UPDATE. 17th July Wilco's web site

Ger McDonnell and Mick Murphy Playing a waiting came hoping weather improves for a shot.

Today Wilco visited Art Gilkey Memorial. He did that eleven years ago and is surprised by the increase of names since that moment. He reelects on some of the famous names and recollects the names from the year 1995. The year he climbed K2 but was seriously injured by falling rock. He also finds the name of Markus Kronthaler.
On his return in BC-K2 the weather update is waiting. Everybody is curious for the latest message from Ab Maas the Dutch meteorologist. It looks good for the summit-plans. Team 1 will start on wednesday morning july 20th. Summit push Mondaymorning 00.00 hr. Local Time. At the end of this message you will find a button "reacties". Send you personal and positive messages to the climbing team. They will need it the next few days. It wil be a gigantic task to climb K2 this year.

aanverwante berichten:

Weerbulletin nr 38 “Two Peaks” 17-07-2006 09.00UTC

Pictur Mick Murphy (C) Ryan waters

UPDATE Saturday July 15th

Today a meeting was organised with all teams at BC-K2. Russian, Italians, Pakistani and one member of the French/Canadian expedition. Ryan explained our plans and Wilco explained the weatherforecast.

There are three major concerns:

The amount of snow between camp 3 and 4, the amount of rope and other tools to secure the Bottle Neck and of course the weatherforecast in case a summit push will start. The Pakistani and the Italians agreed to cooperate with the International Expedition. They will try to get together in Camp 3 at the same time and divide the work and the resources. Wilco is complaining about the weather because it drives him nuts he'can't do a thing and he is getting bored.


Wilco's web site

12:46 pm EDT Jul 14, 2006
(K2Climb.net) Monday's weather forecasts announced that the jet wind was enroute to K2 and sure enough, “the weather is terrible,” reported Dutch Wilco van Rooijen from K2’s base camp yesterday. The winds are scheduled for a drop on Saturday, but climbers worry what conditions they will find on the slopes after the storm.

http://www.k2climb.net/news.php?id=10172

Photo:File image of Italian climber in C2, courtesy of Nives Meroi's website

Update BaseCamp Netherlands

You, we and Wilco needed a well deserved rest after all the emotions last week. Now the time has come to give you the latest updates on tjhe expedition. Tuesday they said goodbye to teammembers who only climbed Broad Peak. The rest of the team moved to BaseCamp K2.

Who is in BC-K2?

Ryan Waters - Asst Leader
Bill Zachary
Kurt Grimm
Mich Murphy
Carl Drew
Matthew Gardiner
Josette Valloton
Nick Barclay
Wilco van Rooijen
Joelle Bruphacher
Marcus Dell
Gerard McDonnell

The weather in BC-K2 is terrible at the moment. The wind is unbelievable and it is snowing in BC-K2. Allready there is some discussion about who should be in the first or second summit team. Ryan briefed all climbers that this is a very dangerous mountain with lots of falling rocks and avalanches. Wilco allready knows, because he climbed K2 many yaers ago and almost lost his life. He was hit by a big rock and had to be evacuated by helicopter.

The weather will stay very bad the next few days. All climbers will stay at BC-K2 and spend there time by resting and preparing for the next chapter in their Expedition.

We published two new updates from Wilco. The updates tell the same story you have just read. Take a look anyway because we added some new pictures.

You will find the updates here

http://www.expeditienet.nl/tweebergen/index.cfm?entryID=400

and here

http://www.expeditienet.nl/tweebergen/index.cfm?entryID=4

According to team Netherlands the Italian expedition led by Nives Meroi and Romano Benet are now at camp 4 today- Pending weather conditions and how the team are feeling they will be making a summit attempt tonight. If successful this will be the first of the season.

For the best of Irish mountaineering news and comments www.patfalvey.com

Climbers on the move to camp 4 taken with telescope (c) Wilco

The push is about to start for the summit of K2.
The tension will be high for all that follow the progress of Ger, Mick and all the other teams on K2 over the coming weeks.

