Below you'll find a detailed report written by
Chris Warner about the recent events on K2. I
know many of you have wondered how this could
happen, especially to such an experienced and
strong team as Marty and Denali. Chris' words
provides first hand information and I hope
you'll find them as valuable as I did.
I also would like to remind everybody that a memorial
service celebrating the lives of Marty and
Denali will be held at Bear Valley Lodge on
Sunday
August 11th at 2 p.m.
Denali's family is asking for everyone who would
like to, to contribute a story, memory, or
thought about one or both of them. Photos,
links, and videos are also welcome. What is
contributed by
Friday,
August 9th will be on display at the
service. Everything will be immortalized in a
collection that will be made available to Denali
and Marty’s family, friends and anyone
interested in celebrating and remembering their
special lives. Please email all contributions to
Larisa at:
denalimarty@gmail.com.
Larisa and friends will also be creating a
slideshow for both Marty and Denali so please
send any photos you would like to be included.
Take care,
Daan
Photo: Marty and Denali
Dear
family and friends,
I write to you so you may have a better
understanding of what happened here in
Pakistan with Marty and Denali rather than
hearing stories through the media and the
hearsay of others. Most of you would have
known them better than I did. I first met
Marty in 2004 on Cho Oyu and Denali I met on
this trip. Expeditions are intense little
periods of living together and we learn a lot
about others as well as ourselves. In my 18
years of climbing this is the most tragic of
accidents I have personally experienced.
We were a small team of 3 with the idea of
climbing Broad Peak and then an alpine style
ascent of K2, this was my second attempt on
K2. Broad Peak was the mountain we would
acclimatise on and get us prepared as a team
for K2. We had a very comfortable and straight
forward ascent of this mountain and summited
it within 3 weeks of arriving. Both Marty and
Denali were climbing strong on the mountain
with Denali showing all the talent of his
father, he had his fathers legs, lungs and
heart. It was inspiring to watch a 8000m
novice climb with such ease.
They
were both very much liked in base camp and
their characters both showed true with the two
following incidences.
A few days before our summit bid on Broad Peak
a German woman died on another team and both
Marty and Denali volunteered to climb to camp
2 and retrieve equipment for the other members
as they were now canceling their expedition.
They both carried about 30kg down each of
other people's gear. A massive effort for the
the benefit of others just a few days before
our summit bid.
Then
later after our summit we moved up the glacier
1 hours walk to K2 base camp. Just on arriving
there we heard that an Iranian expedition had
3 members missing near he summit, we had
camped with them at camp 3 and watched them
climb up their new route. So on the motivation
of Marty we packed our rucksacks and headed
back down to Broad Peak and started climbing
up the mountain again to look for them at the
col. The rescue attempt sadly was soon
called off as we had misinformation about
where the 3 were and the possibility of
finding them now without danger to our lives
was too great. They were somewhere around
7600m on a new route and had been lost for
about 4 days already. So we descended
the mountain once again and returned to K2
base camp.
Now
we concentrated on our push for the summit of
K2 and had a good weather window coming with
an idea to summit on the 28 of July. Most all
the other teams in base camp were also going
for this summit window. We could then all
share the work of getting to camp 4 and then
again to the summit with carrying rope and
breaking trail in the snow.
We left for camp 2 direct on the 25th July
reaching there just after midday. We were
carrying 260m of rope for fixing the bottle
neck and were packed for a single push to the
summit, just 4 days food and one tent that we
would move up as we climbed. We all felt
strong, healthy and acclimatised.
That evening as we sat cooking and resting in
our tent we heard word that the Sherpa's from
other teams had failed to make camp 3 by only
a few 100 metres. This was due to the snow
conditions and took a long 9 hour day from
camp 2. They were carrying a deposit of
equipment for their teams (mostly oxygen) and
then returning to camp 2 that same day to then
continue back up on our same schedule. It had
been snowing lightly all afternoon and we got
different reports of snow being 6ft deep,
chest deep and waist deep. The Sherpa's had
tried to push through the snow but after small
sluffs coming down on them and one Sherpa
sliding down 10m they decided that it was to
dangerous. All this snow sitting on a 30
degree slope of curving blue ice.
Before
we new it many teams started descending past
our tent canceling their summit bid and
expedition all together. We had only just got
on the mountain and everyone was bailing with
very little discussion. Our shared manpower
and rope was quickly going down the mountain,
all three of us surprised.
