Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2's Deadliest Day (35 page)

   of Pasang, 179, 180

smallpox, 83

smog, 21

sniff test, 85

Snow Dome, 121, 147, 156, 164, 165, 180, 183, 189, 197–98, 252
n

snow leopards, 15, 86

socks, 146, 222

solar eclipse, 154, 251
n

Solukhumbu region, 68, 103

sonam
(Buddhist concept of virtue), 174

South Col, 25

Southeast Asia, 12

   
see also
specific places

South Korean K2 Abruzzi Spur Flying Jump, 2–7, 60–63, 115, 129, 143–46, 148, 156–60

   at Base Camp, 104–5, 106

   descent of, 163–65

   evacuation of, 210, 211, 256
n

   gear of deceased and, 209

   Jumik tangled in ropes and tied to Korean clients,
162,
167–68, 189–90, 193–98, 252
n,
254
n

   Lahmu’s donation from, 221

   late return of, 185–88

   Manaslu and, 220–21, 228–29

   Pasang Lama’s joining of, 60–63

   provisions of, 96, 126–27

   rope fixing and, 122

   selection of name for, 62

   sex and, 99

   
see also
K2, 2008 disaster on

South Pole, 38, 114, 126

spies:

   British, 81–84

   Indian, 51

   Russian, 83

sponsorship, 41, 43, 45, 60–61, 101, 105, 119, 221, 222, 228

   K2 summit and, 159–60, 180

squirrels, whistling ground, 79

Staleman, Jelle, 141

stealing:

   in caravan raids, 81, 82

   by Pasang Lama, 59–60

   of rosary, 126

Steamboat Springs, Colo., 45–47

steroids, 139, 140, 166

storms, 19, 24, 30–31, 35, 36, 113, 115

   charity supplies and, 100

   Hoselito’s tent destroyed by,
120,
140–41

stoves, 180, 181, 182, 228, 253
n

Sträng, Fredrik, 130–31, 143, 151–54

   tape of, 154

   on value of summits, 160

strikes, 71, 72, 100

strokes, 117

summits:

