SURVIVORS FROM several separate mountaineering expeditions have spoken about events that led to the loss of 11 lives on K2, the world's second highest mountain, over the weekend.
Wilco van Rooijen, the rescued Dutch leader of the Norit K2 expedition which included Limerick mountaineer Gerard McDonnell, said that he had slept without a sleeping bag, food or water.
Speaking to news agencies from his hospital bed in Skardu, northern Pakistan, he said advance climbers laid ropes in some of the wrong places on the 8,611m peak, including in part a treacherous gully known as as "the Bottleneck".
"We were astonished. We had to move it. That took of course, many, many hours. Some turned back because they did not trust it anymore," said Van Rooijen (40).
After the ice fall, he said he was screaming instructions for people to work together.
"They were thinking of my gas, my rope, whatever," he said. "Actually everybody was fighting for himself . . . People were running down but didn't know where to go, so a lot of people were lost on the mountain on the wrong side, wrong route, and then you have a big problem and then things like that happen," van Rooijen said.
Fredrik Sträng, a well-known Swedish mountaineer, was climbing K2 on Friday when he heard of the avalanche.
At a height of 8,600 metres, he and his team broke off their ascent and went to help a group of stranded climbers. In all, 22 people of varying skill were ascending the peak that day.
"The accident could have been prevented," said Sträng to Swedish television from a camp at 5,100 metres.
Sträng said the mixed weather reports had prompted his own team to proceed cautiously up K2.
When conditions improved on Friday, many others began making the ascent with less caution, he claimed.
"Some arrived at the peak at 8pm. It was already dark and they had to spend the night there," said Sträng.
"I carried both the living and the dead down from the mountain. At one point I was terrified as a Pakistani Sherpa fell on my back with all his weight," said Sträng.
"I was in a panic that he would drag all of us down with him, and screamed for him to use his ice pick, but he lost hold of it and flew off a 300-metre precipice."
Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner, the first man to climb Mount Everest without oxygen, also voiced criticism of the expeditions.
Irish adventurer Pat Falvey has said that such comments are "not helpful" to the bereaved families, and expressed the hope that a full debriefing would take place among all the international teams.
Reports from expedition websites last week, including that of Mr McDonnell, recorded how climbers were waiting for suitable weather and held a joint meeting on July 25th, when it was agreed that expeditions on two separate routes would co-operate in a summit bid on July 31st.
"All weather forecasts jived," Mr McDonnell wrote in his last dispatch on July 25th. "The weather on the 1st of August is, for the most part, equally as good. That'll give the lead party a buffer if there are any delays. The following days appear to be more than adequate for a safe descent . . . Spirits were high. Hopes are high," he wrote, before signing off in Irish.
Many of the climbers on the mountain, such as Mr McDonnell, were Everest summiteers who had made several previous attempts on K2. Less than 200 people have made it to the summit of what is regarded as the world's most dangerous 8,000-metre peak, due to its volatile weather conditions and technically challenging routes at high altitude.
Meanwhile, a close friend of Mr McDonnell's paid tribute to him yesterday. Mick Murphy said: "Ger chose to work in Alaska with a company providing services to the oil industry, because he knew he was near big mountains. He drove a motorbike across north America to get there, and did many routes in Alaska that no other Irish climber has attempted.
"He was a major bodhrán player, took a serious interest in tuvan throat singing, and was personal friends with many Irish musicians," Mr Murphy said.
"When he was up mountains, though, he would talk a lot about his mother, Gertie, and he was always very conscious of any news transmitting back home that might upset her in any way.
"My sympathies go out to his mother and to all his family, because this is a very very sad day for Irish mountaineering," Mr Murphy said. - (additional reporting Reuters)