Nat Geo-K2

This months edition of Nat Geo mag has a lengthy article about Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner's ascent of K2 with no O's.
Danger and Desire on the Savage Mountain!
Pics are good and I have not read the entire article but what I covered, I like.
Wild woman!

K2 is normally done without bottled oxygen. Either way, it is significantly harder and more dangerous than Everest.

Doug

Thanks for the mention of that k2 ascent Maddy. Amazing article,this woman kicks butt like a superhero.No supplemental oxygen either.The pictures in this months edition[actual mag.] are amazing.The article casually mentions there was a lot more vert then expected going up the north ridge.

DougPaul said:

K2 is normally done without bottled oxygen. Either way, it is significantly harder and more dangerous than Everest.

Doug

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I think she is the first woman to do it with no O's.
So many have lost their lives on K2. Julie Tullis, one of my favorites.
It's wonderful to read a success story. Very motivational to.

First woman w/o O2, only woman to do all 14 8000-meter peaks w/o O2, second woman to do them all.

AND, she did K2 the hard way (north ridge). An excellent article with great photographs.

Tim

bikehikeskifish said:

First woman w/o O2,

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If you mean she was the first woman to climb K2 without oxygen, there were at least 7 who preceded her; Wanda Rutkiewicz who was the first woman to climb K2 in 1986, did so without oxygen as did Liliane Barrard, who was a couple hours behind Wanda. Julie Tullis also summited without oxygen during that summer, though neither she nor Ms Barrard lived through the descent. Chantal Mauduit summited in 1992 without oxygen and lived through the descent though died later on Dhaulagiri. Alison Hargreaves also topped out in 1995 though died on the descent. Edurne Pasaban in 2004 and Nives Meroi in 2006 also did so without oxygen.

JohnL

Wasn't there a woman from the August 08 incident that topped out without O2? I seem to recall reading that in Ed Veisturs book on K2. I could be dreaming this up. Might be time to give that book another read.

JacobH said:

Wasn't there a woman from the August 08 incident that topped out without O2? I seem to recall reading that in Ed Veisturs book on K2. I could be dreaming this up. Might be time to give that book another read.

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Dont think she made it back alive, or she didnt make it all the way to the top cant remember I read the book you speak of but its been a while

Perhaps I misread/misremember the article, my bad. I returned the issue to the library so I cannot check it. Wikipedia does say she was the first to do all 14 8000m w/o O2 (and second ever), that I can check.

Tim

freighttrain48 said:

Dont think she made it back alive, or she didnt make it all the way to the top cant remember I read the book you speak of but its been a while

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You are most likely right.

Found this link to an interactive map of the north ridge route taken by Kaltenbrunner on the Nat Geo website:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/04/k2/interactive-map

edit: Speaking of Nat Geo, has anyone used their trail map app or national park app? Worth the 3 bucks (I use their $12 waterproof maps and I love them)

Yeah, but she still hasn't done the 48. Or Britton Hill.

Puma concolor said:

Yeah, but she still hasn't done the 48. Or Britton Hill.

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my goal is to be the first person to climb the 48 4ks with suplemental oxygen

Here's a link to the full article:

Danger and Desire on the Savage Mountain

Try this:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/04/k2/interactive-map