K2 2010: Fredrik Ericsson fell during summit attempt

Early morning (8/6/2010) in America, the phone call came, it was bad news .... Fredrik fell .... We held the news figuring it would be 24 hours before his family was notified.

The news has been released to the press by someone, we are surprised at how fast .... According to his friends back home, the fall was about 1000 meters.

Fredrik Ericsson was attempting the summit of K2. The weather forecast was stated to be excellent. Some climbers did not believe the forecast. It was clear when Fredrik left for the summit. But then a very strong storm moved in. The forecast was very very wrong.

All Abruzzi climbers have turned around and headed down the mountain. They are very sad. Fredrik Ericsson was a friend to many.

We have been told Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner turned and returned to camp 4. We have no other knowledge on her summit attempt. She did not summit. Trey Cook, Fredrik Ericsson climbing partner, also attempted the summit but turned back after a few hours into the attempt.

Kinga Baranowska, the Polish Lady, reached camp 4 but did not attempted the summit. Same with Darek, Tom and others...

A very sad day on K2 and for those of us who knew Fredrik; he was a nice guy.... Our prayers go out to his family.

Morning (8/6/2010) on K2, night (8/5/2010) in America: It was clear at midnight, but by morning there was a storm. The forecasts for a clear window with stable weather was clearly very wrong. On the Cesan route, Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Fredrik Ericsson went for it..... At this hour it is impossible to know how far they got before the storm hit. Climbers have summited Everest in 100 mph winds, but they had fixed ropes. There are no ropes here. Visibility is hard and it is snowing. Gerlinde and Fredrik are believed to be in the area of the bottleneck... We will see what they do. The others on the Cesan, are at Camp 4.

On the Abruzzi route, Lakpa Sherpa, who has summited Everest more than any woman by far, headed up to camp 4 with her 2 sherpas. The others are at camp 3 and hoping she returns back down. Visibility is very bad and fresh snow makes the route very difficult.

Stay tuned... we will update again soon.

Earlier: 3 hour whiteout on the Abruzzi !!! Weather forecast missed it and what else ?? Clouds move in .... Climbers decide to wait a day before moving up, More details on the Abruzzi climbers soon.

On the Cesan route, Ralf descended to BC, while Gerlinde moved to camp 4 in clear conditions! Trey Fredrik and the others are believed to have moved to camp 4. Details are thin.

Earlier: Today Tue. July 27 is another day in BC.

I will be short due to the lack of Thuyara minutes:

We retreated, going down with yet another lesson about K2, this time the wind was too much for us on the Abruzzi.

Our summit attempt failed due to the bad weather.

All of us In agreement and facing the reality of it, we decide to go down, rest and try again.

The forecast we have so far is not encouraging, but we still hope the window will come sooner rather than later.

The large Korean team has announced they have quit this year's expedition due to having commitments and other arrangements.

Other groups have announced their retreat as well for this year.

The weather seems fine up high today; however, the next few hours may be different.

On the light side, we are all determined to summit, some coughs are present but nothing alarming.

Will post again as we have more news.

Please stay tuned at Everestnews.com the only reliable source of mountaineering information, regardless of what the others are telling you.

George Dijmarescu reporting exclusively for Everestnews.com

Sunny USA-EU K2 Expedition

Goodwin Austen Glacier

Baltistan

Earlier: K2 2010: Weather changes our plans

Dear Everestnews.com readers: The new forecast announcing strong winds up high made us change plans for the summit push. We are set to wait the passing of the jetstream, precipitation is announced at 7500m with perhaps as much as 20 Cm of new snow, however we hope the wind will just send it to China. Our group is in great shape and spirits, everyone is eager to get up the mountain again and wrap this up. On a speculation note, all members believe this year will be another repetition of 2004 with massive summits

In the mean time, we play cards and make jokes, it is a pleasant atmosphere here at USA-EU Sunny K2 Expedition. Please keep reading Everestnews.com, the only source of real climbing news. no gossip, just news as reported to this site

From the Goodwin Austen Glacier

George Dijmarescu

Sunny K2 Expedition

Baltistan, Pakistan

Earlier: K2 2010: Death on K2, a Mystery

This morning I frantically tried to find someone in C2 to check on a Bulgarian man who arrived behind me in C2. His face showed that of a totally disoriented and physically finished man. He looked like a zombie.

I got to know this man since he followed me from ABC, We spoke several times and he asked me repeatedly where C1 was, and where C2 was. As I pointed out to him he kept asking the same question, again and again. He seemed unable to comprehend even though his English was not too bad. But more about him later.

The evening of Friday July 16 we heard strange noises coming from his small Ferino tent. Initially we saw two men, one the Bulgarian and another, well equipped, whom I thought was another Bulgarian. It turned out to be a high altitude f****** Pakistani, and the reason I say "f******" is because he left the Bulgarian in C2 and went down to BC.

This morning I begged the Korean leader to radio his men, who incidentally had just arrived in C2 from C3. After a bloody lengthy communication nightmare, the news came over the radio.

The Korean leader, sitting at the table, looked at me and motioned with his forefinger 'slicing' across his neck, I didn't understood his signal but Isak, the cook, interrupted him, saying:

FINISH, he is dead. I went outside the tent and cried. This would give K2 is another bad wrap, but the weather was fine; K2 was not at fault.

I got back on the radio and told Rinjing and Mingma, our two sherpa whom I placed on stand by in C1, just in case the Bulgarian needed help.

"Go down, Rinjing, he is confirmed dead."

Initially Rinjing radioed down that he shouted at the Bulgarian tent this morning but didn't receive a reply. Rinjing said, "DIED."

Ivo Meier, our member who came down from C2 this morning, confirmed that the backpack as well as the crampons and ice axe were still next to his tent where I observed it the day before, when I already had bad feelings about this man as I looked at his face.

. Ivo and I were chopping a platform for his C2 tent just as this man arrived. He stared at me, looking like he wanted help. He then entered his tent, where later noises were coming from, noises like moaning or groaning. Frankly I had no idea what it meant.

In the morning when I decided to get down from C2, I had an urgent call of nature, so I slid down past his tent where I knew the toilet was. I kept my ice axe close since I was not wearing the crampons and ascended to my tent, I thought I'd gather my things and before going down just knock at the Bulgarian man's tent. Sadly, however, after packing my things I hung onto the ropes and continued to slide down towards the House Chimney. I forgot about my initial intent to visit Ferino's tent. Not stopping there is my utmost regret, as I'll never know if at that point the Bulgarian was still alive. I was alone in C2 at that time, and there was one Poisk oxygen bottle and one mask with regulator.

To the fallen man's family: I apologize deeply. I will regret my action til the day I die.

This is sad news of an unnecessary death, of a guy little known by anybody here.

It reminded me of 2004 Everest when the niece of Hristo Prodanov went up Mt. Everest in search of her uncle who perished on the West Ridge, she wanted to descend the West Ridge in search of a body that had been there for more than 20 years. Sane or insane, she died looking for his body.

Here, now present in K2 BC, there is another person who is inclined to go on that same path, so stay tuned. K2 is not done yet.

Forecast: next Sunday is the "D" day. Our group is solid, strong, determined and ready for a safe ascent.

I hope the sad news reaches the Bulgarian man's family first.

I am the first to know about this tragic death; however, laptops are plenty here.

Please keep reading Everestnews.com and not the other gossip site.

From the Goodwin Austen Glacier, K2 BC reporting exclusively for Everestnews.com

George Dijmarescu

Sunny K2 USA-EU Expedition

Editorial Note: We held this dispatch until we were informed the family was notified ...