10.08.2001
The day began, as always in high mountains, very early. However, only for Christian, who wanted to pull off camp 2. He started with an empty backpack whereas Ralf and Lydia, exhauseted from their descent, reamined in their sleeping bags. At 9 a.m., Christian sent a radio message reproting that he finished pulling down camp 2.
When Markus and Olaf awaked in their little tent at the Gasherbrum pass, outside nothing has changed. Only two things were more advanced: time and the height of snow. The weather at Gasherbrum I and the Gasherbrum La (pass) was markledly worse than at the neighboured Gasherbrum II.
With this heavy winds, one could not think about ascending. The nose tip and fingers became numb after only some minutes outside of the tent, despite thick gloves and the protection covering the whole face. Markus and Olaf, crowded on 2.5 square meters tent, smelted ice and snow to warm theirselves with tea, cacao and cappuccino. , während Markus und Olaf ausser anhaltendem Wind in Sturmstärke nicht viel zu vermelden hatten und sich sehnlichst eine Wetterbesserung wünschten.
Christian arrived without any problems at camp 1 and prepared, together with Ralf and Lydia, the further descent to the base camp. Because it was quite late and the snow was soft, they decided to descend by ski. Ths was not a problem for Ralf and Christian, they had their skis. But Lydia has done all ways on feet and did not have any skis. so they adaped Markus' skis for Lydia. At noon, they started. Sking on a rope and avoiding crevasses was only routine for Christian. But Ralf and Lydia were not skilled and tie after time they fell down, partly due to the heavy backpacks.
After half the way, the went on on feet, and the skis increased the heavy weight on their backs. After 6 hours, Christian, Ralf and Lydia arrived at the base camp. Lydia and Ralf still sad because of failing the summit, but lucky about having returned healthy.
Olaf and Markus still hoped for better weather tommorrow. The weather report from the internet was not that bad: "partly cloudy or overcast with sunny spells and most likely some precipitation". But this could mean all or nothing. So they hoped for a sunny morning and filled their thermos cans with hot tea for continuing to summit the G I tomorrow morning.
11.08.2001
When awaking in the Gasherbrum La camp at 5 a.m., they were shocked. There was a strange darkness. Then, Olaf and Markus noted that the tent was absorbed by snow. It was an half hours' work, too free the tent. 40 cm newly-fallen shnow covered the Gasherbrum La and there were still snowfall and storm. Because of our limited time and decreasing amounts of fuel and food, there was only one way remaining: immediate descent! So, Olaf and Markus started to packed up their things and, within one hour, the whole camp was put into the backpacks. They arrived at camp 1 shortly after 9 a.m., made a rest for one hour and put some things from camp 1 into their backpacks as much as they would be able to carry. It was an exhausting descent because of the heavy weights, but finally Olaf and Markus reached the base camp in the afternoon. So, the last attempt to summit was over. Unfortunately, we couldn summit the Gasherbrum I. However, we can be satisfied with our results despite the bad weather.
We still have to pull down our camp 1 at 5900m altitude and our base camp.
12.08.2001
We used to day to dry and sort our equipment. Lydia went to the kitchen tent and prepared a large dish of noodle salad. With it, we went to the Spanish guys for a surprise lunch. They were excited and there was a spontaneous party until the afternoon.
Lydia and Christian took over the task to take the remaining of camp 1 tomorrow. But there was another person, who wanted to join them: our cook Salman. We wanted to give him the pleasure and so we adapted an equipment for him and Christian taught him the use of the climbers' "weapons".
Markus Walter, Gasherbrum base camp, 13.08.2001
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