Chinese Karakoram

Chinese Karakoram K2 A ttem pt and A scent o f P 6640. Tow ards the end o f April, A m ericans M ark W ilford and Brad Johnson, Britons Alan Burgess, Alan H inkes, Paul M oores and I assem bled in K athm andu w ith all equipm ent and food. All this baggage w as put on a truck and five Sherpas accom panied it overland for 11 days to the roadhead at M azar in X injiang Province o f w estern C hina. We clim bers em barked on a series o f flights through L hasa, C hengdu, U rum qi and Kashgar, and then on by jeep to M azar, a dusty, desolate arm y outpost in the Yarkand valley. On M ay 10, we began our jo u rn ey to Base Cam p. O ur gear was carried for the next seven days by 47 cam els over the A rghil Pass, into the Shaksgam valley and then on to Low B ase C am p at 12,200 feet. On M ay 18, the cam els departed and for 13 days w e six clim bers and five Sherpas ferried our gear 17 m iles to H igh Base Cam p at 16,600 feet. O n M ay 30, m ost o f us established H igh Base C am p w hile M oores and W ilford reached Cam p I at 19,000 feet. They reported that the ice w as so hard that our R ussian-m ade ice pitons w ere bending as they drove them in. The route to C am p I lay to the right o f the true ridge and follow ed a slight depression over som e steep ice bulges. This was a natural avalanche track, but no other way was practical. The w ay to C am p II at 21,800 feet lay up the right flank o f the ridge before sw eeping back up left to the ridge and a sm all place to cam p. T here were tw o icefields o f up to 55° and the ice w as black and hard. M oores and W ilford fixed rope again. A fter a w eek’s delay from storm , they alm ost reached Cam p II on June 18. N ot until June 21 did w e get to the site o f C am p II and carry 150 pounds there. The difficult route w aa threatened in the afternoons by heavy stonefall. B etw een C am ps I and II we fixed 5500 feet o f rope, w hich tended to freeze into the ice because the afternoons w ere w arm and the nights cold. The ice screw anchors m elted out in the afternoon heat. It took six hours to reach Cam p II and this m ade an afternoon descent inevitable, increasing the risk. M oores, W ilford, Johnson and H inkes fixed rope up to Cam p III at 25,000 feet over very loose rock and interconnecting snow slopes. Two m ore expeditions arrived: from Spain and Italy. T here w as m uch negotiation w ith them over the use o f our fixed ropes. The Spaniards helped us carry rope to C am p II. The Italians did not, but they used our ropes to fix their ow n and finally used ours w hen the stonefall danger becam e apparent. On July 7, M oores left for a jo b at hom e and Alan B urgess and W ilford left w ith him. The strain o f such a dangerous route was taking its toll. As leader, I descended to discuss the situation w ith the liaison

officer and arrange for their outw ard journey. In Base Cam p, I found Johnson sick with sw ollen glands. The w eather im proved and Hinkes, the only sufficiently acclim atized mem ber, join ed tw o Spaniards to m ake the first sum m it attem pt. On July 26, they reached 26,000 feet, ju s t beyond Cam p IV, but after one Spaniard fell into a crevasse and the snow w as so deep on the 30° slope, they called off their attem pt. D uring the last days of the expedition, Johnson and I m ade the first ascent o f P 6640, a difficult ice clim b on the 3500-foot south face. A full article on this clim b appears earlier in this Journal. We left Base C am p on July 30. A drian B u r g e ss,

A lpine Clim bing G roup