United Kingdom British K2 & Broad Peak Expedition 2004 Update 1

19/06/04: We were told by Samander our Hushe Treks rep that the days walk to Urdukas would be the hardest day. Travelling over undulating moraine for most of the journey. It actually turned out to be not so bad and we arrived at Udukas in good time.

The camp is situated on terraced levels with the impressive summit of Urdukas peak behind. The only problem we have had at these camps is the dust, it gets into everything and dries your throat. However it's nice to have decent facilities on the approach to base camp.

On the 19th we had a slightly later start of 6.00am still far too early for my liking. Today was to be an easier day,travelling over a slightly more level Baltoro Glacier. The sun was blasting down on us but the clouds seemed to be clinging to some of the surrounding peaks. Masherbrum kept it's head in the clouds, Mustagh came into view for a spell. Eventually we rounded a corner and got our first sight of Gasherbrum 4, at first only a silhouette in the mist, eventually revealing itself through the clouds. To its right Mitre Peak, too its left Golden Peak. Barely visible through the cloud further left the summit of Broad Peak.

After arriving at Goro 2, our camp on the glacier for the night. We relaxed and looked at some of the surrounding peaks. Suddenly there was an almighty crash and an avalanche came down from one of the peaks. Very impressive from the safety of our camp several kilometres away. Tomorrow all being well we shall at Broad Peak base camp. Although it requires another early start, which I'm not looking forward to.

Dave is about 4 days behind us, today should be is first day trekking from Askole.

Regards, Stu.

17/06/04: Well after travelling overland to Skardu and then by jeep to Askole, we started our trek towards Broad Peak base camp on the 15th. Askole itself wasn't a particularly pleasant place to stay, but was fine for one night. There has been a lot of work done to the other camps as far as Urdukas, in that they have good sanitation and bins to separate waste as well as camp management. Askole is due to be developed for next years season.

The trek to the Jhola camp takes about 5.5 hours with a 1.5 hours dinner stop, this was made at the junction with the Biafo Glacier. The weather turned a bit miserable and eve started to rain a little bit.

Arriving at the camp we were amazed to see how much effort has been made to prevent further damage to the environment. Toilets, washing facilities, solar charged lighting for the night, recycle bins and an incinerator as well as replantation of trees.

In the evening the clouds lifted and we spent some time looking at a very impressive peak on the other side of the valley, working out possible routes on to the knife edge summit ridge.

On the 16th we had another early start on our trek to Paju. This was a slightly shorter day. It started with some spots of rain, and it looked like it was going to get worse. Fortunately it didn't and soon the clouds broke, before we new it we were in the baking sun. Just after passing a military encampment we stopped for another delicious dinner, after which we ad the final two hour walk into camp.

Paju sits amongst a cluster of trees, so is well sheltered from the sun. Paju is at a height of 3480m , here we are having a rest day for the porters and allowing us time to acclimatise.

We're still having problems charging the laptop. Hopefully this will be sorted when Dave joins us at base camp.

It will take another 3 days to reach base camp. Tomorrow we head up to Urdukas, which should take around 7 hours. En route, weather dependant , we should see some of the most technically challenging mountains in the world. Ralph will no doubt be looking for future base jumping possibilities

14/06/04: We are now camped above the river at Askole. It took us 7 hours to drive the 106km from Skardu and looking back at the tracks we have come up I think we made good time. It now feels like we are on our way, we have left the fields behind and are now surrounded by snow capped peaks. On asking the guides what the local peaks are they tell us not to worry they are only small mountains, most are unnamed. The map shows them as around 5500m.

On looking back at the last few days, we were disappointed to be driving in to Skardu not flying (weather and road closures all conspired against us and meant the flights were over booked), but I believe the 3 long days we've spent on the road have been worth it for the places we've seen along our way. Flying out would be nice though.

Tomorrow we start our week long trek to base camp.

Ralph.

13/06/04: Skardu is the last of the big towns on our route and the end of the tarmac roads, that we seem to have spent so much of the last few days on. Here we swapped our mini bus for jeeps.

The team spent the morning sorting final admin and doing some last minute shopping in the bazaar, before heading out for a relaxing afternoon exploring the local area. Our liaison office Captain Hassan did us proud by managing to convince the local officials to open their offices and by getting all our paper work signed. Not bad for a Sunday...........