   cost of, 160

   late, 155, 251
n
–52
n

   of Lhotse, 229–30

   of Makalu, 229

   value of, 160

   
see also
K2 summit

sun, 148–49, 154, 155, 158

sunbathing, 34, 240
n

Surah Ikhlas, 226

Surendra, King of Nepal, 52

surfers, 200

surgical masks, 21

Surra, 69

Swedish clients, 228, 229

Switzerland, 224

Szundy, Matt, 196

Tajikistan,
xiv,
10,
78

Takar Dolsangma (goddess of K2), 2, 3, 129, 144, 149, 173, 203, 210

   Chhiring’s consulting on, 103–4

   Chhiring’s offerings to, 104, 124, 155

   Dren’s fall and, 150

   legend of, 16, 238
n

   Pasang and, 106

   reincarnation and, 174

   Wiessner’s attempt and, 33–34, 239
n,
240
n

Takeuchi, Hirotaka, 88

tattoos, 113

tea party, 217–19, 257
n

teashops, 26–27

technology, 41–42

television, 40, 74, 211, 257
n

tents, 35, 36, 83, 136

   at Abruzzi Camp 2, 131, 132

   at Camp 4, 142, 144, 146, 151, 169, 178, 179–80, 182, 183, 184, 187, 250
n

   carrying of, 100

   at Cesen Camp 2, 133–34, 136

   at Cesen Camp 3, 136, 137–38, 140–41

   destruction of, 113,
120,
140–41

   Italian expedition and, 39–40, 41, 241
n

   at K2 Base Camp, 98, 101, 208–9

   near gassing in, 118

Terrorist and Destructive Activities Act, 53

terrorists, terrorism, 53, 58, 107–8

   September 11 attacks, 109

Tethys Sea, 12

Thame, 71

Thingi Shalsangma, 16

thrombophlebitis, 37

Thuraya phones, 191–92

   Chhiring’s use of, 104, 105

   confidentiality and, 206

   Wilco’s use of, 191–92, 206–7

Tibet,
xiv,
10,
12, 16, 29, 55

   British influence in, 245
n

   Chinese invasion of, 22, 76

   Kham region of, 66, 244
n

   Kharta region of, 70–71, 245
n,
246
n

   Mongols’ invasion of, 14, 66

   Muslim invasion of, 66

   Sherpa origins in, 66

   sky burial in, 103, 249
n

Tibetan language, 56, 239
n

Tibetans, 68, 75, 76, 246
n

   
see also
Bhote

Time,
70

Tisar, 100

Titan (shield bearer), 79

TMZ, 222

tourism, 17, 22, 26, 65, 109, 134, 226, 227, 243
n

   Pakistani incentives to, 108

Tourism Ministry, Pakistani, 96, 108, 217–19

trade:

   British, 81

   caravan, 81, 82

   of Sherpa, 66, 71

traffic, 21, 57

Trango Towers, 96, 97

Traverse, 121, 146, 156, 164–68, 170, 172, 180, 194, 197–98

Tredway, Dana, 45

Tribhuvan, King of Nepal, 52, 74

Tribhuvan International Airport, 220

Tsechu, 70, 245
n

Tseringma, 15–16, 19–20, 238
n

Tseringmi Kangsu,
238
n

Tshe-chu,
245
n

Tumlingtar, 55

unemployment, 53, 58

unions, 96, 100

United Arab Emirates, 206

United Nations, 21

   General Assembly of, 53

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR), 243
n

United States, 85

   mountaineering in, 108–9

United States expeditions:

   to Gauri Shankar, 20

   to K2, 1–7, 36–38

   
see also
American K2 International Expedition

Upper Arun Valley, 55, 68, 69, 243
n

Urdukas,
98

Urdu language, 122, 145, 219

Utrecht, 138, 191–92, 207

vacations, in Hunza, 84–85

van de Gevel, Cas, 141, 166–67, 208, 222, 256
n

van Eck, Maarten, 119, 138, 207

Vanity Fair,
222

van Oss, Roeland, 118

van Rooijen, Helena, 191–92, 206

van Rooijen, Wilco, 78, 111–12, 115, 118,
120,
121, 129, 188–93, 250
n,
252
n,
254
n

   in Bottleneck, 147, 148, 149

   in Camp 2, 133–34, 136, 250
n

   in Camp 3, 137–38, 141, 250
n

   in the Death Zone, 116

   decision to join ranks regretted by, 123

   evacuation of, 211

   on Everest summit, 192

   failed K2 attempts of, 112

   freezing of corneas of, 189, 190, 253
n

   hanging tangled climbers and, 189–90, 196–97, 254
n,
255
n

   homesickness of, 112

   Hoselito and, 133–34, 137–38, 141, 207

   on individual steps, 130

   at K2 summit, 159, 160

   locating of, 206–8, 256
n

   media and, 216, 219, 222

   in return to Base Camp, 210

   route lost by,
162,
181, 183

   satellite phone of, 126, 138, 191–92, 206–7, 254
n

   at tea party, 218, 219, 257
n

   turnaround time ignored by, 155, 251
n
–52
n

vasospasm, acute, 163, 164

Viagra, 118

video cameras, 143, 151

Viesturs, Ed, 146

violence:

   civil war and, 54, 58, 60

   partition of India and, 36

   of Shah dynasty, 52, 53, 54

   
see also
murder

Virjerab glacier, 90–91,
94

virtue, 174

virtue names, 67

Vishnu, 49

vision:

   freezing of corneas and, 189, 190, 253
n
–54
n

   oxygen deprivation and, 201

vomiting, 131, 132, 138, 139, 179

wages and income, 54, 60, 61–62, 85, 99–100, 188

   bonuses, 99–100, 160

   of Chhiring, 22–25

   fall in, 58

Wakhi language, 87, 99, 110, 122, 248
n

Wallace, Alfred Russel, 115

Warid Telecom, 45

water, drinking, 131, 180, 188, 208

Waters, Ryan, 257
n

Wazir, Jaffer, 100

weapons, 79, 82, 83

weather,
xiv

   on Everest, 24, 25, 31, 197

   Fearless Five and, 211–12

   ghost winds and, 137, 138, 139

   on K2, 30–31, 35, 36, 37, 106, 112–16,
120,
121,
136–39, 142, 148–49, 155, 165, 180, 187, 199, 207, 208

