Karakoram Summer coverage 2018: First Ski descent and more climb on K2

Dream Wanderlust | July 24 , 2018

Previous coverage:

Karakoram Summer coverage 2018: K2 and Broad Peak summit, Drone rescue
Karakoram Summer coverage 2018: Struggle due to bad weather, death & Nanga summit

Also Read: Alex Txikon Team completes their third rotation on Annapurna, loses their materials at Camp-3

K2 & Broad Peak:

1. Polish mountaineer Andrzej Bargiel, has became the first person to Ski down K2 (8611m). He summited K2 on 22nd July, 2018 at 11:30am and reached the Base Camp at around 7:30pm local time.

2. 6 summit-push climbers of a 10 members Japanese expedition team along with two HAPs have reached the summit of K2 on 22nd July, 2018 at 13:10pm local time, as reported by expedition official page. The team includes -

Takashi Higashiyama (37)
Masaaki Yusa (55)
Kyoko Hayashi (45)
Kojiro Watanabe (41)
Masato Iizawa (32)
Atsushi Taguchi(30)
Fazal Ali Shimshal (HAP) and
Sarbaz from Aliabad (HAP)

During the descent, Kojiro Watanabe fell to death from around 8300m.

3. 24 climbers of the USA International K2 Expedition team led by American climber Garrett Madison, have reached the summit of K2 on 22nd July, 2018 at around 7:00am. The team is as follows -

Garrett Madison (USA)
Geoffrey Schellens (USA)
James Clarke (USA)
John Stenderup (USA)
Jesus Rosales (USA)
Lisa Thompson (USA)
David Liaño Gonzalez (Mexico)
Andras Kaasik (Estonia)
Jason Black (Ireland)
Robert Smith (Ireland)
Semba Takayasu (Japan)
Ang Phurba Sherpa (Nepal)
Siddhi Bahadur Tamang (Nepal)
Tashi Sherpa (Nepal)
Pasdawa Sherpa (Nepal)
Lakpa Dendi Sherpa (Nepal)
Mingma Tenzi Sherpa (Nepal)
Mingdorchi Sherpa (Nepal)
Kamdorji Sherpa (Nepal)
Lakpa Bhote (Nepal)
Fida Ali (Pakistan)
Musa Ali (Pakistan)
Muhammad Ali (Pakistan)
Muhammad Bashir (Pakistan)

4. Mingma G. Sherpa also posted in his Facebook that, he along with his team summited Broad Peak on 22nd July morning. More details are awaited.

5. Swedish climber Fredrik Sträng with his climber partner David Roeske from America, who summited Broad Peak on 16th July, 2018 at 10:30am (local time) without supplemental oxygen, is now on their push for their main goal, K2. Fredrik posted in his Facebook profile on 21st July, "This is it. We are pushing now for a 3 days intense summit push of K2 without supplemental O2..."

6. Spanish climber Sergi Mingote, who reached the summit of Broad Peak on 16th July, 2018 without supplemental oxygen, also summited K2 on 23rd July morning without supplemental oxygen. Bulgarian Boyan Petrov, who disappeared during his Shishapangma expedition last spring, had climbed the double, K2 and Broad Peak in 2014. Mingote actually aiming to summit Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga within a year (Sergi Mingote 3x8000 Solidary Project) and without supplemental oxygen.

7. Gangaamaa Badamgarav and Viridiana Alvarez Chavez, both were summited K2 on 21st July, became the first Mongolian to summit K2 and first Latin American female to summit K2 respectively.

Gasherbrum I, II & IV:

Italian alpinist Hervé Barmasse and German climber David Göttler, aiming for Gasherbrum IV, via a new route without supplemental oxygen. They are now waiting for good weather window. So far they reached up to 7100m. There is no recent update on most of the climbers now on their Gasherbrum I, II & IV expedition.

Photo Courtesy: Andrzej Bargiel/Marek OgieÅ„