Crap - bad times on K2
From the
London Times:
Seven climbers feared dead in ice fall on K2
As many as seven climbers were feared dead last night after an ice fall on the world�s second-highest mountain.
At least a further five were believed to be spending the night stranded 26,000ft up K2, close to a cliff face above the avalanche, their ropes swept away below them.
With climbers straggling in off the mountain to their camps yesterday evening, the scale of the feared disaster became apparent. One body was found late last night.
Rescue attempts were hurriedly being put in place, with progress today crucial to the chances of survival of the missing. They include Gerard McDonnell, who last Friday became the first Irishman to reach the summit of �the savage mountain�. He and his mainly Dutch team were on the way down when a section of ice about 40ft high broke off near the summit. The group was in an area known as the Dead Zone, heading for a treacherous stretch called the Bottleneck, where the rock face narrows dramatically 1,800ft from the peak.
A total of 17 climbers, including the Dutch, are thought to have been caught up in the ice slip on the 28,251ft (8,611-metre) mountain. Other climbers came from Norway, Australia and Nepal. None is believed to be British.
Everest is a long hard slog but it is not as brutal as K2
Posted by DaveH at August 3, 2008 1:50 PM