K2/Chogori Winter 2003

Dispatch 2/19/03: Bad news

The blizzard continues, we've been fighting all day long for the upper base. For the time being, we've put our dreams about K2 aside and busied ourselves with saving our belongings, says Krzysztof Wielicki, the head of the expedition.

The weather forecasts we get from Pakistan continue to disillusion us. Muhammad Hanif, the expert who prepares them, apologizes for being a messenger of bad news. Such weather is supposed to last until the end of February, with very short sunny intervals in between. Reportedly, these are the most intense meteorological phenomena in this region for four years. We know from radio news, which the Hunzas listen to, that torrential rainfalls in adjoining Pakistan have led to floods and many victims.

These pieces of news sound like a death sentence to the expedition. Krzysztof Wielicki did not want to comment on them on Tuesday evening. He locked himself in his tent.

Monika Rogozińska from the base under K2

Written by Monika Rogozinska, "Rzeczpospolita"; translated by "Scrivanek".

Dispatches