K2 Attempt and Tragedy. Our joint expedition was led by Japanese ...
K2 A ttem pt a n d Tragedy. O ur jo in t expedition was led by Japanese K enshiro O taki w ith Pakistani Sher K han as deputy. O ther m em bers were
Japanese T akeo Ishiw atari, A kiro Suzuki, K aoru N agaota, Fum ihide Saito, Tetuei H anzaw a, A kihiko Sugaw ara, H iroshi K aw asaki, Touru K urusaw a and I as doctor, and Pakistanis Ikram , R ahat Ali and Tufail Ibrahim . W e hoped to clim b the A bruzzi R idge. W e established Base C am p, A dvance Base and C am ps I, II, III, and IV at 5200, 5500, 6300, 6900, 7500 and 7900 m eters on July 1, 2, 3, 19, A ugust 1 and 22. At the start we m aintained a good pace until July 10, but after that the w eather was bad for a m onth. By the end o f A ugust four o f the six expeditions to K2 had left. D uring the ascent, som e m em bers found the body o f D obrosław a M iodow icz-W ol , the Polish w om an who had disappeared during the descent in A ugust 1986. She was on a ledge at the end o f a fixed rope section, apparently having died o f exhaustion. O n A ugust 21, the w eather seem ed better and so five m em bers left Base C am p on a sum m it try. Suguw ara and K aw asaki left C am p IV on A ugust 23 but they suffered from deep snow and at 8300 m eters returned to C am p III. The next day, Suzuki, Sher K han and Saito also left C am p IV , but at tw o P .M . it w as snow ing so heavily that they turned back. O nly tw o got back to C am p IV . N o one saw Suzuki fall, but after an eleven-day search, we found him dead at 5300 m eters on the south face. H e apparently slipped from 8200 m eters. W e left Base Cam p on S eptem ber 9. T
a k e h ik o
Y
o k o m iz o
,
M .D ., Toyo University, Japan
Japanese T akeo Ishiw atari, A kiro Suzuki, K aoru N agaota, Fum ihide Saito, Tetuei H anzaw a, A kihiko Sugaw ara, H iroshi K aw asaki, Touru K urusaw a and I as doctor, and Pakistanis Ikram , R ahat Ali and Tufail Ibrahim . W e hoped to clim b the A bruzzi R idge. W e established Base C am p, A dvance Base and C am ps I, II, III, and IV at 5200, 5500, 6300, 6900, 7500 and 7900 m eters on July 1, 2, 3, 19, A ugust 1 and 22. At the start we m aintained a good pace until July 10, but after that the w eather was bad for a m onth. By the end o f A ugust four o f the six expeditions to K2 had left. D uring the ascent, som e m em bers found the body o f D obrosław a M iodow icz-W ol , the Polish w om an who had disappeared during the descent in A ugust 1986. She was on a ledge at the end o f a fixed rope section, apparently having died o f exhaustion. O n A ugust 21, the w eather seem ed better and so five m em bers left Base C am p on a sum m it try. Suguw ara and K aw asaki left C am p IV on A ugust 23 but they suffered from deep snow and at 8300 m eters returned to C am p III. The next day, Suzuki, Sher K han and Saito also left C am p IV , but at tw o P .M . it w as snow ing so heavily that they turned back. O nly tw o got back to C am p IV . N o one saw Suzuki fall, but after an eleven-day search, we found him dead at 5300 m eters on the south face. H e apparently slipped from 8200 m eters. W e left Base Cam p on S eptem ber 9. T
a k e h ik o
Y
o k o m iz o
,
M .D ., Toyo University, Japan