Having Climbed with Ger and Mick over the years I have great confidence in their ability to succeed safely on what is one of the most exciting mountains in the world. They also have the courage and sense to turn if the need arises, on of the greatest qualities in a high altitude mountaineer. Ger and Mick have the strength, the confidence a self belief and a continous positive attitude to pull this off if the mountain gives them a fair chance with the weather.

It’s at times like this that I get excited myself and wish that I to could be on the ascent with them.

Pat Falvey

Update from http://www.expeditienet.nl/tweebergen/
This is an update from the Wilco’s web site who is climbing with Ger and Mick.

18-jul-2006
I love it when a plan comes together!
UPDATE Tuesday July 18th.
We are very pleased to know that so many english speaking readers are following our website. First we would like to thank all of you for the encouragements you gave the climbing teams. They have been reading your messages and they give them strength.
The teams will start tomorrow morning wednesday 19th. They will climb to ABC.
Thursday they will climb from ABC to camp 1. Team1: Ryan, Gerard, Mich and Wilco will proceed on friday towards camp 2. On saturday they will be in camp 3 and Sunday morning they will go for Camp 4. Very early on Mondaymorning (01.00hr local time) they will start their summit push. That last part wil be a round trip of approx. 17 hrs.
Today the team discoverde the remains of Renato Casarotto, a very famous Italian solo climber who died tragically on descent. They found some remains and some artefacts. They informed the Italian Expedition who will decide what to do. Most likely they will decide the same as the Italian Expedition in 2004. Transport the remains to Gikey memorial and bury them ther. You can read more about Renato and his tragic death here:
http://www.k2climb.net/story/RenatoCasarottoremainsfoundatthefootoftheMagicLineonK2Jul212004.shtml
If you want you can enter our contest. Send an email with the date and time you think Wilco, Gerard, Mich and Ryan will reach the summit . The adress is: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
The first prize is a beautiful carrying bag from The North Face.
Until next time.

Further reports on explorers web.. http://www.k2climb.net/news.php?id=10180.

Ger McDonnell is going for the summit on Broad Peak in preparation for K2 with Mick Murphy. Con Collins, John Dowd are moving up today to camp 3 or 4 as far as we can make out from Alan's report below.

I fully admit that I will leave BC tomorrow morning not fully confident I can make it. All I can do is my best. The Bug still lives inside me with some recent developments but I will spare you the details. However at some point you have to jump into the water. I am inspired by the performance of Ryan, JJ and our three High Altitude Porters. To clarify, the three HAPs stood at the base of the last 100' climb and choose not to stand on the true summit. This is quite common in Nepal, Tibet, Pakistan and other countries where it is viewed as disrespectful to stand completely on a mountain summit. So to be sure, these three HAPs all summitted Broad Peak. I packed my gear this afternoon in a mood of excitement, uncertainty and confidence. I am excited to get back on the Hill. There have been moments when I have not but now I am and it feels good. I am uncertain due to what has gone on inside my body as well as my previous performance above 23000'. In consultation with my Doctor and a recent MPH graduate from UCLA and and undergrad from CAL in infectious diseases (thanks Ashley :-) ); I am told that if I was home they would have put me on limited activity and a solid well balanced diet and few more drugs to wipe this Bug out for at least 30 days. Well, obviously, I am not been under that regiment! But you have to do what you can do so off I go. I leave confident because I have been in this situation before. I have pushed my body hard, too hard often, and know what it feels like. I am confident that I will know if and when it is time to turn around. Simply put I will not put myself nor my teammates at risk just to stand on the summit. A year and half ago, I had no idea this idea would turn into the reality it has. As you can tell from the dispatches thus far, this is a unique team. With eight nationalities, a wide age and mountaineering experience range, there is a common love of mountains, adventure and challenge that bonds us together. Yes, there have been a few spats, that was expected but again the common bond has kept everything in check and the focus is on the common goal. When we got the word that some of the team had summitted, a spontaneous cheer erupted from the cooks to the water boy to the climbers to the Pakistani Military Liaison Officers. Yes everyone wants to see success and is putting their all into making it happen. Tonight all the porters from the other expeditions will gather at our camp about dark. They will sing and dance and celebrate the success of their own and our expedition's first summit. The pride runs deep in this poor country. Opportunities to celebrate are rare these days and this will be a big one. Perhaps I will leave day after tomorrow! So as I prepare to go up the Hill, I ask for all your positive energy for me and my teammates. Wilco and Gerrard are making their bid tonight. More climbers tomorrow and more later. We will move from camp to camp higher up the Hill and make the final bid from Camp 4. The whole process will take 4 or 5 days. This is why we are here. This is when the test really begins. There are a thousand reasons to stop and only a few to push on. And those are personal and unique to each climber. Please accept our love of mountaineering. Please accept our result regardless of what it is. Please know that this is what makes us alive, it is the fuel that drives us on an individual level. We miss our families deeply. Make no mistake. We thank you all for your support. We will see you soon. Climb on! Alan Arnette

