Fort Collins’ Alan Arnette could summit K2 Sunday
The summit of the world’s second-highest mountain is within Alan Arnette’s reach.
On Saturday, the Fort Collins mountaineer began the final push to the top of 28,251-foot-tall K2. Arnette and his fellow climbing partners with Madison Mountaineering left Camp 4 at 25,200 feet at about 11 p.m. Pakistan time. They could summit K2 Sunday afternoon.
If successful, Arnette would be only the 15th American to summit K2, considered more challenging and more dangerous than the world’s tallest peak, Mount Everest. Sunday is Arnette’s 58th birthday.
Extreme altitude, fickle and frigid weather and hard-packed snow and ice are just some of the challenges Arnette and his team faces during the 12-plus hour climb to the summit.
The major obstacle to the summit is the infamous narrow, 300-foot couloir known as the “Bottleneck.” Slopes are as steep as 80 degrees, and above, a wall of seracs — large blocks of glacial ice — threaten to break at any moment. In 2008, the serac broke loose, raining huge chunks of ice on climbers, sweeping away their fixed ropes. The serac fall was one factor that led to the deadliest day on K2 when 11 climbers lost their lives on the mountain.
According to AdventureStats, the last 17 deaths on K2 have occurred near the Bottleneck.
Coming into this season, only 334 people had summited the treacherous K2. Eighty four people have died on the peak known as Savage Mountain.
So far, however, this season’s climbing window on K2 has proved successful and safe.
In an audio dispatch released Saturday, climb leader Garrett Madison said several teams of climbers ahead of their group successfully summited and were on their way back down.
Arnette also released an audio dispatch Saturday after he and his team arrived to Camp 4.
“I’ve got to tell you, this sight is overwhelming. We have a clear view of the summit of K2 and the ice serac. It’s just there. It’s just hanging out. It looks like it’s pretty stable, but as we all know, mountains are never stable,” Arnette said.
Retired from Hewlett-Packard, Arnette is an experienced mountaineer with a summit of Everest in 2011. He dedicates his climbing to raising awareness of Alzheimer’s. He lost his mother, Ida, to the disease in 2009.
His goal is to raise $1 million for Alzheimer’s nonprofits to help find a cure. To follow Arnette’s climbing progress or to donate, visit www.alanarnette.com/blog/k2curealz/.
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Fort Collins mountaineer Alan Arnette climbing K2
Follow Xplore reporter Stephen Meyers on Twitter @stemeyer or Facebook.com/meyersreports.