Due to the tragic avalanche on the eight-thousander Broad Peak, which claimed ten lives, all summit attempts on the neighboring 8,611-meter-high K2 were called off. Climbing, however, continued on other eight-thousanders in Pakistan.
According to Russian mountaineering journalist Elena Laletina, on 1 August, the two Kazakhs Vassiliy Pivtsov and Mikhail Tarasov made the first ascent of the 8,080-meter-high Gasherbrum I this summer season – without bottled oxygen and without Sherpa support, as Elena reports.
On the same day, a five-person team from the commercial expedition operator Imagine Nepal – using breathing masks – also reached the summit of this eight-thousander.
14 eight-thousanders plus Yalung Kang
Among them was Phur Galjen Sherpa, who thereby completed his collection of 14 eight-thousanders. On 21 July, he had summited Gasherbrum II, his 13th eight-thousander.
Phur Galjen comes from the village of Thame in the Khumbu region. According to Imagine Nepal, the 56-year-old has scaled Mount Everest twenty times on his own, starting in 1999, and on several occasions even twice in a single season.
In 2004, Phur Galjen also reached the highest point of Yalung Kang at 8,505 meters. It is the West Summit of the 8,586-meter-high Kangchenjunga, the third-highest mountain on earth. Phur Galjen is one of only five Nepalese climbers to have ascended Yalung Kang to date. Since the successful ascent in May 2004, no one has reached the summit again.
Petrecek and Holecek abandon attempt on the Rupal Face
Meanwhile, on the 8,125-meter-high Nanga Parbat, the two Czechs Tomas Petrecek and Marek Holecek abandoned their attempt on the imposing Rupal Face at around 5,000 meters due to persistent rain and an excessive risk of rockfall. They had intended to climb a new route on the face in alpine style – that is, without bottled oxygen, without a fixed camp chain, without fixed ropes, and without Sherpa support. At just over 4,500 meters, the Rupal Face on the south side of Nanga Parbat is the highest mountain wall in the world.
Mountaineering legend Reinhold Messner and his brother Günther were the first to climb the Rupal Face in 1970. Günther Messner lost his life during the descent via the Diamir flank, the west side of the eight-thousander.
At first, Petrecek and Holecek considered another attempt on a different section of the face. But Petrecek backed out. “After long deliberation and weighing all the pros and cons, I came to the conclusion that I will not be heading back onto the face this year,” he wrote on Facebook. “Maybe I am just too much of a ‘softie’ or a coward, but that is simply how I feel right now.”
Holecek reacted with disappointment to his teammate’s decision. “It was a bucket of ice water right in your face when you least expect it,” he described on Facebook, how he felt. “I don’t have the inner strength or determination to go it alone. And the world, unnoticed, continues to spin peacefully. To hell with it.”
