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K2/Chogori Winter 2003
Dispatch 2/21/2003: Late homecoming
The weather
forecast is nasty - steady gales with only brief
respites until the end of the month, and the very
moment of our scheduled breaking camp and beginning
our return home.
The head of the
expedition cannot change the weather, but he cannot
give up the attempt to reach the summit of K2,
either, having invested so much work in the
preparation of the northern slope. What he can do,
however, is to delay the expedition’s homecoming.
That is just what
he did today. The camel caravan will not take us
from the Chinese base until March 8. What awaits us
then is a hike through the mountains, trekking to
Kashgar, and a ride through the Tien-Shan mountain
range to Bishek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. From
there, we are leaving on March 18, arriving the very
same day in Poland via London.
This is the faraway
future, however. Meanwhile, K2 is still in front of
us. It awaits us in the fog and the blizzard. The
climbers have established almost four kilometers of
ropes on the northern slope, along with four camps
equipped with sleeping bags, carrimats, cookers,
food, first-aid kits and climbing equipment. The
route has been secured up to 7,630m, which has taken
the climbers 43 days of mountaineering efforts.
After that, they had to descend to the base and wait
passively for the hurricane frenzy that had broken
out to calm down. Krzysztof Wielicki says that you
cannot leave now without checking out if anything is
left of the great effort put into this whole
undertaking. The climbers are waiting below at the
Chinese and intermediate base for the head of the
expedition to summon them back to the upper base and
further - onto the slope. Wielicki is so determined
to finish the work that has been started that he
even declared himself ready to stay with a small
group of the strongest mountaineers, waiting as long
as it is necessary for better conditions to attack
the summit, and then to chase the rest of the
expedition returning with the caravan. For the
moment, as soon as the wind strength will allow
continuing the climb, one has to find the answer to
the most important question: have the camp tents
survived? Is it impossible to start the expedition
from the very beginning?
Monika Rogozińska
from the base under K2
Written by Monika
Rogozinska, "Rzeczpospolita";
translated by "Scrivanek".
 Dispatches
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