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Re: Alan Arnette on K2
lynn-a-roo #39062 07/27/14 02:24 AM
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What a way to spend your 58th birthday! In Alan's audio dispatch from the summit he said climbing the Bottleneck was the scariest thing he's ever done in his adventure-filled life. We may hear an update later that downclimbing the Bottleneck takes over first place.

Congrats to Alan and the team and hoping for a safe descent.

Re: Alan Arnette on K2
Bulldog34 #39063 07/27/14 06:07 AM
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Well done! Hope everything goes well for the rest of the expedition.

John

Re: Alan Arnette on K2
catpappy #39065 07/27/14 10:04 AM
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Alan's SPOT a while ago said he was "in camp with no major issues." Presumably that means he gets to keep all his fingers and toes.

Nicely done!

Re: Alan Arnette on K2
Bulldog34 #39093 07/28/14 12:08 PM
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Now that they are safe back at lower altitude, some K2 quotes will tell us how they feel. First from 1953, then 1978


We felt like swimmers from a capsized boat who had just completed the long swim ashore. Merely being there was unspeakable luxury.
Robert Bates, in Houston and Bates
K2 the Savage Mountain, p 253

Other than rest, and a fuzzy hope to be soon off then mountain --to be safe in Base Camp with this ordeal behind me --hot liquid was the only desire left in me.
Rick Ridgeway, The Last Step, p 274

Re: Alan Arnette on K2
Bulldog34 #39103 07/28/14 04:22 PM
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Gary, Alan is a Ft Collins CO resident and thus we get quite a bit of coverage in the local papers about his exploits.

Re: Alan Arnette on K2
CMC2 #39106 07/28/14 06:27 PM
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Originally Posted By: CMC2
Gary, Alan is a Ft Collins CO resident and thus we get quite a bit of coverage in the local papers about his exploits.


Yeah, Ernie - I've had to go to The Coloradoan online several times in the past few weeks for updates. Seemed to be the only media source that was following him daily.

Alan reported today that he suffered from HAPE onset during the final ascent, and that all he could think about on the way to the summit was having to downclimb the bottleneck. Apparently they had to take an even more dangerous variation of the bottleneck due to rock avalanches. The edema seems to have cleared up once back in a doctor's hands at a low camp. Now it's all about the long trek out and getting home to Ft. Collins.

The Seven Summits and K2 while in your mid- to late-fifties. Annapurna at 60?

Re: Alan Arnette on K2
Bulldog34 #39171 07/29/14 05:02 PM
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Really cool fact is: Alan Arnette is the oldest American to summit K2 according to the attached article:

http://www.coloradoan.com/story/sports/2014/07/27/fort-collins-alan-arnette-summits-k/13235175/


Lynnaroo
Re: Alan Arnette on K2
lynn-a-roo #39174 07/29/14 05:19 PM
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Originally Posted By: lynn-a-roo
Really cool fact is: Alan Arnette is the oldest American to summit K2 according to the attached article:

http://www.coloradoan.com/story/sports/2014/07/27/fort-collins-alan-arnette-summits-k/13235175/


And only the sixteenth American. His expedition team members became nos. 17 & 18. The first ascent of K2 was in 1954 (Italian expedition, pre-Messner). It wasn't successfully climbed again for another 23 years (by the Japanese), which says everything about this mountain worth saying. The 3rd successful ascent was by the American team led by Jim Whittaker the following year, 1978. There were 4 Americans in that summit group, so in the 36 intervening years only 11 other Americans have stood on the summit of K2.

That's just a pause-and-wow stat. And at 58. Kudos. Lots'a kudos.

Re: Alan Arnette on K2
Bulldog34 #40175 09/09/14 04:22 PM
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Alan has finally finished documenting his K2 climb in detail on his blog site. It's a very fine read, but the last chapter he just posted - Descending Is the Real Climb - is some of the most riveting first-person stuff you'll ever read on extreme mountaineering.

A brutally painful chronicle of why a summit is really only halfway.

Re: Alan Arnette on K2
Bulldog34 #40179 09/09/14 05:15 PM
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Originally Posted By: Bulldog34
A brutally painful chronicle of why a summit is really only halfway.


Here is what the first American woman to summit Everest said about that:

Celebrating seemed a bit premature, considering how easy it would be to die on the way down.
Stacy Allison, Beyond the Limits, page 252


and from K2, the famous Polish female climber:

I didn't know in the sunshine that death was following us down
Wanda Rutkiewicz, in
Jim Curran, K2: The Story of the Savage Mountain.

Re: Alan Arnette on K2
Harvey Lankford #40196 09/10/14 06:49 AM
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I couldn't stop reading his epic descent. Riveting is an understatement. It's fascinating when people with so much life in them get to a point where they let go of it all. And then some little thing sparks them back up. The will to live dangling in the balance.

On a lighter note, has anyone ever seen the K2 film "Vertical Limit". It's got to be the cheeziest mountain climbing movie of all time. I survived the movie once in a theatre, and stumbled on it recently on cable, but I couldn't take it for more than 5 minutes as a rerun. I'm probably insulting someone out there who liked it, but it strikes me as a silly waste of electricity. The cinematography is great, and the beginning scene with the dad and kids climbing is pretty good, but it's just a good hook that quickly lets go and deteriorates into a crazy plot, bad acting, and laughable special effects.

Congrats to Alan. Amazing person. I'll be reading more of his blog. Thanks Bulldog and other for posting these links.

Last edited by SierraNevada; 09/10/14 06:59 AM.
Re: Alan Arnette on K2
SierraNevada #40200 09/10/14 09:28 AM
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SN, I actually watched VL on Netflix a few weeks ago - or tried to. Like you said, the cinematography was nice, but the plot was just zero-stars awful. Helicopter heaven at base camp and everyone carries multiple syringes of injectable Dex. Oh, and let's all haul a few pounds of highly unstable nitro-glycerine up the mountain . . .

I was disappointed Ed Viesturs agreed to appear in such a shabby production. I'd much rather read about a legit ordeal such as Alan's than waste my time on a flick like VL.

Re: Alan Arnette on K2
Harvey Lankford #40202 09/10/14 09:33 AM
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Originally Posted By: Harvey Lankford
Originally Posted By: Bulldog34
A brutally painful chronicle of why a summit is really only halfway.


Here is what the first American woman to summit Everest said about that:

Celebrating seemed a bit premature, considering how easy it would be to die on the way down.
Stacy Allison, Beyond the Limits, page 252


Harvey, that one definitely goes in the Memorable Quote category!

Re: Alan Arnette on K2
Bulldog34 #40248 09/14/14 11:09 AM
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Really appreciate your sharing this. Incredible read.

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