K2_ Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain - Ed Viesturs [82]
At the moment, sorting out the blunders that had led to the stripping of the camps was of secondary importance. The critical task the men at base camp now faced was to rescue Dudley Wolfe.
It seems almost beyond belief that after what could easily have been a fatal descent, having frostnipped his toes and completely exhausted himself, and having seen his logistical pyramid utterly wrecked, Wiessner still thought there was a chance to go for the summit. But on July 24, the very day he got back to base camp, he wrote in his diary, “The mountain is far away…. The weather is the best we have had so far. Will it be possible for me to go up after a short rest with some Sherpas and Jack, if he is in shape, to pick up Dudley and then call on the summit?”
On the one hand, you could call this determination the hallmark of a great mountaineer. Getting up K2 meant almost as much to Wiessner as life itself—as climbing the Matterhorn had to Whymper, or Everest to Mallory. On the other hand, you could call it denial. Wiessner had come so close to the summit on July 19 that perhaps he could not accept the fact that it was now eternally beyond his grasp.
It’s also surprising that at this point, while trying to recuperate at base camp, Wiessner told Cromwell to go ahead and start for Askole with most of the porters. Granted, the deputy leader had proved himself useless on the mountain. But faced with the uncertainty of the rescue, didn’t the team need every able-bodied climber it had to offer whatever support it could? If Wolfe got down the mountain in a crippled state and had to be carried down the Baltoro by litter, the team could have used all the porters available to take turns performing this desperate evacuation.
It may be that Wiessner was so angry with Cromwell, he just didn’t want the man around. And as if to punish him for his “invented” avalanche story, Wiessner also ordered Tendrup to hike out with the porters, further humiliating him among his brethren. Wiessner kept the rest of the Sherpa at base camp.
On July 25, Durrance, Phinsoo, Dawa Thondup, and Pasang Kitar started up the mountain, hoping to reach Camp VII and find Wolfe still alive. The four men climbed to Camp II the first day, to Camp IV the second. By then, however, Dawa had developed a painfully sore throat, and Durrance felt his altitude problems recurring. Both men decided they could not go above IV. Durrance asked the other two Sherpa to push on. Phinsoo was willing, but Kitar balked, believing (quite reasonably) that two slightly built Sherpa could not safely shepherd a possibly stricken man as big as Wolfe down the Abruzzi Ridge. Instead, Durrance asked Phinsoo and Kitar to stay in Camp IV and await reinforcements. In his diary on July 27, plucking at desperate straws, he wrote, “I decided to return to base camp at once with Dawa & get Fritz & Pasang Kikuli to go to the rescue.”
Upon the disheartening return of Durrance and Dawa to base camp, Wiessner prepared to head up the mountain himself. But his frostnipped toes and sore throat had troubled him so much that he had slept very little, and that day he was able to climb only a short distance above base camp before he realized that he was too debilitated to make another effort to go up the Abruzzi Ridge. At this point, the sirdar showed true heroism. As Wiessner wrote in his diary,
Pasang Kikuli seem[s] to feel in good shape and his toes seem improved. He tells me very resolutely that there would be no need for me in my bad condition to go up, he would be perfectly able to handle the situation…. Good luck for me to have a man like Pasang left, he is dependable and always does what he plans, I could not do it better.
Early on July 28, Kikuli and