K2 _ Trekking in Pakistan July 2005

http://picasaweb.google.com.tw/cshum2006/PakistanK2_trekking#

Introduction

Once upon a time, I had seen a program about K2 in A1 adventure channel. I was interested in it and found some information from internet. I also borrowed book from library and bought magazine about K2.

The height of K2 was 8611m. It was the second highest peak in the world and was lying between Pakistan and China. I joined a local tour of the standard 20-days' package "K2 Base Camp Trek". The base camp was about 5000m. There was only 12 trekking days while other time spent on transport.

Preparation

The local tour cost was Euro $1000, trekking permit US$ 50 and domestic flight
US$ 110. Single supplement was another Euro $200. I had only to pay US$110 as deposit while balance was paid upon arrival. It was very fair and safe for me. I was surprised that other travelers had made all payment first.

A long equipment checklist was received after I had paid the deposit. I had to shop around various outfitters to buy necessary equipment such as water filter and gaiter.

Diary

Day 1 & 2

Hong Kong to Islamabad (Capital of Pakistan) was 10:00 p.m. ~ 4: 00 a.m. The flight stopped in Bangkok for 2 hr. It took only 30 min. to get through immigration. I saw my nametag when I stepped out of airport. Mr. Malik was waiting. He was the manager of the local tour and was man that communicated with me for more than 20 emails. I had met another traveler in the hotel. Her name was called "Shelagh" who was a Canadian and was working in Kuala Lumpur Philharmonic Orchestra as violinist.

Day 3

It was an extra-day. I rented a car for 800Rs ( 1 HK$ = 7.5 Rs ) to go to Taxila which was one of the World Heritage. I met another 8 more trekkers, 4 from England, 2 from German, 1 from Australia and one from Korea.

Day 4

5:00 a.m. wake up 5:30 check out 6:00 breakfast

7:00 a.m. Mr. Malik came with a mini-bus. Luggage was put in the roof and some put inside the car. When the car had droved about 30 min., some luggage had dropped from the roof. It took us about an hour to tie up safely again. Total driving time was 16 hours to cover 475 km from Islamabad to Chilas. The highway was KHH which was built with the help of China. The highway was from Islamabad to China. We stayed in Shangrila Hotel.

Day 5

Today was another driving day (10 hrs). The scenery was very fascinating with deep gorge and rapid along the highway. We stayed in the camping resort which was a small building, two toilet, and primitive kitchen with open ground for camping. My tent was Northface. All equipment was checked and tested in the night. We were briefed about details of the trek.

Day 6

This is a free day. I went to the local town Shardu to arrange return domestic flight. As the flight was easily cancelled for bad weather, I had to book a jeep back to Islamabad at cost of 17000 Rs ( HK$ 2300). The trip was 800km and estimated driving time was 16hr.

Day 7

5:30 wake-up: Temp : 20~30C : Altitude : 3200m

I got on a small jeep with three other trekkers. The jeep was 4-wheels drive with 2 sets of gear. The road condition was very good in the first hour of the journey. It changed from bad to worst. There was snow-capped mountain with cliff and rapid. The road condition was similar to Tibet .The scenery was very stunning. In fact, Tibet was only 200km from here.

The jeep had crossed 2 feet waterfall. Sometimes, we had to get off the jeep and put some rock under the tire to let the jeep go up the slope.

It took 10 hrs for us to arrive small village Askoli. We would camp there and there was about 35 porters waiting for us.

However, there were several other trekking groups. It was surprising noisy. Anyway, scenery was very nice and hoped that it would be better on tomorrow.

Day 8

5:00 wake-up: Temp : 20~33C : Altitude : 3200m Trekking time : 5hr

As the high attitude, I had headache so I could not sleep well yesterday night. Our luggage was weighted with maximum of 12.5kg. We had to carry for the rest of other. In fact, luggage was weighted for equal share among porters everyday.

Today was the first hiking day. I walked very slowly for the fear of mountain sickness (AMS). I had eaten very little at lunch as there was a little effect of AMS. It was better after a short sleep. One of our member, Sofi, who got serious ill with shivering. She had not eaten anything for the day.

