DISPATCHES

Hansen

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The Japanese began the upward push July 21 when they exceeded the American high point established back in June. The team of four climbers fixed rope within 200 meters of Camp 2 at about 6pm, then descended to their Base Camp for a rest day after the hard work of busting trail through deep snow.

Seven Americans, led by Paul Teare, and eight climbers from the Chinese team, followed the next day with the first supply drop at what will become Camp 2 at 22,000 feet on the North Ridge. The Americans descended and most spent the night at Camp 1, where they kept careful watch on some passing clouds that could affect the following day's climbing conditions.

Meanwhile, the skeleton crew that remains in the American Base Camp is working to clean up an abandoned camp found a week ago by expedition leader Jeff Alzner and teammate Mike Bearzi. The camp is about one mile up the glacier at the beginning of the first incline near the base of the climbing route.

Unlike the American camp, which is located safely on a rock moraine in the middle of the glacier, the abandoned camp was on the glacial ice and may have been buried by an avalanche. The old camp was mostly shredded remains of tents, Epigas containers (a mixture of propane and butane), a teakettle, dishes and food tins. As I was rummaging through the mess, the most exciting discovery was a steel oxygen cylinder that looks in good enough shape to use.

I didn't have a pack on my first visit, so I carried it out by hand. Since then, we've carried out five backpack loads and have another eight to go —maybe more as the ice melts. We carried the garbage to our Advanced Base Camp. Our porters will carry it all the way down the K2 Glacier to the camel dump and we plan to haul it out to the city dump at Kashgar.

Despite the mess, it's amazing how clean the area is. The first expedition came to the North Ridge in 1982 and only 30 climbers have summitted from this side. The garbage is definitely not like the stories you hear about Mt. Everest. The abandoned camp we found looks like a mixture from different expeditions—Japanese, Italian and American—when the ethic of leaving a clean camp wasn't as strong as it is today.

Despite the return of good weather to K2, the American team was saddened by the departure of one of its members, Dr. Fred Ziel of South Pasadena, California. Ziel entered the expedition planning to leave earlier than the other members because of professional and family commitments at home. Three weeks of snow in early July prevented him from acclimatizing and ended any hopes of him reaching the summit, so he opted to head out earlier than he had planned. More than 20 camels have been spending the summer below the glacier and Ziel planned to hire four to bring him and his supplies to the nearest road. He also planned to buy and arrange transport for some staples —flour, rice and beer —to be sent in when additional camels fetch his teammates in late August.

The departure ends Ziel's amazing perfect record of summitting 8000-meter peaks. He had climbed Broad Peak, Cho Oyu and Manaslu on his first three expeditions to the giants of the Himalaya. He reached the American high point of 21,2000 feet on June 29 on K2, but had no chance to reach the summit safely before his planned departure. His exit leaves 17 Americans in camp, with 12 actively working on two climbing teams.

— Drew Hansen, MountainZone.com Correspondent

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