Camp 3

Returned yesterday from a sojourn up to camp 3. Chris Szymiec, Jake Meyer and I left camp 2 (6,450 m) the day before and finished fixing rope to 7,100 meters. We had two high altitude porters, Mohammed and Fareed, helping out carrying rope and a three man tent. At 7,000 meters we decided to let them go back down so they dropped their loads on a ridge line. There were some dead tents buried in the snow here and, since it wasn't clear how far we still had to go and clouds were gathering around us, I decided to chop out one of the tents and pitch ours in its place while Jake and Chris continued fixing above. It turned out we were closer than I thought and they returned shortly and helped to finish our platform.

Although our platform was large, sleeping over 7,000 meters was not very comfortable. It was pretty hard to work up much of an appetite, too. But the views were amazing and we had a good time laughing, melting snow and talking to the other camps on the radio. That night we had climbers in camps 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Shot some good video of climbing on the way up, the spectacular views and making dinner in the tent. In the morning, we climbed the last 100 meters to camp 3 where we fixed some more rope and stashed our tent. Fabrizio was descending from camp 4, refixing questionable rope along the way while other members were climbing up from camp 2 for their turn sleeping in camp 3. We sat in the camp for awhile enjoying the views, but feeling a bit knackered from the altitude. After fixing a bit more around the corner from camp, we descended to basecamp, 2,000 meters below.

Camp 3 sits below a large rock and contains several abandoned tents. After the serac fall last summer that killed 11 people, tents were abandoned at many high camps on the mountain. It's strange to find them, still stocked with food, fuel and miscellaneous items. They're mostly destroyed after being up there for a year, but one at camp 2 has actually been housing us this year.

The expedition has nine or ten days left. We are leaving here on August 7th. The clouds are closing in and it's probably going to snow tonight. The next possible day to move will probably be the 1st of August, perhaps the 31st of July. This means one last chance for the summit. We spent lunch discussing the logistics of this and what the possibilities are. We'll see how it all shakes out.

I spent last night and most of today getting some good photographs and footage. I walked down towards Broad Peak base camp this morning and got some good photographs of K2 with my Hasselblad. The mountains here are so huge that I find my lenses are not wide enough. I had to walk away from base camp in order to even fit K2 in the frame.

With our departure coming up so quickly I'm thinking a lot about what else I need for my intended Abruzzi documentary. Being on an expedition schedule makes it very hard to get every shot I'd like to. My hope is that with the material I get on this trip I can raise enough funds to come back next Summer and really focus on recreating Sella's photographs and exactly retracing the Duke's footsteps. There is the additional angle of the "Karakoram Anomaly," too. More time needs to be taken to gather the necessary information to make historical comparisons about glacier positions, mass, height and so forth. But this trip has been a fantastic start. The parallels between the 1909 expedition and ours are very interesting and I've gotten a lot of exciting footage. There are several projects that could be completed from what we've gotten already. I look forward to getting to work editing and working towards completion of the larger project next year.

The Duke's Spur

In 1909 the Duke of Abruzzi's expedition surveyed nearly three quarters of K2, from the West Face which rises above the Savoia Glacier to the South Face above the de Felipi and Godwin-Austen Glacier (immediately above our base camp) to the SE spur and the East Face. The Duke's plan to climb K2 was extremely ambitious for the day. After their survey, they decided to attempt the SE spur, now known as the Abruzzi Spur. The climbing is difficult and the Duke and his guides reached a little over 20,000 feet before calling it quits. They later went to nearby Chogolisa where they reached over 25,000 feet, 500 feet shy of the summit and an altitude record that stood until it was surpassed on Mt. Everest in 1922.

A couple days ago I went to Camp 1 (5,900m/19,357ft) to sleep and then to Camp 2 (6,450m/21,161ft) for another night before returning to base camp. I was able to shoot spectacular footage of the views from Camp 2 and some decent footage of people moving between the camps.

Our route is the SSE Spur, generally known as the "Cesen" route after Slovenian alpinist Tomo Cesen. The conditions are excellent. Some deep snow in places, but importantly there has been little rockfall due to a late Spring.

Perhaps as soon as tomorrow (July 11) we will return to Camp 2, spend a night and then fix rope to Camp 3 (7,200m/23,622ft) the following day. Weather, as usual, is the determining factor. Fabrizio receives forecasts from a variety of sources and the consensus is no precipitation, but increasing winds over the next few days. The jet stream is directly overhead and its height is the important factor. When it dips down, winds at 8,000 meters (26,247ft) will reach over 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour). High winds above Camp 2 would preclude fixing to Camp 3. We'll have to play it by ear.

Filming is going well. Unfortunately, most of the time K2 is obscured by clouds. But there have been some nice periods and I've managed to shoot some nice light on the summit. After sunset I've been able to shoot some amazing stills of K2 lit by moonlight. On my many rest days I've been wandering about shooting anything I can find. Rivers flowing over the ice, avalanches (though I missed the biggest one), Yellow-billed Choughs, Broad Peak (another 8,000'er directly across the valley from K2), various base camps and a million shots of the grand vistas surrounding us.

More to come in a few days!

Pakistan Trip: A Quick Update & A Few Links

Hey guys, no new news from Dave and Adam right now, but they are alive and well on their way to base camp at K2 and Broad Peak. Their silence reminds me that I should let everyone know about a couple other places where you can see some updates from other members of the expedition.

Fabrizio Zangrilli is the expedition leader, and his blog is located at fabriziozangrilli.blogspot.com.

Field Touring Alpine is the organization that put the whole expedition together. They have dispatches from the team, including audio dispatches, which are pretty nifty. You can find them at www.fieldtouring.com/?page_id=710.

You may also be able to find updates from from the field via Marmot at marmot.com, and C.A.M.P. USA at camp-usa.com.

Check back again in a few days to hopefully hear a first-hand update from Dave as they come ever nearer to their final destination.