The Endless Knot: K2 Mountain of Dreams and Destiny (The Kurt Diemberger Omnibus) by Kurt Diemberger

Author:Kurt Diemberger
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Vertebrate Publishing
Published: 2014-08-28T23:00:00+00:00

THE KEY FACTOR – A TENT

Looking back on the whole matter of the tents after the event I reached the following view of what happened:

Somehow, somewhere, there must have been a misunderstanding or a breakdown of logic in the Austrian-Korean agreement: it is a fact that on 1 August the three-man Austrian summit team were not the only ones climbing up to Camp 4; three of the Koreans’ high-altitude porters also went up but returned to Camp 3 the same day. On 2 August two of the Koreans’ porters climbed again to Camp 4; with them went the three-man Korean summit team, as well as one or two other Koreans. That all these people only carried one single three-man tent to Camp 4 seems to me remarkably under-prepared. In my opinion it was a tactical error which could perhaps be excused as an oversight of the moment, and which I feel sure had its roots in the sudden and amazing entry of the Austrians onto the Korean scene. Even if you start from the premise that the Korean mountaineers carried only personal gear up to Camp 4, that still leaves the load capacity of five porters as well as the carrying potential of the three Austrians. After all, it was they who had made the offer of carrying the Korean tent from Camp 3 to the site of Camp 4! The load comprising the ropes for fixing would have been managed by one porter, and the total of four oxygen bottles by two more. But even if you make some allowance for the weight of gas and provisions, I cannot believe that it was not possible to carry up a second tent – at least on the following day. With that array of people, I had taken it for granted that is what would have happened and it was only the evidence of my own eyes on the Shoulder of K2 that taught me differently. It seems to me that the Koreans’ strategy was simply confined within the limitations of their own summit attack – and would have worked perfectly, as such, with only the one tent, had they not become involved with the Austrians. Their comradely help towards the latter really demanded an enlargement of the capacity of Camp 4 – either they did not realize that, or it was not possible.

The Austrians on the other hand were not just receivers of comradely help: they probably broke the majority of the trail from Camp 3 to the Shoulder. And the fixing of several Korean ropes below the ice balcony on the summit pyramid was doubtless very valuable. Neither of the two parties, however, can have done a calculation of the time involved, or, if they did, it was unrealistic. For the whole arrangement to have worked with the presence of only one Korean tent at Camp 4 at 8,000 metres, the three Austrians would have needed, on a single day, first to attach the fixed ropes, second to reach

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