CHAPTER ELEVEN
Cas van de Gevel’s descent from the summit and his encounter with Hugues d’Aubarède on the Traverse was described to me by Van de Gevel. I am indebted to Raphaele Vernay for the use of the blog as a source. Nick Rice, who was with d’Aubarède for many days at Base Camp, and Serge Civera, who visited him at Base Camp, gave insights into his character and state of mind, as did Mine Dumas. Qudrat Ali also offered background and insights. Chris Warner described the death of Stefano Zavka. Van de Gevel described his sighting of Hugues’s fall. His description of the encounter with the two Sherpas or HAPs matches Chhiring Bhote’s account of his ascent toward the Shoulder with Pasang Bhote. The phone conversation between Cas and Roeland van Oss was related by both men. For details on the effects of high altitude, I consulted Charles Houston’s Climbing Higher and Mike Farris’s The Altitude Experience: Successful Trekking and Climbing Above 8,000 Feet (Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot Press, 2008) as well as other medical experts.
Details of Pasang Bhote and Chhiring Bhote’s rescue of Go Mi-sun were related by Go and Chhiring Bhote.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The description of Jumik Bhote’s leading the Korean team from the summit was drawn from interviews with Go Mi-sun and Chhiring Dorje. Marco Confortola described what is likely the collapse of the serac or an avalanche that caught Bhote and the remaining Korean climbers. Both Wilco van Rooijen and Confortola offered descriptions of the Korean climbers and the likely series of events that led to their being trapped in the ropes. Virginia O’Leary and Judy Aull provided insight into Jumik’s life and his character and his relationship with the Korean team. O’Leary’s blog was another wonderful resource: http://ginnynepal.blogspot.com On the blog, she described the actual puja ceremony for Jumik in Kathmandu, on which my own description was based.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Details of Marco Confortola and Gerard McDonnell’s bivouac were related by Confortola and Agostino da Polenza. Wilco van Rooijen provided the account of his meeting the other two men and their decision to stay overnight above the serac. Annie Starkey, Sajjad Shah (the Norit team’s Base Camp manager in 2008), Eric Meyer, Cecilie Skog, Wilco van Rooijen, Cas van de Gevel, Roeland van Oss, and Jelle Staleman all offered insight into McDonnell’s time on K2, as did his brief blog.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The details of Wilco van Rooijen’s descent were drawn from my interview with him in Voorst, his conversations with my own fact-checker, Mark van de Walle, as well as from interviews he gave to wire services and magazines in the wake of the disaster. He also outlines his long climb down in his own book. Maarten van Eck, Roeland van Oss, and Chris Klinke provided descriptions of his telephone calls from the mountain.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The description of Gerard McDonnell and Marco Confortola’s struggle to save the trapped Korean climbers and Jumik Bhote was provided by Confortola’s official post-accident statement, his book, and several interviews I conducted with him. For the controversy surrounding Confortola’s account, please see the Epilogue.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The scene at Camp Four on the morning of Saturday, August 2, was drawn from interviews with Eric Meyer, Fredrik Strang, Paul Walters, Lars Nessa, Cas van de Gevel, Chhiring Dorje, Chris Klinke, and Roeland van Oss. Meyer also provided insight into Pemba Gyalje’s condition and conversation. Various climbers, including Walters and Dorje, recalled seeing the figure above the serac. The decision by the five climbers to go down to Base Camp was recounted by Meyer.
