Suffield Climber Eyes K2

Exploit your opponent’s vulnerabilities- it’s a strategy common to all sports, and was probably best demonstrated by coaching legend John Heisman who once led his Georgia Tech football team to a 222-0 victory. He is also the man who best put the tactic into words: "When you find your opponent’s weak spot, hammer it."
According to Chuck Boyd, this works for climbing big mountains, too.
"There’s usually a way that’s not the most difficult way to get up a mountain," said Boyd, known in the climbing community as one of the region’s most experienced and talented mountaineers. "Sometimes what people look for are the easiest ways to get up these things. You’re looking for the weakness."
The word "weakness" can be misleading, though, especially when we consider the level at which Boyd climbs. It would be like saying George Foreman was weak when Mohamed Ali rope-a-doped him in Zaire.
Weakness is especially relative when we’re talking about a mountain like K2, the infamously difficult- and deadly- Himalayan peak that Boyd will attempt in 2008.
"It’s more technical climbing, more difficult," said the 52 year-old Boyd, comparing it to Mt. Everest, which he summited in 2004. "There’s no easy way up it so to speak."
The one weakness that climbers have capitalized on most often on K2 is The Abruzzi Spur and is the route Boyd plans on following as well. Also known as the South East Ridge, the route was pioneered by the 1954 Italian expedition that first conquered K2. It involves both technical rock and ice climbing, a steep, kilometer-long section of loose debris and, of course, intense weather.
"It’s basically the easiest route on the mountain," said Boyd.
He pointed out, though, that the route you choose and the decisions you make on that route are the only things you have control over. Outside risks such as avalanches, on the other hand, are always present.
"The trouble with K2 is there are a lot of objective dangers," said Boyd, who is trained in avalanche safety and outdoor emergency care. "It sticks up higher than anything else there, so it funnels the weather around it."
Second in height only to Everest, the 28,251-foot K2 is the third deadliest mountain in the world behind Annapurna and Nanga Parbat, also in the Himalayas. Since 1978, the year of the first American team to summit K2, the mountain has claimed the lives of one in seven climbers. As of 2004, the 50th anniversary of that first successful Italian expedition, only around 240 people had repeated the feat while over 50 had died trying, a record that Boyd is certainly aware of.
"I think that people that aren’t scared are kind of lying about it," said Boyd. "You have to have a certain amount of anxiety. You should be serious about those fears. It can happen to anybody. It happens to the best."
In preparing for K2, climbers must first dress the route with their ropes, a process that brings them up and down parts of the mountain several times before the actual summit push, increasing the risk for disaster with each ascent and descent.
"You’re certainly taking your chances, but you’ve got to know when to turn back," said Boyd. "If you’re totally focused on ‘I want K2,’ ‘I want Everest,’ you can die getting there. That’s not what I’m looking for."
In fact, Boyd has been satisfied with pushing himself on more technical climbs, whether they are here in New England or on the other side of the globe.
"I don’t need to be at the highest altitude to do that," he said.
According to Boyd, there are between 800 and 1,000 seven thousand-meter peaks in the world that haven’t been climbed yet.
"Never been climbed," said Boyd. "But they’re not big enough. Everybody really focuses on these 14 eight thousand-meter peaks."
And while five of these fourteen peaks are in Pakistan, with K2 being the highest, Boyd has already immortalized himself on some of these "smaller," lesser-known mountains, pioneering his own routes. He has laid claim to the first ascent of Shipton Spire in Pakistan, a project that took six years to complete. In 1983, Boyd and his team pioneered the East Face of Nevado Cayash in the Corillera Blanca of Peru, which wasn’t repeated for another nineteen years.
But again, it’s the climbing itself that Boyd loves and he feels lucky to be making a living at it with his guide service out of Suffield, Vertical Realms (www.verticalrealms.com). He teaches mountain skills to climbers ranging from doctors to children and just recently helped a client prepare to reach his goal of Mt. Ranier.
"There’s a certain amount of excitement about [first ascents], the whole adventure part of it," said Boyd. "But just climbing in general, just being out there and doing it, the movement. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing. I’m having just as much fun with the kids climbing easy routes as I am pushing myself on a project."
These projects, however, are obviously still important to Boyd. He likes to plan these trips two years in advance and will so far take on K2 with climbing partner Dave Watson, 29, of Southington.
"He’s a great partner to have," said Boyd.
The team will eventually consist of four members. This 2008 expedition will cost approximately $50,000 for the entire team, which will require outside sponsorship. As a member of the 2004 Connecticut Everest Expedition, Boyd sold tee-shirts to raise funds and was sponsored by Eastern Mountain Sports. Pictures on his web site show Chuck at the summit holding items related to various other sponsors, including a patch from Ski Sundown, where he also works as ski patrol.
Unless someone signs onto the team with more Himalayan experience than Boyd has, he will likely be the expedition’s leader. Boyd already has records on file with the Ministry of Tourism in Pakistan, not to mention his thirty three years of climbing experience.
As prepared as he may be for K2, Boyd knows not to let the mountain capitalize on his own weakness: living at near sea-level. Part of the strategy is to spend the whole climbing season near K2, getting acclimatized and waiting for the perfect opportunity to push for the summit.
"We’re talking about climbing another 8,000 meter peak first to acclimatize for [K2]," said Boyd.
This is similar to 2004's initial plan.
"Originally, the expedition was going to go from Everest to K2, but we couldn’t get the funding for that," said Boyd.
Funding is the major obstacle at this point, as Boyd is confident in his own abilities since his business keeps him in climbing shape year round. Mentally he’s ready, too, as he shrugged off the question of whether or not he’s a superstitious climber.
"Not really," said Boyd. Then he thought back to Everest.
"The sherpas are," he said. "That’s how they believe you climb the mountain. The mountain tells you when it’s time to climb."
If all goes well, K2 will speak up in 2008.