Dispatches for Webteam

Islamabad

arlenebowie@gmail.com — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 18:00:00 +0100

Don's Home Team Reports:

Don has caught a flight from Skardu to Islamabad.

Safely in Skardu???

arlenebowie@gmail.com — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:00:00 +0100

August 3, 2010 5:10 pm PKT

Don's Home Team Reports:

Travel Guard informed us that they received confirmation that Don has finally been flown to Skardu. As you all know, Pakistan is experiencing devasting and destructive flooding. The Karakorum highway, which is the only road out of that region, is blocked and so all climbers and trekkers stuck in Skardu must be flown out.

We hope to hear from Don soon.

Returned to base camp

arlenebowie@gmail.com — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0100

Don's Home Team Reports:

Don phoned to say that he, Alexey, and all climbers who summited with him have returned safely to base camp.

CONGRATULATIONS!!

arlenebowie@gmail.com — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0100

July 27, 2010, 7:45pm MST

Don's Home Team Reports:

Don called at 7:45 am (July 28) PKT to announce that he and Alexey along with Czech climbers Radek Jaros and Libor Uher and American climber Marty Schmidt have summited Gasherbrum I. Don reported that a storm was due to come in shortly, so they would not be long on the summit. He expected the return trip to base camp would be a long, arduous one due to inc [...]

Unbelievable...a "blue bird day" for summiting.....!

arlenebowie@gmail.com — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0100

July 17, 2010

Don’s Home Team Reports:

Don called at 2:45 pm PKT to tell us that even though it was a “blue bird” day for summiting – no wind, no clouds, no precipitation - he and Alexey could not reach the top. They were 100m from the summit ridge, could see it, but could not get there; the snow was chest deep. After many exhausting attempts of pushing the limits, they could not wade thr [...]

"Heading Up on G1"

arlenebowie@gmail.com — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0100

July 15, 2010

Don’s Home Team Reports:

Don called at 9:30 pm PKT to report that he and Alexey were in Camp 2. They are doing well and have enough Pringles to sustain them for the rest of the climb. They will rest tonight in Camp 2 and then head up in the morning. Check Don's website within the next 48 hours for a further update.

Phone Dispatch from C3

arlenebowie@gmail.com — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0100

July 10, 2010

Phone Dispatch from C3

We got up early the morning of the 10th. With this being our first time at C3, we knew that we were not super acclimatized and thought we would just go for it and see how high we could get. Visability was clear. The winds picked up and got reasonably high. Snow conditions were mixed - bullet hard snow and ice/very soft slab. We felt good, yet at times it was a little hard having gone up so fast. We reached 7500m. At this altitude we decided this was [...]

Heading up to Camp 3 on Gasherbrum I

arlenebowie@gmail.com — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0100

July 8, 2010, 10 pm PKT

Phone Dispatch from Don:

"Alexey and I are currently at C2. We climbed through a fair amount of snow in the ice field. We took it slow and didn't encounter any problems with the crevasses. Planning to head up to C3(7000m) in the morning."

Phone Dispatch from Don

arlenebowie@gmail.com — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:00:00 +0100

July 1, 2010

Even though Alexey and I knew that the weather was going to be bad, our goal was to try to push as high as we could toward Camp 2 on GI. Our first push got us to Camp 1 at 5926m. We spent a day acclimatizing there which means we spent 2 nights. We got up yesterday morning after the second night here and even though visibility was extremely poor, winds were high, and it was snowing, we made our way up along the glacier and up th [...]

Westcomb

arlenebowie@gmail.com — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:00:00 +0100

DON'S SUPPORT TEAM IS EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE DON'S NEW SPONSOR:

Westcomb sponsors Canadian alpinist, K2 summiteer Don Bowie Bowie to assist Canada-made outdoor apparel brand with product development, brand marketing

06.08.2010 – VANCOUVER, B.C. – Westcomb, manufacturer of Canada-built outdoor apparel of the highest quality, will engage Canadian alpinist Don Bowie as a sponsored athlete, tapping his high-altitude expertise for produ [...]

Waiting for stable weather

arlenebowie@gmail.com — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:00:00 +0100

Phone dispatch from Don, 9am, July 9, 2009 (PKT)

Don, Bruce, Billy, and Guy reached the cwm at 7000 meters last night (July 8, PKT). They are waiting there for more stable weather so that they can attempt a summit bid.

Wallow-Me-Elmo

arlenebowie@gmail.com — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:00:00 +0100

Wallow-me-Elmo

It's been a week since I departed Pakistan, and I'm now feeling rested and revitalized, assimilating back into western culture and snacking on the odd french fry or two...ok, maybe more than two. I'll be in Europe for the next week, arriving back in the States near the end of March.

On February 25th, it was made public on the HiMountain website that our expedition was over. We had tried for 70 days to surpass our high point of Camp 3 at 7000 meters, [...]

The Story Continues:

arlenebowie@gmail.com — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:00:00 +0100

On Sunday, February 15th, our huddle in Camp 2 awoke to the wind still battering the tent. Sometime during the night Artur had received a SMS (or phone call, I can't remember) with a weather update stating some possibility of lower summit winds on Tuesday the 17th. As we were already in the thick of things, I also decided that we might as well try, day-by-day from this point, to see if the winds would in fact decrease a little - that a decent window might somehow appear.

Artu [...]

"We got our butts kicked!"

arlenebowie@gmail.com — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:00:00 +0100

[video:3279188 100x100] There's no way around it. There's no other way to say it. To avoid the idea that elements on Broad Peak can outmatch any human is simple arrogance (or denial), so I won't hesitate to admit our (at least momentary) defeat. High winds - at times easily more than 100km/h - and temperatures below minus -35C, added to this, endless sheets of continuous, monotonous, bulletproof ice, were the tools of our challenger, and the challenger outmatched us - the final blow being t [...]

�Can it be meant for us?...."

arlenebowie@gmail.com — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:00:00 +0100

I would like to personally send my congratulations to both Simone and Denis for their incredible accomplishment of summiting Makalu in winter. All of us here at base camp were cheering you guys along, and celebrated with shouts and applauses when we received the news. Finally, the last 8000 meter peak of Nepal has been climbed in winter. We are proud of you both!!

arlenebowie@gmail.com — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:00:00 +0100

(Posted 01/20/09, 1:32 pm Pakistan time)

Hoping to take advantage of a few hours of storm reprieve, Qadrat and I left mid-morning yesterday (Jan 19th) for Camp 1. My plan was to stay the night there and then climb to Camp 2 today, sleeping one night there and carrying my share of the summit push supplies, then returning to Base Camp to wait out the next spell of bad weather. During our ascent to Camp 1, Qadrat and I spent much time and energy digging and pulling out the ropes buried [...]

Base Camp Boredom

arlenebowie@gmail.com — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:03:32 +0100

Basecamp Boredom 1.1 from Calpinist.com on Vimeo.