K2 Expedition – Waiting at basecamp

After our last climb up to camp 2 nothing much has happened. We had very bad weather that kept us at base camp for more than six days. Snow and strong winds was on the menu every day. Although we have very little with us we are very comfortable in our tents. Temperatures are just below freezing point at night but with the wind, the wind chill makes it feel colder.

I did a couple of short walks up the base of K2 to take some photos but with the danger of avalanches could not wander off too far.

What I love about bad weather is that it can only get better. K2 is making us wait but slowly the weather is turning in our favor and Fred, Kobi and I cannot wait to start our last acclimatization climb up to about 7600masl.

We will spend the next two days in high altitude for the body to be able to form as many red blood cells as possible that would carry the oxygen to the extremities of our body. When we go into the death zone above 7000masl we only have 7% oxygen, and life expectancy up in that zone is only 20hours.

For the next two days we will have to make sure that we have everything in place equipment wise for our trip to the summit and back. Reaching the summit is only half of the callenge!