The grim look on their faces tells the gravity of the situation at K2. Although its more of a matter of retrieving the bodies of the fateful climbers now, but Ali Sadpara’s relatives, Akbar and Imtiaz, accomplished climbers themselves, are risking their lives and are already somewhere up Camp-1 on the Abruzzi Spur.
Pakistani government has also not called off the search and has vowed to keep looking for the climbers utilizing C-130 Cargo plane for the first time. C-130 will help scour the greater heights on the Abruzzi which has not been inspected as yet by the low flying helis of Pakistan Army.
What is more concerning is the fact that the SST Expedition has already left the Base Camp, leaving just a cook and a couple of kitchen helpers at the Base to facilitate Imtiaz and Akbar. This leaves both of them completely on their own with the realization that they are not acclimatized and that it is too late.
C-130 plane will be carrying Sajid Sadpara who would mark the possible locations to search along with cameramen who will utilize telephoto lenses to closely examine any traces of the climbers.
Several questions are being raised on the mismanagement of SST Expedition operatives. There were only three tents available for a strength of no fewer than 25 climbers on Camp-3 on Friday night when John Snorri and Ali had to accommodate three more climbers who had no place to go and were dangerously exposed to frostbite. No ropes were fixed beyond Camp-3 let alone the Bottleneck yet the decision to launch the summit push was already made the previous night. Since Ali and John were not using Oxygen, it is feared that they made a wrong decision to push for the summit probably because of miscalculation caused by the lack of oxygen, a phenomenon quite common at such altitudes.