United Arab Emirates, 206
United Nations, 21
General Assembly of, 53
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR), 243n
United States, 85
mountaineering in, 108–9
United States expeditions:
to Gauri Shankar, 20
to K2, 1–7, 36–38
see also American K2 International Expedition
Upper Arun Valley, 55, 68, 69, 243n
Urdukas, 98
Urdu language, 122, 145, 219
Utrecht, 138, 191–92, 207
vacations, in Hunza, 84–85
van de Gevel, Cas, 141, 166–67, 208, 222, 256n
van Eck, Maarten, 119, 138, 207
Vanity Fair, 222
van Oss, Roeland, 118
van Rooijen, Helena, 191–92, 206
van Rooijen, Wilco, 78, 111–12, 115, 118, 120, 121, 129, 188–93, 250n, 252n, 254n
in Bottleneck, 147, 148, 149
in Camp 2, 133–34, 136, 250n
in Camp 3, 137–38, 141, 250n
in the Death Zone, 116
decision to join ranks regretted by, 123
evacuation of, 211
on Everest summit, 192
failed K2 attempts of, 112
freezing of corneas of, 189, 190, 253n
hanging tangled climbers and, 189–90, 196–97, 254n, 255n
homesickness of, 112
Hoselito and, 133–34, 137–38, 141, 207
on individual steps, 130
at K2 summit, 159, 160
locating of, 206–8, 256n
media and, 216, 219, 222
in return to Base Camp, 210
route lost by, 162, 181, 183
satellite phone of, 126, 138, 191–92, 206–7, 254n
at tea party, 218, 219, 257n
turnaround time ignored by, 155, 251n–52n
vasospasm, acute, 163, 164
Viagra, 118
video cameras, 143, 151
Viesturs, Ed, 146
violence:
civil war and, 54, 58, 60
partition of India and, 36
of Shah dynasty, 52, 53, 54
see also murder
Virjerab glacier, 90–91, 94
virtue, 174
virtue names, 67
Vishnu, 49
vision:
freezing of corneas and, 189, 190, 253n–54n
oxygen deprivation and, 201
vomiting, 131, 132, 138, 139, 179
wages and income, 54, 60, 61–62, 85, 99–100, 188
bonuses, 99–100, 160
of Chhiring, 22–25
fall in, 58
Wakhi language, 87, 99, 110, 122, 248n
Wallace, Alfred Russel, 115
Warid Telecom, 45
water, drinking, 131, 180, 188, 208
Waters, Ryan, 257n
Wazir, Jaffer, 100
weapons, 79, 82, 83
weather, xiv
on Everest, 24, 25, 31, 197
Fearless Five and, 211–12
ghost winds and, 137, 138, 139
on K2, 30–31, 35, 36, 37, 106, 112–16, 120, 121, 136–39, 142, 148–49, 155, 165, 180, 187, 199, 207, 208
on K3, 87
meteorologists and, 115, 118–19, 136–37, 138, 250n
see also storms
Webster, Ed, 76
West Ridge, 86
West-Southeast Ridge, 146
White Desert, 121
White Horn, 94, 226
Wiessner, Fritz “Baby Face,” 33–36, 239n, 240n
Wilkinson, Freddie, 257n
willow wands, 122, 145
Wolfe, Dudley, 34–35
wool, 17, 71
World Health Organization, 21
World War II, 31, 36, 38, 40
Xinjiang, 78, 79, 80–81, 94
yaks, 69, 71, 80–81, 172
Yaqub (porter), 99, 249n
yarsagumba, 116
Yeshi Tsogyel, 14, 15
Younghusband, Francis, 81–84
Yukshin glacier, 90–91, 94
Zagorac, Pedja, 151–52, 154
Zanettin, Bruno, 117
Zerain, Alberto, 112, 131, 132
in Bottleneck, 147–48
in Camp 4, 144, 145
descent of, 157–58, 166
Chhiring Dorje Sherpa (left) became one of the most respected Sherpa mountaineers. A trekker passing through the village of Na in 1980 took the only known photograph of him during his childhood. (credit Dr. Klaus Dierks)
A decade later, Chhiring had begun working as a porter. In 1991, at the time this photograph was taken, he was sixteen years old, carrying loads for a French Everest expedition. (credit Jean-Michel Asselin)
To many devout Buddhists in Rolwaling, mountaineering is an offense to the gods. Chhiring’s grandfather, Pem Phutar, carried loads for a British expedition to Gauri Shankar but never spoke about it. Although he received a recommendation letter from the expedition, he hid it from his family. (Courtesy of Chhiring Dorje Sherpa)
Phurbu Ridar Bhote (left), a mountaineer, left Hungung to find work when his son, Pasang, was six. When he had saved enough money from expeditions, he sent for Pasang to attend school in Kathmandu. (Courtesy of Pasang Lama)
