Alison Hargreaves, six others dead on K2

By Paul Roberts, Outside Online

Alison Hargreaves, Scottish mountaineer and a rising star in the international climbing community, was killed Sunday, August 13, shortly after reaching the summit of Pakistan's K2.

Six other climbers in two separate groups also died Sunday: New Zealander Bruce Grant, Canadian Jeff Lakes, and American Rob Slater, who had been climbing with Hargreaves; as well as three unidentified members of a five-person Spanish team.

New Zealander Peter Hillary, son of Everest pioneer Sir Edmund Hillary and a member of Hargreaves' group, turned back early during the fateful summit bid and survived.

Details of the accident remain sketchy, but according to Scott Fischer, a Seattle-based climber who was leading an expedition up nearby Broad Peak, the victims appear to have succumbed to a combination of bitter cold and "brutal, brutal wind, 100 mph-plus" during a sudden mountain storm.

Fischer, who spoke to Outside Online Wednesday via satellite phone from base camp on the Baltoro Glacier, said that spotters watching the climbers from a lower camp reported seeing at least one unidentified mountaineer fall.

Kevin Cooney, a Boulder, Colorado, climber who arrived with Hargreaves at K2 base camp on June 25 but had to leave on August 6, said several earlier summit bids had been turned back by fierce mountain storms.

"The weather had been very uncooperative all summer," Cooney said in an Wednesday interview from Colorado. "Every time we started to go high on the mountain, a snow storm would force us back down."

Hargreaves, a 33-year-old mother of two, gained recognition two years ago by soloing all the classic north faces of the Alps in a single season--a first for any climber. In May of this year, she became the first woman to solo Mount Everest without oxygen. Tough and energetic, Hargreaves was vying for the title as the first woman to climb the world's three highest peaks--29,026-foot Everest, 28,251-foot K2, and 28,208-foot Kanchenjunga.

Sunday's deaths mark one of the worst seasons on one of the world's most dangerous mountains.

Precisely what happened on August 13 may never be known, but reports from Fischer and Cooney suggest that the tragedy stemmed from a combination of exhaustion, bad weather, and simple bad luck.

Fischer said that early Sunday morning, 10 climbers--Hargreaves, Slater, Grant, Lakes, Hillary, and five Spaniards--left high camp in separate groups. The Spaniards were reportedly attempting the south-spur route, while Hargreaves' group was going up the Abruzzi Ridge. At some point during that day, Lakes and Hillary turned back.

At 6 p.m., base camp received a radio call indicating that Hargreaves, Slater, and Grant had reached the summit. They were not heard from again. Spotters reported an unidentified group of climbers pinned against the mountain side by fierce winds.

One unidentified body was visible through spotting scopes and appeared to have fallen at least 1,500 feet, Fischer said. Cooney said he suspects Hargreaves, Grant, and Slater all may have fallen.

"The fact that they called on from the summit and then no one heard from them again makes me think a fall was involved," Cooney said. "If they had spent the night out and died from exposure, they would have [radioed] at least once."

Of the seven victims, Lakes appears to have come the closest to surviving. According to Fischer, Lakes descended to Camp 4, found it destroyed by the storm, went on to Camp 3, where he climbed into a tent and was buried in an avalanche. Digging himself out, Lake stumbled down to Camp 2, only to die during the night.

Fischer said two Spaniards returned to camp with severe frostbite and reported that they had seen evidence of their three teammates' deaths.

Fischer, who successfully climbed K2 in 1992, said weather conditions in the entire area were "incredibly bad . . . When we were coming off of Broad Peak, the winds were brutal," he said of his own expedition's experience. "And the difference between Broad Peak and K2 is about 3,000 feet--that was the difference between life and death."

Cooney, who arrived back in Colorado in time to assume the unenviable task of informing next-of-kin, said Hargreaves' death was especially tragic because both she and Slater had almost given up and gone home several days before.

"We had been up and down the mountain a bunch of times," Cooney said. "And every time we'd get up to Camp 2 or 3, the mountain would just slam us back down."

After one long storm, Cooney said, Camp 3 was buried beneath seven feet of snow. At another point, he had to dig through four feet of snow on a steep slope to locate a set of fixed ropes. In yet another instance, Cooney said, two members of the Spanish team were buried in their tent, but managed to cut their way out and return to a lower camp. Cooney didn't know whether the two were among those who later died.

By early August, Cooney said, many of the climbers were ready to abandon the climb. "Alison had ordered porters, and they had arrived and were all packed up and then at the last minute, she decided not to go [home]," Cooney said. "She had been ready to come home and see her kids."

Instead, Hargreaves and Slater decided to join the New Zealanders and make one last bid. "I know that Rob and Alison had really wanted to make a summit attempt," Cooney said. "They both had a lot invested in that mountain, emotionally and professionally."

This story prepared by Outside Online