The main expedition is over and most of the climbers (including Carl and Kurt) left K2 basecamp yesterday and are trekking back to Skardu (4-5 day trek). A few climbers were able to transfer their permits to other teams and hope to make another summit attempt in the coming days and weeks. As the below dispatch reports...even at the lower, "safer" altitudes, there exists significant danger, particularly of rock fall. Recently Gerard McDonnel was hit in the head by falling rock. This is the third rock fall injury for this expedition, and the most serious, with a evacuation scheduled for Monday morning Pakistan time.
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(Courtesy of Alan Arnette - AlanArnette.com) Some of you may have heard that Ger
McDonnell was hit in the head by falling rock below Camp 2 on K2 .
According to various reports, he is back at base camp and has been
examined by two doctors.
Per a report from Bango Bannon,
they were climbing in the same vicinity and Ger was coherent enough to
walk back to Banjo and tell him he had been hit in the head by falling
rock. Ger is in serious condition and under medical supervision. An
evacuation is planed for Monday morning, July 31 Pakistan time. The FTA site will have an update later tonight. I am writing this on Sunday, July 30, about 5:00PM US Mountain Daylight Time or GMT -7 You may recall that Nick was also hit by falling rock in this same
area last week. Wilco was injured in 1994 - a very serious injury that
required helicopter evacuation. Ryan noted in his last audio dispatch
last week that there is a lot of rockfall this year and was struck on
his knee. Mick, Wilco, Ger and Joelle had planned on another attempt now that
the formal expedition is over. They had teamed up with several other
teams on K2 including Bango Bannon who was climbing alone. I am sorry but I do not have contact with the climbers but have had
contact with FTA directly and am monitoring all the cited sources above
and will post anything significant when it comes available. These
situations are very stressful, especially for family and close friends.
Ger's emergency contacts have already been updated by FTA. Also please be aware that reports from remote areas like Pakistani
are always subject to revisions. It is very common for the first
reports to contain inaccuracies. So read the reports posted on various
sites with caution. Many will report hearsay from other expeditions
that are passing on information that they have heard but not verified.
Remember that there are many nationalities up there so language
translations can contribute to mis-information. Finally do not expect
to hear a lot of details, they will simply not be avaialble. It will be
up to Ger to add more once he is home. Please keep Ger, and all the climbers, in your thoughts.
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