'The Mountain of Mountains' K-2 closes for the season

Bad weather forces climbers to end their dreams of conquering the second highest peak of the world this year

The second highest mountain in the world, K-2, has closed its doors of hospitality for this year. Mountaineers who had come from all the world to scale the 8,611 metres peak have been left disappointed with bad weather coupled with heavy snow, avalanches and rockfalls preventing any successful summits this summer season. 

Wilco Van Rooijen, a mountaineer, who in 2008 was stuck for three days at the top of the Savage mountain in a climb which killed eleven of his peers, tweeted the news.

K2 climbing season 2015 is over due to very bad weather, avalanches etc. No Summits this year. http://t.co/ZrxIhtMeSU read the blog!

— Wilco van Rooijen (@wilcovanrooijen) July 28, 2015

Mariano Glavan of Argentina, Carlos Sarurez of Spain, teams from Estonia and Hungary, and commercial expeditions Himex and Madison Mountaineering (US) have either all retreated or are in the process of withdrawing from the base camp having decided that climbing K2 this summer season is nigh impossible.

Some of the climbers who could not summit K2, tried to climb BroadPeak, the 12th highest mountain in the world standing tall at 8,051m, located right across the glacier from K2. But there too they had to face bad weather.

https://twitter.com/DavidSJTait/status/626029006970818560

Had to abandon two summit attempts on broad peak in the early morning hours of 28 July. http://t.co/1cX5nmk8B0

— Billi Bierling (@BilliBierling) July 28, 2015

First time we had to retreat due to white out. Second time due to Avalanche danger on slope leading to col. http://t.co/EPSNrOaP7P

— Billi Bierling (@BilliBierling) July 28, 2015

One of the reasons we abandoned our K2 attempt (as every other team in base camp): frequent and massive... http://t.co/6HIGfmvkRT

— Alex Buisse (@alexbuisse) July 27, 2015

Switzerland's Mike Horn expressed his disappointment at not making it to the top of K-2 in his blog.

https://twitter.com/ExploreMikeHorn/status/624650487036571648

Mike Horn at K-2 in 2015. PHOTO COURTESY: ALANARETTE

He wrote, "We are back down from our summit attempt. Base camp is not exactly where we want to be, but I am satisfied that we gave it our best shot. Even more important, we tried with everything we had."

Pakistani mountaineer Mirza Ali also tweeted regarding the conditions surrounding the peak.

#K22015 big Expeditions pulled out due huge risk of avalanche,rock falls! K2 unclimbed for this season, think Next! pic.twitter.com/T7FYbdQpwL

— Mirza Ali (@Mirza_climb) July 27, 2015

This year bad weather has resulted in avalanches which has caused injuries and the loss of life.

On July 20, at around 11 am, seven climbers were on the mountain when an avalanche ripped through the lower section below camp-1 on Broad Peak (8,051m). It apparently crushed a Pakistani porter and injured Sumiyo Tsuzuki, a Japanese mountaineer along with a Nepali Sherpa.

Broad Peak is the 12th highest mountain in the world, standing tall at 8,051m. It is part of the Gasherbrum massif in Baltistan on the border of Pakistan and China, right across the glacier from K-2.

K-2. PHOTO COURTESY: GB TRIBUNE

After hearing the news, Nepali Sherpa Lakpa from the Seven Summits Trek team, along with some other climbers, immediately mounted a rescue effort, pulling one climber out of the snow. Another climber, who had suffered several fractures, was lowered down to a point where they could use their crampons to climb down and receive treatment.

The army tried sending a helicopter on July 20 and July 21 but bad weather impeded the rescue effort. So precarious was the situation on the mountain that at least two more avalanches occurred as rescue was being effected, with the rescuers having to move out of the way.

A helicopter was finally able to reach base camp on the July 22 and Tsuzuki, who had broken her ankle, was shifted to CMH Skardu.



A week before this rescue mission by the Pakistan army, Solvenian Kajetan Rock Decman had been brought back from the ranges as he was stuck at height of 6,000 meters and suffered from 'high altitude sickness.'

On July 8th, US mountaineer Robert Jackson had been airlifted from K-2 base camp and was transported to Skardu for treatment.

Further, our very own climber Samina Baig was also forced to cancel her expedition to K-2 after complaining about an injury while climbing.

Samina, who was the first Pakistani woman to scale Mount Everest, was climbing up K-2 on a second rotation to acclimatise to conditions at high altitude ahead of a summit attempt. However, she soon complained of severe pain on the left side of her neck which only worsened as the days progressed.

Due to the discomfort, her group decided to go back to base camp, however on their way down a chunk of ice and rock hit and injured her forearm.

"Having sever neck pain for few days and forearm injury, we sadly called off our #Warid k2 expedition 2015. We thank all of you for your prayers and good wishes,” wrote Mirza Ali, brother of Samina Baig.

Samina Baig gets treatment for her injured right forearm at K-2 base camp. PHOTO COURTESY: MIRZA ALI

Several climbers have reported of warmer than usual temperatures on the mountain this year, with some of the Sherpas noting wet rock faces high up on the mountain, which usually sees frozen cliffs.

A cause for the avalanches on both K-2 and Broad Peak can be attributed to the earthquake in China earlier in July.