As Pemba was reviving Confortola with bottled oxygen, he received a radio call from Pasang Bhote and Tsering Bhote, who reported that they had rendezvoused with Jumic Bhote and two of the Koreans (most likely Hwang Dong-Jin and Park Kyeong-Hyo) at the top of the Bottleneck. They said that aside from some frostbite, Jumic Bhote was basically alright, and that everyone was coming down. Pemba told them to hurry down, as the serac was very unstable.

The rescue team went on to say that they had witnessed a climber in a red suit with patches fall from the middle of the Traverse, the section of the route which connects the top of the Bottleneck couloir to the summit slopes. Apparently the man was swept off by an avalanche, and was 15-30 minutes behind Jumic Bhote and the two Koreans. Moments after this radio communication, Pemba heard a large avalanche and witnessed the bodies of two Sherpas and two Koreans tumble by him.

I learned months ago in email correspondence with Pemba that the rescue team had succeeded in reaching Jumic Bhote and two of the Koreans. But it wasn’t until I met with him in Kathmandu and we had the chance to speak extensively about K2 that I heard about the man in the red suit behind Jumic and the Koreans. Though both Gerard McDonnell and Pakistani guide Karim Meherban wore red suits, only McDonnell’s had patches on the front, matching the description given in the radio transmission. Accordingly, Pemba believes that this man was his friend and teammate McDonnell.

The precise circumstances of Gerard MacDonnell’s disappearance has been one of the most enduring questions of the K2 tragedy. A story written by Omar Waraich in the UK paper The Independent on August 9th (purportedly based on Mr. Confortola’s first newspaper interview after the tragedy) seemed to suggest that the three Koreans died in their presence: “For three hours, McDonnell and Confortola tried to right them, but it was in vain. All three died. It was at that moment, “for some strange reason”, that McDonnell began to walk away.” A lengthy article in Men’s Journal written by Matt Powers (who also was in Islamabad interviewing the survivors) reported that: “By mid-morning, Marco and Gerard had left the Koreans and continued toward the traverse… Suddenly, Marco said later, Gerard turned around and began to climb back up the slope, back toward the Koreans, offering no explanation.” Finally, Michael Kodas wrote in Outside Magazine that: “They spent three and half hours trying to free the Koreans but gave up when the glacier let loose nearby and reminded them of their perilous location. McDonnell, perhaps confused by the lack of oxygen, climbed back up the slope toward the summit. Confortola shouted to his friend but couldn’t get his attention. Then he heard an avalanche and recognized two yellow boots in the slide.”

Pemba’s account of the radio transmission requires that the overall tragedy be re-examined. It seems possible, if not probable, that Gerard McDonnell continued efforts to revive Jumic Bhote and the two Koreans after Van Roojen and Confortola descended, and that McDonnell succeeded in getting the injured climbers mobile so that they could descend the Traverse to the top of the Bottleneck, where they were met by the rescue team of Pasang Bhote and Tsering Bhote. Sadly, many published accounts have portrayed McDonnell’s final actions as being irrational, perhaps the result of hypoxia or hallucination. It now seems quite likely that McDonnell nobly continued rescue efforts right up until the moment he was killed.

It is readily clear that the media owes the family, friends, and loved-ones of Gerard MacDonnell an apology for so misrepresenting his memory. As someone who’s written about K2 a lot, I include myself as being partly to blame. In “Heros in Fine-print”, I implied that McDonnell, along with Van Roojen and Confortola, had abandoned the Koreans, while the Sherpas launched a rescue. Abandoned is a very strong word, and it bears nothing in common with what I now believe were Gerard MacDonnell’s final actions.

There are still lots of unanswered questions as to what exactly happened on August 1st-2nd on K2. Marco Confortola has written a lengthy testimony that details his recollections of the summit push.

Wilco van Roojen has yet to provide a similarly detailed account.

Originally published on the Huffington Post on December 24th, 2008.

Outside and Men’s Journal recently published feature length pieces on the K2 disaster. Both stories lead with the tale of three European men, Wilco van Rooijen, Gerard McDonnell, and Marco Confortola, who bivouaced at nearly 28,000 feet after the catastrophic serac avalanche stripped the Bottleneck Couloir of its fixed ropes on the evening of August 1st. The next day, they were forced to down climb the Bottleneck un-roped. Along the way they passed a party of distressed Korean climbers; the three abandoned them to continue their own descents to safety. Two of them made it, but McDonnell was swept to his death in an avalanche.

While Confortola and van Rooijen can hardly be faulted for not doing more, it does seem like their teammate Cas van de Gevel is right — the tragedy was a grim game of Russian roulette. It was every man for himself.

Yet some extraordinary acts of bravery and selflessness did occur on K2 — you just might have to read the fine print to hear about it.

On a recent trip to Nepal, I tracked down two Sherpas, Chhiring Dorje and Pemba Gyalje, who were among those who summited on that fateful day. I had corresponded with them both via email for my own article in Rock and Ice, and I felt drawn to meet them in the flesh.

Pemba and Chhiring reached the summit at approximately 6.35 and 6.37 PM on August 1st, making history by becoming the first two Sherpas to summit K2 without oxygen. But that’s not what makes them exceptional.

On the descent, at least seven climbers chose to bivouac rather than continue down in the darkness. Chhiring, the owner of Kathmandu-based Rolwaling Excursions guide service, continued. When he reached the Bottleneck, he discovered the ropes were missing. Small pieces of ice continually poured down the narrow gully from the serac above. He knew it could release another catastrophic avalanche at anytime. It was imperative to get out of harm’s way as quickly as possible. But another Sherpa guide had dropped his ice axe, effectively stranding him, so Chhiring tied him to his harness, and down climbed the couloir with his friend hanging off him. This was at 27,000 feet, in the middle of the night, after he had just summited K2 without oxygen.

Pemba Gyalje also downclimbed the Bottleneck that night. The next morning, he went out searching for his teammates van Rooijen and McDonnell. After returning to camp IV unsuccessfully, he went out again, and eventually found Confortola passed out in the snow. As he revived him with oxygen, they were hit by another serac avalanche. Pemba held on to the helpless Confortola, saving him from being swept away with the slide. Then he walked him back to camp IV, and, rather than rest, descended by headlamp to Camp III, where he rescued his partner van Rooijen the next morning.

Pemba will be making a visit to Washington DC this month to be honored by the National Geographic Society. After speaking to them, it was clear that both men are far too humble to consider what they did that extraordinary. Even so, the cynic in me couldn’t help but think that if these guys were from Europe or the States, they’d probably have big money endorsement opportunities, get invited on Oprah and have their faces on the cover of People Magazine.

As things turned out, you have to read the fine-print to hear about them.

So, here is a good look at what two heros look like:

Originally published on November 12 in the Huffington Post.