VIDEO | Avalanche on K2 touches the Italian CAI scholars: they rush back to base camp at night
The scholars and researchers working on a project studying the ice of the Karakoram were about 2 kilometers from the point of impact of the avalanche, but their tents were hit by the blast: they immediately evacuated and returned to base camp
ROME – An avalanche that occurred on K2 risked putting in serious danger the Italian scholars who are participating in a mission, coordinated by the CAI, which sees them working within the K2-70 project to study the Karakoram ice for the first time, seeking information on the climate and future of the planet. The work camp and the researchers’ tents were two kilometers from the point of impact of the avalanche, but the effects were still strong: the movement of air and the residues of the glacial material in fact overwhelmed the two tents which hosted the researcher Jacopo Gabrieli, the mountain guide Paolo Conz, the operator Riccardo Selvatico and the three Pakistani high-altitude porters, Muhammad Nazir, Muhammad Sharif and Muhammad Ali, who were preparing for the night. The researchers had positioned the tents in an elevated point, considered safe, but the power unleashed by the avalanche was very strong.
READ ALSO: Mountain, CAI expedition to K2 to study the ice of the Karakoram
THE AVALANCHE
A large summit serac broke away from the eastern side of K2 yesterday evening around 7pm (local time, in Italy it was around 3pm), which fell for over 3000 meters onto the wide Godwin-Austen Glacier. It is right in the center of the Godwin-Austen glacier, at 5600 meters above sea level, that the work camp of the Ice Memory project was located, in which Italian scientists collaborate.
THE CAMP WAS EVACUATED IMMEDIATELY
The group, in agreement with the expedition leader, decided to immediately evacuate the camp returning to base camp, which was reached around midnight strong>. Everyone is fine and will return to the area in the next few days to assess the damage and recover equipment.
The glaciological mission, which is part of the K2-70 project of the Italian Alpine Club, is committed to studying snow and ice in the Karakorum for the first time with the aim of understanding the impacts of climate change on the region and preparing a future Ice Memory mission on the Godwin Glacier- Austen.
THE ICE MEMORY PROJECT
Ice Memory is an international research project recognized by UNESCO with a dual objective: to collect and conserve ice samples taken from glaciers around the world which could disappear or shrink greatly due to global warming.
The ongoing mission on K2 is organized by the Institute of Polar Sciences of the National Research Council and by the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, both co-founding bodies of the Ice Memory Foundation, together with EvK2CNR, with the support of Environmental Protection Agency of Gilgit-Baltistan, Ca’ Foscari University Foundation of Venice, with the contribution of the Italian Alpine Club and the Ministry of University and Research.