TheAltitudeExperience.com

I’ll be out of email and phone contact for most of October. I’ll answer my email when I get back.

I’ve categorized all the previous posts so you can sort and read the K2 stuff, book stuff, etc.

If you subscribed to be notified of new posts during the expedition, you should unsubscribe if you desire.

August 23: Finally, something to post about other than K2.

The Altitude Experience should be available in the next week or so. After I return from Pakistan, I’ll set up a link for you to get signed copies directly from me.

I’ve actually re-read parts of it in relation to the K2 accidents, and I’m still happy with what I wrote. I hope you are too!

Mike

August 23: For some reason, my last few posts to this blog didn’t, well, post. Since I’ll be the only one still in Pakistan after tomorrow, I’ll limit my blog posts to my personal blog. So go there instead.

Mike

August 11: I have had no word from the Gondogoro La group. They should be reaching Skardu today or tomorrow or so–maybe you’ve heard from them already.

I am trying to decide what to do: stay or go. Maybe the next weather forecast will decide.
I told you there wasn’t much here.
Mike

August 9: Everyone except for Mike starting out yesterday. Our porters should have been up here by noon, but they had other ideas (like an easy day, rather than leaving right away upon arrival at BC). So all the guys except for Fred headed down to Concordia without porters or baggage–a real “Inshallah” moment. Well, the porters finally did show up (at least those needed to carry member gear) so they and Fred took off.
The guys wanted to go over the Gondogoro La, a 5600m pass that has stunning views when the weather is clear. I found out later that the road is washed out and an extra day’s trekking is involved if you go that way. At this point I don’t know if they went that route or descended the Baltoro Glacier, the way we came up. I’ll pass that info along if I find out. ***LATE FLASH: they went out the Gondogoro.
After dinner, our cook Deedar organized a short Muslim prayer ceremony in honor of the dead. He was very attached to Gerard, and his loss has been quite hard on Deedar. Come to think of it, on me too.
The porters sang and drummed until after 10pm last night. This morning’s supposed 6:30 AM start didn’t happen until nearly 8:00. In a moment, the loads were gone and our camp became quiet. I went down to the ‘American Camp’ of Chuck, Andy, and Dave with bacon and real maple syrup and in return got American-style pancakes, a real treat.
Afterwards Chuck and I went to visit the Singapore group (Ed, Robert, and 2 Sherpas). They are clearing their camps, and we want to minimize the amount of work done by both their group and our group. No sense carrying stuff up if it’s already up there, and vice versa (sorta).
Deedar and I are getting camp reorganized. I’m planning to move my tent tomorrow (for the last time).
Weather is the big issue. No stable summit windows are apparent for at least a week. The current summit team consists of Chuck, Dave, George, his two Sherpas, and myself. We plan to use oxygen due to the total lack of backup below us. Until we get some indication of suitable summit weather, I’m doing little but rattling on like this. The other guys need to do some prep work to get their gear in place.
Mike

August 6: The team expects to leave BC on August 8, assuming the porters show up as promised. Mike will be staying behind to consider an additional attempt (he’ll explain more fully on his personal blog, hopefully today). All other members will hike out over the Gondogoro La, a 5600m pass with stunning views in good weather. It also means you get to trek out a different route and see different sights.
Everyone’s in good shape, and luckily today is nice and sunny, making for easy packing. The glacial rocks are strewn with clothing, gear, and food as everyone gets to clean and organize in preparation for departure.
You might ask why we haven’t posted pictures on this blog. Frankly, it just hasn’t seemed that important. Up until about 6pm last night, our tent was one of the epicenters of rescue operations, and the last injured person was picked up by chopper this morning. We need a little personal time! Most of us haven’t had a shower in 10 days (yuk, and we agree).
Email alert: Please don’t send email to the team email address after August 7. Mike will continue to answer his emails until further notice.
We will continue with the blog until all members are back in their home countries.
We thank you for your concern over the past week. You won’t read about our team in the papers or see us on the news. That’s because our team was successful in summiting K2 and we all descended without injury or death. How boring and non-newsworthy.
Please send your prayers to the friends and family of those who remain on K2. We continue to work to understand exactly what happened, in large part to help the survivors better understand the last hours of the doomed climbers.
Mike

August 3: Please excuse the brevity, but we are still very busy here. We arrived in BC at 1:30 last night. All members are now in BC, safe and sound (though tired). Chhiring summited K2, so we are very happy about that. Unfortunately, a beautiful day turned deadly and up to 11 climbers lost there lives.
We are still involved in the rescue of two climbers; we think that both rescues are going well and the climbers should be in BC by tomorrow.
More details later. Thanks for your support.
Mike

July 27: The weather is predicted to be good for several days starting July 31, so we are heading up the hill in two waves. Fredrick, Chhiring, Chris K. and Eric are leaving today for Camp I, while Chris W., Paul, and Mike will follow along on July 29. We intend to go as high as possible.
Almost every team on the mountain is cooperating to make this push, as it is the first (and possibly last) period of weather we might get that will be calm enough to attempt the summit.
As a group, we’ve decided not to post updates until we are back in Base Camp. Why? First, it takes a lot of energy to worry about posting on the internet while we are climbing. Second, we don’t have a BC manager to deal with these issues.
If you visit some of the climbing news sites you will likely see information posted about the progress of different teams. We are not sending any information to these sites. Some sites post a lot of unverified information that later turns out to be wrong. So,
Don’t believe anything unless you hear it directly from us!!
We will be carrying satellite phones on the mountain, so each member can contact his relatives if desired. That is a personal choice of each member. Even so, we have limited battery power so don’t be surprised if you don’t hear from us for many days. No news is good news!
We may not post on the web again until August 5 or so. Maybe earlier, but don’t count on it. All members are in good health and good spirits. We’ll talk to you soon.
Mike

July 23: We continue to wait in Base Camp for good weather. We anticipate being down off the mountain until at least July 27. Everyone is trying to stay occupied after many days of inactivity. Weather at BC isn’t too bad, but the winds are far too high to climb above Camp 1 right now.
We’ll update again in a couple of days when the weather forecasts allow us to see the trends at the beginning of August.
Cheers, Mike