True to his fame, Nims Dai and team have made some startling progress by reaching Camp-2 on the Abruzzi albeit the fact that they have not yet done proper acclimatization as conceded by Nims in his Twitter message.
Arrived at camp 2. We’ll sleep here tonight. Tomorrow morning I will evaluate the team’s conditions, as we are very busy despite no acclimatization. We are very slow to our normal pace but it was to be expected due to the very low temperatures and heavy load we carry. It was a tough one but have a good day
The team made jaw dropping progress starting off on December 27th and has already reached Camp-2 in two days, hauling loads of up to 35kgs per pax. It is not clear if the team will make use of the supplemental oxygen or will do it in Alpine style.
Meanwhile Mingma Gayle Sherpa and his team had been toiling for a few days to finally reach Camp-2 maybe a few hours ahead of Nims’ team and revealed that they have ran out of rope. The team now needs to haul more rope from the base before they tackle one of the major technical portions on the route, the infamous Black Pyramid.
We three are in camp 2 today. There are no other team here. Tomorrow we will fix 900 m rope from here and then decide what to do. We do not have more rope to fix further.
It is interesting to note that Mingma Gayle had not even reached Camp-1 in his last attempt on K2 in winters when he has teamed up with Jon Snorri and complained of constant medical issues which kept him from climbing with Snorri. The expedition was called off later with grudges from both sides.
Snorri and Ali Sadpara are working up their way slow and steady and have already spent a night in Camp-1 for essential acclimatization. Meanwhile Sergi Mingote and his team of SST are still enjoying views from the Base Camp.