No Way down: Life and Death on K2, Bowley - B+

                      On August 1, 2008, twenty-nine individuals from eight different teams began the ascent to the summit of K-2. Only 17 would survive. The 4th camp from which they departed was only 2,000 feet from the top of the second highest mountain in the world. It was the "mountaineers mountain, 522 miles further north, colder, steeper, and deadlier than Everest." 

                     "The Karakoram range is part of the western Himalayas and extends from the watershed between the Indian subcontinent and the deserts of Central Asia." On August 1, the climbers were going very slowly up the Bottleneck, and it was evident to many in the camp that they were not going to make it up and down. After the Bottleneck, climbers had to cross the Traverse and then climb the overhanging glacier known as a Serac. The first casualty at 10:30 was a Serb who had fallen about 700 feet to his death. His colleagues stopped, turned, and started to take his body down. A Sherpa who was helping but suffering from altitude sickness fell to his death during the descent. At 3pm, only one climber was on the Serac, and he was urging the rest to quicken their pace. Once on the Serac, the climbing was easier, only 30 degrees steep but with deeper snow. The sole Basque, the only one not part of a national team, reached the summit. At 5:30, two Norwegians reached the summit. A handful of South Koreans and Dutchmen  joined them. More and more climbers achieved the summit.  The Sherpas encouraged them to leave. The last group to depart were the Dutch at 8 pm. 

                   The first safely down was the sole Basque climber. While the four Norwegians were descending the Traverse, there was a violent shaking of the ice and one of them fell to his death. His wife, the only European woman on the mountain and one of the summiteers, screamed his name as she looked for him in the darkness. At 10:30, one of the men on the Traverse radioed Camp Four that the ice slide had severed the ropes, and they were going to have to descend without them. At 1 am, the most senior Frenchman quietly fell to his death. At 3 am, an Italian and two members of the Dutch team halted, waited and began to descend when light appeared on the horizon. However, morning brought a whiteout to the mountain. As they descended, they saw three men, a Sherpa and two Koreans hanging from ropes, alive, but barely. One member of the Dutch team, an Irishman, was killed in an avalanche. A second avalanche took the lives of the Sherpa and two South Koreans who had survived the night hanging in their ropes.

                    The survivors at Camp Four had to descend in order to survive. At 26,000 feet, the camp was dangerously high and they had been there for days.  There would eventually be eleven dead, but at the Base Camp there was still uncertainty about who was alive and who was dead. By Saturday, there was only one person alive on the mountain, a Dutchman who had called Holland and told his wife he couldn't see and didn't know where he was. The Dutch were able to ascertain his location with the help of the satellite phone company and sent two men after him. But he would have to survive another night on the mountain. He was rescued on Sunday morning. Those in need of medical help were helicoptered out of the valley. The names of the dead were entered on the memorial at the Base Camp. Thanks to Marcella for her continual editing, and for recommending this excellent book.

                    The Dead - Dren Mandir- Serbia, Jahan Baig - Nepal, Rolf Bae - Norway, Hughes d'Aubardede - France, Karim Meherban - Nepal, Gerard McDonnell - Ireland, Jumik and Pasang Bhote - Nepal, Park Kyeong-hyo, Kim Hyo-gyeong and Hwang Dong jin - South Korea.