Pushing upto camp 3

We haven't been able to blog much due to solar power issues but we've been able to charge using the Taiwanese generator thankfully.

 

We've had on and off weather, as you do in the Karakoram, but over the last week we've managed to get camp 1 (5600m)  and camp 2 (6100m) established.  Scott and Rob pushed up to camp 2 first putting up the tents, then JR, John, and Duncan moved up carrying the camp 3 tents, gas and some personal equipment.  It's good to be quite high on the mountain already, but tough for everyone acclimatizing to these levels.  Going straight to camp 2 felt like doing an Ironman with a paper bag on our heads.

 

Yesterday we visited the Gilkey memorial.  A resting place for those who have been lost on K2.  A rite of passage for any climber visiting the area, but a sombering place seeing both the famous names laid there and the human remains of those bodies who have sadly never made it down.  Strangely it is the only place we have seen around here where there are flowers growing and some life thriving.  This brought to an end 3 days of poor weather, lots of monopoly and cards and boredom in the base camp tents listening to the continual roar of the avalnches piling down the mountains as the falling snow settles.

 

Fortunately the weather forecast for the next 10 days looks good although above 7500m the windspeeds are high. 

 

Tonight we're setting off for camp 1, and with a short rest we'll be pushing upto camp 2 in the early hours, resting there and then pushing the trail upto camp 3 with our high altitude tents ready for our next push which will hopefully be upto the summit.  Unfortunately Scott's come down with bad guts again so won't be joining us but we're pretty sure he'll recover in time to get high up on the mountain with us before the summit push.

 

The forecast shows that wind speeds are due to drop on the 25th so we're planning on making a summit attempt on the 26th or 27th.  So far this season there haven't been any summits, although there have been a few attempts, all thwarted by snow conditions a couple of hundred metres below the col.  It looks like the next window will be the push for many of the teams so it wil be a good opportunity to work together to reach what we came here for.

 

Also, congratulations from the team to Tom and Juliet Baker who got married yesterday and who's wedding we missed.