Pasang’s brother, Dawa, and sister, Lahmu, in front of the house that their father built with his mountaineering wages. Climbing was more lucrative than farming; most families in Hungung couldn’t afford a corrugated tin roof. (Courtesy of Pasang Lama)
During school vacations, Pasang sometimes returned to Hungung from Kathmandu to help out at the house and with the potato harvest. (Courtesy of Pasang Lama)
Serbian climber Dren Mandic shoulders the load of a low-altitude porter. Depending on the weather, the 96-mile slog to K2 Base Camp might take a week. The climbers and their low-altitude porters must carry all necessary food and equipment over the Baltoro Glacier. (credit Iso Planić / Predrag Zagorac)
Many mountaineers got their first glimpse of K2 from Concordia, a camp en route to the mountain where three glaciers meet. (credit Lars Flato Nessa)
Although paying mountaineers and the low-altitude porters rarely hang out together, Serbian climber Hoselito Bite made a point of getting to know the men he’d hired. (Courtesy of Hoselito Bite)
Pakistani high-altitude porter Karim Meherban (top) shears Serbian climber Iso Planic. Although the weather was often clear in Base Camp, the jet stream was pounding K2’s summit, making it impossible to climb to the upper reaches of the mountain. (credit Qudrat Ali)
For twenty-seven days, the climbers waited in Base Camp for the weather to improve. To pass the time, Cecilie Skog knitted a cap for her husband. She and Rolf Bae (right) had been married just a year. (credit Lars Flato Nessa)
French climber Hugues d’Aubarède (right) hired Pakistani high-altitude porter Jehan Baig (left) after another team fired Jehan for refusing to carry loads through an avalanche zone. Here they display one of Hugues’s gourmet dinners, freeze-dried chicken breasts. (credit Nick Rice)
Pakistani high-altitude porter Karim Meherban guided Hugues on K2 in 2006 and 2007. In 2008, Hugues hired him again, and Karim believed they would reach the summit that time. “I can’t stop yet,” Karim told his father before leaving for the mountain. “Just this one summit, then maybe.” (credit Qudrat Ali)
Shaheen Baig, who had previously summited K2, was appointed leader of the advance team. “We were all so young and strong,” he recalled. “I never thought there would be an accident.” (credit Simone Moro)
During the final logistics meeting at Base Camp, Muhammad Hussein wrote up the list of the lead team members who would break trail and place ropes through the Bottleneck. Only Pakistani and Nepali climbers were to lead; the Korean climbers volunteered to play an administrative role. (Courtesy of Hoselito Bite)
Muhammad Khan (left) and “Little” Muhammad Hussein worked as high-altitude porters for the Serbian team. They had previously summited K2 in 2004. (cr
edit Peter Zuckerman)
Before their summit bid, the mountaineers took a group photo. Dren Mandic, Eric Meyer, and Chhiring Dorje Sherpa are in the second row, second, third, and fourth from the left. The French climber Hugues d’Aubarède leans forward directly above them, with Pemba Gyalje and Marco Confortola to his left. Standing in the front row is Korean leader Mr. Kim. Kneeling in the front row, third and fourth from the left, are Ms. Go and Karim Meherban. Kneeling front and center, with blond hair, is Dutchman Wilco van Rooijen. (credit Hoselito Bite)
Seracs loom above the Bottleneck, the deadliest stretch of K2. Giant blocks of ice routinely calve from the sheer ice wall. (credit Iso Planic / Predrag Zagorac)
The Bottleneck, a thirty-story ascent, is only wide enough for a single-file line of climbers. (credit Lars Flato Nessa)
