SummitPost.org

Damien Gildea wrote:Janne,

She's back, I just got an email from her. We saw them regularly at BC and C1. Her cat just died too

Had dinner with Bruce in Skardu. They did really well on K2.

Conditions were better on G1 than G2, but the weather was only good in short bursts and at the wrong time for us.

Ditto re: the thread move.

D

Yes, really strong climbing of Bruce on K2!

So, I take it as neither you, nor Laila and Lars made it to your respective summits?

Do you know how it went for Christian and the rest of the Germans which cycled to Pakistan? They were going for GII. I think Philip, a Dane in the team as well.

Did Tauru and the rest of the guys involved in this discussion go?

Had some bad luck lately. Tried to solo Koskulak via the Shamalo/NW ridge route. Passed the crux on a recce, only to cut my eye on a defect contact lens the night before it was time for a summit attack. Well, that's life sometimes.

Remember how in the mid-90s, Alan Hinkes, in high camp on Nanga Parbat, sneezed on chapatti flour and threw his back out ? Everyone thought that was real funny. On July 19th, we couldn't decide whether to go up that day or the next. I leaned forward, still in my sleeping bag, and happened to cough. There was a loud POP! and it felt like someone ripped something off my spine. I couldn't breathe, but I couldn't move to lie down either, due to the pain. I was just frozen for a few minutes, then I gradually lowered myself down. The pain subsided over the next hour or two but I still had pain on the inside of my ribcage whenever I took a deep breath or breathed really hard. At 6900m the next day in the Japanese Couloir I was breathing pretty hard, and feeling it in my ribs, but it was the weather forecast that sent us down - bad tomorrow, worse the next day and really bad the day after that. So I turned around - our first 4 guys had already tried to summit that morning but retreated in worsening weather and were already below me. Next day we left C2 in whiteout and back to BC. Then it snowed until the 28th, but we were outta there on the 24th.

Laila and Lars didn't get much above C2 on G2 AFAIK, though they were there near C2 when the avo killed the two Germans and I think maybe helped in the rescue. Until a few days ago no one had summited G2 via the normal route (only summiters at all were the two Italians who summited from the north and made the unauthorised descent into Pakistan).

D

I don't think Tauru went there. He was on Denali earlier this year.

MoabPeakBagger wrote:

jordansahls wrote:Lots of the worlds best climbers didn't belong to clubs.

But you can be damn sure they all go yachting! Hardcore yachting at that!!

innusk,
I really would like to know, how you found the time and money to climb all the peaks you said you have climbed.
I will be turning 30 soon, and I am also a research scientist, and I can tell you, as you should already know, that at the moment, I have neither the time nor the money.
I would like to climb many higher peaks in many countries when I am older and have the cash, and hopefully the time.
I am really keen on hearing your response on this one.

Thanks