Bogley

[erial]

:45 pm CDT Aug 02, 2008
(K2Climb.net) At past midnight local time, stranded climbers are spending their 3d night in the death zone of K2. Numbers of perished are stated as high as 7 in various international media, however only one fatal accident has so far been confirmed.

Marco Confortola has been located in camp 4, where he is cared for by high altitude staff. Today, a climber in an orange suit has reportedly been spotted moving slowly between C4 and C3 on the Cesen route. Cas and Pemba are moving down from C4 and will try to catch up with him.

A satphone call made yesterday from the peak by Wilco was tracked via a GPS position acquired from Thuraya. The position put Wilco's call to between camp 4 and camp 3 on the mountain.

The Norit website crashed but a mirror site has been set up for updates. The stranded climbers are too high up for an aerial rescue. Helicopter rescues can be made of climbers from camp 2 and below, and an aerial sweep of the mountain could help as well. Teams are coordinating such efforts with the local tour operators.

Unlocated at this point are Dutch Wilco, Irish Gerard, French Hugues, Norwegian Rolf Bae, several un-named Koreans and high altitude porters. A group of unknown climbers are still reported stuck in the bottleneck. In position for a rescue attempt (camp 4 and above) in the Bottleneck are reportedly Korean climbers and a number of high altitude staff.

Confirmed dead: Serb climber Dren Mandic (Vojvodjanska Expedition) in a fall on the Bottleneck during the August 1 summit push.

Latest tentative location details compiled from several international reports and the Dutch Norit home team:

Bottleneck: 6 climbers were spotted motionless in the area yesterday. 2 high altitude porters were reportedly headed up to the group, who appeared to have suffered an injury to one of the climbers. Identities of these climbers in the section is unknown, but they are likely some of the yet unlocated Gerard, Hugues, Rolf Bae, Korean climbers and high altitude porters.

In camp 4: Marco Confortola. Un-named Sherpas and Pakistan high-altitude porters, possibly second Korean climbing team.

Between camp 4 and camp 3, descending: Unknown climber in orange suit, Cas and Pemba.

Between Camp 3 to BC, in camps or descending on both routes: Cecilie Skog and two Norwegians, Singapore expedition, Mike Farris-led international team, Serbian Vojvodjanska Expedition, Mark Sheen, Jelle, Sunny Expeditions (Gheorghe Dijmarescu).

Wrap-up of events

On August 1 at 1 am local time, Norwegian, Dutch, French, Italian, Serbian, Korean, Pakistan and Nepali climbers started their summit push from camp 4. Going well ahead of schedule, a few hours into the ascent a Serbian accident held the Dutch up somewhat.

The Norwegians and French Hugues d’Aubarade reportedly summited before the Dutch and Irish Gerard (it's unclear yet who used supplementary oxygen) and were coming down at the time of the Dutch summit at around 8 pm. Italian Marco Confortola was reportedly behind Wilco at summit time.

On descent, a big chunk of ice fell from the serac below the summit, taking a large part of the fixed lines with it. About 12 people, including Wilco, Gerard, Marco and Korean climbers got stuck either above the traverse or above the Bottleneck.

Rescue efforts

Cas and Pemba Sherpa downclimbed to C4 without fixed ropes, where Mark Sheen was holding for a summit bid.

Dutch Norit Base Camp manager Roeland hurried to the Korean expedition tent organizing a joint rescue effort. A group of at least six climbers were supposed to climb towards the Bottleneck with rope.

K2 BC could see 5 people climbing down the Bottleneck and 2 above. Wilco and Marco were located in a bivouac above the serac at 8300 meters above the Bottleneck, which they left at around 11 am local time. The group of people descending the Bottleneck came to a halt, reportedly due to an injury suffered by one of the climbers. Two HAP's were sent up to assist from camp 4.

Cas - who descended without fixed ropes with Pemba earlier - intended to move back up with Mark Sheen and two Americans, but the climbers were forced to descend.

The missing mountaineers are very seasoned, most are Everest summiteers (Wilco, a skilled polar explorer did Everest without oxygen) and this was their second, even third attempt on the mountaineers' mountain.

[denaliguide]

sounds like another day on the most dangerous mountain on the planet. tough break having to bivy in those conditions. good luck to all of them.

[Don]

MSNBC has the death toll at 9.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25995028/
While K2climb.net and Norit seem to have the number down from that.

Everyone seems pretty amazed that Dutch climber Wilco Van Rooijen has survived 3 nights exposed above camp three and is now making his way down under his own power!
http://www.k2climb.net/news.php?id=17459

[stefan]

Climber: 11 killed after avalanche on Pakistan's K2
CNN

Eleven climbers died on Pakistan's K2 mountain after an ice avalanche knocked down a fixed rope climbers were using to reach the summit, a mountaineer at their base camp said Sunday.