Day 9

5:00 wake-up: Temp : 20~30C : Altitude : 3350m Trekking time : 11hr

Our guide, Raza, said that hiking time was about 8 hr.(Their average time !!) Therefore, I prepared 2 liters of water only. In fact, water bottle was filled in the morning. If we needed more water during the day, we had to filter and added iodine to purify water from stream. The smell of iodine was no good and the process was complicated and time consuming.

I hiked along the trail which was along the riverbank and in the valley. It was very hot (30C) in the daytime. My hiking strategy was 30min. walk with 5 min. stop with a drink and headache along the way. I hiked across lateral moraine and terminal moraine. Every once of energy was used up to reach the campsite "Batdumal". It was very primitive with a small stone house and water tap.

I went to see our porters in the evening. They were preparing dinner with simple food.
Their salary was about US$5 each day which included everything. They used some stone to erect a rectangle as shelter. They did not have a tent while they only had a blanket to sleep in the cold night.

Day 10

5:00 wake-up: Temp : 20~25C : Altitude : 3380m Trekking time : 5 hr

The scenery was much better. I went much closer to the mountain just similar to find the origin of life. We hiked along a muddy rapid which origin was Baltoro Glacier. The length was 65km and was second longest in the world. The origin of Baltoro Glacier was K2. Although the trek was 5 hr only, it was very tough.

Paiju camp was very nice. It was located in the slope overlooking rapid, Baltoro Glacier and snow-capped mountains. I took a first cold water shower for the past four days.

Day 11

5:30 wake-up: Temp : 15~25C : Altitude : 3780m Trekking time : 3 hr

It was an acclimatization day and was the most comfortable one. It was difficult to sleep in the night and waked up several times. However, headache had improved a lot.

We hiked to a surrounding hill with some exercise. It was not an easy hike although it was only 400m-altitude gain. We came back to camp in the afternoon. There were more tents and porters. There was a 40 Korean group with 140 porters. This campsite had changed into a village. There was no sign of tranquility.

Day 12

5:00 wake-up: Temp : 10~25C : Altitude : 3780m Trekking time : 9 hr

After one-hour hike, I arrived the terminal of Baltoro Glacier. I would walk on the glacier in following days. I walked on the muddy and rocky surface for a couple of hours. Suddenly, I recognized that I walked on the glacier. I thought that glacier should be shinny with white crystal as I had seen in many documentaries. Now, it was just under dirty sandy surface.

I ate very little at lunch after 6 hr walking. In fact, I could not eat. I arrived at the camp "Khabursay" with another 3 hr leaving only half of my life while other trekkers only used 6 hr .

Although this camp was very small, there was only our group camp. There was snow-capped mountain surrounding us with breathtaking blue sky. The tranquility gave me the feeling that I was in the heaven.

Day 13

5:00 wake-up: Temp : 10~25C : Altitude : 4140m Trekking time : 10 hr

I had a best sleep with headache and suitable temperature in the night. I walked along the lateral moraine. It was relatively easy as there was lesser up and down. I felt extremely small when comparing with the glacier. The scenery was much better today. Although, the altitude was over 4000m, trail was easier to walk.

The campsite was called GoroII. There had nothing but rocks and ice only. We slept on ice only. It was hard to imagine for a Hong Kong to sleep on ice. However, it was not so cold in the night. It was very easy to wash my leg here. I just put my foot on the icy-surface as there was running icy water on any crevice. However, I had to change leg for every 15s.

Day 14

5:00 wake-up: Temp : 5~25C : Altitude : 4500m Trekking time : 10 hr

I carried a lot of clothes so the backpack was very heavy. I walked on the glacier and saw ice tower protruding from underground with high mountains as background. When I arrived at lunch spot, most people had gone already. I took some food but without water to refill. It was demanding to finish the rest of the day without enough water.

Luckily, one porter helped me to carry me backpack. I was walking like running without backpack. I caught up with other slow trekkers. One was sick. So porter helped taking his pack, I had to carry my own one. Nightmare was come!! AMS came on 4500m. I had totally wrongly thought that I had already conquered it. 4500m were completely different to 3500m. I felt fatigue and headache. I was crawling slowly and even step-by-step to the campsite "Concordia". I was totally exhausted. I drank two cups of water and vomited immediately. I could do nothing but sleep. I still could not eat anything in dinner.

