Dispatch 34 – Taiwanese Decide to End Expedition

Nick Rice and Little Hussain in Gasherbrum Base Camp with Gasherbrum I’s summit visible in the background
Nick Rice and Little Hussain in Gasherbrum Base Camp with Gasherbrum I’s summit visible in the background

Today, after breakfast, I headed up the glacial moraine to check on the plans of the Taiwanese expedition, as they had ascended to assess conditions higher on the mountain. They apparently found poor snow conditions and decided to officially end their expedition and clean their equipment off of the mountain. One of the members of their expedition graciously offered to bring my Camp II equipment down to Camp I, knowing that I was still nursing injuries sustained on our last acclimatization cycle. The Taiwanese descended down to base camp the same day and I retrieved all of my equipment from Camp I and spent the afternoon drying tents and packing up my high mountain gear. Later in the day, we received word that a Polish climber had descended suffering symptoms of high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) after climbing on Gasherbrum II. Having descended to base camp, his symptoms should hopefully resolve in the night.