On Broad Peak

Hans Kammerlander reached 8400 meters of elevation after six or seven hours of literally swimming in sugar-like snow. When reaching the Bottleneck Couloir, the unstable conditions forced him to turn back and descend. I received the news that the minister has granted me permission to climb Broad Peak instead of K2, so I now will turn my attention there.

"It is amazing to see how this skinny but strong and experienced climber was sinking deep to his chest in order to move up the hill..."

7/18/99
Hans Kammerlander arrived at Base Camp last night and showed us some footage of his summit push. It is amazing to see how this skinny but strong and experienced climber was sinking deep to his chest in order to move up the hill.

I have packed my brunch and will carry the load with the help of the cook and his assistant to Broad Peak's Base Camp. A kitchen will be established for Piotr Pustelnik and I in that camp, but we will hopefully have little use for it if the weather allows us to move up the mountain.

Today, and the past few days, the weather has been stable: mostly sunny with some high clouds and wind, very pleasant, but it seems to be deteriorating now.

7/19/99
Piotr left last night for Broad Peak's Camp I at 5700 meters, and I hope to meet with him in the afternoon, but the weather is certainly changing. We have been invited to share the mess tent and cook with a team of Spanish climbers from Barcelona and Madrid. A team from Greece left two days ago, as well as one from Colorado, both unsuccessful.

So far a team of Chilean climbers has been to what they believed was the summit. Two Vasques, five Swiss, and a total of 10 Germans, led by Ralph Dukmovik and Henry Todd from Scotland, reached the top before the weather closed in on us. The other Vasques and another German were turned back by the bad weather a few meters below the summit this morning. Five Catalans left with the hope of doing a summit push but returned to Base Camp due to the heavy snowfall on the upper part of the mountain. Meanwhile, it is raining in Base Camp.

7/20/99
The tent seems to be shaking to the rhythm of the music I am listening to. The raindrops are rolling fast through the tent. That has aborted my attempt to go to Camp I at 5700 meters where I was hoping to go a few hours ago. A weather report from Spain has warned us of six more days under conditions similar to these possibly improving on Thursday or Friday. It is hard to believe but the ice is melting fast in the lower parts of the mountain while the snow is accumulating above 6000 meters.

Several porters walked by our camp at Broad Peak as well on the way to K2 Base Camp where they have come to carry out the loads for Hans Kammerlander, Manuel, Oskar, and Angelo.

K2 is now covered by the clouds, by the fog while I try to focus and concentrate all of my strength and will to climb up Broad Peak instead. We only overcome one obstacle to be faced with another one.

7/21/99
I was ready to leave for Camp I this morning when Manuel, Oskar, and Angelo walked by my tent on their way home. We shook hands, hugged each other and then cried. It was as if they were dragging me out with them. I wanted to go with them, but I want to stay: mixed emotions made worse by the bad weather.

Piotr Pustelnik has reported that he is on his way to Camp II at 6500 meters on Broad Peak, but winds are very strong. All things considered, I decided to wait another day.

7/22/99
The weather has improved a bit now. It is snowing instead of raining, and low clouds limit the visibility to 10 meters. It is ironic. Piotr called and said that he could not sleep at all during the night due to the hurricane-like winds higher on the mountain and he will come down to Base Camp suggesting that I stayed low as well.

Several of the Spanish and I went for a walk across the glacier to a nearby peak, me carrying a good roll of toilet paper for my frequent stops. We checked the source of water in the kitchen and it's certainly strange that eight out of 11 of us have diarrhea. We found some lively worms in what was supposed to be boiled water.

7/23/99
We have received another weather report from Spain that seems as accurate as the previous one: high and strong winds, 70 to 100 km per hour, improving today and tomorrow but deteriorating again through Tuesday.

We have changed the source of water, which, instead of being a drying pond nearby, is a stream in the middle of the glacier, but we have noticed that the water is now carried in rinsed fuel drums. It seems that if it is not one thing, it will be another—keeping most of us running to toilet...and with stomach pains.

Amazingly enough, the sun is coming out and the clouds are giving way to the sky we haven't seen in four days, but the high winds are still strong proving that the weather report is once again accurate.

A team of French climbers has developed an incinerator for the rubbish generated in Base Camp, but I am not very sure of its efficiency. The lack of oxygen in this place is making it very hard to burn anything properly.

7/24/99
The team of Germans and the Swiss left yesterday, and almost all the Vasques left this morning. Pat Morrow and three other Canadians are here for a few days to make some shorts for a movie on a K2 climb. BC is getting empty. The teams remaining are the French with three climbers, the Koreans led by Mr. Park, who has been to the summit of 11-8000ers, the Spanish, Piotr, and I.

It is again cloudy and windy, but it has not snowed or rained within the past 18 hours. The clouds are covering K2 and Broad Peak, and some rain is coming back from the south part of the valley. Being patient and waiting for the right conditions is often times very hard to do, especially when others are leaving, going home, but there is a goal ahead of us to be met and as the saying says: 'every time it rains, it stops.'

— Tommy Heinrich, MountainZone.com Correspondent