Cas van de Gevel provided the account of the return up the Shoulder with Pemba Gyalje. Chhiring Bhote and Pasang Bhote’s progress up the Shoulder and Bottleneck was described by Chhiring Bhote and Chhiring Dorje, Pemba Gyalje offered an account of his discovery of Marco Confortola, which Annie Starkey backed up with records of the radio calls; she also offered insight into Pemba’s thinking at the bottom of the Bottleneck. For the descriptions of the avalanches, I relied on testimony by Gyalje, and interviews with Chhiring Bhote and Marco Confortola. Confortola detailed the return to Camp Four.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The scene at Base Camp, and the location of the climber in orange on the south face of the mountain, was drawn from interviews with Chris Klinke, Roeland van Oss, Jelle Staleman, and Maarten van Eck. The various climbers’ descents came from Alberto Zerain, Nick Rice, Cecilie Skog, Lars Nessa, Mike Farris, Chuck Boyd, and Andy Selter. Jerome O’Connell and Pat Falvey provided information on the McDonnell family’s vigil in Ireland. Eric Meyer described his fall above Camp One.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The description of Wilco van Rooijen’s further attempt to descend, and the effort by Cas van de Gevel and Pemba Gyalje to locate him, was based on interviews with Van Rooijen, Van de Gevel, Roeland van Oss, Chris Klinke, Jelle Staleman, and Maarten van Eck. Chuck Boyd and Andy Selter also provided information on the rescue effort at Base Camp.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The account of Wilco van Rooijen’s rescue was related by Van Rooijen, Cas van de Gevel, Chris Klinke, Roeland van Oss, and Maarten van Eck. Marco Confortola provided details of his descent. The description of Cecilie Skog in Base Camp was based on interviews with Skog, Lars Nessa, Chuck Boyd, and Andy Selter. The descent of Van Rooijen, Van de Gevel, and Pemba Gyalje was described by Roeland van Oss, Jelle Staleman, Van Rooijen, Van de Gevel, and Sajjad Shah.
Details of the scene in the medical tent were drawn from Eric Meyer, Chris Klinke, Lars Nessa, Wilco van Rooijen, Sajjad Shah, Fredrik Strang, and Strang’s film, A Cry from the Top of the World.
CHAPTER TWENTY
For the account of the climbers’ departures from the mountain, I relied on the Norit team’s blog, and on interviews with Roeland van Oss, Wilco van Rooijen, Cas van de Gevel, Chris Klinke, Eric Meyer, Chuck Boyd, and Andy Selter. Lars Nessa, Sajjad Shah, and Chris Klinke described the visits to the Gilkey Memorial. For the account of the Koreans’ departure, I drew from various Korean press reports, as well as on my interviews with Eric Meyer, Lars Nessa, Chuck Boyd, and Andy Selter. The description of the helicopter journey and the military hospital in Skardu (where Gerard McDonnell recovered in 2006, and Wilco van Rooijen, Cas van de Gevel, and Marco Confortola were treated in 2008) was based on my experiences in the Karakoram in 2009.
SEARCHABLE TERMS
The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific passage, please use the search feature of your e-book reader.
Aasheim, Stein Peter, 69
Abruzzi, Duke Luigi Amedeo, Prince of Savoy-Aosta, 5–7, 95, 231n
Advance Base Camp, 175, 189, 208
“Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven” (Yeats), 214–15