Pakistan's K2 is the second highest peak in the world.


Among the dead was a sherpa who had gone up K2 -- the world's second tallest mountain -- to help in rescue efforts, said mountaineer Fredrik Strang, who also assisted in the rescue attempts.

The deaths happened after 17 climbers, in different expeditions from around the world, had come together to make it to K2's peak on Friday, said Pat Falvey, a climber in Ireland who was in touch with some of the 17.

As the 17 were descending early Saturday, a "moving river of ice broke loose ... like an iceberg breaking loose from a glacier," knocking down the fixed rope the group had been using to move from higher reaches to a camp at a lower altitude, Falvey said.

The rope's collapse caused three climbers to fall to their deaths, said Falvey, who was posting online updates for one of the expeditions. iReport.com: Are you a mountain climber? Ever attempt K2?

Two climbers decided to go on and managed to return to base camp, but the rest decided to wait and hope rescuers could reach them, Falvey said.

The avalanche had created "icy, dangerous conditions" on the slope, Falvey said. As time went on and rescuers didn't come, the remaining climbers decided to continue their descent, but some of them fell to their deaths in the mountain's "bottleneck" area, Falvey said.

The rest eventually were helped down by rescuers, Falvey and Strang said. Falvey and Strang said the survivors told them what had happened but were not immediately in condition to speak publicly.

Among the killed climbers were Dutch, Irish, Italian, French, Norwegian, Korean, and Nepalese citizens, Falvey said.

One of the killed was Irish climber Gerard McDonnell, Falvey said.

The bodies of the 11 may never be recovered, but rescuers and the mountaineers who made it down are certain the 11 are dead, Strang said.

The site of the accidents, about 5 miles up the mountain, is what climbers call the "Dead Zone" because the body would never recover if stuck in such freezing conditions with so little oxygen, Falvey said.

Strang said Sunday the death toll was not expected to rise, because no one else was believed to be missing.

Strang said the deaths could have been avoided. Too many people were climbing together "at a very slow speed" and should have begun their descent sooner, he said.

"Coming down at dawn, in the dark, with little oxygen is very, very dangerous," he said.

Though K2 is the world's second-highest mountain, many climbers consider it more technically challenging than Mount Everest, the world's highest peak.

Statistics compiled by AdventureStats.com suggest this was the deadliest incident at K2. The site says 66 people -- not counting those in the latest incident -- have died on the mountain since 1939.

A chart compiled by viewfinderpanoramas.org lists 284 climbers as having ever reached the summit of K2.

[stefan]

denaliguide wrote: sounds like another day on the most dangerous mountain on the planet.

or not ... considering 11 climbers are dead, this sounds like one of the mountain's deadliest days on record.

but i guess it's NOT definitive yet that 11 people have died.

http://www.k2climb.net/news.php?id=17462

[Scott P]

Quote: sounds like another day on the most dangerous mountain on the planet.

K2 is a dangerous mountain, but I wonder what criteria would be used to call it the most dangerous mountain in the world? :ne_nau: Other mountains have seen much more deaths by number and other mountains have higher death rates.

Anyway, sad news. K2 is an unforgiving place.

[denaliguide]

stats say 46% of those attempting k2 don't come back. everyday on k2 is a risk. 7 dead or 11 dead, doesn't really matter. still a tragedy. those who chose to attempt k2 realize and accept the risks. trusting that they will be one of those who make it. unfortunately skill and judgement aren't always enough to keep you safe from objective hazards in the mountains.

so, everyday on k2 is one fraught with danger and the possibility that you will not make it back to your tent that night.


my heart goes out to the families of those who died.

scott , find me one thats higher than 46%



http://people.bath.ac.uk/cwn20/dangers.htm

Introduction: Natural Hazards

K2 is notoriously rated the most dangerous mountain on earth. It is a solid limestone ice-tower with hundreds of lethal obstacles. As oppossed to its bigger sister Everest, porters rarely help climbers move equipment up to their respective bases, because they know that even the trip to base-camp raises life-threatening tasks. All the equipment must thus be taken up by the climbers, posing a near impossible job given that each team has tons of equipment, and that most of the climb is near if not vertical ice.

Compared to Everest, K2 is a much more difficult climb, although with a slightly lower alltitude. Typically, climbers wait a whole year to climb Everest during its '2 to 5' day window of decent weather during the spring season, whereas K2 has no such window of opportunity, and it is almost impossible to climb withought being caught in life-thratening weather. The best months would be, June, July and August.

