Showing posts with label Broad Peak. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Broad Peak. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Broad Peak Summit Pictures



Sophie climbed Broad Peak, 12th highest peak in the world located in Pakistan


After summiting Lhotse, 4th highest peak in the world located in Nepal, and Cho Oyu, 6th highest peak in the world located in Tibet, Sophie found the mental and physical strength to climb and summit Broad Peak on July 25th 2011, at her 4th Broad Peak' Summit attempt in one month.

Sophie hopes that her outstanding effort will inspire people to do,
and to send an empowering message that Everything Is Possible! 
Don't give up, believe in yourself!









Monday, August 29, 2011

Monday, August 15, 2011

Sophie has spent more than 80days above 4800m in the last 3 months

How to qualify my Broad Peak climb in one word : Resilience
Broad Peak

Attempt #1 (summit scheduled June 26th) : We were climbing alpine style. During our summit push we got cut in a wind storm. We when down to Base Camp the same day


Attempt #2 (summit scheduled July 6th): After going through a wind storm, we finally reached Camp 3. But no tent as waiting for us. Our tent got covered up y an avalanche. We had to go down


Attempt #3 (summit scheduled on July 14th): Starting at 9:30pm, we climbed for about 13h and reached only 7900m. Snow was deep, and fixing rope took the team a long time, long enough to freeze my toes. I had a small frostbite at big toe, we had to go down. We when down to Base Camp (4800m) from 7900m


Attempt #4 : SUMMIT. I summit on july 25th !


K2 - we reached and sleep at Camp IV
K2's Attempt #1 (summit scheduled on august 6th): We should have start at 1am. Waking up at midnight, we'd checked on the weather every 30 minutes. But the wind did not slow down. At 5am we could see very high winds at the top, and at 7am it was a white out. Weather tuning sour, and the weather forecast predicating bad weather for the next day, we 've decided to go down. 

 

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Back to Islamabad

I am back in Islamabad, Happy and Healthy

I have 2 weeks to rest and eat up before my next adventure : Climbing Shishapgma (8,013 m/26,289 ft) in Tibet, and Manaslu ( 8,156 m/26,759 ft) in Nepal

Pakistan : Baltoro Glacier view Broad Peak Camp 2

Monday, July 25, 2011

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 5th
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 19th
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 25th
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

Friday, July 15, 2011

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.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

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.





Tuesday, July 5, 2011

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 10-13th before leaving for K2 around July 22-25th.

Monday, July 4, 2011

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!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

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










Sunday, June 26, 2011

Not that time: go back to Base Camp

26/06/2011
From Chris last call:
Martha and Sophie just got back to base camp few hours ago after unfortunately not coming in by peak. So they went up and was just really really windy and they weren't able to really get much higher than in camp 3. So but you know they must be -----  but that's great and now they're super trying to crunch. So all is well.

Photo : Attempt #1 - Summit Push



June 26th 2011 - Lakpa and Sophie made their first Summit attempt

Day #3 - They start climbing at 11pm for their summit push. On their way to the top, they got in a wind storm early morning. Winds being too strong, they have to turn back. They left tent and summit gear at Camp 3 and went down to base camp.









Saturday, June 25, 2011

FTA Broad Peak & K2 2011 - Summit push already under way for Sophie and Lakpa!

From Stu in the USA office
25th June, 2011

Chris has called in with the latest at BC which includes that the team already has two members, Lakpa Sherpa and Sophie Denis, with designs on a rapid summit bid ahead of the fixed lines and established camps!

They have been having great weather and everyone if feeling well (despite a few GI challenges here and there). They have been working well with two other teams on the hill, Altitude Junkies and DAV, and the sense of camaraderie is running high. They have the rope fixed already to C2 and will be pushing the route through to C3 in the days ahead.
Coming off of summits of Everest (Lakpa) and Cho Oyu and Lhotse (Sophie), the plan had been to push up as high as they could go and see how they felt. Well they are feeling great and going to make a quick bid for the top Alpine style.  The summit winds are expected to rise by the end of the day on the 26th so they hope to be up and back to high camp well ahead of the end of the day. I have climbed with Lakpa a number of times and he is one of the fastest climbers i have seen. Sophie put in some very quick times on Cho Oyu and Lhotse so they seem to make a good team!
We'll have all the news coming as they go for a very early summit on Broad Peak.

Phone call from the leader of the expedition


Here is a phone call from Chris, leader of Broad Peak expedition for FTA
http://fieldtouring.blogspot.com/

Photo : Attempt #1 - Climb Camp 2 to Camp 3

June 25th 2011 - Lakpa and Sophie made their first Summit attempt
Day #2 - They climbed alpine style from Camp 2 to Low Camp 3
Beautiful day - Snow was really deep - Breaking trail was exhausting









Friday, June 24, 2011

Photo : Attempt #1 - Climb Base Camp to Camp 2

June 24th 2011 - Lakkpa and Sophie made their first Summit attempt
Day #1 - They climbed alpine style from Base Camp to Camp 2