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K2/Chogori
Winter 2003
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K2 Winter
Expedition Camp III within grasp |
Better weather ahead
The mountaineers have
crossed the altitude of 7000 m on the Northern
Pillar. Denis Urubko from Kazakhstan has worked for
the first time in the new team, together with Piotr
Morawski and Marcin Kaczkan. His climbing partners
say that he is not only a wonderful and experienced
alpinist, but also a superb companion up the
mountains.
- Marcin, Denis and I
headed for Camp II – said Piotr Morawski after
returning to base. – Denis is very fast. He left us
behind at the rocky barrier and when we reached Camp
II, he had already been waiting for us an hour. We
even got reprimanded for idling around. We emptied
our rucksacks at Platform I cut the last time
together with Marcin. We went down to the tent that
had been destroyed by the wind. We loaded its
contents into our rucksacks and carried everything
onto the platform, where we pitched our new tent.
The wind was blowing strong. At one moment, I
realized that the sack containing my personal
belongings had blown away. The night passed rather
calmly. In the morning, we set out with Marcin to
establish fixed ropes above Camp II. It was snowing
and foggy. Typical ‘Tatra’ Mountain weather. I was
struggling valiantly with my goggles. They kept on
freezing up and I had an icy, opaque pane in front
of my eyes. Meanwhile, Denis was reinforcing the
camp. He also brought more rope and examined the
destroyed tents that had been left by previous
expeditions and were now melted into the ice, thanks
to which, I ate a three-year-old ‘Snickers’ bar and
washed it down with some equally ancient coffee!
Together with Marcin, we established 300 m of rope
at 7025 m. We used up all the ropes we had. All in
all, there are now 450 m of fixed ropes established
above Camp II (6780 m). We were done with the icy
slopes..... just for a while. We climbed the rocky
pillar, where we found many ruined ropes. For the
time being, the terrain is easy. We know, however,
that it will rear up again later on. In the evening,
Denis got very concerned with the condition of my
toes. Dark spots appeared on them – frostbite! He
asked me not to take any risks and to return,
explaining that the work we were to do the next day
could be done by him and Marcin alone. He thought
that my staying one more night at Camp II might lead
to chilblains that would prove even more serious. I
agreed ..... even though I felt fine. I descended to
base without any problems. I’m taking medicine,
waiting to be able to set out to the mountains
again, hopefully as part of the same team. We had a
great time with Denis – says Piotr Morawski.
On Saturday, Jacek
Teler and Michał Zieliński, at Denis’ request,
carried several hundred meters of rope above Camp I,
as high as they could get. They covered about one
fifth of the distance to Camp II. Urubko met them
halfway, picked up a certain amount of rope and
returned to Camp II in order to establish the next
200 m of ropes on the pillar together with Marcin
Kaczkan on Sunday. This time, they worked in a
hurricane. After performing the scheduled task, they
descended to the base in the evening very tired, but
in surprisingly good shape.
Their back-up is
already at Camp II: Krzysztof Wielicki, Head of the
Expedition, and Jacek Berbeka. On Monday, the rising
generation of mountaineers consisting of Jacek
Jawień, Bartek Duda and the already experienced
Jurek Natkański is to bring them more ropes. As you
can see, traffic on the slope is busy, despite the
bad weather. On Sunday evening, the wind calmed
down. K2 has finally appeared from behind the mist
and the clouds.
My computer has
finally received good news from Muhammat Hanif, our
weather wizard in Pakistan, whose forecasts have
become almost indispensable. For the next four days,
we are finally supposed to be having good weather.
“Go ahead!” – says Hanif. – “Good luck!”. We’ll need
it. Camp III is almost within our grasp.
MONIKA ROGOZIŃSKA FROM
THE BASE UNDER K2
Note Update below...
Krzysztof Wielicki
and Jacek Berbeka have set up camp 3 at (7200
meters). The climbers are moving up !
Full dispatches
soon !
Written by Monika
Rogozinska, "Rzeczpospolita";
translated by "Scrivanek".
Dispatches
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