I decided to give you some information about Polish K2 winter expedition, which is 4th attempt to climb K2 in winter in history.
14 mountains in the world reach over 8.000 meters. All have been climbed in winter except for K2, despite attempts that began in 1987, 2002 and 2012. Of the 13 mountains over 8.000 meters that have been climbed in the winter, nine were reached by Polish teams and one was reached by a team of Poles and Italians.
K2 is a much more dangerous than Mt. Everest: 84 people have died on the mountain. Only 306 people have ever reached the top, compared to the more than 4.000 that have completed the ascent on Mount Everest.
There have been only 3 serious attempts so far to climb K2 in winter, all failed below 8000 meters due to bad weather. The highest level ever reached is 7.650 meters (by 3 Poles) - their summit attempt was suddenly stopped beacuse of the medical reasons. Two of the Poles (Marcin Kaczkan and Denis Urubko) are members of today's expedition, but the third, Piotr Morawski died in 2009 climbing Dhaulagiri.
Unfortunately himalaism is full of real tragedies. On 5th of March 2013 four Polish climbers reached first time in winter in history Broad Peak (8.051 m.). They left their tents (4th camp, 7.400 m) at 5 a.m. The final 650 m of ascent was challenged after... 12-13 hours, between 5 and 6 p.m. Adam Bielecki reached 4th camp after 4 hours of return, Artur Małek 4 hours later. But the last phone conversation with Maciej Berbeka and Tomek Kowalski in the middle of the night made clear all the drama: they weren't able to make any step. Tomek's body was found by Maciej's brother, Jacek Berbeka in Summer 2013 at the level of c.a. 7900 m. and buried in crevasse. Maciej Berbeka body was never found.
But now an elite team of 13 Polish climbers (including Urubko, Bielecki, Kaczkan, Małek and Krzysztof Wielicki - 5th man in history who reached all higher than 8.000 m. summits) started in January their attempt to make history by summiting K2 in winter.
On 9th of January their reached base camp at c.a. 5000 m. Now they have one of maybe 2 or 3 few days periods in winter when the weather is excellent: at the level of 6000 m. the wind chill temperature is c.a. -40C with the wind of only 30 km/h. They managed to establish the ropes till 6300 m., Denis Urubko will spend today's night at 2nd camp (6.300 m. ), Artur Małek and Marek Chmielarski at 1 st. camp (5.900 m.).
But in the end of the week the weather will be slightly different: at 7000 m the wind chill temperature will be -60/-70C with the wind between 70-90 km/h. So probably other climbers will have to establish 3rd camp (7000 m.) as soon as possible. Later, they probably will have to wait: the wind will be "normal", exceeding 100 km/h - no chances to continue climbing.
Here you have some information in English about expedition and link to the weather foreacast:
http://blogs.dw.com/adventuresports/polish-k2-winter-expedition-a-matter-of-honor/
https://www.mountain-forecast.com/peaks/K2/forecasts/8000
14 mountains in the world reach over 8.000 meters. All have been climbed in winter except for K2, despite attempts that began in 1987, 2002 and 2012. Of the 13 mountains over 8.000 meters that have been climbed in the winter, nine were reached by Polish teams and one was reached by a team of Poles and Italians.
K2 is a much more dangerous than Mt. Everest: 84 people have died on the mountain. Only 306 people have ever reached the top, compared to the more than 4.000 that have completed the ascent on Mount Everest.
There have been only 3 serious attempts so far to climb K2 in winter, all failed below 8000 meters due to bad weather. The highest level ever reached is 7.650 meters (by 3 Poles) - their summit attempt was suddenly stopped beacuse of the medical reasons. Two of the Poles (Marcin Kaczkan and Denis Urubko) are members of today's expedition, but the third, Piotr Morawski died in 2009 climbing Dhaulagiri.
Unfortunately himalaism is full of real tragedies. On 5th of March 2013 four Polish climbers reached first time in winter in history Broad Peak (8.051 m.). They left their tents (4th camp, 7.400 m) at 5 a.m. The final 650 m of ascent was challenged after... 12-13 hours, between 5 and 6 p.m. Adam Bielecki reached 4th camp after 4 hours of return, Artur Małek 4 hours later. But the last phone conversation with Maciej Berbeka and Tomek Kowalski in the middle of the night made clear all the drama: they weren't able to make any step. Tomek's body was found by Maciej's brother, Jacek Berbeka in Summer 2013 at the level of c.a. 7900 m. and buried in crevasse. Maciej Berbeka body was never found.
But now an elite team of 13 Polish climbers (including Urubko, Bielecki, Kaczkan, Małek and Krzysztof Wielicki - 5th man in history who reached all higher than 8.000 m. summits) started in January their attempt to make history by summiting K2 in winter.
On 9th of January their reached base camp at c.a. 5000 m. Now they have one of maybe 2 or 3 few days periods in winter when the weather is excellent: at the level of 6000 m. the wind chill temperature is c.a. -40C with the wind of only 30 km/h. They managed to establish the ropes till 6300 m., Denis Urubko will spend today's night at 2nd camp (6.300 m. ), Artur Małek and Marek Chmielarski at 1 st. camp (5.900 m.).
But in the end of the week the weather will be slightly different: at 7000 m the wind chill temperature will be -60/-70C with the wind between 70-90 km/h. So probably other climbers will have to establish 3rd camp (7000 m.) as soon as possible. Later, they probably will have to wait: the wind will be "normal", exceeding 100 km/h - no chances to continue climbing.
Here you have some information in English about expedition and link to the weather foreacast:
http://blogs.dw.com/adventuresports/polish-k2-winter-expedition-a-matter-of-honor/
https://www.mountain-forecast.com/peaks/K2/forecasts/8000