UKC

NEWS: VIDEO: Gasherbrum II - Summit Bid

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
 UKC News 16 Feb 2011
GII Summit Film, 4 kbBack on the 2nd of Feb we reported that Gasherbrum II had been climbed alpine-style in winter.

A short film of the climbers summiting the mountain has now been released.

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=60412

 JWB 16 Feb 2011
In reply to UKC News:

Fantastic film.
 Sankey 16 Feb 2011
In reply to UKC News: I agree, big serious mountain climbed in the best style possible, can't do better than that.
 Brendan 16 Feb 2011
In reply to UKC News:
Is Cory Richards the same guy who was at Dumbarton with Sonnie Trotter?
In reply to UKC News:

I hate to be a pedant and I mean in no way to belittle their achievement but they aren't climbing alpine style.

Tom
 RichJ634 16 Feb 2011
In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide: Presumably the leader took the rope up, and rather then belaying them up on it just fixed it so that they could use ascenders? If the leader doesn't use fixed ropes presumably it's still alpine style? They didn't use porters of O2 either.
In reply to Gob_Stopper:
> (In reply to Tom Ripley) Presumably the leader took the rope up, and rather then belaying them up on it just fixed it so that they could use ascenders? If the leader doesn't use fixed ropes presumably it's still alpine style? They didn't use porters of O2 either.

But they climbed up and down between fixed camps.

Alpine style is about climbing to the top in a continuous push carrying all your equipment. Like what Scott, MacIntyre and Baxter-Jones did on Shishpanga and Anderson and House on the Rupal Face.

I don't think the climbers would claim there ascent as alpine style either.
 Sankey 16 Feb 2011
In reply to Gob_Stopper: they will have fixed their own ropes over the course of establishing camps I guess. I imagine the point being made is that the purest alpine style does not fix rope?
 Sankey 16 Feb 2011
In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide: Thing is though on big mountains how do you define where the continuous push should start from? Am sure in your examples they also started from a high camp like the guys here did?
 GrahamD 16 Feb 2011
In reply to Sankey:

Isn't that is whatwas called in the tasker Boardman days as capsule style ? still pretty pure style IMO
 RichJ634 17 Feb 2011
In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

I think they have claimed it was alpine style haven't they?
In reply to Gob_Stopper:
> (In reply to Tom Ripley)
>
> I think they have claimed it was alpine style haven't they?

I thought it was UKC's reporting that labeled it alpine style.

Whatever style it is it is a very light weight and committing one and an amazing feat of human endeavor.
 RichJ634 17 Feb 2011
In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide: Very diplomatic. Agreed.
 tistimetogo 17 Feb 2011
In reply to UKC News:
Good effort! That is all.
 Alex Buisse 21 Feb 2011
In reply to GrahamD:

Capsule style is how most remote big wall ascents are done nowadays, with leaders fixing pitches above camp, then when a suitable new spot is found, moving the entire camp to a new location and removing the ropes. Repeat until summit is achieved. It's not quite as pure as alpine style but still much better than most other styles.

What those guys seem to have done on GII is traditional "expedition" style, with pre-stocked camps and fixed lines in between, until a big summit push from high camp. But they also had a very small team size and all climbers got to the summit instead of having a support team to do the hard work and leave summit climbers fresh, which is a definite departure from old-school siege expeditions.

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...