Stuart Peacock K2 & Broad Peak Expedition 2004 Dispatch one

K2 Diary: Flight from Heathrow was on time. We managed to get the excess baggage through without having to pay, which was a big relief.

After a quick bite to eat we said our goodbyes and headed through to departures. Ralph bought a bottle of Baileys, just in case we couldn't get hold of a tipple in Islamabad. We did notice that the lonely planet guide advises not meant to bring in booze... We'll see how that goes.

I had the privilege of sitting next to a really ill American lady. I wasn't quite sure if she was going to hurl on my lap, luckily for me she didn't.

While we had a bit of time to kill Chris and myself got the laptop out and setup the software to connect my pda. This didn't quite go to plan and at one point we thought we might have lost the teams email account and contacts list. However all turned out well in the end.

I also had a bit of a panic when the pda didn't recognize my hard drive with all music for the trip on it.

We arrived in Abu Dhabi slightly early. It was nice to stretch the legs. We then had a 4 hour wait before we could board our next flight. 

While waiting in the airport we looked through some of the paperwork Chris had with him, detailing the permit and liaison officer we have to meet up with once in Islamabad. One worrying thing we noticed at the bottom of one page was a statement that said GPS's and digital camera equipment is not allowed in the northern territories. This is not so good, seeing as though our team will have 4 gps's, 2 video cameras, 4 digital cameras etc. We'll just have to hope that everything will sort itself out.

K2: We arrived safe and sound in Islamabad at just after 6.00 am. Baggage did not take long to arrive. Once through customs (baileys and all) we were greeted by our Hushe Treks (the people who organise our transport etc. While in Pakistan).

Soon we were off towards our hotel, not knowing quite what to expect. It's always the same when visiting a country such as Pakistan, what will it be like ? Squalid conditions ? impoverished town areas? Maybe similar to what it was like in Nepal.

Well we were absolutely gob smacked on our journey from the airport. I'd go as far to say that the streets are cleaner than any of our towns or cities. The driving is still a little bit chaotic at time, like Nepal, and the 5 star hotel puts most of the hotels I've stayed in to shame.

The people we have met so far are very friendly and the hotel staff could teach the Brits a thing or two in courteousy and manners.

After breakfast we met up with the hushe trek entourage and we were introduced to our Liaison Officer (LO) Capt. Hassan. Who seems to be a good guy.

After sorting out a few things, we decided to sort out all the necessary paperwork required to climb Broad Peak & K2. We were taken to the Ministry of Information & Tourism. Where we shook hands with a few people and Chris signed his life away on a piece of paper wafted under his nose. The rest of the details was efficiently handled by Hushe & the LO.

We were in and out within half an hour and taken over to the aviation authority. Here a deposit is made to cover any helicopter evacuation that may be necessary from Concordia or BC. Again the people couldn't be any more helpful. The final job for the day was to check the freight. It had already been recovered fro the airport by Hushe, so all we had to do was check that all barrels were accounted for and everything was OK. This done it was back to the hotel for a well earned rest before being taken out for our evening meal.

Regards, Stu.

Stu summited Everest and made a movie in which he filmed most of the route click on the picture below to see more about this video (DVD and VHS).

 

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