Other Sports

Tragedy on K2

November 26th, 2013
by Weeshie Fogarty

 The sport of mountain climbing is one of the most dangerous in the world. K2 known as the savage mountain, situated on the Pakistan/Chinese borders is the second highest mountain on the planet and also the most dangerous to climb. For every three people who have reached the summit one has died trying and it has never been climbed in winter. Over three hundred people have died on this savage mountain. What happened there on the August 1st 2008 at just about 8pm is now the subject of a magnificent new film and book entitled The Summit which has just been released; And two Irishmen one from Limerick and one a Corkman who has been living in Kerry for fifteen years play a huge part in this story of what is one of the most tragic events in the history of mountain climbing

The location for my interview was perfect. Last Tuesday week I sat in the living room of Pat Falvey's home in the shadow of towering Carrauntoohil Mountain. The scene was simply breathtaking. The peaks of Irelands highest mountain was blanketed in the first snows of winter, a truly magnificent sight, and it was the perfect setting to talk to two remarkable men. What they would reveal during our interview would be the gripping story of terrible catastrophe, intense hardship and tragedy previously unheard of on this savage mountain, but most of all a story of sheer heroism where the human spirit was tested to the very limit.

The name Pat Falvey will be well known to many. An Irish adventurer and mountaineer who has led expeditions to many parts of the world, including Everest, Antarctica, Greenland and West Papua New Guinea. He has twice been to each of the highest peaks, on the seven continents. Mighty Everest was conquered twice.  An author, motivational speaker and film maker, he is the executive producer of this stunning new film The Summit which portrays on screen the story told in the book.  A visit to his residence is an unforgettable experience. The walls of his home are adorned with awe-inspiring photographs and memorabilia of his adventures around the world. Behind every picture and object there lies an incredible story. Definitely a narrative for another day. I will accept that generous invitation.

Pemba Gyalige Sherpa was born in northern Nepal and grew up in the shadow of Mount Everest. A tremendously fit forty year old handsome man, his strong firm handshake is the first indication that one is in the company of a exceptional person. Quite, reserved and very courteous he speaks excellent English. Here was a man whose heroism on the most dangerous mountains of the world has earned him the respect of climber's world wide. His experience as a professional mountain guide has taken him to the Alps and Himalayas, including to the summit of Everest on an incredible seven occasions. He is one of a very few highly qualified mountain guides since 2009 and is an expert in alpine rescue and climbing. For the past thirteen years he has been a trainer in high-altitude mountaineering. He is the current president of the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association. In recognition of his heroism during the K2 tragedy, he was named the National Geographic Best Adventurer of 2008 and featured on the cover of that most prestigious publication. Pemba lives in Kathmandu with his wife and two children.

And so it was on August 1, 2008, at just about 8 p.m., a massive serac or ice block, as big as city hall in Cork cleaved from a glacier near the summit of K2, and barreled down a section of the Cesen climbing route called the Bottleneck. In an instant, one climber was dead, key safety lines were swept away, and 17 climbers were trapped above 27,000 feet with little chance of escape. In the days ahead, the disaster on K2 would become one of the deadliest mountaineering incidents in history, leaving 11 victims in its wake. The tragedy would shake modern mountaineering to its core. And it would yield a hero, Pemba Gyalje Sherpa.

Pemba, 34, and three members of his Norit K2 team-leader Wilco van Rooijen, Marco Confortola, and Limerick man Gerard McDonnell-reached the Bottleneck minutes after the serac fell. Rather than face a dangerous descent in total darkness, Pemba's three teammates decided to bivouac for the night. At 27,000 feet the temperatures would reach minus 40ºF. Pemba, a seven-time Everest veteran, knew the dangers of the death zone. He chose instead to descend the Bottleneck alone, without oxygen, picking his way down the 60-degree couloir guided by a single tattered safety line that had survived the avalanche. He reached Camp IV by 1 a.m. His teammates, he assumed, would be down at first light.

By daybreak on August 2, chaos reigned. More than a dozen climbers were missing or dead and the weather had worsened considerably. Van Rooijen had staggered away from the team, desperate to get down by a different route, and soon became hopelessly lost. McDonnell had wandered back uphill, apparently confused. Frostbitten and delirious, Confortola had climbed partway down the Bottleneck, unable to remember how he'd done it. Just before he passed out from altitude sickness, a second avalanche swept toward him carrying McDonnell's mangled corpse.

When Pemba reached Confortola some hours later, the Italian was in bad shape, unconscious and suffering from severe altitude sickness. Somehow Pemba managed to revive him with oxygen and guide him to the base of the Bottleneck. At that moment another slide roared from above, this time carrying the bloodied bodies of two Sherpa's and two Korean climbers. A chunk of falling ice blasted Confortola in the back of the head. Dazed, the Italian began to slip. "I was falling," he told a reporter. "The avalanche would have taken me away. But Pemba grabbed me from behind.

In the weeks after the tragedy, Pemba returned to his Kathmandu home, far from the horrors he'd just witnessed. You'd think that after such an experience, he would never want to climb again, soured forever. But Pemba told me he had no such plans. "I was back in the mountains", he said, "by the time the next season came around". Climbing needs more heroes like him.

Fogra; Pat Falvey and his co-author Pemba Gyalje Sherpa will present a slide show and talk in the Mangerton Suite, Malton Hotel,Killarney on Sunday, 1 December at 8.00pm. At the presentation, Pemba will speak about his experiences on the mountain while Pat will talk about how and why so many climbers lost their lives in modern day mountaineering's single worst tragedy. Definitely not to be missed.


Sections

Search Articles



 
Radio Kerry - The Voice of the Kingdom