Niels Jespers and Hugo Ayaviri
Broad Peak and K2 crowned without oxygen in ten days
The Belgian and Bolivian shared an ascent of Broad Peak on July 18 and repeated on K2 on July 28. Only eight people had done it before without oxygen. K2 has recorded some fifty ascents this summer.
The summer season has been very intense on K2. The impact of the work to locate the bodies of Ali Sadpara, Juan Pablo Mohr and John Snorri, who disappeared last winter, has been at its peak.
The attempt by Graham Zimmerman and Ian Welsted on the west face has also been outstanding, as well as the tragic attempt by Jordi Tosas, Stephan Keck and Rick Allen on the southeast face, with the death of the latter in an avalanche.
Half a hundred summits
Finally, the season will end with a high number of summits, which will be very close to the record number of ascents in one season. And that all started with a huge uncertainty due to the situation of the Covid-19 pandemic and the initial ban on the entry of Nepalese citizens (including Sherpas) to the country by the Pakistani authorities.
According to preliminary data collected from the communications of the agencies themselves and climbers on their social networks, a total of 49 people would have set foot on the summit of K2 between July 27 and 28. Of these, 90% were made up of two large groups from the agencies Pioneer Adventures and Madison Mountaineering. Only three were made without the aid of supplemental oxygen.
So far the season that has recorded the highest number of people summiting K2 was 2018, when 62 people topped Pakistan's highest peak in just one weekend of good weather. It is worth remembering that the largest planned expeditions, from Nepalese agencies Seven Summit Treks, Elite Expeditions and Imagine Nepal, decided to cancel their plans to go to K2 because of the pandemic, and also the Karakorum Expeditions agency abandoned before attempting the summit citing lack of coordination between teams and conditions on the mountain.
Broad Peak - K2 double
Among those who reached the summit on K2 on July 28 are Niels Jespers and Hugo Ayaviri. The two of them, together with Jeff Spelman, have had a season in the Karakorum to remember, without the use of supplementary oxygen or the help of high altitude porters or Sherpas. The Belgian and the Bolivian climbed Broad Peak together with Polish Oswald Rodrigo Pereira on July 18, after an aborted attempt the day before.
They then descended the mountain and, after a minimal rest following the enormous effort, moved on to the neighboring K2 to make the most of the window of good weather and join the second wave of summits that had already been set in motion. They achieved their second objective on July 28. They are now resting at BC after completing the descent without incident.
Hugo Ayaviri and Niels Jespers join a very short list of people capable of reaching the summit of these two eight-thousanders in the same season and without oxygen. Until now, there were only eight members, the fastest of which is still Sergi Mingote, who completed both ascents in one week:
- Josef Rakoncaj: Broad Peak on June 22, 1986; K2 on July 5, 1986.
- Beda Fuster: Broad Peak on June 21, 1986; K2 on July 5, 1986.
- Rolf Zemp: Broad Peak on June 21, 1986; K2 on July 5, 1986.
- Soro Dorotei: Broad Peak on June 20, 1986; K2 on July 5, 1986.
- Martino Moretti: Broad Peak on June 20, 1986; K2 on July 5, 1986.
- Boyan Petrov: Broad Peak on July 23, 2014; K2 on July 31, 2014.
- Sergi Mingote: Broad Peak on July 16, 2018; K2 on July 23, 2018.
- Anja Blacha: Broad Peak on July 4, 2019; K2 on July 25, 2019.