Parore quits attempt on K2
High winds and heavy snow end former Black Cap’s bid to climb killer mountain
Former Black Cap Adam Parore has abandoned his climb of K2, one of the world’s highest and deadliest mountains, after a struggle with high winds and dangerous snow.
His group quit their attempt on the 8611m peak — the world’s second highest mountain after Mt Everest — last week, according to his posts on Instagram. K2 is on the border of Pakistan and China.
Parore climbed to the summit of Everest in 2011.
“In the end heavy overnight snow brought our expedition to an end,” the 46-year-old said.
“With 20cm falling from above C3 [camp 3] our chances to advance . . . [are] now non existent and the danger of avalanche suddenly very real and life-threatening.
“Despite splitting the Sherps [Sherpas] into three groups to descend they were still avalanched above C2, and when visibility improved mid-morning it was clear that the upper snow slopes were now loaded and the wind was actively ‘transferring’ [ snow] from C2 and above.”
They descended to their base camp, before climbing back up after the storm to retrieve equipment.
Parore had a scare on the way down from this trip, dropping a key piece of equipment, an abseiling device that is clipped to the climber’s waist harness and is used to make a controlled slide down fixed ropes.
Carrying a load of gear from camp 2, Parore was in the lead and alone on his descent.
“I managed to lose my [abseiling] device during a transition — as I released the rope to change [to another rope] at an anchor it literally exploded out of my carabiner, disappearing over the face and into oblivion.
“I felt the panic explode through me — this was a problem. To calm myself I checked my safety, got myself secure at the anchor and settled back into my harness. Think, breathe.”
Parore solved his problem by coming up with an alternative system: running the descent rope through a screw-lock carabiner as an Italian-hitch sliding knot.
“Suddenly I was grateful for the hours of tutorial and practice . . . With 2000m of exposure below me . . . this was the real deal.”
Parore said it had been hard after the decision to quit the climb.
“A difficult few days for me as I mourn the end of my dream — for this season at least.”
“This was the first time I have turned around — I’ve never failed to summit on any climb I’ve undertaken previously. Surprisingly it was easy — unexpectedly so.”
The Himalayan Times reported that 12 climbers, including seven Nepali Sherpas, scaled K2 on Friday.
Among the world’s highest peaks, Annapurna has the highest ratio of deaths to number of climbers to reach the summit. K2 is second at one death for every four climbers to reach the summit.
In 2013, the Kiwi-American alpine guide Marty Schmidt and his son Denali were killed by an avalanche while climbing the mountain.