool inside. After one night at Camp 1 we headed back to Base Camp to regroup and get ready to head back up. This is our program for now, I am guessing we will trek through the ice fall to Camp 1 about five times before we move to Camp 2, Camp 3 and for a summit push.

On our next trek to Camp 1 we brought tents and gear to set up Camp 2. Heading to Camp 2 might be the most technically challenging and is where we will see some fixed ropes. After meeting with some of the other climbing groups it was decided that we would help fix some ropes between Camp 1 and 2.

Waking up early was easy after spending most of the day in our tents hiding from the sun. By six we were heading toward the bottom of the face and feeling good about moving up. The bottom of the Gasherbrum 2 face is the steepest and most technical. Here, on a section called the Banana, there will be areas of fixed line so these sections will be safer to climb.

At the top of the Banana our team split into two groups. One group went higher to set up Camp 2 while Kris and I began working to re-fix all the rope below. I found it enjoyable and fun to help Kris and learn more about fixing lines.

But so far one of the biggest challenges has been the Pee Bottle. Having a bottle to pee in during the night makes tent life much more comfortable. Personally getting dressed up to get out of the tent n the middle of the night doesn’t work. In my tent at Base Camp aiming into my pee bottle doesn’t really present any problems. At Camp 1 stacked between two females the process is much harder. Staying hydrated is essential at altitude and that means you must empty your blatter more often.

Last night while visiting our comedic Italian friends the issue about pee bottles came up. First, I have to thank our Spanish friend Esther Decroiq and her Italian friends Gloria and Simone. They invited over for some amazing cheese, salami and Olives. Italian coffee and a few hours of entertainment. Italians always amaze me with their hospitality and quality. So when the pee bottle issue came up everyone stated their view. We have one non-believer in our group while our friends had a few. Opinions flew but none of them had any effect on my view. Team leader John Griber claims “ the pee bottle is just has important as your harness, mandatory for expeditions.”

We planned on heading back to Camp 1 tonight but the snowy weather might keep us at Base Camp for one more day of rest. Either way our next rip up should see us make Camp 3 and possibly spend the night there. If all goes as planned then we will come back to Base Camp for our final rest before we head up for a summit push.

Thanks for staying tuned in!.

- Kip