K2 Against All Odds - Extended Version

Lars Flato Nessa Norwegian 2008 International Expedition

Page 07

“The plans for the ropes were really detailed. The plans for fixing the ropes on the last day were really detailed and had been planned at Base Camp. Every single rope that we brought up for the last day had a specific purpose and a place where it was to be used. “

Looking down the Shoulder. At the far end one can see Camp IV (Alberto Zerain)

August 1st after 05:30 Surprise The long line of climbers makes its way up the Shoulder, a broad, shallow-angled hump thickly covered by ice and snow, following the line of bamboo poles. The climb is not challenging but suddenly the climbers stumble across the first ropes fixed by the Advance Team. This is a surprise; the ropes seem to start far too soon. It is generally assumed, however, that the Advance Team has plenty of spare rope to fix the more demanding stages, in particular for the Bottleneck and the Traverse.

Wilco van Rooijen Norit K2 Dutch 2008 International Expedition

“We followed the rest but I think it was an hour or more later, sowe were pretty late. The sunwas coming up on the horizon and in a few hundred metres we saw that the first trail breaking party had stopped. We wondered why because they should have already been in the Bottleneck and the sun was rising.”