Climatologists explain K2's bizarre weather: "The sudden storms are caused in part because the peak is so much higher than the mountains around it -- it juts up into the upper layers of the atmosphere and like a rock in a river can create eddies in the jet stream, with good weather on one side of the mountain, and life-threatening conditions on the other."

The most dangerous asset of K2 is it's natural hazards. These include:

Avalanches
Snow storms
Micro melting on ice surface
Snow land-Slides







Statistics

The following list of statistics was provided in February, 2001 by Xavier Eguskitza, the renowned Basque chronicler of Himalayan climbing. Although K2 is listed 3rd in the rank of danger, this is factoring in the total number of deaths. In other words the number of deaths is lower than other mountains, because few have attempted it, but of the few, the percentage of deaths is significantly higher than any mountain in the world.

It is said that if you were to summit K2 with a climbing partner, it is best to say your farewells well ahead the descent, because the statistics claim that one of the two will not come back alive. 46% of the attempts end in death.

[Scott P]

Quote: stats say 46% of those attempting k2 don't come back.

Actually that’s not true. People (including the media) often get confused by what the death ratios mean and so did the person using Xavier’s data for the article.

They are actually a ratio of adding up all the deaths that have occurred on the mountain vs. how many people have actually summited the mountain. The high ratios don’t account for all the people who have attempted the mountain, but did not summit.

For example, if 100 attempt the hypothetical Mountain X and 20 summit and 10 die, than the death ratio of successful summits to deaths is 50%. This way of calculating is the most commonly used percent in the world of mountaineering on the 8000 meter peaks. In reality though, a different ratio of what you’re talking about-the percentage of people attempting who don’t come back, is really at 10% in this example.

Either way, the person writing the article did not understand the statistics and misused them as it is only a partial list of expeditions that had deaths. For example, in 1994, several people climbed K2, not just the two listed in the chart.

Anyway as of 2000, the deaths to successful summits ratio was 30% on K2, but it dropped to about 27% in 2004. That still doesn’t take in account all the people that tried the mountain and failed.

Quote: everyday on k2 is a risk. 7 dead or 11 dead, doesn't really matter. still a tragedy.

I agree. I was just commenting on the oft repeated “most dangerous” statistic.

Quote: scott , find me one thats higher than 46%

As of 2000, Annupurna had a death rate of 51%, but now it has dropped down to 41%. Either way, Annapurna has a much higher death rate than K2.

Even so, Minya Konka/Gongga Shan has a death rate of 87% deaths (edit: actually 73% now) to summits ratio, which is much higher than Annapurna!! Ratio wise, it could be the most dangerous mountain of the world, but unless it has been climbed recently, only 15 people have ever succeeded in reaching the summit so not nearly as many people have died on it.

Anyway, if you are interested in statistics and ratios, I love the book On Top of the World-Climbing the World's 14 Highest Mountains.

http://www.amazon.com/Top-World-Climbing-Highest-Mountains/dp/0007103743/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217812401&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Climbing-Worlds-14-Highest-Mountains/dp/0898867274/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217812431&sr=8-1

Unfortuantely, it only goes to the year 2000 and many have climbed since then. It list all summitters, deaths and history for each mountain.

For stats more recent than 2000, you will have to check online sources.

[denaliguide]

check out this site.

http://www.mounteverest.net/story/stories/ANNAPURNAKillerMountainsAnExplorersWebSeriesSep242003.shtml


Whilst the old Everest risk was 37% and Annapurna’s was 66%, in the last decade, both 8,000m peaks have dramatically reduced their numbers. Everest’s current rate is 4.4% and Annapurna’s stands at 19.7%. In a later follow up, we will look at the causes, but the facts are an indication of current risks.

With an overall fatality rate of 40.77% and modern fatality rate decreased to 19.7%, Annapurna is statistically four times more dangerous than Everest today.


http://www.k2climb.net/story/K2KillerMountainsanExplorersWebseriesSep92003.shtml

With an overall fatality rate of 26.77% and modern fatality rate of 19.7%, K2 is statistically almost five times more dangerous than Everest today, and the most fatal 8000 giant in Pakistan.

[Scott P]

Quote: check out this site.

Yes, I know the site very well and have visited it often. It is a good source.

http://www.mounteverest.net/story/stories/ANNAPURNAKillerMountainsAnExplorersWebSeriesSep242003.shtml

Quote: Whilst the old Everest risk was 37% and Annapurna’s was 66%, in the last decade, both 8,000m peaks have dramatically reduced their numbers. Everest’s current rate is 4.4% and Annapurna’s stands at 19.7%. In a later follow up, we will look at the causes, but the facts are an indication of current risks.

