Christian Stangl

K2

8.611m – Just dangerous!

The Chogori (= the big one) seems to be the key not only for the "21 world summits" project but also for the 14x8.000er. So far I spent 4 unsuccessful summers' en series on the mountain.

2008: Only 11 days after I reached base camp I tried my first summit push in perfect conditions. However, just above the shoulder, at the entrance of the bottleneck the catastrophe happened: an ice avalanche got loose and killed 11climbers. Shocked from this tragic event I returned home. 2009: I already passed the famous bottleneck with a handful of climbers of different nationalities and reached the end of the traverse on 8.300m. The snow reached up to our hips. We were about a dozen climbers but we couldn’t make it to the summit.

2010: Abruzzi Route: The first attempt that summer already ended below the shoulder. A forecasted window of good weather did not happen. Despite heavy rockfall I started a last attempt in the beginning of August. The following false news of my summiting K2 went around the world. There is one thing I never understood until then: despite your best efforts and fitness you can not conquer such a mountain. If you don’t have the necessary luck: forget it! During the "seven summits speed" project I acting according the: I came – saw – and won principle. And suddenly I can not even climb K2 in the normal style in my 3rd attempt.

2011: We were 10 climbers on the southern side, everybody on the Cesen route. We fixed August 6th as the ideal day; best weather is forecasted. It came as it apparently had to come: in camp 4, on the shoulder, the wind suddenly turned and grew stronger. The summit partly disappeared in the clouds. Nobody had the courage to ascend further.