2014 K2 expedition dispatches
The RainOn powered real-time tracking map shows that the climbing team has just left Camp 4 at 25,200 ft. and is heading for the summit of K2!
| Message Type | startTrack |
| Trackpoint | 65 of 65 |
| Time | 7/26/2014 5:31:00 PM UTC |
| Latitude | 35.87823° |
| Longitude | 76.52377° |
| Elevation | 25,046 ft. |
| Distance | 0.066 mi. |
| Heading | 267.3° |
| Total Distance | 5.75 mi. |
Transcript:
Today is Saturday, July 26th at 6:00pm and we are up at High Camp with Alan and Matt. Our plan is to leave in about four hours for our summit push. A few climbers made the summit today and are on their way back now and we are very happy for them. It is snowing a little bit but when we get up tonight we will have clear skies while we are climbing up and early tomorrow morning.
Just pulled into Camp 4 on K2 with the team, we plan to leave for the summit push in about 12 hours. Looks like nice weather and a good route!
– Garrett
Elevation = 24,310.11 ft. Location = (35.87828, 76.524947)
Transcript:
Hey, this is Garrett Madison from Madison Mountaineering calling in from Camp 3 on K2. Today is July 25th. It’s 6:00pm and myself, Alan Arnette, and Matt Du Puy along with our sherpa team are all up at Camp 3 right now. Today we climbed from Camp 2 up and over The Black Pyramid on K2 to get to Camp 3. And we are happy to be here. Good weather, cloudy right now but we had clear skies climbing up to Camp 3. And boy, just great conditions and tomorrow our plan is to move up to high camp.
The Madison Mountaineering American Team (Garrett, Alan, & Matt) have arrived in camp 3. A tough climb up through the black pyramid!
– Garrett
Elevation = 24,310.11 ft. Location = (35.875156, 76.531130)
Failed sat phone connection attempts did not allow expedition leader, Garrett Madison, to provide an audio update of the K2 summit push progress today. However, the RainOn tracking map shows they arrived at Camp 2 (6700m/21,980ft) just before noon local time. Team member Alan Arnette was able to provide a great audio update on his blog, reporting the team made good time up to Camp 2 and everyone enjoyed the climbing. Alan also reports that there is a lot of climbers above them on the mountain positioning for a summit attempt in the couple of days preceding our team’s target summit day of July 27th. The great weather continues with just a little bit of wind. The team is feeling strong and healthy and enjoying the amazing views provided by the clear skies!
Tomorrow the team will get an early start in their move to Camp 3 which includes climbing K2’s Black Pyramid feature. The Black Pyramid is considered the most technical section of the route and involves approximately 400m of vertical and near-vertical mixed rock and ice climbing. Camp 3 (7250m/23,800ft) is located at the top of the Black Pyramid.
Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, reported in from K2 Camp 1 (6065m/19,900ft). The team had a great day climbing up from advanced base camp in clear, calm and warm weather. Climbing conditions are very good and they are looking forward to moving up to Camp 2 tomorrow. The team spent the afternoon at Camp 1 resting and hydrating. There are about 30 other climbers on the route, currently spread out over a couple of Camps. Most teams are targeting July 26-27 as possible summit days.
The K2 summit push is on! Today Garrett reports a “perfect day on K2” for the climbing team’s first segment of their summit push: base camp to advanced base camp (17,280ft). Headed to bed now, they plan to be climbing tomorrow by 06:00am to reach Camp 1 (19,900ft) around noon. Stay tuned for our daily dispatches!
Camp 2 viewed by telescope from base camp
There are at least 50 other climbers in camp planning to make a summit attempt this week with the good weather, some may go for the summit as early as July 24th. Currently the route is fixed to Camp 3, so we still have some work to do fixing the lines up to Camp 4, and then beyond Camp 4 through the “bottleneck” and the traverse above the bottleneck. There likely will be substantial work in breaking trail through the deep snow above Camp 3 and Camp 4. Hopefully with the sunny weather forecasted the next few days with temperatures warming during the day and cooling at night, there will be some consolidation in the snow-pack, making for easier trail breaking up high.
The weather forecast is very promising this week, with little to no precipitation and light to moderate winds up high. We will post our progress regularly to this Madison Mountaineering K2 dispatch page.
K2 Camp 4 to summit viewed from base camp
This morning Pakistani time (Monday, June 21, 2014) Garrett called in on Skype and provided an update on the K2 expedition and the plans for the summit bid that starts tomorrow! It was great to talk with him. The team sounds strong and the weather looks fantastic and getting better. We are all excited to follow the teams progress this week.