FTA K2/Broad Peak 2011 - Update from K2 BC

From this link: FTA blog

Chris has called in with an update from K2 where the team is now resting in preparation for a summit bid. Lakpa, Chris and the HAPs (Farhad, Aziz and Said) have now carried gear (rope, tents etc) and oxygen in C2 in preparation for a summit push this week. Everyone is back at BC with a rest day planned for August 1st. As it stands they plan to ascend to C2 on the 2nd, C3 on the 3rd, C4 on the 4th and then make a summit bid on the 5th.  They are running into deep snow high on the route and this will represent a real challenge to establishing camp on the Shoulder in the days ahead so there will be a need for sharing the hard work to do.

They are hopeful to make a bid on Friday the 5th and the weather will dictate this possibility. The predictions have been for calm summit winds for the 2nd to 5th but there looks now to be rising summit winds on the 5th so that window may close before they can make this push in which case they will hope for another window the following week.

At this time FTA members Sophie, Rob and Lakpa will plan to make a summit bid with Chris planning to be in C2 in support during the bid.  Farhad, Aziz and Said plan to deposit O2 and other gear in C4 and return to C3 on the 3rd. It is a real challenge for them to deliver these supplies to C4 and our success will depend a lot on how successful they are in their role. They have worked very hard for our team on Broad Peak and have been a tremendous asset to the expedition as a whole.

Chris notes that the group of climbers now assembled on the Cesen are largely familiar to each other and that they are cooperating very well. Among them are FTA alum Alex Txicon who became the youngest Basque climber to reach an 8000m summit in 2003 on Broad  Peak. As well Bruno Buchet who was with FTA in 2005 on Broad Peak is on the hill and joining to push. Fabrizio and Kinga who had planned to climb a different route but have been forced by conditions back on to known ground.  Christian, Gerfried and more round out the assembled group. Initially teams were to have been on up to three different routes but now all hopes lie in the Cesen from the Pakistan side.

That's It: Broad Peak and New World record for Sophie

On July 25th, Sophie reached the Broad Peak summit. It was her fourth attempt with 23 hours of climbing. With Broad Peak summit, she becomes a new world record woman with three 8000m in less than 3 months: Cho Oyu - Lhotse - Broad Peak.

Sophie a atteint le sommet du Broad Peak le 25 Juillet après une ascension de 23 heures lors de sa quatrième tentative. Elle bat ainsi un record du monde en ayant atteint 3 sommets de plus de 8000m en 3 mois: Cho Oyu - Lhotse - Broad Peak. 

Sophie climbed CHO OYU and summit on May 5^th
Cho Oyu is the 6th highest peak in the world (8201m) and is part of the Greater Himalaya, where the central Asia plateau meets the Indian subcontinent.
Sophie climbed LHOTSE and summit on May 19^th
Lhotse is the 5th highest mountain in the world - a mountain in the central Himalayas on the border of Tibet and Nepal (8516m) and is connected to Everest via the South Col.
Sophie climbed BROAD PEAK  and summit on July 25^th
Broad Peak is the 12th highest mountain in the word 8047m in Pakistan.

After one little week of rest, Sophie will continue her challenge by climbing K2 (picture hereunder) on August 4th and 5th.

 More informations about the others climbers of the expedition and Jeff's accident are on the FTA blog:
 http://fieldtouring.blogspot.com/2011/07/fta-k2broad-peak-2011-team-back-in-bc.html#more

Never Give up : A fourth attempt planned July the 18th

After a first try abort due to a windy day, a second because of an avalanche, the third has been the occasion to encounter a very cold day. The whole group going up (with groups coming from Argentina and Spain) has stopped their effort around 7800/ 7900m and has decided to come back to the camp.
Dealing with a weather window, she left at 4am to the summit and after 13 hours of climbing since camp 3, tired to walk in a deep snow, she stopped a moment to add socks. As a prevention against these cold conditions, she got a stove in the bag and use it to dry her first socks she wears. At that time she saw her toes starting to be frozen so she decided to go down to camp 3 where the others groups joined her few times later. Her actual co-climber decided to give up. Her current planning is to wait for a possible weather window on the 18th with a new climbing partner to help her to walk in the deep snow. If the new attempt does not succeed, she will join an international group of climber to climb K2 and will come back to Broad Peak later as she knows the way to the summit since her last summit push.
Everything is going well, and she has not forgotten one of her motto: "Go  up is an option, go down is mandatory".

