We traveled by jeep from Arusha through forests and coffee fields to the Machame trailhead, where we checked in with the Park HQ, sorted loads for our local porters, the Chagga people. We hiked through the lush rain forest and finished our day at the Machame Camp. Everyone is doing well, we had a great first day on our climb of Mount Kilimanjaro!
Stats for Climb day 1
Start: Machame Entrance, 5,718’
Finish: Machame Camp, 9,927’
Distance Traveled: 6 miles
Our team of Kilimanjaro climbers has arrived in Tanzania! This morning after a wonderful breakfast we checked everyone’s gear, and now the team is out on a day tour of the local sights in Arusha. The weather is great, everyone is excited to be here and to begin our climb of Mount Kilimanjaro tomorrow!
The K2 / Broad Peak team is now back in Islamabad and preparing to head home! Some of our members have already flown out, and the last of us will be departing Pakistan this weekend. Conditions were tough this year on K2 & Broad Peak, resulting in no confirmed summits from any of the teams attempting K2 or Broad Peak. Our expedition went according to plan and we were in position to go for the summit when the weather changed and the climbing conditions deteriorated significantly. Our climbers made a great effort in climbing to Camp 2 / 3 on both K2 & Broad Peak, however the unusually deep snow that accumulated this season prevented us from going higher. We had a great time in the Karakorum and with better route conditions / weather I am confident we would have made the summit(s) we were attempting. We look forward to returning next year!
K2 seen from Broad Peak Camp 2
Trango Tower on the trek out
Sunset on the trek out
During the last few days the weather and route conditions have deteriorated significantly on K2, causing many avalanches and also rock fall. The climate here has warmed up dramatically, and as a result snow slides down to the glacial ice have peeled off K2 and the surrounding peaks, in once case the snow avalanches buried another team’s advanced base camp, fortunately no one was there at the time. The weather forecast has much snow ahead as well as continued warm temperatures, so without any indication that conditions may improve we are abandoning our climb of K2. Yesterday, one member of our Sherpa team was injured by a falling rock, we flew him by helicopter this morning to Skardu where he is being attended to. We will close up our base camp over the next few days and then plan to head out, there is still a chance we will make a Broad Peak attempt, weather and route conditions permitting. We look forward to coming back for K2 next year!
snow slides down to glacier ice
Bacon and pancakes for breakfast in base camp
Flying kites at base camp
We have been resting in base camp the last 2 days. Because of daily snowfall, and the inherent risk of avalanches, we cannot plan to climb or carry up supplies until the weather improves and conditions stabilize. Currently we will be resting in base camp at least a few more days before possibly making a move up on our summit attempt. Our team is well and enjoying the comforts of base camp.
Here’s some super sweet shots of our July Mt. Olympus climb led by guide Tap Richards. A great time had by all!
Summit!
Here’s some super sweet shots of our July Mt. Olympus climb led by guide Tap Richards. A great time had by all!
Summit!
We descended down from Camp 2 and are now back in our base camp, relaxing and watching the weather to plan for our summit attempt. The weather was changing on our descent so we observed some interesting ‘rainbows’ in the sky, ice crystals illuminated by the sunlight. We still need to carry a few loads up to the high camps, but hopefully in about a week we will have everything in place to make our summit bid. Everyone is doing well and enjoying time in base camp.
On the descent
Descending the Black Pyramid
Below Camp 1
Blogging from 22,150′
Today we climbed up the Black Pyramid on the K2 Abruzzi ridge route. We wanted to scout the route up towards Camp 3. The lines are now in all the way to Camp 3 on our route. The weather continues to hold and clear views of the surrounding peaks dominate scenery, we are having dinner and getting ready to sleep here at Camp 2. Tomorrow we plan to descend to base camp to rest up for our summit attempt. This rotation has been very productive. Our Estonian climbers are resting in base camp and we will join them soon.
Today we climbed from Camp 1 on the Abruzzi ridge of K2 to Camp 2! We had great weather and awesome climbing conditions! We will spend the night here. Our Estonian climbers descended today from Camp 2 to base camp, they are doing well.
