Broad Peak summit for Marco Camandona and Pietro Picco

After the ascent of Nanga Parbat at the start of July, the Italian Karakorum expedition celebrated another success yesterday as both Marco Camandona and Pietro Picco managed to summit Broad Peak.

The ascent came about at breakneck speed and only days after arriving at base camp. After days of rain and a demanding trek some members of the expedition reached K2 BC only on Friday 15 July and while resting on Saturday they received a favorable weather forecast until the 20th of July. Camandona, Picco and François Cazzanelli immediately decided to attempt Broad Peak.

Camandona and Picco set off on July 18 from Broad Peak BC, located about an hour from K2 BC, reached C2 at 6400m and, given their excellent physical condition, decided to push on to C3 at 7000m. After eating and resting for a few hours, they set out for the summit at 23:00 local time.

Picco summited at circa 9:20 am on Tuesday 19 July 2022 while Marco Camandona summited at about 10:50. Camandona returned to Broad Peak base camp that evening, while Picco stopped at C3.

This is Camandona's twelfth eightthousander and a welcome return to K2 Base Camp that he experienced 22 years ago, when on 29 July 2000 he summited K2 with Abele Blanc and Waldermar Niclevich via the Abruzzi spur.

Cazzanelli's aim was to climb Broad Peak via a "single summit push", the same technique he recently adopted on Nanga Parbat, but circa half an hour from the summit he aborted his attempt to help a British mountaineer in need. He joined Picco at Camp 3 and after spending the night there they returned to K2 BC the next morning.

In the meantime, teammates Emrik Favre and Jerome Perruquet ascended to C2 of K2 at 6400m, where they stashed some gear and spent the night before returning to base camp.