Depuis que Sophie fait de l'alpinisme, une de ses craintes est de se geler les doigts, des mains ou des pieds. Après une première montée arrêtée pour cause de vents, une seconde suite à une avalanche qui a emporté son matériel au camp 3, cette fois c'est le froid qui a eu raison  vers 7800/ 7900m de tous les groupes qui montaient.
Sophie s'est rapprochée de groupes argentins et espagnols. Espérant une amélioration de la météo, elle est partie vers le sommet à 4H00 du matin et après 13h d'ascension depuis le camp 3, fatiguée caril fallait se relayer pour faire la trace dans la neige, elle s'est arrêtée pour mettre des chaussettes supplémentaires et comme, par precaution et malgré le poids supplémentaire, elle avait emporté aussi un réchaud, elle a seché celles qu'elle avait. C'est alors qu'elle a aperçu un début de gelure de son gros orteil. C'est pourquoi elle a décidé de redescendre au camp 3, où elle a été rejointe par les autres groupes qui ont finalement renoncé. Son partenaire abandonne et son programme actuel est d'attendre une nouvelle opportunité vers le 18 juillet en embauchant quelqu'un qui pourra l'aider à faire la trace dans la neige. Si cela ne se fait pas, elle envisage de rejoindre un groupe d'une vingtaine d'alpinistes et de revenir éventuellement sur le Broad Peak maintenant qu'elle "connait le chemin". internationaux sur le K2
 Elle a un moral d'enfer et est très fiere d'avoir géré cette montée en prenant les bonnes décisions.

Photo - Summit Attemp #3

July 12th to Juy 15th

Lakpa and Sophie made their third Broad Peak Summit attempt

Day #1 - They climbed from Base Camp to Camp 2. We were expecting very deep due to the heavy recent snowing. But not at all, the snow was crispy, and ankle high. Just perfect to climb.

We joined for the summit push a german team and a spnish/argentinian team. The fact that we not only 2 in the mountain make a big difference from a breaking trail stand point.

Day #2 - All the teams went to Camp 3. Great team work today - Spanish/argentinian broke the trail at the morning, followed by the Germans, then by sophie and Lakpa. they arrived at Camp 3 early afternoon, leaving them few hours rest before push.

Day #2/3 - All the teams left at 9:30pm. Breaking the trail was very difficult. The snow was on some sections blue ice to very deep snow. We fixed about 200m ropes. After spending all night climbing, at 8:30am Sophie suddenly felt her feet very cold. Expecting that will happen, Sophie and Lakpa carry with them a MSR reactor to boil water or warm them up. At 7900m, Sophie took off her boots, sock,, bear feet she warmed up her feet with the stove. Dry her boots, put on new socks, and go down right away. She SAVED her feet from frostbite. She ended up with a tiny frostbite at the very top of her big toe.

Sophie always put safety first. She carried about 1kg more (Gas, stove, pot) when every grams count. But she noticed the day before summit that the sun will hit the face only late in the morning meaning that she knew that she will spend more than 12h in the dark, and in the cold

All the teams turn back shortly after Sophie and Lakpa.

Sophie and Lakpa went down to Base Camp the same day.

Explorersweb (dated June 27th 2011): "Sophie Denis, who wants them all, and she wants them fast"

http://explorersweb.com/everest_k2/news.php?id=20220

Jamais 2 sans 3: Nouvelle tentative pour le sommet plannifiée (New summit Bid on 10-13 july)

Lors de la dernière tentative pour le sommet, Sophie et Lakpa ont eu la surprise de ne pas retrouver leurs tentes au camp 3. Ces dernières ont été emportées par une avalanche pendant leur absence .