Marty was encouraging people to stay and wait
at camp 2. To let the snow settle. Some agreed
but they decended anyway. That night we
decided that we all would go up and just see
how conditions really were. It was good
fitness and acclimatization and we can make a
deposit and try again in a few weeks if need
be.
By morning I had changed my mind. It had
snowed lightly most of the night, and everyone
else was descending so I didn't believe that
the three of us could make trail to the summit
in such snow. I felt it was better to simply
descend and rest, then wait for the next
weather window rather than push into new snow.
Marty and Denali didn't flinch, they said ok
to my decision and were adamant about
continuing up. We sorted the gear again as
they were going lighter in loads, reducing the
food to two days but taking some extra screws,
stakes and only 60m of 7mm rope. Both Marty
and Denali were in the same frame of mind. One
did not convince the other to go up, they were
both motivated and prepared to assess the
conditions and turn around if need be. So at
around 9am on
the 26th I swallowed my ego and
descended from camp 2 feeling that I had blown
my summit chance as these two were heading to
the top.
I arrived back at base camp that day and
waited eagerly for their 6pm radio
call. By 6.45 they radioed in, they had taken
9 hours to reach camp 3. Marty was brief, he
said it had been a hard day, that it was very
windy with spindrift and that they were cold.
He congratulated Denali as he had broken trail
to camp 3 pushing through waist deep snow to
7200m. I asked what their plans were for the
next day and he replied that he was unsure and
that he would let me know in the morning with
the 8am radio
call. From base camp we could see the wind
blowing at camp 3 and the spindrift coming off
the shoulder. My feeling was that they would
descend the next day.
Base camp was now getting divided as they had
made camp 3 and some climbers were trying to
rally a group to head back up and summit on
the 1 August but this met with mixed feelings.
In the morning of the 27th of July several
climbers came into our camp to hear Marty's
decision, but 8am came
and went with nothing. Why hadn't he called?
Marty is very good with radio calls and rarely
late (except for last night). So we waited,
and before long in was 12
noon the next radio call but still
nothing. Had he run out of battery? Dropped
the radio, his pack? We're they decending?
Concern came over base camp but to early to
think a problem....? 6pm came
and still nothing on the radio. We all new
they were strong, capable and not the type to
make bad decisions, they are going to walk
into base camp any moment...we all went to bed
worried and I slept with my radio on hoping.
The next day about 6 Sherpa's and some
Pakistani high altitude porters were heading
up to camp 1 and 2 to get equipment and bring
it down. Getting to camp 2 was no worry in the
current snow conditions and it had only been
snowing higher up. Two Sherpa's Mingma and
Norbu were heading up to a deposit halfway
between camp 2 and 3 to retrieve an oxygen
mask and a few other things. So I talked with
their leader and convinced them to continue
all the way to camp 3. They had been part of
the group that had turned around several days
before. There was now many climbers low
on the mountain keeping a lookout for Marty
and Denali. If they were moving they would be
found.
The
Sherpa's climbed very quickly and by about 6.30pm Mingma
had reached camp 3 that same day from base
camp. He radioed into his leader Lakpa and
said that there had been a very large
avalanche with a scar about 400m wide. He
found a BD axe and BD crampons that matched
the type both Marty and Denali had been using.
There was no sign of them or their tent.
Mingma said he felt scared with the conditions
and it was getting dark. He took a few
pictures and started descending.
This confirmed our fears that there had been
an avalanche at camp 3 a well known camp for
avalanche. I believe that they would have been
in their tent asleep when it happened. The
fact that they did not have their crampons on
suggests this and makes sense why they didn't
make the 8am radio
call which I would have expected to be done
from inside their tent.
When Mingma returned the next day I talked
with him some more and saw the pictures
confirming the axes and crampons as those of
Marty and Denali. It looked more like they
were buried in their tent than swept down the
mountain. Their death was truly a shock
to the camp. So liked and so well regarded.
A
few days later I made a plaque and we had a
gathering at the Gilky memorial just near K2
base camp. A touching afternoon as all the
climbers came to pay respect.
For
days I still felt that the two of them would
walk into camp, it just seemed so unreal that
they had gone. I packed their belongings and
the next day I walked out with the Greek
expedition who we all spent a lot of time
with. It was only then that it really began to
sink in that they had both gone. The emotions
filling my body the reality taking hold, I
stared a long time at that mountain. Marty and
Denali resting high on the ridge.
It
was wonderful to be able to share time with
them both in the mountains. To experience and
be part of such a beautiful relationship,
father and son.
Sincerely,
Chris
Warner
"DENALI"
- Mount McKinley, Alaska -
20,320 feet