Climbers want to move quickly through the Bottleneck and the Traverse to reduce the amount of time they spend below the seracs. Unfortunately, the line moves only as fast as the slowest mountaineer. (credit Chris Klinke)
Basque climber Alberto Zerain made it up through the Bottleneck before everyone else and topped out at 3 p.m., hours ahead of the other climbers. Chhiring took this photo of Alberto descending as seventeen climbers were still going up. (credit Chhiring Dorje Sherpa)
Upon reaching the summit of K2, Chhiring unfurled Nepal’s double-pennant flag in celebration. He topped out at 6:37 p.m., too late to avoid heading back in the darkness and cold of night. (credit Pemba Gyalje Sherpa)
From the summit, the climbers surveyed the entire Karakorum range. (credit Lars Flato Nessa)
By 9:58 the next morning, at least five men had died. Marco Confortola and Ger McDonnell remained with three distressed climbers, trying to free them from a tangle of fixed lines. The detail shows Marco leaning over Jumik Bhote’s head as Ger kneels beside him. Above them lie two members of the Korean team, hopelessly entangled. (credit Pemba Gyalje Sherpa)
Marco Confortola (center), the last survivor to return to Base Camp, had feet consumed with frostbite. Chhiring (right) helped treat him in a tent converted to a field hospital. (credit Roberto Manni)
The survivors mourned the dead by incising their names on metal dinner plates and placing them around a cairn known as the Gilkey Memorial. This plate, for Jehan Baig and Karim Meherban, notes that the men were HAPs—high-altitude porters—from Pakistan. (credit Hoselito Bite)
Some of the injured survivors were airlifted to Skardu’s Combined Military Hospital, where the mortuary overlooks the children’s park and helipad. (credit Amanda Padoan)
Dawa Sangmu, the widow of high-altitude porter Jumik Bhote, holds Jen Jen, the son Jumik never met. Behind them, rolled inside a duffel, is the Kolon Sport sleeping bag that Jumik used on K2. (credit Amanda Padoan)
Nazib, the mother of high-altitude porter Jehan Baig, holds a photo of her deceased son and his family. Without his wages and mourning their loss, Jehan’s family in Shimshal struggled to make ends meet. (credit Amanda Padoan)
Karim Meherban’s father, Shadi, and four-year-old son, Rahmin, in Shimshal. Rahmin still believes his father will return from K2. (credit Amanda Padoan)
Selected Awards and Honors
Chosen as a “Perfect Thing” by the editors of Outside
Official selection of the American Alpine Club Book Club
Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award
Winner of the Banff Mountain Book Award
Winner of the NCTE George Orwell Award
Winner of the American Society of Journalists and Authors Outstanding Book Award
More praise for
Buried in the Sky
“Will surely stand as one of the most distinguished works within [the] genre. . . . This is reportage of the highest quality.”
—Jim Perrin, citation for winning the Banff Mountain Festival Book Award in Mountaineering History
“A significant departure for mountaineer literature. . . . Impeccably researched . . . finally humanizes the unsung heroes of the mountaineering world and their hopes and dreams for a better life.”
—citation for winning the National Outdoor Book Award
“It’s a testament to the thrills in this book that I scoured the notes, eager to learn how the authors wrote their account. . . . The authors’ commendable documentary about the people who carry the gear is overtaken by the chilling adventure story of one terrible day on the mountain.”
—Smithsonian
“Exhaustive reporting and elegant delivery [give] the book its rich texture.”
—Grayson Schaffer, Outside
“A work of obsessive reporting. [Zuckerman and Padoan] weave a narrative that is hair-raising and moving, but also precise.”
