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Spanish-Mexico
K2
2002!
Update
7/10/2002:
Another typical Karakoram day;
one minute the sun is so brutalizing it’s difficult
to even draw a deep breath, the next, clouds move
in, the wind brings a snow squall and whiteout
conditions from further down the glacier, and you’re
running for your tent, battening down its hatches
against the sudden arctic blast. But, like my native
New England, you need only wait 10 or 15 minutes,
and you are back to the blistering beach.
The
team is on the mountain this morning, but as the
weather forecast calls for 80km/hour winds above
16,000 feet, they are headed down to avoid the
worst. So far July has not afforded much climbing
since the team was forced down on the 4th in heavy
squalls and driving winds. They had hoped to get at
least two days of climbing and acclimatizing in
before the next storm, but today’s bluster, fog, and
gathering clouds to our west and south do not
indicate such favor.
While many things can be said of the various routes
on K2, none of them can be called safe. Steep
terrain, rock fall, avalanches, and of course the
flighty weather combine to make K2 the most
dangerous and difficult to climb of the fourteen
8000m peaks. But, if any route has the cleanest
line, it can be argued that is the South-South-East
Spur, directly to the left of the famed Abruzzi. It
has erroneously been dubbed the Cesen route, after
Yugoslav Tomo Cesen soloed the ridge to the Shoulder
in 1986, proclaiming a new route in the process. But
in fact Doug Scott pioneered the ridge within 150
meters of the Shoulder at 7800 meters in 1983. The
legendary Don Whillans, after studying the route
with Scott, declared it the best and safest route,
and the one “I want to do.” Unfortunately, the death
of a colleague on neighboring Broad Peak ended his
trips to the big mountains, and he went home,
disillusioned, his last expedition behind him. While
rock fall, treacherous winds and avalanches threaten
large stretches of the Abruzzi, the SSE spur is
around the corner, if you will, from the worst of
the winds and straddles the ridge between the most
fatal rock and serac falls and avalanche prone snow
fields.
Having climbed twice before on the mountain, and
once on the Abruzzi, team member Hector Ponce de
Leon chose the SSE Ridge this year for many of the
same reasons Whillans declared it the best and
safest. “Most of the technical climbing is at the
bottom of the route from base to around 6800 meters,
allowing you a safer ascent and descent in the
higher altitudes when you are most tired,” Ponce de
Leon says.
He
and team leader, Araceli Segarra, have shared four
previous Himalayan expeditions, and continue to
insist on their teams being a small group of friends
as well as accomplished rock and ice climbers. This
year is no different, as they are joined by Armando
Dattoli of Mexico City and Jeff Rhoads of Salt Lake
City, Utah, who is also filming the team, as well as
the attempts of two other women this season, for a
documentary on “The Women of K2.” Filling out the
expedition is Assistant Cameraman Jeff Cunningham of
Los Angeles and Co-producer/Writer, yours truly,
Jennifer Jordan
 Dispatches
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