KRS 0000084062

January 25, 2012 Base Camp at the foot of Gasherbrum I

27.01.2012

Wind up to 10 km/h
Temperature -20°C
Cloudiness 100%
Clouds’ height 6,000 m
No snowfall
There are only old patches of snow and snowdrifts in the base camp.


January 24; coping with an ice fall on our way to camp I

We have already been uphill. On 24th January we planned to establish camp I. The weather was perfect: sunny and freezing. All five of us set off with rather light backpacks, just in case. We did not plan to rig the ropes, however, we took 200 m of ropes expecting that a six-kilometer icefall in winter could cause some problems. We were right. All that we had heard about the long and technically challenging icefall turned out to be true. There were screes, cracks, ice walls, sharp ridges and overhung seracs; the final part of plateau was completely covered – perhaps due to a small earthquake or other reasons. All things considered we weaved our way through this labyrinth, had our hearts in our mouth and failed to reach camp I at 5,900 m above sea level.


Overcoming obstacles on the Plateau

We covered 70% of the route on the glacier, up to 5,700 m above sea level. Then, rubble on the plateau has stopped us, but we hope to overcome it within a couple of days. On our way back to the base camp we rigged the ropes on more difficult parts of the route with 150 m of rope. We also used 50 tracers to mark the route. During the first night, after we had come back to the base camp, we dreamt about cracks and brittle ice bridges on the icefall. To be frank, this part of the route in winter is an ultimate horror. One has to be constantly attached to a rope and be extra cautious. It is not going to be easy; if the snow falls and covers our traces, we will have to mark the route anew. We got a rap on the knuckles.

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Regards,
Agna, Artur, Adam i Janusz

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