THE CHILEAN KARAKORAM EXPEDITION, 1979

GASTON OYARZUN

THE FEDERACION DE ANDINISMO DE CHILE, an institution composed of several regional associations and embracing all 58 mountaineering clubs that at present exist in this country, had long considered to send an expedition to the high mountains of Asia. Such plans —and dreams-—did not materialize however until 1979, when permission to visit Pakistan was granted, and an objective we had requested, approved by the government of that country. It was agreed with Pakistani officials that our goal was to be Gasherbrum II (8035 m), located SE. of K2, and that we were to leave the mountain area before the end of June.

A special committee set up by the Federacion had, when permission came, finished all the necessary arrangements and made a final selection of nine climbers, among the many possible candidates that had been considered. In the selection were: Jorge Bassa, 37, our medical doctor, Claudio Galvez, 23, Ruben Lamilla, 45, Claudio Lucero, 45 (deputy leader), Nelson Munoz, 34, Jorge Quinteros, 46, Ivan Vigoroux, 37 and Hector Zuniga, 38. I, 32 years old, was appointed as leader.

The group arrived at Rawalpindi on 4 April and spent there 18 days in different errands. We were also kept there because bad weather prevented any flight to Skardu. Finally, on the 24th, we arrived at Skardu, where it took us two days to hire 130 porters. Our doctor, Jorge Bassa, gave to every one of them a physical check-up; he also, along the way to the mountain, was stopped often to give treatment to different patients. Apparently, this is already a tradition in this arm of Karakoram.

On 27 April we left in nine jeeps. Bad weather made us realize that we could never get to the mountains with all the porters we had hired. We therefore reduced our loads to some 1800 Kg. We had planned to advance some 120 km, but bridges had been destroyed by storm* and we had to take several long detours. Still, the porters performed very well and we kept at all times excellent relations with them.

On 6 May we entered the Baltoro glacier. We kept then only 30 Baltis. Bad weather delayed us and only ten days later we were able to establish our advanced base camp at 5150 m, on the Abruzzi glacier. On 19 May we paid off all our porters and from then on we were all by ourselves. We had agreed that all the work was to be done by us

At the advanced base camp we were still some 30 km from the peak itself. On the 24th we set foot on the southern Gasherbrum glacier.

Then began the hardest part of the expedition. There were 13 km of glacier, well broken with crevasses and surrounded with slopes prone to avalanches. The windblasts of avalanches 5 km away were still felt in our camp and would leave us and our tents covered with powder snow. But the place was most impressive. We often paused to admire the graceful flutings of the lower Gasherbrum peaks to the south. As for our goal, it was a giant mountain of ice, topped by a dark cone, which we named the piramide egipcia (Egyptian pyramid).

On 31 May we were ready to tackle the peak itself. We had by then covered the glacier route with our equipment and supplies and marked the dangerous spots with flags. We divided ourselves into two groups. Bassa, Quinteros and Zuniga stayed in camps between 5000 and 6000 m and the others, in two rope teams, set out for the summit (Lamilla-Lucero-Vigoroux and Galvez-Munoz and I). On 3 June we had barely reached a height over 6000 m, because we had to advance slowly. We decided then to make a reduction of our loads and set out for the summit with as little weight as possible.

Most of the time we were able to work in the mornings only, because in the afternoon weather always became unsettled. We were however full of faith and optimism.

We had to choose a route and we finally took the one opened by the Austrians (1956),¹ although introducing a variant in the final pyramid. Galvez and I went ahead, fixing ropes as we climbed, and the rest followed with loads. In 14 hours we only covered 400 m because of the steepness of the face. On the 6th there was a storm and we had to return to the last camp to spend the night. Exhaustion drove Galvezbuck, he had to descend with Munoz from a height of 6900 m. The remaning four went up again on the following day and we set up our highest camp at 7200 m.

 

A bid for the summit was launched the next day. After long hours of hard work we all reached a height of 7600 m and took there a long rest. We were practically out of food and it was impossible to reach the top that day, as we had hoped.

To me that was the most difficult moment in the entire expedition, because the final decision was left to me. We were at 7600 m, nearly exhausted, with neither food nor liquids, but, on the other hand, only 400 m from the top. It was a matter of spending the night there and attempting the summit the next day, or returning. But returning, we knew it much too well, meant not to be able to climb again, and fail. On 25th the permit for our stay in the mountains would expire and the liaison officer assigned to us had shown himself to be strict regarding timetables. After much thinking, I decided to spend the night there in a bivouac and attempt the summit the following day.

Our situation was exposed. Had there been a storm, results could have been disastrous, since we were only carrying what we had in our packsacks. We did have bad weather and wind. We dug a hole in the snow and put our feet into the sacks. Dressed in our duvets, we huddled against one another and thus settled to spend the night. At 7 p.m. there was snow, which continued for a time, but the wind never stopped. In the morning of the 9th, as soon as it dawned, we began to move, but cold and weak as we were, it took us some time before we could set out for the climb. What bothered us most now was hunger and thirst. One fixed thought however was uppermost in our minds: the sacrifices the Federacion had made in order to field a national expedition to Asia had been indeed tremendous and we could not disappoint those who had done so much.

Around 8 a.m. we began the final climb, now in two rope teams. At a height of 7800 m Vigoroux began to feel much too weak and had to descend, accompanied by Lamilla. Only Lucero and I remained. We went on slowly. By 3 p.m. we were on the final ridge. We knew then that the summit was ours. We had had so far good weather in the morning and in the early afternoon, but by the time we were approaching the summit the wind gained intensity and some snow began to fall. The temperature descended quickly. We pressed on, almost like robots. We arrived at the summit at 6 p.m., with snow and strong winds. All we did on the summit was to embrace, but had no other thoughts than to descend quickly. We took a few pictures but did not film, since our camera seemed to be frozen. We did not spend on the summit more than 15 minutes.

As we descended, the weather improved somewhat, a lucky thing, since we were exhausted and had to climb down carefully. As we went down, the clouds parted and we were now able to see the lower mountains of the immense Karakoram, a wonderful view that had been denied to us from the top.

By 11 p.m. we arrived at our highest camp, where Lamilla and Vigoroux were waiting for us. They thrust into our hands all they had: a cup of coffee without sugar. But we were happy. Only then did we begin to take stock of everything that had happened in the last few days.

The following morning we all descended to the 6000 m high camp, where the others waited for us. We had some minor frostbite in our toes and had our faces crisscrossed by cracks and sores. But we ate well there, so much so indeed that we became sick.

On 10 June we evacuated all our equipment down and once in the base camp, true relaxation overtook us. Our doctor had somehow con cocted a drink with alcohol and other items and we had then our first real celebration. Before us was the march out of those impressive mountains, the trek down river, the arrival at the big cities and the final flight back to Chile. But at that moment, watching the lovely ice peaks of the Karakoram, we could only think about the expedition's achievement. It was our hour of triumph.

 

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