Dispatches

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.

Post Summit

info@calpinist.com — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0100

Many of you are wondering about my present state of health. This dispatch will address that as well as share a brief description of our summit of G1, descent, with some photos, and the obligatory ridiculousness which still seems resident even when I feel like crap… Total crap!

The real start of the summit push began on the afternoon of July 27th. Joined now by Marty Schmidt, Libor Uher, and Radek Jaros, Alexey and I climbed from Camp 2 to Camp 3 and stopped there for [...]

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 [...]

We were close, but no cigars!

info@calpinist.com — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0100

July 20, 2010

{rokzoom title=|Alexey roams around the million dollar Camp 3 view.Photo Don Bowie|}images/camp3view7-17-10.jpg{/rokzoom}

Saturday, July 17th, at 1:00am, Alexey and I awoke once again at Camp 3 on G1. The forecast for the mountain that day was to be almost perfect - if not a little cold - but low winds and no precipitation. We quickly ran through the morning rituals of alternating swinging arms through down jackets and pulling on boots in tandem. It& [...]

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.

A Little Push, A Little Gag

info@calpinist.com — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0100

July 13, 2010

{rokzoom title=|Alexey in the upper narrow section of the Japanese Couloir Photo Don Bowie|}images/Alexey_narrow_7-13-10.jpg{/rokzoom}

Our trip up to Camp 3 on GI was a very enjoyable climb. Unfortunately, there were many old ragged ropes hanging in the Japanese Couloir - some of which we used to our advantage climbing on the rock to the left of the main chute. The upper part of the couloir is narrow - perhaps 3 meters wide in places - and really nice climbi [...]

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."

Welcome Back

info@calpinist.com — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0100

July 4, 2010
Alexey and I are back in base camp now, waiting out a spell of poor weather - along with most of the other teams.

After we arrived at base camp on June 25th, Alexey and I sorted gear for a day or two, then immediately headed up the glacier to Camp 1. The route to Camp 1 seems more straightforward this year, and tackles the top of the icefall directly - which is a shorter journey than last year's more circuitous route, and requires careful negotiation of [...]

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 [...]

Gasherbrum Base Camp - For the moment!

info@calpinist.com — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:00:00 +0100

June 27th, 2010

Travel in Pakistan has been difficult this year with poor weather beating up the roads and delaying flights into Skardu. Once again we were unable to fly up north and were forced to endure the grueling 24 hour bus ride up the Karakoram Highway - this time in non-stop fashion. I woke up in Skardu with my right cheek sporting an impressive macramé waffle pattern, courtesy the dirty window curtain I drooled on during the final 8 hours of the trip. Appar [...]

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 [...]

Don's Upcoming Events

info@calpinist.com — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:00:00 +0100

(McMenamins Theater, Portland OR, Jan 2010) Don's Upcoming presentations are scheduled. All shows are open to the public!

April 6- University of Montana, Missoula MT

North Underground Lecture Hall, 7pm

April 7- Gonzaga University, Spokane WA

Jepson Center Wolff Auditorium, 7p [...]

THANKS! (Upcoming Events)

info@calpinist.com — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:00:00 +0100

A sincere thanks to all of you who have followed along with me on the 2009 Gasherbrum III Expedition.

As reported form Pakistan, we did not summit, but managed to establish a route up the lower west face of GIII. We then traversed back into the cwm to 7300meters before Bruce Normand came down with a debilitating altitude illness. When his blood-oxygen saturation dropped to below 40%, things got a little dicey. Despite zero visibility and many harrowing rappels dow [...]

Dispatch 8: Part 3 of 3: Trouble on the Mountain

info@calpinist.com — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:00:00 +0100

(Webteam: This is the 3rd and final part of Dispatch 8. See previous 2 parts for the full story.)

...A few rappels later I found myself at a small icy stance with Billy. We both looked at each other and with various (not so creative) language and exclaimed how crazy it was that we were descending smack dab in the middle of the icefall.

{rokzoom title=|Don rests on ice tools while Bruce rappels down to his stance in the icefall Photo Don Bowie|}images/Don_ra [...]

Dispatch 8: Part 2 of 3; Trouble on the Mountain

info@calpinist.com — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:00:00 +0100

(Webteam: Dispatch 8 is in 3 parts. Tomorrow we will post Part 3 of 3)

At 2am on July 10th I called home on the sat phone for another weather forecast; it appeared that the high winds would be lower on July 11th, and after a discussion with the guys we decided to wait it out a day at the 7300 meter camp. Bruce seemed OK and slept most of the day, even sharing on the brewing-up duties later that morning despite still feeling bad. But by early evening he began to struggle to stay awa [...]

Dispatch 8: Part 1 of 3

info@calpinist.com — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:00:00 +0100

(Webteam: Dispatch 8 is in 3 sections. Part 2 will be sent tomorrow 7/16 and Part 3 will be sent 7/17.)

On Monday July 6th, Guy, Bruce, Billy, and I began the hike up the glacier to Camp 1. I wanted to continue up to our Camp 2 nestled in the icefall, but was out-voted by the others, so instead we brewed up and spent a hot afternoon basking in our tents among the small G2 tent village. In the morning we (again) broke trail to our Bibler tent set up at 6300 meters in [...]