—Matthew Power, Men’s Journal
“Zuckerman and Padoan distinguish themselves by the depth of their research, especially into the lives and culture of the Nepali and Pakistani climbers and high-altitude workers.”
—Kate Tuttle, Boston Globe
“Zuckerman and Padoan offer glimpses into the climbing culture that are as rare as the thin air the climbers breathe. . . . A provocative perspective on one of the world’s most expensive and deadly athletic adventures.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A judiciously crafted chronicle of the devastating series of incidents that left 11 dead, this narrative is well organized and chilling.”
—Ingrid Levin, Library Journal
“Buried in the Sky is by turns enlightening, fascinating, gripping, and heartbreaking, well-written in the best tradition of mountaineering narratives.”
—Laura Hadley, Daily Herald
“An absorbing book that goes beyond the typical mountaineering tale. . . . This book is mesmerizing.”
—Sharon Haddock, Deseret News
“The Sherpas climb off the page and carry a narrative that is as fast and as gripping as their superhuman ascents.”
—Michael Kodas, author of High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed
“Fast-paced and well-researched . . . a must-read for anyone fascinated by the people and politics of high-altitude mountaineering.”
—Catherine Hollis, Bookpage
“This compelling story brought back from K2’s slopes is a worthy tale about a little-known aspect of these high-stakes climbs.”
—Colleen Kelly, Minneapolis Star Tribune
“A revelatory look at Sherpa history and culture . . . highly recommended.”
—David Pitt, Booklist
“Unraveling the story through interviews in multiple languages across several countries has given the writers the depth and compassion to write a truly gripping account.”
—Milbry C. Polk, Explorer’s Journal
“Buried in the Sky’s biggest surprise and ultimate triumph: By the end, the reader cares more about the inner life of Chhiring Sherpa than his adventures on top of one of the world’s most dangerous mountains.”
—Alex Tomchak Scott, Williamette Week
“A harrowing tale of adventure and survival.”
—Jeffrey St. Clair, Counterpunch
“I admired Buried in the Sky and enjoyed it, too. Because the authors did their homework and wrote their story well, and most of all, because credit is given at long last to those who deserve it most.”
—Peter Matthiessen, author of The Snow Leopard
“Buried in the Sky reveals the heroic deeds of the Sherpa. . . . [It] brings to light how immensely strong, loyal, and talented the Sherpa climbers are. Finally credit is given, where credit is due.”
—Ed Viesturs, best-selling author of No Shortcuts to the Top and K2: Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain
“An informative and inspirational book. . . . I couldn’t put it down.”
—Jamling Tenzing Norgay, son of Tenzing Norgay and author of Touching My Father’s Soul
“A compelling account of the men who have literally shouldered the rest of the world’s mountaineers up K2.”
—Norman Ollestad,
author of Crazy for the Storm
“Through phenomenal research, Zuckerman and Padoan have dug deeper than anyone else into one of the most mysterious tragedies in mountaineering history. Thanks to their efforts, the heroism and humanity of the Sherpa climbers who saved lives shine through the chaos and grief of that awful day on K2.”
—David Roberts, coauthor of K2: Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain
Copyright © 2012 by Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan
All rights reserved
First published as a Norton paperback 2013
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book,
write to Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.,
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W. W. Norton Special Sales at [email protected] or 800-233-4830
Book design by Ellen Cipriano
Maps by Adrian Kitzinger
Production manager: Anna Oler
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zuckerman, Peter.
Buried in the sky : the extraordinary story of the Sherpa climbers on K2’s deadliest day /
Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-393-07988-3 (hardcover)
1. Mountaineering—Pakistan—K2 (Mountain)
2. Mountaineers—Pakistan—K2 ( Mountain)
3. Mountaineering accidents—Pakistan—K2 ( Mountain)
4. Sherpa (Nepalese people)
5. Sherpa (Nepalese people)—Social life and customs.
I. Padoan, Amanda. II. Title.
GV199.44.P182Z84 2012
2012008490
ISBN: 978-0-393-07988-3
eISBN: 978-0-393-08408-5
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2's Deadliest Day Page 30