UKH

There's a nice story in the Spanish press this morning of 3 Spanish climbers who had been trying to link Gasherbrums I and II. They had to bail out and headed down to base camp. When they got down they found a commercial group who had left one of their team, who'd been showing signs of cerebral oedema, in a tent at Camp 3 at 7,100m . The 3 Spaniards headed back up to rescue him. After 12 hours they found him in his tent - a 58-year-old Italian climber who hadn't eaten or drunk anything for 4 days. He was incredibly weak - one of them said he was "weak as a bird". They fed him water and administered medication (guided by medics at base camp over the radio). He could just about walk but was too weak to climb down so they lowered him down to Camp 1 and then walked with him 9 kilometres down the glacier.

Full story (in Spanish) and a couple of pictures here:

https://elpais.com/deportes/2017/07/25/actualidad/1500982104_787659.html

In reply to Bob Hughes:

This is the perfect example of what separates alpinists and commercial expeditions.

In reply to Bob Hughes:

So some commercial expeditions now consider anything above 7000 metres is too difficult for a rescue?

Mark my words, sooner or later, the family of a client of one of these commercial trips, with very deep pockets, is going to sue the arse off the guiding company to such a degree, they won't be able to sit down for a decade.

But well done to the Spanish climbers for demonstrating a tremendous and selfless act of courage in the true spirit of mountaineering, and well done to the leader and guides of the commercial expedition, for demonstrating exactly the opposite.

In reply to Bob Hughes:

That's really impressive what the Spaniards did. I'd like to know more about this, are there any other links? The google translate of that article is a little hard to follow.
Any idea which commercial company the Italian was with?

In reply to Goucho:


One of the Spanish climbers admitted that the weather wouldn't have permitted a helicopter rescue, at least. Pretty unforgivable, in any case.

No details about the company in question.

In reply to Topper Harley: English translation from El Pais
https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/07/26/inenglish/1501079700_852660.html

In reply to Topper Harley:

Here's a short write up of the rescue in English from the Spanish mountaineers' website (they're actually Basque... they possibly wouldn't thank me for calling them spanish)

http://www.walkonproject.org/wopeak/en/the-most-important-summit-for-wopeak...

Can't find the name of the commercial expedition.

A few more links but all in Spanish i'm afraid.

http://desnivel.com/expediciones/alberto-inurrategi-juan-vallejo-y-mikel-za...

http://www.elmundo.es/deportes/mas-deporte/2017/07/25/59776313ca474178798b4...

If i have time over the weekend i can translate the El Pais article for you.

In reply to leon 1:

Great! saves me the bother...

In reply to Bob Hughes: De nada hombre

In reply to Bob Hughes:

To play devil's advocate - with no knowledge of the experience level of the guided group, it would potentially be a solo attempt at a rescue.

Imagine having guided a group, and discovering they aren't fit enough or competent enough to do the peak, so you head down. You have the choice of potentially causing a catastrophe of much larger proportions by trying to initiate a rescue with an unprepared, incapable team, or probably losing one member of the team. I can't imagine the guide wanted to leave the individual. Without all sides of the story, I don't want to judge anyone, but an enormous pat on the back and a pint for those Basque mountaineers.

In reply to Goucho:


Maybe, maybe not, depends what you mean by "commercial expeditions".

After years of bashing commercially guided expeditions here on UKC I think it's only right for me to say here that in recent years most of the rescues of 'independent' climbers, mostly on Everest but also other 8000ers, have been done by staff and climbers of commercially guided expeditions. Adventure Consultants helped at least one Indian climber on Dhaulagiri this year and many stricken climbers on Everest have been helped by commercial teams, not even counting it's the commercial teams that fund the putting up of ropes and breaking trail that the 'independent' climbers make use of.

If this Italian bloke was left behind by guides of the company he used, then that is outrageous, but I'm guessing that he was part of a local Pakistani BC-only company where he paid bargain price for basic service, nothing on the hill, climbing in a group of like-minded people he didn't really know. When it works out, it's great. When the shit hits the fan, people die. Individuals like this bloke die quietly and anonymously on 8000ers every year and rarely make the news. One might consider this Italian's G2 operation a 'commercial expedition' but it's certainly not the 'commercially guided expeditions' that make the news on Everest etc.

Top-level alpinists, like Inurateggi and Co, who are awesome, rarely rescue stranded punters on 8000er normal routes because top-level alpinists are rarely on those routes.


Already happened. Mike Matthews on Everest, look it up...

In reply to Damo:


I think it's only fair to point out that some (many?) 'independent' climbers would prefer to climb a mountain unadorned with other people's crap.

In reply to Bob Hughes:

Similar to Joshtee I have a lot of questions before fully lambasting the commercial party (though all the initial signs are that their actions were disgusting).
- Did the commercial party actually have any guides or were they just x number of people sharing the peak/cook/porter fee but actually independent otherwise?
- What was the experience level of the commercials?
- If there were guides with the commercials, how many were present?
- Did other members of the commercial party have injuries/illnesses?
- Why were the commercials unable or unwilling to help/wait at camp I/II?
- Where did the basques meet the commercials? (it sounds like perhaps camp I but I don't think it says anywhere)
- Did they have medicine for cerebral odema? If not, why not? It's a pretty common condition at altitude, wouldnt it be standard in a first aid kit for an 8000m peak? If they did, why didn't they treat the guy?
- How long after the commercials abandoned him did the basques arrive - i.e. how much of the 4 days without food and water were when he was alone?
- If he hadn't been drinking/eating while with other commercials, why hadn't anyone noticed this or taken action until it was too late?
- Could the commercials have left a stove with the abandoned person?

I'm not ready to vilify the commercials till there are a few more facts on the table.

Massive kudos to the basque climbers for their rescue though. I'll bet the inner glow after doing that lasts for weeks

In reply to tehmarks:


No, nice in theory, but not really, not in these cases. These independent climbers wouldn't have a chance of summiting the 8000ers without the bigger commercial teams making and fixing the route - in fact they plan and depend on such teams being on the mountain. Ever tried to climb a 7000+m mountain- let alone an 8000er, with just one or two mates and no one else on the hill? It's bloody hard work and most fail.

In reply to Damo:

I don't doubt that - but I also suspect that the thought of climbing a mountain draped in fixed ropes puts others off. It goes against the entire ethos of why some people climb, and to use it as a defence of a commercial group who are under criticism for abandoning a member who was subsequently rescued by a seemingly strong, capable independent group is nonsense.

But then again, I'm of the opinion that if you're not strong enough to attempt the route without relying on other people doing the hard work, then maybe you should leave it until you are strong enough.

In reply to thread:

I've been doing some hunting about and there's very little context about the commercial group or what happened other than what is already written up in the El Pais article.

Probably worth pointing out that the El Paid description of the group who left the climber behind was "They were members of a commercial expedition – climbers who usually do not know one another, but jointly pay for the permission to go up to the summit, as well as for food services and porters."

Its also worth pointing out that there was some pretty bad weather - that was what stopped the 3 rescuers from successfully linking Gasherbrum I and II.

And, finally, the italian climber who was rescued had previously summitted Cho Oyu and Manaslu and was described in the italian press as a gardener and a builder.