The North Ridge expedition have moved some of their cargo from base camp to a point much further along the glacier known as the Italian camp – an old camping site about half way to advanced base camp. Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Maxut Zumayev, and Vassiliy Pivtsov were the three members who moved this cargo. Everyone else stayed at base camp. The plan is for everyone to return there for a night.
Source: Kazpatriot
The International North Ridge expedition has crossed the last river before base camp. They made it to base camp yesterday. They had said that they would need the camels to get across the river which flowed from K2′s glacier to base camp. They were going to camp for the night here.
Next they will head towards advanced base camp passing an old Italian camp. Members of the expedition include: Maxut Zumayev, Vassiliy Pivtsov, Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Ralf Dujmovits, Tommy Heinrich, and Darius Zaluski.
Source: Kazpatriot
The two members of Field Touring Alpine that made an early summit bid turned back after camp 3. Lakpa Sherpa and Sophie Denis made a bold bid because of the favorable conditions. But strong winds made them have to turn back.
The other members of the team are awaiting to go up. Some are going up to camp 1 next, while others will follow in another group.
Source: Field Touring Alpine
The North Ridge expedition have been slowed by an uncrossable river before arriving at base camp for K2. They will need the camels to make it over. The camels though are a distance behind the trekkers. This shows the importance of the camels if trekkers want to make it all the way to K2 on the Chinese side. Up to this point it has been mentioned that the rivers were at a lower level than when Maxut Zumayev and Vassiliy Pivtsov went there in 2007.
Once over the river, base camp will not be too far away. From there it is still a day or 2 away to the advanced base camp for K2. Others in the expedition include: Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Ralf Dujmovits, Tommy Heinrich, and Darius Zaluski.
Source: Kazpatriot
Two climbers who attempted K2 last year are going to attempt 2 different 8000m mountains in Pakistan this year. Giuseppe Pompili and Leila Esfandiari will be making attempts on different mountains. Pompili will be climbing Gasherbrum 1. He has been updating his blog and there are some interesting things in it. At the moment there is a dispute between his expedition and the Polish one. There is currently a dispute over the location of the tents.
Iranian Leila Esfandiari will arrive in Pakistan in early July. She will be accompanied by two of her fellow countrymen. She will be attempting Gasherbrum 2.
Field Touring Alpine have reported that the weather has been great in the last few days. It has reached 30 degrees at base camp for Broad Peak( very close to K2).
Two members of the expedition, Lakpa Sherpa and Sophie Denis are currently making great progress up Broad Peak. Lakpa wanted to see how far he could get. Sophie is just off Cho Oyu and Lhotse. They are making a summit bid tonight after approaching camp 3 today. Lakpa will have the job of setting up ropes for the expedition when they swap over to K2
Source: Field Touring Alpine
Maxut Zumayev has reported that the North Ridge expedition has crossed the highest point on their way to K2. This would be Akal Pass. They rested for the night before this point. Then the next day went to the high point.
The next day they went to the Shaksgam Canyon. He said that everything feels perfect so far.
They expect to get to K2 base camp on the 26th June.
The North Ridge expedition consists of Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Ralf Dujmovits, Tommy Heinrich, Darius Zaluski, Maxut Zumayev, and Vassiliy Pivtsov.
Source: Kazpatriot
If you want to see what it is like in this area then go to the 1996 Russian expedition page for the Shaksgam Canyon. They said this place was like no where else on earth.
The North Ridge expedition have been travelling by camels the last few days through the barren gorges on the way to K2 in China. Maxut Zhumayev has been updating his blog in the spare moments when the caravan has been resting.
June 21
The jeep that they were travelling in, got a puncture. Several kilometres before they had gone over a sharp rock. Time was taken to replace the wheel.
Arrived at the village from where they would start trekking. The guide, Iskander, had prepared watermelon and crates of beers as gifts to the border gaurds. They met an elder by the name of Elder Daniyar-ata. He owns the camels for the expedition. They stayed in a guest room here
June 22
Woke at 6am. 40 camels were needed carrying 80-100kgs of cargo. Caravan left at 11am after the packing. The hills where they went through were barren like Mars. He got sunburned by the strong sun.
June 23
They left at 6:45. Some crossed a river barefoot, others rode the camels across. The camels were scattered over quite a distance. Thus they had time to have rest breaks and take pictures. The main caravan is going quite slow.
Source: Kazpatriot
Kyrgyz climbers have warned Maxut Zumayev and Vassiliy Pivtsov that there could be icy conditions ahead on K2. These Kyrgyz climbers are on Nanga Parbat and have found it more icy than usual. There is less snow on the climbing route.
Maxut said that the K2 climb would be more technical and slower if more rock was exposed.
Both Maxut Zumayev and Vassiliy Pivtsov moved ahead of the others in the North Ridge expedition. At the moment they are using about 40 camels to traverse the last part to K2. They are crossing rivers on the way. They know this route well as they came this way in 2007. Maxut got sunburned underestimating the brightness of the sun.
Source: Kazpatriot
Jasmine Tours have updated Everestnews with more information about their upcoming expedition to K2. Already it was known that Kinga Baranowska and Fabrizio Zangrilli had joined the tour from another touring expedition. Details of a few other climbers has also emerged.
Bruno Bochet, they said, could be the climbing partner of Christian Stangl. Stangl, though, will be joining the expedition later. He did receive some frostbite on Kangchenjunga. Also Jacek Teler will join this group once he has finished climbing on Gasherbrum 1.
Source: Everestnews
