Pat Falvey - The Summit: How Triumph Turned To Tragedy On K2’s Deadliest Days

Pat Falvey Pat Falvey is an Irish adventurer and mountaineer who has led expeditions to many parts of the world, including Everest, Antarctica, Greenland and West Papua New Guinea. He has twice been to each of the highest peaks on the seven continents. An author, motivational speaker and film maker, he is the executive producer of The Summit (Image Now Films and Pat Falvey Productions, 2012) which portrays on screen the story told in this book. Pat lives in County Kerry, near Irelands highest mountain, Carrauntoohil.

Pat is a businessman, author, film maker and professional motivational speaker, who has inspired business and corporate groups around the world on the challenge of change, risk management, and following and achieving their goals.

Further information:
www.patfalvey.com

Pemba Gyalje Sherpa was born in northern Nepal and grew up in the shadow of Mount Everest. His experience as a professional mountain guide has taken him to the Alps and Himalaya, including to the summit of Everest on seven occasions. He is an IVBV/UIAGM/IFMGA-certified mountain guide since 2009 and is an expert in alpine rescue and climbing For the past 13 years he has been a trainer in high-altitude mountaineering He is the current president of the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association (NNMGA). In recognition of his heroism during the K2 tragedy, he was named the National Geographic Best Adventurer of 2008. Pemba lives in Kathmandu with his wife and two children.

First published in 2014 by
Beyond Endurance Publishing
The Mountain Lodge, Beaufort, Killarney, Co. Kerry, Ireland

Tel: +353 64 6644181
www.patfalvey.com
pat@patfalvey.com

ISBN: 978-0-9927125-2-5

Typesetting and design by
Switzer Studios, Co. Kerry, Ireland
www.switzerstudios.ie

2014 Pat Falvey

Front cover image, images for chapters two, five, seven, epilogue image, back endpaper image, back cover images Wilco van Rooijen; front endpaper image, chapter six image Chris Klinke; prologue image Cas van de Gevel; chapter one image McDonnell family; chapter three image Oystein Stangeland; chapter four image Norit expedition.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means photographic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems without the prior permission of the publisher in writing.

To the memory of those adventurers who have lost their lives in the pursuit of their dreams and to the families and friends they have left behind.

Often times, when somebody does lose a life, what went on is held up under the microscope. Some people might say they should have done this and they shouldnt have done that. Just because you survive a mountain doesnt make you an expert; I dont think it gives you any right to say that somebody made a mistake because, when you werent there, you dont know. Only the mountain knows.

Ger McDonnell, mountaineer (1971-2008)
(The Summit / west Limerick Radio)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

There are many people around the world who helped to bring this book from a concept to a reality, and to whom we are extremely grateful.

This book would not have been possible without the heartfelt and honest contributions of many of the climbers on K2 in 2008 and members of their families who were interviewed for the award-winning documentary film, The Summit, and on whose interviews this book is largely based. Their candour and willingness to share their experiences are greatly appreciated thanks to Tsering Bhote, Hoselito Bite, Marco Confortola, Chhiring Dorje Sherpa, Pasang Lama, JJ McDonnell, Eric Meyer, Lars Nessa, Damien OBrien, Cecilie Skog, Annie Starkey, Fredrik Strang, Cas van de Gevel, Wilco van Rooijen, Predrag Zagorac, and Alberto Zerain.

We are deeply grateful to our researchers and compilers, Bridget McAuliffe and Owen OShea, who embraced the project and who worked tirelessly to ensure that as complete an exposition as possible of what happened on the mountain could be presented here. Thanks are due to our book designer, Damien Switzer, for his creativity and energy.

Sincere thanks to all the staff at Image Now films and Pat Falvey Productions including Darrell Kavanagh, Olivia Leahy, Alan Torpey, David Torpey, Betty Baker, Katherine Kennedy, Gabriela Kavanagh, Lorraine Gordon, Niall Foley, Sylwia Cytrynska, Mary Healy, Chris Doona, and also to Ciara Foley for organising travel and flights.

A special thanks to Nick Ryan, director/producer of The Summit, for all his hard work and dedication, for giving his all in the making of the feature documentary and also for his contribution of images for the book.

Thanks to all those who provided photographs, including Mike Farris, Chris Klinke, Marco Confortola, Lars Nessa, Hoselito Bite, Wilco van Rooijen, and the McDonnell family. We are grateful to Mike Farris and Chris Klinke for permission to use the updates from their blogs.

Sincere gratitude to all the McDonnell family and to Ger McDonnells partner, Annie Starkey; to Maarten van Eck of the Norit expedition for providing photographs, written material and comments on the narrative and for providing meteorological data from the Norit expeditions weather forecaster, Ab Maas; to Bjorn Sekkesaeter from the Norwegian team for additional information; to Shaheen Baig from the Serbian expedition who kindly agreed to be interviewed; to Chris Warner, leader of the Shared Summits Expedition to K2 in 2007, for his helpful insights; to Stephen OReilly for his contribution in bringing this project together; to Mick Murphy for his descriptions of Pakistan and the trek to K2 Base Camp; to Vito Missorici for his detailed translations; to Gloria Crispino, Giuliana Natale and Snigdha Dhunge who also assisted with translations; to Ang Rita Sherpa, Dawa Tenjing Sherpa and Sumba Ringi Sherpa for facilitating interviews in Kathmandu.

To the many other friends who read, contributed to and commented on drafts, including Brian and Patrick Falvey, Dr Clare OLeary, Chris Horan, Hlene Philion, Breda Joy, Julie Galvin, Cliona McCarthy, Tina Gates, Johnny Lyons, Gerry Walsh, Joe OLeary and Heather Irwin, our grateful thanks. A special thank you to Michel OConnell, Martin Harvey, Gordon Judge, Tim Falvey, and Martina OSullivan.

Finally, we would like to thank our families and friends for their support while this book was being written.

EXPEDITIONS & CLIMBERS

Norit K2 Dutch International Expedition (Cesen route)

Wilco van Rooijen (leader)

Gerard (Ger) McDonnell

Cas van de Gevel

Pemba Gyalje Sherpa

Court Haegens

Mark Sheen

Jelle Staleman

Norwegian K2 Expedition (Abruzzi route)

Cecilie Skog

Rolf Bae

Lars Nessa

Oystein Stangeland

Roeland van Oss

South Korean Flying Jump Expedition (Abruzzi route)

A team:

Kim Jae-soo(Mr kim,leader)

Hwang Dong-jin (deputy leader)

Park Kyeong-hyo (climbing leader)

Go Mi-sun (Ms Go)

Kim Hyo-gyeong (LittleKim)

Jumik Bhote*

Pasang Lama*

B team: