In August on K2, as the sun rose over the Karakoram Range, Watson and his team worked upward on the face. They kicked steps and adjusted oxygen masks. Watson had a ski pole in one hand, its handle outfitted with an ice ax blade for grip.
The group climbed for hours, pushing past 27,400 feet. No one had yet made the top of K2 in 2009. By noon, Watson and his team were realizing they might not see the summit either.
Chest-deep snow made progress similar to “swimming uphill,” Watson said.
At 2:30pm, encrusted with ice and exhausted, Watson looked down the mountain to see a climbing partner put a gloved hand to his throat, slicing it sideways in signal.
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The top was less than 500 feet above. No climber in the 2009 season would stand on summit of K2.
But Watson had his skis. He could still do something substantial.
While his team rappelled fixed ropes down the Bottleneck Couloir, Watson went over a checklist in his mind. Remove the pack. Take off the skis. Clean the ice from his boots. “It’s hard to think at that altitude,” he said.
Watson stamped out a ledge on the 60-degree face. The slope below — a near-vertical aspect of crusted snow and ice — hung above a void.
He clicked in. Shouldered his pack. Steadied his breath.
Watson’s skis side-slipped two feet, metal edges searching for grip. “I thought, ‘here we go!’” Watson recalled.
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