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Basecamp
July 16th – July 23rd
First night at K2 basecamp
On our first night at K2, I was abruptly awoken from my slumber by Pasang Sherpa—affectionately known as Happy—in desperate need of medication for vomiting and diarrhea. It’s common for Sherpas to be given nicknames due to sharing names based on the day of the week on which they were born. Despite feeling unwell, Happy felt it was important to announce his presence with a loud “Tracee, I am HAPPY” before detailing his symptoms, ensuring I wouldn’t be alarmed by a stranger outside my tent. His proclamation roused the entire team, and poor Happy endured good-natured ribbing throughout the trip for his paradoxical declaration of “Happiness” while feeling unwell. I suspected Happy’s gastrointestinal illness was a result of the water consumed at Concordia the day before. Sherpas typically have more resilient digestive systems than us Western climbers and often forgo treating water with products like Steri-Pen.
Puja – Under the mountains watch.
The following morning, we conducted the traditional Buddhist Puja ceremony to seek safe passage from the mountain gods. Usually overseen by a Lama from a nearby monastery, this time, our Sherpa Lhakpa, trained as a Lama, led the ceremony due to the remote location in Pakistan. Regrettably, the Puja was cut short due to inclement weather, and the customary post-ceremony revelry was absent this year. Despite his illness, Happy managed to attend the ceremony.
Acclimatization choices
While some of my teammates completed an additional rotation up the mountain to aid acclimatization, I opted to forgo it. Having already spent two nights at an elevation of 23,000 feet on Nanga Parbat without oxygen a few weeks earlier, and having reached the summit with oxygen, I felt adequately acclimatized, especially as I planned to begin using oxygen at a similar height on K2. I wanted to minimize the heightened risk of rockfalls and avalanches on K2. Instead, I occupied my time by trekking to advanced base camp in the mornings, also using the opportunity to transport some of my gear to crampon point for storage. The hike to ABC involved navigating an icefall with surprisingly deep glacier ponds that needed to be avoided. This round-trip journey typically took around three hours and provided just enough exercise to keep my mind clear and ensure restful sleep at night.
Multicultural Meals
In addition to my daily hikes, I spent time socializing with friends at other camps and bonding with my teammates. Mealtimes were a multicultural experience, with our Chinese teammates conversing in Mandarin and savoring extra spicy cuisine, while the Pakistani and Nepali members spoke in Hindi and opted for moderately spicy dishes. Meanwhile, David, Jon, and I communicated in English and preferred milder fare, wary of “spicy yak,” fearing it might upset our delicate GI tracts at the high elevation of over 17,000 feet. Although several teammates effortlessly moved between groups due to multilingual abilities, I mainly dined with Jon and David, as I only spoke English and some Spanish.
Time to start climbing
After 7 full days at basecamp, it was thankfully time to start climbing. This year on K2 the weather had been extremely difficult with lots of fresh snow each day. This had made it challenging for the rope fixing team to do their work as well as for the Sherpa’s to carry supplies up the mountain. Finally the route was set to the standard C3 and our tents, oxygen and fuel was also cached up on the mountain,. I was eager to start climbing but was also apprehensive since the bad weather had forced most of the teams to be targeting the same summit date of July 27th. Some of our team members started up the mountain on the 22nd of July but Thundu Sherpa and I opted to start up on the 23rd.
