Winter Climb Update: Summit Bid Off For Now

It isn't often that I publish two updates on the same expedition in the same day, but I feel that it it warranted in this case. Earlier I posted a story about the on going efforts of climbers to make the first successful winter climb on Gasherbrum I and how both the Polish team and Alex Txikon and Carlos Suarez were in the midst of a summit bid. Now, according to this story from ExWeb, both teams have retreated and are safely back in Base Camp, where they will decide on what to do next.

As I mentioned in the earlier post, a weather window was expected to arrive on GI starting tomorrow, and the climbers hoped to take advantage of it and move up to the summit. But apparently the winds didn't die down as expected, and the teams were caught out in a maelstrom. The Poles were on their way up to Camp 3 when they decided it was too dangerous, while the other climbers were headed towards C2 at the time.

The question now is, what happens next. According to ExWeb, the teams will decide their respective fates tomorrow, and I suspect the weather forecast will be a major contributing factor. If another window is on the horizon, they may give it one more go. But if the weather is expected to remain bad, I'm guessing you'll see them coming home. After two months on the mountain, they are surely exhausted and out of patience.

I'll post an update on their decision when we get one, but for now it seems they're huddling up in BC and attempting to figure out if they have any strength, or desire, for another round with the mountain.