12/06/04: We breakfasted at 9:00am and were relieved to see Chris feeling much better.

After breakfast the hotel shop owner was trying to get us to buy some maps of the Karakorum for $12 each. Well Let's just say Poker-Faced Mothersdale drives a hard bargain and we left the shop owner in tears, having bought 4 maps for $5 each.

We restocked with water and then set out on our 7 hour journey to Skardu, along the way stopping to get some pictures of The North Face of Nanga Parbat and surrounding areas. The landscape is quite arid with high mountains, albeit foothills, on both sides of the River Indus. Along the way we had a quick stop by a monument which marks the point at which the 3 great mountain ranges of the Hindu Kush, Himalyas & Karakorum meet. Then it was back in our bus to Tricko where we planned to have our pack lunches.

We passed through Shangri La, which is just outside Skardu. Here the Indus opens up into what was up until last year a big lake, now it is mostly sandbanks, although still very picturesque. Finally we reached our journeys end. We are staying at the Pioneer hotel which is a nice hotel, although we lost the electricity a couple of times last night and so started our evening meal with headtorches.

While still feeling enthusiastic and organised we sorted out the barrels and personal kit so that none weighed more than 25kg, which is the limit for the porters.

We also met the Cook & Pakistani High Altitude Porter who will be joining us on our merry journey.

Stu

11/06/04: We left Islamabad at 10:00am and headed out on our 450km, 14 hour journey to Chillas part way along the Karakorum Highway. The road is better than expected although still a little bit bumpy in places. At one point we stopped for some photos looking down on to the Indus and here we had our first victim to succumb to the dodgy tummy. Chris was sick a few times, this we have put down to him midnight snacking at the Conference room on his floor in the hotel after we had been out for a drink. Those nasty can !!!!

Don't worry though we've put him on Nil food by mouth for the day and just fluids.

We reached Balham at 6:00pm and stopped for dinner, Chris flaked out and stayed to Pepsi, while Ralph and myself opted for Chicken Chow mein. The food has been excellent so far, although I'm sure we're all going to have our turn at being ill... it's only fair!

We had the choice to stay at Bisham with Chris feeling ill, but Chris insisted we carry on to Chillas, even though it was still another 4 hours' drive. Well Chris did a sterling job of keeping what was left of his stomach contents in his stomach. Amazingly we reached Chillas right on time, to the very minute, at 12 midnight.

We were staying at the Chillas Inn and upon arriving were treated to a late, but welcome hot buffet tea, while Chris retreated to his room. The hotel itself was very pleasant, a far cry from the 5 star luxury in Islamabad, but good never the less.

PS. We only found out, late on the way to Chillas, that the driver had only had 2 hours sleep since the previous day, this unnerved us somewhat while travelling along the precipitous cliffs, but it has to be said he did a sterling job.

Dispatches

Background

K2/Broadpeak Expedition 2004

Altitech2: Digital Altimeter, Barometer, Compass and Thermometer. Time/Date/Alarms. Chronograph with 24 hour working range. Timer with stop, repeat and up function. Rotating Bezel. Leveling bubble. Carabiner latch. E.L. 3 second backlight. Water resistant. 4" x 2-1/4" x 3/4" 2 oz. Requires 1 CR2032 battery. See more here.

  Altitude pre-
   acclimatization

   Ascenders

   Atlas snowshoes

   Black Diamond

   Botas

   Brunton

   Carabiners

   CaVa Climbing Shoes
   Clearance

   Clif Bar

   CMI

   Crampons

   Edelweiss ropes
   Eureka Tents

   Featured

   FoxRiver

   Garmin

   Granite Gear

   Harnesses
   Headlamps
   Helmets

   HighGear
   Ice Axes

   Kavu Eyewear

   Katadyn

   Kong

   Lekisport

   Lowepro

   Motorola

   Nalgene

   New England Ropes

   Nikwax

   Omega

   Outdoor Designs

   Pelican

   PowerBar

   Princeton Tec

   Prescription Glacier

   Glasses

   Primus

   Rope Bags

   Seattle Sports

   Serius
   Sleeping Bags

   Stubai

   Suunto

   Tents

   Trekking Poles
   Ushba
   and more here