Agence France-Presse, 234n
Alaska’s Malaspina glacier, 5
Ali, Deedar, 138, 189
Ali, Qudrat, xvii, 27, 115, 229n, 232n, 235n
altitude (high altitude), 232n
Abruzzi’s desire for record, 5, 7
dangers of Camp Four, 160, 163
deaths from altitude sickness, 8
Death Zone, 17, 28
effects of, 5, 8, 14, 15, 16, 9, 28, 93–94, 113–14, 141, 235n
“Khumbu cough,” 231n
mountain sickness, 5
progressive camps and, 15
survival above 22,000 feet, 4
survival above 28,000 feet, 8
treatment for, 32, 114, 160, 164
warning signs of sickness, xxi, 17, 28
American Alpine Club, 5, 36
American K2 International Expedition 2008, xvi, xix–xxviii
Chhiring Dorje as only member to reach the summit, 97–98
Chhiring Dorje’s descent, 98–105
cook Deedar Ali, 137, 189
K2 ascent, August 1, 2008, xix–xxv, 71
K2 descent, August 1, 2008, back to Camp Four, xxvi
K2 descent, August 2, 2008, to Base Camp, 163–64, 189
no oxygen used by, 17
&n
bsp; radios with, 98
Sherpas with, 24, 58, 71
Ang Chhiring Sherpa, xviii
Annapurna I, 7
Arnette, Alan, 229n, 234n
Askole village, 3, 12, 42, 197, 210, 224
Association of Olympic Athletes, 216
Aull, Judy, 229n, 235n
avalanche, 100, 234n
calving, 81–82
death of Bernard Constantine on Kang Guru, 116
death of Rolf Bae, 86–89
death of Big Pasang, Jumik Bhote, and Koreans, 168, 169, 200
death of McDonnell, 200, 221
description of, 81
K2 serac and, xxvi, 132, 155, 156–57, 168, 235n, 236n
loss of ropes in Bottleneck and, 79, 89, 99, 101, 106, 112–13, 119
1986, deaths on K2, 55
types of, 81–82
Bae, Rolf, xv, 47–48, 53, 174, 225, 233n
Cecile Skog and, 83–84
decision to turn back, 47, 60–61
Great Trango Tower climb, 46, 83–84
ice fall and death of, 86–89
K2 ascent, August 1, 18, 20, 46–48, 58
K2 descent, August 1, 82–83, 85–86
notification of parents, 175
previous K2 attempt, 46–47
rules of, 60, 89
use of oxygen, 46
Baig, Jahan, xvii, 27–28, 115, 174, 205, 232n
clothing worn on August 1, 22, 27
K2 descent, August 1, 27–28, 29–30
fall to death, 30–31, 232n
signs of high-altitude sickness, 28, 30, 232n
Baig, Shaheen, xvi, 16, 18, 22, 27
Baltoro glacier, 3, 4, 204, 210, 224
Baraldi, Barbara, 216, 217, 229n
Barrard, Liliane and Maurice, 60
Base Camp, 13, 233–34n
advice on rescuing Mandic from, 24
altitude of, 173
ascent from, 42
August 2, return of climbers, rescue efforts, 173–82, 237n
author at, 224–25
Cecile Skog in, 84
dismantling, 208–9, 210, 211
food for expeditions, 14
helicopter transport and, 203–4
McDonnell and Confortola at, 134
Norit K2 Dutch team in, 52–54, 134
rainy weather and delay, xxvi
return of Zerain, 174
return of Gyalje, Van de Gevel, and Van Rooijen, 198–202
return of Rice, 175–76
return of Skog, Nessa, and Stangeland, 192–93
Serb leader Erdeljan in, 12
Van Eck’s call about Van Rooijen to, 148
Van Oss in, 118
Basque independent climber K2 2008 (Zerain), xvi
Baume, Louis C., 231n
bergschrund (crevasse), 37
Bezier, Patrick, 75
Bhote, Chhiring, xvi, 127, 128, 229n
avalanche on August 2 and, 169
departure from K2, 205
discovery of Marco Confortola, 164
first ascent to help others, 105–9, 117–18
loss of brother and Big Pasang, 170
rescue of Go Mi-sun, 120, 235n
second ascent to help others, 121, 160, 164–65, 223, 236n
Bhote, Jumik, xvi, 58–59, 100, 161, 235n
altitude sickness and, 126, 128
August 2, attempted descent and death, 166–69, 223
background, 126–28
call to partner from summit, 75–76, 234n
