Vladimir Belous has been airlifted from K2 after having to descend with frostbite. He had frostbite to the first finger on the right hand and three fingers on the left hand. He will fly to Moscow after leaving Pakistan.
Meanwhile the Russian expedition have had to rest at base camp while the weather is too difficult to climb. Nick Totmjanin lead a small group of climbers past camp 2 but had to descend because of bad weather.
Source: 2011/12 Russian K2 expedition
Vladimir Belous has been forced to leave the Russian expedition to K2 after suffering frostbite to his toes.
He was one of three climbers who got caught in a storm that hit camp 1 a few days ago. Vladimir Belous, Eugeny Vinogradsky and Alexey Bolotov were caught in a storm on Sunday and had little warning. Their tent ripped and gear started to be blown out. There was a risk that they too would be blown down the side of K2.
This has reduced the number of climbers on K2 to 8 for this Russian expedition.
Source: 2011/12 Russian K2 expedition
A storm has hit the Russian expedition on K2. Camp 1 which they had set up in the previous days was flattened. Also at base camp tents were dislodged and went flying about.
So far they have reached as far as camp 2 on the Cesen route.
Source: 2011/12 Russian K2 expedition
Russian climbers have established camp 1 on K2. This was set at about 6050m. Iljas Tukhvatullin, Andrew Mariev and Vadim Popovich created this camp after the earlier efforts of other climbers. They stayed for a night in the tent.
Source: 2011/12 Russian K2 expedition
Climbers from the Russian winter expedition to K2 have started making progress up a router on K2. Three climbers reached 5900m up what is expected to be the Cesen route (they had planned to go up the beginning of this route). Alex Bolotov, Vladimir Belous and Eugeny Vinogradsky fixed ropes up this way. It was planned that Nick Totmjanin, Valery Shamalo and Vitaly Gorelik would continue the work the next day.
Source: 2011/12 Russian K2 expedition
The second group from the Russian winter expedition to K2 have arrived at base camp. It included: Eugene Winogradsky, Nicholas Totmyanin, Valery Shamalo, Vitaly Gorelik, Nikolay Cherny, and Sergey Bychkovsky. If the weather permits then the third group will arrive on the 1st January with more cargo.
Source: 2011/12 Russian K2 expedition
The first climbers from the 2011/12 winter expedition to K2 have arrived at K2 base camp at about 5000m. They flew there by a Mi-17 helicopter from Skardu. The members from the expedition that arrived were: Ilyas Tukhvatullin, Andrew Mariev, Alexei Bolotov, Vadim Popovich, and Vladimir Belous. Also there were 3 Pakistanis and some the the cargo for the expedition. The second flight will be on the 31st December from Skardu if the weather permits it.
Source: 2011/12 Russian K2 expedition
There has been pictures posted on Google Picasa from the acclimatization phase part of the expedition. In the pictures are some of the stock of their foods. Also there are pictures of some of the tracks they have been on to acclimatize.
The 2011/12 Russian expedition to K2 will attempt a new route up K2 this winter. Their plans are to start climbing up the Cesen route up K2. They will climb up this route to about 7560m. From this point they will make a new way to the summit of K2. It is not clear yet whether they will at some point have to climb through the bottleneck at 8300m to reach the summit of K2. They are taking about 2000m of rope.
Members of the Russian expedition to K2 have returned to Skardu after acclimatizing themselves at a higher altitude. They have been hoping for the Pakistan army to deliver their supplies to base camp.
Source: 2011/12 Russian K2 expedition
