K2. We left Dassu on May 7. Our approach march took 13 rather than 11 days because of bad weather. We worked in two separate groups. Nicole Niquille, Marcel Rüedi, Norbert Joos and Jacques Grandjean prepared the route on the Abruzzi Ridge, placing Camps I, II and III at 6150, 6800 and 7400 meters. Grandjean had altitude problems and could not go above Camp II. Pierre Morand, Jean Troillet and I worked on a new route on the south face alpine-style after acclimatization to 6400 meters on Broad Peak. The first attempt on the south face reached 6400 meters but we were turned back by bad weather. On the second attempt we got to 6700 meters on the first day where we made a snow cave. The next day we got to 7000 meters but encountered deep snow. Because of avalanche danger, we descended on June 7 in a snowstorm. It snowed for several days. On June 13 Rüedi and Joos left for Camp I. On the 14th Niquille, Troillet and I went to the west side of K2 to see the possibilities on the southwest buttress. That same day Rüedi and Joos radioed from Camp II. The weather turned bad again. We were worried as we had no radio contact with Joos and Rüedi through the 18th. We feared the worst but suddenly at six P.M. on the 19th we received a radio message. They had made it as the first Swiss to the summit. We others decided to try the Abruzzi Ridge. In cloudy weather on June 20 Niquille, Troillet, Morand and I left Base Camp at four A.M. The new snow was already steep at 5700 meters. We got to Camp I at nine A.M. Grandjean had altitude problems and decided that he would descend when we met Rüedi and Joos, but they did not appear. It snowed all night but cleared at dawn. Finally the very exhausted pair appeared. On June 18 they had left Camp IV at 7940 meters for the summit at six A.M., but snow conditions were very bad. They climbed until four P.M. when at 8300 meters they made a snow cave for a bivouac without sleeping bags or stove. They reached the summit the next morning at 10:30. They climbed slowly down to Camp IV for the night. On the 20th Joos had to descend to Camp II on frozen feet and was snowblind; Rüedi had also suffered frostbite. Grandjean escorted them down; Joos had to be carried on the glacier. Three days after they reached Base Camp, they were evacuated by helicopter. We set out and got up to Camp II at noon. In doubtful weather on June 22 we struggled through deep snow to Camp III and the next day plowed to Camp IV. After waiting out a day of storm, we descended to Base Camp. On July 4 Niquille, Troillet, Morand and I left at three A.M., followed an hour later by a four-man French team. On excellent snow we went that same day to Camp II. Perfectly acclimatized, we got there by one P.M. A Japanese team was advancing at the same time, but much more slowly and with more material than I could imagine. At dawn on the 5th we set out on what was the hardest day of the climb because of the long, steep rock section. The snow became very deep. We got to Camp III at eleven A.M. At nine P.M. in the windy night Niquille, Morand, Troillet, Frenchman Eric Escoffier and I left camp but at 7600 meters Nicole Niquille recognized the beginning of a phlebitis and so she turned back. We got to the site of Camp IV at one A.M. but found the camp had been swept away by an avalanche. We couldn’t heat drinks or cook. At dawn we reached a rather steep couloir leading to the “Bottle Col.” The snow became very deep and there were windslabs. It took us five hours to climb the last 400 meters. We descended to Camp III and got to Base Camp on the 7th. But the “Queen of the

Mountains” was to strike again. The day after our victory, one of the Frenchmen, Daniel Lacroix was to disappear at about 8400 meters on the descent.

Erhard Loretan, Club Alpin Suisse