March 18, 2011 – Gasherbrum Dreams Blown Away

Earlier this week, the team of Louis Rousseau (Canada), Gerfried Göschl (Austria), Alex Txikon (Basque) had to abandon their dreams of summiting Gasherbrum I.  The trio managed to climb up to 7050 m where they bivied and waited for better weather from 2:00 am till 9:00 am. Unfortunately, the conditions never improved and strong winds prevented a final summit push. The team had originally planned on climbing and new route on Gasherbrum II, but were forced to retreat when they encountered dangerous climbing conditions on the final 200 m ice wall. When they returned to basecamp, they realized that a window of good weather was moving in and quickly switched their focus to Gasherbrum I. With such talented group of climbers, there is little doubt that team will eventually return Gasherbrum.