Those are correct, but as said they are total deaths on the mountain to successful summits. It doesn't mean that 66% of the people who tried Annapurna before 1990 died.

Quote: With an overall fatality rate of 26.77% and modern fatality rate of 19.7%, K2 is statistically almost five times more dangerous than Everest today, and the most fatal 8000 giant in Pakistan.

This is true too and if you only count stats since 1990, K2's death rate is equal with Annapurna. However, since Annapurna has seen seen only about half of the modern ascents as K2 (71 vs 132 at the time the article was written) each time someone summits or unfortuantely dies the tie could easily be broken in either direction. In fact this tradgedy will proably swing in favor of K2 now if only ascents since 1990 are counted.

Anyway, all those mountains are dangerous and my sympathies go out to the climbers and families. It's all very tragic.

[denaliguide]

(CNN) -- Two Dutch climbers who survived a deadly ice avalanche on K2, the world's second highest mountain on the Pakistan-China border, were airlifted to a Pakistani hospital on Monday, the team's spokesman told CNN.

Twenty-two climbers, mostly foreigners, reached K-2's summit Friday before a deadly avalanche struck.

The two survivors, Norit expedition leader Wilco Van Rooijen and Cas Van de Gevel, had been "stuck up high on the mountain" since the avalanche on Friday, team spokesman Michel Schuurman said.

The tragedy left 11 climbers dead, including a sherpa who had gone up to assist in rescue efforts, according to mountaineers working with the climbers involved.

The two Dutchmen, who arrived at base camp on Saturday, were flown to a military hospital in Skardu, Pakistan on Monday, the country's Ministry of Tourism secretary said.

According to a Web log offering frequent updates on the rescue effort, Van Rooijen -- an accomplished climber who has scaled Mt. Everest without supplementary oxygen -- may be suffering from frostbite "and is not out of danger yet."

"Still, this survival is bound to go down as one of the greatest mountaineering tales in K2's history," K2climb.net said. More about the dangers of climbing K2 »

An Italian climber, Marco Confortola, also survived the ordeal and will be airlifted once he reached a lower altitude, Shahzad Qaiser said.

"So the search is on and I am very hopeful that he (Confortola) will be able to descend ... where he could be rescued," Qaiser said.

The avalanche struck down the safety ropes that the climbers planned to use to descend the mountain, Schuurman said.

"They had to descend without any safety lines and in that descent we know that some climbers have slipped down and their whereabouts are unknown," Schuurman said.

He said the rescue team may ask Pakistani authorities "to send an airplane that could make a circle around the mountain to see if they can locate anyone."

According to Fredrik Strang, who assisted in the rescue efforts, the avalanche killed 11 climbers from different expeditions who had come together to make it to the peak of K2, which many climbers consider even more technically challenging than world's tallest peak, Mt. Everest.

Strang said Sunday the death toll was not expected to rise, because it was not believed anyone else was missing.

The site of the accident, about 8 kilometers (5 miles) up the mountain, is what climbers call the "Dead Zone," because the body would never recover if stuck in such freezing conditions with so little oxygen, said Pat Falvey, a climber in Ireland who is in touch with the climbers and posting updates online for one of the climbing expeditions.

The climbers were Dutch, Irish, Italian, French, Norwegian, Korean, and Nepalese citizens, Falvey said.

While the climbers and rescuers who made it down safely were not immediately in condition to speak publicly, they told Strang and Falvey what had happened.

On Friday, 17 climbers reached the summit together -- one of the largest groups ever to reach the summit simultaneously -- said Falvey. As they were descending, a "moving river of ice broke loose... like an iceberg breaking loose from a glacier," and it knocked down the fixed rope that the group had been using to move safely from the higher reaches to a camp at a lower altitude, he said.

The rope's collapse knocked down three climbers, sweeping them away in an avalanche of ice and killing them, he said.

"Not only did it wipe away the fixed ropes, but it brought the whole slope into icy dangerous conditions."

Two climbers managed to make it to base camp, but many of those stranded decided the best course of action was to wait and hope rescuers could put up ropes and make it up, Falvey said.

As time went on and rescuers didn't come, the remaining climbers decided their only chance at survival was to go into the treacherous, icy conditions of the mountain's bottleneck and try to make it through. But as they did, some climbers fell to their deaths.

A few managed to survive, with the help of rescuers, Falvey and Strang told CNN.

It is the deadliest incident on K2 since 1986 when 13 of 27 climbers died after summiting the peak, according to Outside Magazine.

[JP]

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