K2 or Chogori. Photo courtesy of Maksut Zhumayev
Participants of international expedition to K2 Maksut Zhumayev and Vassiliy Pivtsov from Kazakhstan and Austrian alpinist Gerlinda Kaltenbrunner made their first trip to Chogori, Tengrinews.kz reports. The sportsmen went to intermediate, so-called Italian camp, which is located between the base camp and ABC (Advanced Base Camp). “We arrived to the base camp on June 26, unpacked our stuff. We wanted to start the ascent at 3 a.m., but there was a strong wind and lots of dust followed by rain. We decided to wait. The rain finished at 6 a.m. We had our breakfast and started at 7.30 a.m. We had 8 Chinese Kyrgyzs helping us. They are camel-drivers. They helped us bring our supplies on their donkeys as closer to the camp as possible along icy mountain roads,” Zhumayev said. On June 27 the team worked for nine hours, five of which they spent climbing to the intermediate camp, another hour was spent installing equipment and the return path took three more hours. “We lifted 450 kg of equipment to the Italian camp. I have a slight backache. But the mountain is already in sight. There is rain behind us and snow in front of us. Coming closer to the mount we saw that it is all white. But we will keep woring. We already know these roads. The most important now is to take a good rest,” the alpinist said. Zhumayev's team has already joined the main expedition in the base camp. “We have a big team. Three of us climbed today. Tomorrow other participants will make the trip to the Italian camp. We will look at the general condition and acclimatization process.” According to Zhumayev, participants of the expedition are in a good mood and shape. The team's plan for this week is to move all the required equipment into the front camp and prepare to work at Chogori. The goal of the expedition is to ascent the most northern eight-thousander: the 8611 meter tall Chogori. It is located in the Karakorum mountain range in Kashmir province (at the border between Pakistan and China). This is the sixth attempt to ascent K2 for Zhumayev.
Participants of international expedition to K2 Maksut Zhumayev and Vassiliy Pivtsov from Kazakhstan and Austrian alpinist Gerlinda Kaltenbrunner made their first trip to Chogori, Tengrinews.kz reports.
The sportsmen went to intermediate, so-called Italian camp, which is located between the base camp and ABC (Advanced Base Camp).
“We arrived to the base camp on June 26, unpacked our stuff. We wanted to start the ascent at 3 a.m., but there was a strong wind and lots of dust followed by rain. We decided to wait. The rain finished at 6 a.m. We had our breakfast and started at 7.30 a.m. We had 8 Chinese Kyrgyzs helping us. They are camel-drivers. They helped us bring our supplies on their donkeys as closer to the camp as possible along icy mountain roads,” Zhumayev said.
On June 27 the team worked for nine hours, five of which they spent climbing to the intermediate camp, another hour was spent installing equipment and the return path took three more hours. “We lifted 450 kg of equipment to the Italian camp. I have a slight backache. But the mountain is already in sight. There is rain behind us and snow in front of us. Coming closer to the mount we saw that it is all white. But we will keep woring. We already know these roads. The most important now is to take a good rest,” the alpinist said.
Zhumayev's team has already joined the main expedition in the base camp. “We have a big team. Three of us climbed today. Tomorrow other participants will make the trip to the Italian camp. We will look at the general condition and acclimatization process.”
According to Zhumayev, participants of the expedition are in a good mood and shape. The team's plan for this week is to move all the required equipment into the front camp and prepare to work at Chogori.
The goal of the expedition is to ascent the most northern eight-thousander: the 8611 meter tall Chogori. It is located in the Karakorum mountain range in Kashmir province (at the border between Pakistan and China). This is the sixth attempt to ascent K2 for Zhumayev.