With everyone settled into Base Camp, climbers are starting to work their way up Broad Peak.

Over the past few days, Camp 1 has been establish. There is fixed line in place for the climber's safety. While we have seven High Altitude Porters, JJ and Ryan are carrying a lot of the burden in that they are the ones placing the protection and tying the knots. The HAPs are good and strong but their work needs to be double checked. This was not unexpected. I climbed to 5350m, 17,600' yesterday along with several of my team mates. It was a good day. However, I can still feel the effect of my infection. While my beathing was good and comfortable, I was tired and did not have a deep reserve. Hopefully that will return over the next week or so. I was very, very surprised, however, at how steep the climbing is on Broad Peak. It was a continuous 45 to 55 degree angle on good snow. The angle is as such that some climbers used their rappel (absail) devices on the down climb. If you slip and are not clipped into the fixed line, you would fall hundreds of meters and most likely suffer a serious injury. I don't write this to scare anyone or to act brave but rather to show that there are no "easy" 8000m mountains. I am always annoyed when I hear that term since any mountain can kill you much less one of this size. Broad Peak is sometimes called an easy 8000m mountain since it is not the highest or has difficult ice or rock sections. However, it is very high, very steep and very dangerous. We are all begin very careful and looking after one another. Wilco spent the night last night at Camp 1, the first for our team. Other climbers are moving up to spend nights there are well today. Everyone must spend a few nights at the high camps to drive the acclimatization process. The weather continues to be fantastic. We have had a stiff breeze occasionally but no heavy snows. It is still an amzing experience to wake up in the morining, look out my tent and see Broad Peak looming above and then K2 standing proud and alone to our west.. report from Alan Arnette who is on the team with The Irish

Con Moriarty, John Hussey, John Healy, Ronan O Siochru are flying out today to start climbing on the 26th. They are hoping to meet up with Ger McDonnel in Anchorage for a few drinks before Ger leaves for K2. All are very excited at tackling Denali ‘The Great White One’. It should be a good one with lots of song and craic.

Cathal Cudden and Paul Curtis left last week and are now on the mountain summit bound. They are going as a small team and should now be up the Kahiltna Glacier. Further progress on the way… stay tuned.

Winds strengthening up to weekend but then easing at the weekend. (forecast team Netherlands)

Comments on weather

This may give another summit window for the climbers at base camp. If this is the case it will be a very hard decision to stay at base camp if the forecast is to show improving weather.

On Morning Ireland today Banjo confirms all Irish climbers are resting and feeling very strong but do need a few days to regain their strength before another summit bid.

Getting to the summit is only half ways to succeeding.

All climbers realise that getting to the summit is only half ways and the real success has to be focused on returning to base camp and home. To many in the past focused on the summit and never returned to tell the tale.

So for now Mick Ger and Banjo will be looking for a clear weather pattern before moving higher on the mountain again, knowing that the next shot may be their last on the mountain if they were to be pushed back because of bad weather.

Estimated time that a climber on K2 will look for in a good weather pattern.

A summit party will require between 5 to 7 days of good weather to achieve the summit and return to base camp. This may not all the time be available and some times a climber may need to move in worsening conditions to be in place at the higher camps for good weather and a summit attempt. Lets hope that Banjo, Mike and Ger will get the forecast they need.

Pat Falvey

For the best of Irish mountaineering news and comments www.patfalvey.com

Photo Banjo Bannon