Day 15

5:00 wake-up: Temp : 10~25C : Altitude : 4700m Trekking time : 4 hr

I had eaten a very little food in breakfast. The destination was "K2 Base camp". The altitude was about 5000m and distance was 18km. The guide said hiking was about 10 hr. I thought I could manage in 12 hr in good condition.

When I walked 2 hours, I saw the base camp lying far away and other trekkers were already far ahead of me. After a deep thought and estimation my own ability at that moment, I decided to turn back to Concordia. Although I could not reach the base-camp, Concordia was already a very fascinating place and worth to come. The most important thing was that I would come back safely, healthy and enjoy the process of hiking.

My decision proved to be a good one as I vomited again when I came back to campsite again. I ate Diamox this time and AMS syndrome had improved a lot.

Other trekkers came in three groups. The best fit came back in 9hr. The second group came back in 11hr. The weakest came back in 13hr. Some blame theirselves could not reach the base camp.

Day 16

5:00 wake-up: Temp : 0~35C : Altitude : 4500m Trekking time : 13 hr

Our group was divided into two. Eight trekkers would go to "Ghondoghoro Pass", which was a technical clime. They had to go through 5600m pass with 300m-fixed rope with equipment of crampon and axe.

Shelahg and I retreated back the same route. Initially, I thought that it should be easier down hill. However, there was too much up and down on the glacier. It was hard to imagine how I would walk up just a few days ago. I would not eat anything at lunch. As the energy level dropped very fast, porter carried my personal backpack. I stopped for a rest from every 30min., 25min, 20min. 10min, or even 5min.... I was plagued by fatigue, dehydrated and deoxygenated. It was completed dark when I crawled to campsite. It was already 13 hr of walking. I had not eaten anything at night. I was very surprised I did not feel hungry for not eating for more than 18hr.!!!!

Day 17

5:00 wake-up: Temp : 0~35C : Altitude : 3400m Trekking time : 11 hr

I could not eat anything again in the morning. It was more than 24hr without eating!! However, I had to walk down using my physical and psychology tired body. I walked very slowly, slowly and slowing. The walking pace was similar to the last hour of walking yesterday. I walked alone and was far behind our group. I was thinking about calling emergency helicopter rescue as I could claim insurance.

Luckily, I had frustrated after 3 hr' walking. There was a porter of other party passed by me. He helped me to take my backpack. It was just a present given by God. I would walk into normal pace. Although it was still demanding, I could walk. I thought that I could not move without the help of porter. The situation had changed from devil into heaven!

I could eat something this time at lunch. It might be without burden of backpack and lower altitude at lunch spot. The guide suggested me using 500Rs ($70) to hire this porter for the following days.

Although I ate only very little at lunch, it was a real eating for the past two days. I resumed energy to walk as a normal people. It was 11hr walking today.

Day 19 and 20

It was a very easy walk back to starting village Askoli with my 500Rs personal porter. I even walked faster than him. The jeep picked us back to Shardu on day 20. When we went back to K2 motel, the local guide said that the domestic flight was cancelled in past two days. It was very likely that we had to rent a jeep to go back Islamabad ( 800km apart) Finally, we made a arrangement for a Corolla car at cost 17000Rs ( $2400 ).

Day 21

We waited in hotel lobby at schedule time 7:30 a.m. However, the driver did not show up. I called him and the manager. The driver came at 8:00 a.m. without the car !!!!!!

Finally, we managed to leave at about 8:30a.m. The driver said that driving time was about 16hr. The driver drove very, very fast. The driving speed was 110km/hr for a relatively good road and was 70~80km/hr when turning corner. I was holding the rail all the time. You could imagine KHH highway was built along cliff and high rising mountains. There was no safety block near the rim of road. I would drive at about 50km/hr if I were the driver. I told the driver to have a rest after 4~5 hr driving. However, he said he was fresh.

Anyway, we arrived Islamabad at 4:00a.m. after 18hrs' drive. After having a breakfast, I took a morning flight to Hong Kong.