DISPATCHES

Ramirez

Yet inactivity has proven to be just one variable contributing to ABC stress and drama. The technology that has paid for much of the expense of our journey has proven to be a double-edged sword. The computers, sat phones, and digital cameras that were welcomed at the start of the expedition have magnified the stress. Their constant presence has made routine ABC arguments larger than life and available for all the World Wide Web to see. Even other teams, on the glacier, armed with the Internet have aired their discontent with various subjects. Our team, in turn, has cyber-ranted. The cycle continues, and the K2 glacier grows into The International Enquirer, with bad weather being the fuel driving it forward.

No one seems happy with the slander, yet it continues. The combination of bad weather, technology, and a few differences of opinion have created Slander 2000.

However, most of us could scarcely imagine being here without the luxury of communication. The sat phone and computer enable us to talk with friends, family and significant others. It's not hard to identify a team member who has recently heard from friends or family. They smile and seem above all the banter.

To shed the boredom I went for a hike with a friend the other day. I couldn't help but curse the computers down in ABC. Then, in the same instant, I was thankful for the email I received from my girlfriend the day before. The computers were the classic drugs. I needed them, but I hated the rhetoric they were facilitating. Musing over this, I turned and looked at my friend, who noted we were in the Himalayas hanging out at 19,000 feet. "Isn't it great?" He said. "Yeah, it is," I said stumbling.

We gazed over the expanse of the laptop expedition's techno-ridden ABC. I think at that moment that we both secretly wondered if we had received any email.

On the walk down, I realized why I came to K2. I came to get away from technology, climb with a friend and perhaps make a few new friends. But things didn't seem that cozy. I longed for the two-member, techno-less Alaska climbs of my past and future. No email there; it would freeze.

On the return to ABC, I found the hike had refreshed me. I thanked my friend for getting me away for a while and checked the battle lines in my mind. Still the barometer drops. We're almost to Camp 2, and the computers click away. As we walked to our tents, I thought, "If the weather doesn't clear soon, we might not be able to recharge the computers."

— Ivan Ramirez, MountainZone.com Correspondent

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