DISPATCHES

Heilprin

There have been disputes, some ugly, between and among the American, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, and German-led expeditions clustered at 5120-meter Advanced Base Camp (ABC) below the North Ridge of K2.

But as heavy snows grow ponderous and K2 undercuts the opportunity for summit bids from the Chinese side of the mountain, cooperation between the five separate teams here increases like foreign battalions uniting in the face of a common enemy.

Some American climbers, for reasons ranging from loss of interest to not enough calories, have given up trying to reach the summit of this astonishingly symmetrical 8616-meter peak. But at least a half dozen others still keep fixed in their eyes that faraway perch of rock and snow the way a farmer might fixate on the potential of a seed.

The view alone from Camp 2, not to mention even higher, is worth the price of admission by itself: undulating snow-capped ridges that reach over the border to Pakistan, gravity-defying thumbs of rock arcing upward like giant hurdlers, deep orange sunsets melting into darkness with the smoothness of sleep.

Our motivation for attaining heights knows no geographical boundaries, of course.

The strong four-person Mexican team finally paid the $4,000 it owed for the use of fixed ropes, wiring the money to expedition leader Jeff Alzner's US account. Since then, tensions have eased, and the two teams have climbed together and shared equipment, meals and laughs.

But two Germans who recently arrived and intend to stay nearly to mid-September incurred the wrath of our team when they jumped on the fixed ropes without permission and before paying.

Hans Stegmeir, a 48-year-old college instructor of politics and German, and Henning Paschke, a 33-year-old Volkswagen electronics engineer, endured several tongue-lashings at Camp 1 and ABC.

They had come to the mountain offering only to pay $200 between them or to do chores for our team. They also ruffled feathers by asking for shovels, the satellite phone and use of computers for email — in what struck some of our members as an expectant tone of entitlement that began almost as soon as they arrived.

That caused grumbling on the K2000 American North Ridge Expedition. Perhaps another small group was trying to bill itself as an independent effort, while unfairly expecting and relying upon larger teams' resources?

"We arrive here, and we pay for everything, and we put our hearts into climbing this mountain, and you show up and just expect everything," K2000's Paul Teare angrily lectured the Germans, who sat silently humbled and nodding in grudging acknowledgement, one recent morning.

Soon afterward, at a joint meeting this week with American, Chinese and Mexican expedition leaders, the German pair agreed to fork over $3,000 by also wiring it to Alzner's account.

"We paid $1,000 each just for the rope," Hector Ponce de León of Mexico told them. "Showing up, just expecting to use the lines for $200, I think, is irresponsible."

Up at Camp 1, however, Stegmeir had earlier insisted to three of us Americans that, "We didn't come late because we were waiting for the ropes to be fixed. We came late because I'm a schoolteacher and I had not a holiday."

Due to their late arrival, they probably will not be acclimatized to go for the summit until late August. Once the pair agreed to a price for the ropes, the bad feelings quickly passed.

"Welcome to the team!" members of the American and Mexican teams warmly exclaimed moments after the agreement was reached.

Alzner said the $3,000 the Germans contributed "for this million-dollar operation we've been running for three months" should be divided equally among the four other teams.

"It's symbolic of what we still have to accomplish," he said. "All four teams are invested in this."

Yet the fresh foot of snow that dumped on Base Camp in the past day and night and the deeper accumulation higher up may hamper what is left to accomplish. Indeed, climbing conditions could be dangerous high on the mountain, though they should be no surprise on a mountain notorious for deep snows, whiteout conditions and 100-mph winds.

Some of the ropes fixed to within 400 meters below the fourth and final camp that has yet to be established probably are buried. This evening, for example, we watched as an avalanche in the distance swept the route to Camp 1.

Everyone is resting up and summoning energy — tonight we literally applauded our Pakistani cooks' savory, restaurant-ready pizza — and some are trying to keep focused on heading upward, while others' thoughts are starting to turn more toward getting home.

Alzner himself, this week, suffered from temporary snow blindness caused by neglecting to wear goggles for a portion of the descent from Camp 3. But he is recovering well and expects to return to climbing soon.

If the weather breaks in the next several days, a fast-moving group of our strongest and most acclimatized climbers, combined with some from the other expeditions, intends to fix the rest of the ropes to Camp 4 and try for the summit in one push.

While they do that, other climbers such as myself might provide support at some of the higher camps and carry loads down the mountain. Still others plan to help by ferrying non-essential supplies down the glacier; our Pakistani porters already have begun that process and at least five days are probably needed for that.

Our team and the Mexicans plan to leave the mountain and begin the camel trek back to civilization in about 10 days — unless there is clear weather just before then and the summit still has not been reached. Then some might postpone leaving by a few days.

The four Japanese, quietly determined and cooperative, plan to stay until the end of the month despite their having little food left. Some of us Americans have been slipping them candy bars, soup and extra crackers, and other supplies when we can.

Meanwhile, the Chinese expedition leader, D.J. Chou, worries his mostly Tibetan and Taiwanese climbers, aiming to scale all 14 8000-meter peaks in the world, may be losing some of their motivation to climb K2.

"I want to go home!" he conceded with a laugh, adding some of his team members seem physically worn out. He spends much of his time at his team's camp on the glacier, monitoring radio calls among climbers.

"I think everybody wants to go home. But the question is they need to finish this route, finish this mountain...There's still five or six determined to reach the top."

— John Heilprin, MountainZone.com Correspondent

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