Il y a vraiment certains endroits ou on est content de ne pas être.

Après avoir rebroussé chemin pour cause de vents violents (>80km/h) lors de leur première tentative, ils se sont retrouvés dans une situation délicate pour leur deuxième tentative.

Malgré un chemin en partie de nuit, le retour vers le camp de base à la lueur des frontales s'est passé sans encombre.

Pour rétablir la situation, de nouvelles tentes vont leur être acheminées afin de ré installer le camp 3.

Ce nouveau matériel devrait leur permettre de faire une troisième tentative entre les 10 et 13 juillet pour Broad Peak avant que Sophie ne parte littéralement à l'assaut du mythique K2, en un temps record entre les 22 et 25 juillet.

Broad Peak sera alors le 3ème sommet de plus de 8000m réalisé par Sophie depuis le début de son challenge en Avril, après Cho Oyu et Lhotse.

At the second summit bid, Sophie and Lakpa discovered that their tents at camp3 have disappeared under an avalanche. So they decided to go back to base camp to find a roof for the night.

Some new tents will be sent to them and a new summit bid could be done around July 10-13^th before leaving for K2 around July 22-25^th.

FTA K2/Broad Peak 2011 - Second round of acclimatization done... & summit bids ahead for Sophie and Lakpa!

From Stu in the USA office
July 4, 2011

Chris has called in from BC to let us know that everyone is well and that most of team is in BC resting up for a summit bid. Sophie and Lakpa have remained high and are hoping for a break on Thursday in the winds to make a summit attempt. The remainder of the team is down at BC resting up for the next few days and then will hope for a good window perhaps around the 9th or 10th.
The camp 4 that sometimes we establish is often placed on a small flat area at around 7500m and it is quite a spot! It can reduce the summit day by a few crucial hours and especially when the summit ridge is giving short windows of low wind this can be the small advantage making a summit bid possible.
The views from C4 are spectacular but one rarely gets much sleep there between the altitude and the anticipation of leaving early for a summit bid. The sun comes onto the slope quite late in the morning so it is a very cold start and the ridge offers the first rays of warming sun. With summit winds to remain at or above 30km/hr Sophie and Lakpa will have their work cut out for them to make it to the top and back safely.
They will have to negotiate the summit ridge which is quite steep on both sides  and offers little protection from wind. We have seen summits in winds like this before but they are very demanding and most parties will wait for a lower winds. As Chris says in his dispatch Lakpa and Sophie will try to thread the weather needle later this week so we wish a great window for them!
After reaching the top or a high point then one must negotiate a winding ridge back to the relative safety of the col at 7850m. From there it is a short rappel/downclimb to the main slopes leading back to high camp. This upper slope has a few narrow crevasses which must be negotiated. They can be hard to see from above and have been the site of at least a few serious accidents requiring evacs from high on the hill. After winding through the upper slopes it is finally back to the warm tent and a hot brew!
We'll have more news shortly about any summit bids!

Photo - Summit Attemp #2

July 3rd to Juy 6th

Lakpa and Sophie made their second Broad Peak Summit attempt

 

Day #1 - They climbed from Base Camp to Camp 2. Snow was deep and sticky. Weather was nice almost all day.

Day #2 - After a late start due to a wind storm, Sophie and Lakpa climbed up to camp 3. As getting closer to Camp 3, snow got deeper, and deeeper, getting from knee high to hip high. Once arrived at camp 3 no tent, they try to dig at few different places where their tent could have been. Good effort but not successful. As it was starting to get dark, Sophie and Lakpa decide to trun back and go down to Camp 2. It was heartbreaking as it meant as well that they ost everything and had to give up their 2nd summit attempt.

Day #3 - They went down to Base Camp