Chhiring and Big Pasang look for, 106–9, 121, 160, 166
Confortola, McDonnell and, 145, 151–55
Everest climbs, 127
fall of, with two South Koreans, 128–29, 142–43, 145, 151–55
K2 descent with Koreans, August 1–2, 125–26, 128–29
last phone call, 200
mourning for, 205, 235n
Van Rooijen and, 142–43, 145
Bhote, Pasang (“Big”), xvi, 225, 235n
attempted descent with Jumik and death, August 2, 166–69, 200, 223
discovery of Marco Confortola, 164
discovery of missing Koreans and Jumik Bhote, 166
first ascent to help others, 105–9, 117–18
rescue of Go Mi-sun, 120, 235n
second ascent to help others, 121, 160, 164–65, 236n
Bite, Joselito, xvii, 52
Bonatti, Walter, 9–10, 231n
Boyd, Chuck, xvii, 229n, 237n
Broad Peak, 63, 150, 178, 205, 208
Campagnoni, Achille, 8–9, 35
Camp Four, 15, 16, 66, 236n
altitude, xx
beacon (strobe light) set up, 91, 98, 104, 112, 118, 134, 135, 235n
climbers’ ascent from, August 1, xix–xxviii, 230n
location, xxvi
Marco Confortola after rescue, 196
Meyer and Strang leave for summit attempt, xix–xxviii
return of Van de Gevel, 118
return of Mi-sun, 120–21
return of Meyer, Strang, and Serbs (afternoon), 32, 232n
return of Meyer and Strang ( morning), xix–xxviii
return of Gyalje, 159, 191
return of Skog and Nessa, 91, 97
videos and photos taken from, 23
Camp One, 208
Camp Three, 16, 66
Confortola leaves, 207–8
Gyalje returns, 188
Van Rooijen above, 191, 192
Van Rooijen and rescuers in, 195
Zerain returns, 68, 174
Camp Two, 16, 175, 196
Casarotto, Renato, 96
Chang, Peter, 229n
Chogolisa, Mount, 7
Civera, Serge, 229n, 233n, 235n
Compagnoni, Achille, 8–10, 41, 59, 95
Concordia, 6, 95, 115, 210
Confortola, Marco, xv, 84, 135, 161, 232n, 234n
author meeting with, 215–18, 229n
avalanche on August 2 and, 168
bivouac on K2, 132–36, 138–40, 236n
book by, 233n
call for help for Jumik Bhote and Koreans, 155
call to Da Polenza, 133
clothing worn on August 1, 77, 165
condition of, after descent, 196, 197, 208–10
death of McDonnell, dispute about and, 221–23
effects of ordeal, 209–10
evacuation of, via helicopter, 204, 207–8, 210
Gerard McDonnell and, 131–36, 138–40, 151–54, 216, 223
informs Korean team of deaths, 170
K2 ascent, August 1, 41–42, 59, 233n
K2 descent and loses way, August 1–5, 131–36, 138–40, 140, 151–58, 197–98, 202, 207–10, 237n
life after K2, 215–18
missing South Korean climbers, Jumik Bhote, and, 145, 151–55, 217, 223, 235n, 236n
mountaineering history, 135
rescue of, 158, 164–70, 176, 196, 201, 236n
sees climber fall (McDonnell), 157, 177
sponsorship of, 77
on summit, 77, 234n
Van Rooijen and, 138–42, 145, 151, 152, 236n
visit to Gilkey Memorial, 96
Constantine, Bernard, 116
cooperation agreement, xxiv, 15, 42, 45, 146
Cromwell, Tony, 36, 37
Crowley, Aleister, 4–5
Cry from the Top of the World, A (film), 231n, 232n, 237n
Dalla Rosa, Enrico, 234n
Da Polenza, Agostino, 133, 229n, 236n
D’Aubarède, Hugues, xvii, 27, 48, 74, 161, 175, 233n
author visit to family, 215
in Base Camp, 137, 235n
blog, 48, 233n, 235n
clash with van Rooijen, 54
clothing worn on August 1, 48, 111, 113
daughters, 74–75, 116–17, 215
desire to reach summit, 115–17
Everest climb, 74
fall to death, 109, 113, 117, 118, 176, 235n
HAP guide, Karim Meherban, 27, 48, 60, 111, 115
Jahan Baig and, 22, 27, 115
K2 ascent, August 1, 48–49, 60, 67
K2 descent, August 1–2, 100, 111–13, 117
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