We’re keeping busy in the Karakoram as our K2 expedition team awaits an opportunity to make their summit bid! The team took to areas surrounding base camp today to pick up more trash, bringing the season total to 275 kg / 605 lbs that will be properly removed from the mountains and disposed of. Meanwhile, our Broad Peak expedition team began their summit bid, climbing straight to Camp 2 and with plans to move to Camp 3 tomorrow! Expedition leader, Terray Sylvester checks in with this dispatch from K2 Base Camp:
Today was another warm, sunny day in K2 Base Camp (4968m/16,300ft). We took advantage of the dry conditions — with no snow covering the ground — to complete our final trash cleanup session. This time we focused on lower K2 Base Camp and the terrain between base camp and the Gilkey Memorial, picking up an additional 67 kilos / 148 lbs of trash. That brings our grand total for this season’s cleanup to almost exactly 275 kg / 605 lbs!
I’m very proud of our team for collecting that much waste. This effort was spearheaded by our climber, Ryan Mitchell. All of our other climbers, as well as our entire Sherpa and high altitude porter team, and our base camp staff, also participated.
Now we plan to turn over the trash to the staff of Central Karakoram National Park, who will transport it back to Askole (3040m/9,974ft). Once there it will be sorted and disposed of out of the mountains.
Today our Broad Peak (8051m/26,414ft) climber started his summit bid by moving to Camp 2 with his sherpa team. Weather permitting, they’ll move to Camp 3 tomorrow!
In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:
– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:
- Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions. Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“
– Instagram:
