Karakoram Summer 2019: K2 hopes still alive, world records to follow, summits without O2

Amidst most commercial teams that irretrievably pulled themselves back from the final summit push on K2 and Gasherbrums, a few independent teams (such as of Nirmal Purja's 'Project Possible') still continue to go ahead, relying on their individual expertise, perseverance, and strategies to mitigate risk factors. 
This summer in Karakoram is also set to witness a handful of world records. Spanish alpinist Sergi Mingote summits Nanga Parbat and Gasherbrum II this July, marking the 5th and 6th successful summits above 8000ers without the use of bottled oxygen within a year. His 'Solidary Project' was kick-started with two consecutive summits to Broad Peak and K2 within a week in July last year. 
Besides, Pakistani climber Muhammad Ali Sadpara's record-setting 4th summit on Nanga Parbat this summer, Nirmal Purja's 'Project Possible' team is all set to fix the rope up to the summit of K2. They are on their way to Camp-4 from Camp-2 now. 
Purja stated,

"..if it was only for my project, I would have climbed Broad Peak and then followed the rest of the climbers on K2 but once again this isn't only about me. When I rocked up at K2 Base Camp, I found most teams leaving, the remaining climbers only stayed because they thought my team had a chance of fixing ropes to the summit. I have made the decision to hit K2 [at first] ."

Purja, who already has summitted 9 8000ers amongst 14 since April, is currently at the second phase of his much-ambitious project to break the world record (7 years 10 months 6 days, by Kim Chang-ho) of climbing 14 8000ers in 7 months. Before he enters the third phase to climb Manaslu, Shishapangma, and Cho Oyu in between  September to November, K2 and Broad Peak are yet to be climbed within August. 

Adrian Ballinger, whose team is still keeping their hopes high to reach the summit of K2 without supplemental oxygen through the ÄŒesen route, teamed up with Nims as well for summit push on 24th July. He wrote on his Instagram handle, 

"We are joining forces with @nimsdai [Nirmal Purja] to see if together we can unlock the code of the traverse reportedly buried in deep unstable snow. They have added a great influx stoke and strength on K2, just as 90% of the climber left the mountain."

However, upcoming weather (24-25th July) window seems to be reliably better suited than the mild avalanches struck last week, alongside chest-deep snow around the bottleneck traverse area this season. Purja's team is to be backed by Changba Sherpa, Lakpa Dendi Sherpa, Pemba Gelje Sherpa, Palden Namgye, and Esteban 'Topo' Mena. If they manage to surpass the vertically-aligned 9000ft from Camp-2 to the shoulder at Camp-4 today, there must be a room for summit until 25th July, as per as the latest weather forecast.
More summer updates in the Karakoram range this year are as follows: 

Nanga Parbat (8126m):

1. Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja and his ‘Project Possible’ team climbed Nanga Parbat on 3rd July. 

2. French climber Boris Langenstein sumitted Nanga Parbat on July 1. He was the first one to have bagged the first 8000er of this season on Karakoram.

3. Spanish alpinist Sergi Mingote, together with Brazilian Moeses Fiamoncini, climbed Nanga Parbat on 3rd July without supplemental oxygen as one of his summits for his 'Solidary Project'. This was his 5th 8000er with no oxygen within a year's time. 

4. Italian alpinist Cala Cimenti along with Russians Vitaly Lazo and Anton Pugovkin reached the summit of Nanga Parbat on 4th July. 

5. Stefi Troguet reached the summit of Nanga Parbat on 7th July, with Zekson Sherpa.

6. Renowned Pakistani climber Muhammad Ali Sadpara stood atop Nanga Parbat for the fifth time on 4th July, breaking all previous records. Sadpara who already climbed 7 out of 14 8000ers, also climbed Nanga Parbat in winter'16.

K2 (8611m) & Broad Peak (8051m):

1. 'The Imagine Nepal' team which included Phur Galjen Sherpa, Pemba Tshering Sherpa (both from Nepal), Tobias Schwab (Germany), Hari Thomas Mix (USA) and Sirbaz Khan (Pakistan),  climbed Broad Peak on 12th July.

2. 25 climbers including five Pakistani high altitude porters from Kobler & Partner team summited Broad Peak on 14 July, 2019 in between 9.30am and 12pm. The team included Billi Bierling (without O2), Lydia Bradey (without O2), Dean Staples (without O2), Andreas Neuschmid (without O2), Stefan Sieveking, Jürgen Diez, Ket Hazledine, Dominika Dillier Degelo, Christoph Miesch, Dani Arnold, Carolin Hess, Maksim Cherkasov, Mauricio Fernandez Serna, Norbert Ludwig, Lukas Marganski, Jonas Salzmann, Euan Wilson, Lale Sherpa, Karma Sherpa and 5 HAPs.

3. South African-born Swiss professional explorer and adventurer, Mike Horn and his partner Swiss Mountain Guide, Fred Roux have been forced to abandon their summit bid on K2 due to strong wind, snow drift, and the lack of oxygen. They had planned to climb the peak without supplemental oxygen.

4. Italian climber Mario Vielmo reached the summit of Broad Peak on 19th July.

5. Swedish climber Fredrik Sträng who climbed 9 8000ers in 191 days, has now abandoned his 4th attempt on K2 without supplemental oxygen via the Abruzzi route on 19th July due to unfavourable weather conditions. 

6. Adrian Ballinger, Esteban 'Topo' Mena, Carla Perez, Namgye Sherpa, and Pemba Geljen called off their summit bids earlier this week stating the need for further acclimatization. 

7. Austrian mountaineer Max Berger summited Broad Peak in the evening of 4th July without supplemental oxygen and then, paraglided from Camp-3 at 7100m.

8. Swiss alpinist Dani Arnold also summitted Broad Peak on 13th July. Nirmal Purja at K2 Base Camp (Photo Courtesy: Facebook Nirmal Purja MBE: "Project Possible - 14/7")

Gasherbrum I (8080m) & Gasherbrum II (8035m): 

1. Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja along with Mingma 'David' Sherpa and Galjen Sherpa of the ‘Project Possible’ team stood atop the summit of Gasherbrum II on 18th July. Purja and his team also summitted Gasherbrum I on 15th July, marking 2 Gasherbrum summits within 3 days and 9 out of 14 summits on 8000er since April. His team is aiming for the summit bid on K2 on 24th July.

2. Hungarian climber Csaba Varga climbed Gasherbrum I, also known as Hidden Peak, in a 13-hour-long marathon from Camp-3 to summit. 

3. Swiss-French alpinist Sophie Lavaud climbed Gasherbrum I this season after making it to Kanchenjunga and Annapurna I in spring this year. She had already climbed Gasherbrum II in 2015 and Broad Peak in 2017 in Karakoram, and 5 other Himalayan 8000ers since 2012. 

4. Atanas Skatov of Bulgaria reached the top of Gasherbrum II on 18th July, marking his 9th 8000er in his climbing career. 

5. Spanish climber Sergi Mingote reached the summit of Gasherbrum II at 6.25am local time on 18th July. This was his 6th 8000er in a year without supplemental oxygen.

6. Americans Matthew Randall and Matt Gorbett are on their summit push on Gasherbrum II and hoping to ski down.

7. Russian mountaineer Denis Urubko climbed Gasherbrum II on 18th July without supplemental oxygen. He also came forward to the rescue of Italian alpinist Francesco Cassardo who tripped over while skiing down from the summit of Gasherbrum IV along with Don Bowie and Jaroslaw Zdanowicz and Janusz Adamski from Poland.  

8. A Korean team led by Kim Hongbin bagged the season’s first climb of Hidden Peak (Gasherbrum I) on 8th July. The team included summiters Cho Cheol Hee, Cheong Ha Young, Pechhumbe Sherpa from Nepal and Pakistani climber Muhammad.

9. Canadian climber Don Bowie who climbed Annapurna without oxygen in April, is aiming for summit bid to Gasherbrum II with Lota Hintsa without again supplemental oxygen. Since the rise in temperature, citing that the route between Camp-1 and Camp-2 has deteriorated, they came back to the Base Camp before starting for another summit push a day before yesterday.

10. Romanian alpinist Alex Gavan summitted Gasherbrum II yesterday, marking his 6th summit on any 8000er without the aid of bottled oxygen. He had already opened the route and fixed the rope above 6000m at Banana Ridge and beyond 7000m 2 weeks ago.

This news was revised on 22-08-2019