Summit push on G3

I just arrived in Islamabad after having been evacuated with a knee injury by the "Fearless Five" a helicopter unit of the Pakistani Army. Don, Bruce, Billy and Guy are at 7300 meters on an attempt to do a new route up G3 from the NW. If the weather stays good my four remaining expedition friends will go for the summit at midnight Pakistani time. If they summit they will be the third or fourth expedition ever to summit G3 and it will be the second route up G3. I wish the guys the best of luck and I will pray for them all night.

I also like to send my regards and best wishes to Philippe Gatta on G1/G2, the Steck family (dude ski with care...), David Hamilton, the Junkies leader Mr Crumpton, and the Portuguese team on G6. All of you be safe and push hard.

Don, Guy, Billy and Bruce have reached the cwm at 7000 and are contemplating their next move. If the weather forecast stays stable they will attempt a top-out on G3 or G4. David has due to a knee injury, after falling into a crevasse, been evacuate by helicopter to Skardu.

Don, Guy, Billy and Bruce are pushing towards the cwm at 7000 Wednesday and will attempt a top-out during the week.

All of us are now along with all other expeditions down in BC waiting for a storm to blow past the Gasherbrum area. The weather forecast for the next 5 days is promising lots of snow. Our team is now quite well acclimatised so now we are resting, eating and preparing for a summit push as the next weather window opens.

Who will do what will be determined after we are back and can have a closer look at the conditions on our different options. One thing is for sure, there will be a lot of people moving up as soon as the weather breaks and we are not jealous on the traffic jams the climbers going for G2 are about to experience.

We like to thank our sponsors for there kind support. The gear and funds are all put to good use and we hope to welcome the Diamir www.diamir.de trekking group this weekend.

David
Base Camp

Bruce, David and Don have spent a few days resting in BC while Guy and Billy are up getting acclimatisation on the hill. Depending on the weather forecast teams may swap places during Monday the 29th.

The next week’s weather is not looking that promising and if the forecast is right there will be a dump of about a meter in the next 5 days. We hope and pray this is not a hit of early monsoon effect.

Other than that all of us are in good health and Murph, our team Gorilla had us do a minute of silence for MJ.

On a more serious level we where saddened to learn that Italian skier Michele Fait died on K2. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. Several members in our team knew Michele Fait from previous K2 expeditions so the news was a hard blow.

Last but not least we just like to clarify that contrary to some media reports we have NOT fixed any ropes on the way from BC to camp one. We did however open their trail to C1 but that is not the same thing...

David 28/6 BC

Short update

Don Bruce and David will depart BC on the 23rd and try to get into the cwm at 7000 meters this week. Billy and Guy are expected up three days later.

Working our way up

On Saturday the 20th Don, Bruce and David returned to BC after a three day trip up the hill. Billy and Guy are on a different rotation so they are up there now trying to find a way to get in to the Cwm at 7000 meters. Billy and Guy are expected back at BC in a day or two as the rest of us will return up the hill and try to continue their work and scout out safe and possible lines on G3. Getting into the Cwm looks objectively not as safe as we had hoped for, but with a bit of luck we should be able to get in there and get established.

BC is now filling up fast and good BC spots are getting hard to come buy. It is changing the place and all new arrivals can thank there lucky star that we have put in a trail to C1 at 6000 meters. We will be back with more news next week as we progress up the hill.

David 21/6 BC 5050 meter.