   on K3, 87

   meteorologists and, 115, 118–19, 136–37, 138, 250
n

   
see also
storms

Webster, Ed, 76

West Ridge, 86

West-Southeast Ridge, 146

White Desert, 121

White Horn,
94,
226

Wiessner, Fritz “Baby Face,” 33–36, 239
n,
240
n

Wilkinson, Freddie, 257
n

willow wands, 122, 145

Wolfe, Dudley, 34–35

wool, 17, 71

World Health Organization, 21

World War II, 31, 36, 38, 40

Xinjiang,
78,
79, 80–81,
94

yaks, 69, 71, 80–81, 172

Yaqub (porter), 99, 249
n

yarsagumba,
116

Yeshi Tsogyel, 14, 15

Younghusband, Francis, 81–84

Yukshin glacier, 90–91,
94

Zagorac, Pedja, 151–52, 154

Zanettin, Bruno, 117

Zerain, Alberto, 112, 131, 132

   in Bottleneck, 147–48

   in Camp 4, 144, 145

   descent of, 157–58, 166

Chhiring Dorje Sherpa (left) became one of the most respected Sherpa mountaineers. A trekker passing through the village of Na in 1980 took the only known photograph of him during his childhood. (
credit Dr. Klaus Dierks
)

A decade later, Chhiring had begun working as a porter. In 1991, at the time this photograph was taken, he was sixteen years old, carrying loads for a French Everest expedition. (
credit Jean-Michel Asselin
)

To many devout Buddhists in Rolwaling, mountaineering is an offense to the gods. Chhiring’s grandfather, Pem Phutar, carried loads for a British expedition to Gauri Shankar but never spoke about it. Although he received a recommendation letter from the expedition, he hid it from his family. (
Courtesy of Chhiring Dorje Sherpa
)

Phurbu Ridar Bhote (left), a mountaineer, left Hungung to find work when his son, Pasang, was six. When he had saved enough money from expeditions, he sent for Pasang to attend school in Kathmandu. (
Courtesy of Pasang Lama
)

Pasang’s brother, Dawa, and sister, Lahmu, in front of the house that their father built with his mountaineering wages. Climbing was more lucrative than farming; most families in Hungung couldn’t afford a corrugated tin roof. (
Courtesy of Pasang Lama
)

During school vacations, Pasang sometimes returned to Hungung from Kathmandu to help out at the house and with the potato harvest. (
Courtesy of Pasang Lama
)

Serbian climber Dren Mandic shoulders the load of a low-altitude porter. Depending on the weather, the 96-mile slog to K2 Base Camp might take a week. The climbers and their low-altitude porters must carry all necessary food and equipment over the Baltoro Glacier. (
credit Iso Planić / Predrag Zagorac
)

Many mountaineers got their first glimpse of K2 from Concordia, a camp en route to the mountain where three glaciers meet. (
credit Lars Flato Nessa
)

Although paying mountaineers and the low-altitude porters rarely hang out together, Serbian climber Hoselito Bite made a point of getting to know the men he’d hired. (
Courtesy of Hoselito Bite
)

Pakistani high-altitude porter Karim Meherban (top) shears Serbian climber Iso Planic. Although the weather was often clear in Base Camp, the jet stream was pounding K2’s summit, making it impossible to climb to the upper reaches of the mountain. (
credit Qudrat Ali
)

For twenty-seven days, the climbers waited in Base Camp for the weather to improve. To pass the time, Cecilie Skog knitted a cap for her husband. She and Rolf Bae (right) had been married just a year. (
credit Lars Flato Nessa
)