Monday, August 02, 2004
Hi Tim,
I'm sure you are right about skill and conditioning really being the reasons people get to the top of K2. But it seems as if there is a lot of bad weather - which can defeat even the best prepared. It seems like that is the case for Annapurna as well. And avalanches seem to be treacherous on both -so a heavy snow year seems to put the summit out of reach. It seems to me that very few well prepared folks come back from Everest defeated by the weather - except in the fall. In the years that I have been observing the Everest spring season, it seems as if almost everyone one gets a decent shot at the summit if they can stick around through the end of May. But admittedly that is a very superficial analysis by an armchair climber. :-)
Best regards,
Rose
I'm sure you are right about skill and conditioning really being the reasons people get to the top of K2. But it seems as if there is a lot of bad weather - which can defeat even the best prepared. It seems like that is the case for Annapurna as well. And avalanches seem to be treacherous on both -so a heavy snow year seems to put the summit out of reach. It seems to me that very few well prepared folks come back from Everest defeated by the weather - except in the fall. In the years that I have been observing the Everest spring season, it seems as if almost everyone one gets a decent shot at the summit if they can stick around through the end of May. But admittedly that is a very superficial analysis by an armchair climber. :-)
Best regards,
Rose
