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Update
7/4/2001: On July 2nd Jagged Globe's third expedition
to GII was the first team to establish Camp III, at
6900 meters. Most of the team members were in Camp 2
and were ready for a summit push on July 2nd when the
weather deteriorated. The entire team is now back at
BC planning to leave on the 6th, with a possible
summit bid on the 9th or 10th July. So here's hoping
the weather will improve and that we will have good
news for you soon.
Update
7/10/2001: We've just got back to Camp 3 from the
summit. Five of the seven members topped out, together
with me and two high altitude porters (my third time
on the summit of GII!). The summiteers are: Stuart
Smith, Ken Sutor, Pero Kalugerovich, Philip Lawson
(all from the UK) and Pablo Guarderas from Ecuador. It
was a long hard day - I found it harder this year than
on previous occasions, but everyone's well pleased and
looking forward to getting back to BC tomorrow and
heading home shortly afterwards. Nice to have 3 out of
3 on this hill, and this year is our best in terms of
number on the summit. David
Hamilton
Update
6/29/2001:
Good weather and the first at camp 2
David
has just called in this morning (Friday June 29).
Having had a week of fairly poor weather after they
initially arrived at Gasherbrum II base camp, it has
improved over the last few days and the team have been
able to make some good progress on the mountain. The
were the first group to make it to camp 2 (6450
meters) just a day ago and now plan to take advantage
of the good weather and head up to camp 3 at 7050
meters as soon as possible. Having dropped off some
equipment at camp 3, they will return to base camp and
prepare for a summit attempt which should take place
in about 9 days (around Sunday July 8th),
depending, as always, on the weather. Overall, the
team are enjoying being on the mountain and things are
going pretty well. We wish them good luck over the
next two weeks.
Update
6/24/2001:
Established camp 1
Hi
there, news from Gasherbrum II base camp, it's Sunday
24 June.
Since
I called last week the weather has been fairly poor
here, there has been intermittent snow most days and
there hasn't been a good day. There are now 7
expeditions at base camp and we are probably ahead,
we've got 3 tents up at camp 1 and we're moving a team
up tomorrow with the aim of traversing the route
towards camp 2 which is located at about 6450 meters.
This part of the route is quite exposed and should
take between 3 to 4 hours with fixed ropes in place.
Over the next few weeks we will make this journey 2 to
3 times as we move up and place our camps higher on
the mountain.
We
hope that all the team will have slept at camp 2, or
at least been to it and back down here in BC by next
week, when I shall report again. That's all for now,
everyone's reasonably well and acclimatizing okay and
we are pushing up the mountain as per schedule.
David
Hamilton, Expedition leader
Update
6/23/2001:
The team reached base camp last Friday and should now
be making progress through the icefall to establish
camp 1. Expedition leader, David
Hamilton, sent a report at the start of the week
saying that they had a very hot trek in up the Baltoro
valley, but the last few days have seen some rain low
down and snow fall higher up. David expects
about a dozen teams to arrive in
base camp over the next couple of weeks, a
Japanese group are already making good progress and
have fixed some ropes lower down on the mountain.
Gasherbrum
II is the most popular 8000 meter peak in the
Karakoram which
Jagged Globe has climbed twice
previously in 1998 and 1999. We hope to have some more
news of the team's progress soon.
Dispatch
Two Saturday 16 June: Settling in at BC
We
arrived at base camp on Friday (15th) and everyone is
in fairly good health. Our transport from Rawalpindi
to Skardu took a bit longer than expected. We set off
from Skardu last Saturday and have walked here in
seven days, so we've essentially caught up the little
bit of time we lost due to the transport problems. It
was very hot for the first couple of days on the walk
in up the Baltoro valley - unseasonably so. Blue skies
and too hot for walking really! Over the last 3 or 4
days, the weather has turned quite a bit and there has
been rain low down and snow higher up. So we
established base camp yesterday and got everything organized
- mess tent up, kitchen tent up. It snowed quite a lot
last night but we're getting used to being in BC and
will hopefully move up on to the mountain in a day or
two. Other expeditions in residence: The Japanese have
been here for two weeks and have made a route through
the icefall. The icefall has to be negotiated to reach
the foot of G2's SW ridge where we will establish camp
1 at about 5950m. I am expecting up to a dozen other
teams to arrive over the next two or three weeks. So
everyone's well, that's all for now, we'll be in touch
when things happen. David Hamilton Leader
Dispatch
One: Team reaches Korophon: We have just heard that
the team have reached Korophon and are scheduled to
arrive at base camp within in 6/7 days (18 June). Over
the next week, they will make the famous trek up the
Baltoro glacier, through the "Throne room of the
mountain gods" to Concordia. The valley contains
many of the world's most celebrated peaks, including
the Trango Towers (where Mike 'Twid' Turner's team are
hoping to make a first ascent on Great Trango (6286m)
this summer), Cathedral Spires, Masherbrum, Broad
Peak, Mitre Peak and K2. Once they arrive in base
camp, we expect another update with news of some of
the other teams who will work together on the mountain
this season.
Jagged
Globe Gasherbrum II: Itinerary
Jagged
Globe Gasherbrum II: David Hamilton Leader
Jagged
Globe Gasherbrum II: Background
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