A balancing act on Broad Peak

Dynafit sportspeople Benedikt Böhm and Sebastian Haag aimed to climb from Broad Peak base camp (4,800 metres) in Pakistan to the 8,051 metre summit in a time of 18 hours - and then to put on skis and descend the often 50 degree slopes. After waiting though an extended period of bad weather, Benedikt and Sebastian began their speed ascent on July 17 2009. Progress was good until they reached a height of 7,800 metres - even though Sebastian had to take a short break to refill his water supplies. (His Camelbak ran out at the beginning of the ascent). However, from 7,800 metres, it took them just under four hours to struggle through another 200 metres to the fore summit ridge on account of the deep snow. The pair took a total of 16 hours to reach the fore summit. It was already too late in the day, and too dangerous, to continue the ascent to the main summit. The main priority now was a safe descent to base camp - Sebastian's coordination problems meant a ski descent was now not possible. After a total of 39 hours, Benedikt and Sebastian arrived back at base camp. The attempt at breaking the speed record failed due to unfortunate circumstances, which can't be predicted at that altitude. However, both brought away invaluable experience and deep impressions from the attempt. A year later and Benedikt is making a second attempt. See Broad Peak 2010 to find out all about it!