EDITOR’S NOTE HAVE
you ever struck your axe
just wouldn’t stick? So rock solid, no matter how hard your tried or how long you took, no ice screw could penetrate it? In high alti- tude, subzero temps, this is just one of the things you can expect to encounter while attempting a winter ascent of a peak in Paki- stan. Louis Rousseau is an accom- plished alpinist from Quebec, he and his team attempted, in alpine style, to establish a new route on Gasherbrum I this past winter. One of the hardest and most dangerous things to do. Because of unpredictable conditions and subzero temperatures, anything that goes wrong can bring devas- tating results. Prior to their attempt, a team of three climbers were the first to climb Gasher-
against ice that
brum II in the winter, also being the first to summit an 8,000 foot peak in Pakistan during the winter. A major accomplishment that almost cost them their lives. On the way back down to base- camp, exhausted, the team was struck by an avalanche. Luckily they survived and no one was hurt. Rousseau and his team ran into extremely cold conditions, so cold, their lungs felt like they were freezing. Multiple times they had to run out sections of near vertical ice. Because the ice was so hard, protection was nearly impossible. Twice the team had to return to basecamp because the route they were trying to estab- lished did not yield enough flat area to pitch a tent. On their third attempt, the team aban- doned their progression of estab- lishing a new route on Gasher-
brum I and continued their quest for the summit via the Japanese Couloir. Nearly 1000 feet below the summit, the team was once again shutdown by high winds and freezing-cold temperatures. We followed along with Rousseau and his team the entire time they were away. From acclimatizing on Aconcagua in South America, to his flight to Pakistan. When he returned we caught up with him while he rested for his third attempt at summiting K2. We decided not to edit our correspon- dence with Rousseau, his English was not very good, and we thought the dialogue and the language barrier fit well into the style of the article.
- David Crothers
Climber Derek Anderson Pulls Through the Cat’s Ass in Bolton, Vermont 4 climber MAGAZINEism |
// Photo by: David Crothers |
MAY JUNE 2011
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