Tuesday 16th June
June 16th, 2009 by Jake
Before I start recounting today's epic adventure, I wanted to write about some things that I may have forgotten in previous dispatches:
1) I might not have properly explained what teams are together, with what numbers and aiming for what objectives. In our 'big crazy love team' at the moment, we have the K2 team (10 members), K2 BC trekkers x3, and there is the Broad Peak team (8047m aka K7) with 13 members as well - so 26 of us. Although we walk together, within the campsites we are now camping and eating in our respective teams, so that we can really get to know each other.
2) So Fab called us all together for a meeting the other day in Skardu to inform us that none of our oxygen equipment had arrived in Islamabad (let alone Skardu!), as you can imagine, this was not the best news to hear, but we all took it in surprisingly good cheer... I guess under the mentality that as long as it get to us in Basecamp before we need it (and in time to test the kit), then 'no harm, no foul'. Nevertheless, we are all keeping our fingers crossed and hope that it arrives asap.
3) One evening, whilst talking to Isaiah, a Broad Peak team member (and only 23 and on his first big expedition), Fab announced that he could impart a lot of wisdom on Isaiah - as long as Isaiah did the exact opposite to everything that Fab told him! Thanks to this, I will now try and glean a word of wisdom from Fab each day to share with you...!
So today was the first move up the hill towards Basecamp. Askole to Ghula. Today was a distance day - minimal net height gain (around 100m or so), but around 14 miles up the valley. We got up for a 6am breakfast (omelette and ketchup in toast for me) and to pack up all of our personal kit for the porters. We each had 75kgs of personal baggage, which was split between 3 porters (who would carry this all the way to BC over the next 7 days). We also had another 17 porters for the climbing equipment and high-altitude tents for our team on K2. Then there was all the equipment for BC (tents, cooking equipment food etc). Between us and the broad peak team, we had a total of 247 porters. Although this may seem a lot, it rather pales into insignificance to the 1976 Japanese who had 1500 porters for the expedition!
We climbers set out early (around 7.30am) whilst the porters were still being loaded up. Walking out of Askole we entered a wide flat bottomed valley with a river snaking through it. When we started, it was overcast, and trying to rain, however it did brighten up throughout the day and got quite hot. The valley floor was dusty and rocky, but the path was easy to follow (foot traffic only) and we had to cross the river a number of times over rickety wooden suspension bridges. The walk itself was pretty uneventful, we passed the occasional porter or group of porters coming the opposite way, obviously returning from load carries up to BC for other teams. When we arrived at the Ghula camp after 5 hours walking, we were surprised by the quality of the campsite. In 2003, having been sponsored by an Austrian project, the Ghula site was moved up and away from a river to a permanent site with a warden's stone house, properly flattened tent pitching sites and permanent good quality showers and toilets. To be honest, it's taken a lot of courage to actually write about it, rather than just imply that we've been properly wilderness camping! Apparently the next camp is like this, but from then on it does get hardcore! A bottle of orange tango purchased at an astronomical price (but worth every penny!) certainly put a smile back on my face, and we had to wait several hours before the first porters arrived with the kit.
Today's word of wisdom from Fabrizio: 'When the sh*t hits the fan, think of boobs'
1) I might not have properly explained what teams are together, with what numbers and aiming for what objectives. In our 'big crazy love team' at the moment, we have the K2 team (10 members), K2 BC trekkers x3, and there is the Broad Peak team (8047m aka K7) with 13 members as well - so 26 of us. Although we walk together, within the campsites we are now camping and eating in our respective teams, so that we can really get to know each other.
2) So Fab called us all together for a meeting the other day in Skardu to inform us that none of our oxygen equipment had arrived in Islamabad (let alone Skardu!), as you can imagine, this was not the best news to hear, but we all took it in surprisingly good cheer... I guess under the mentality that as long as it get to us in Basecamp before we need it (and in time to test the kit), then 'no harm, no foul'. Nevertheless, we are all keeping our fingers crossed and hope that it arrives asap.
3) One evening, whilst talking to Isaiah, a Broad Peak team member (and only 23 and on his first big expedition), Fab announced that he could impart a lot of wisdom on Isaiah - as long as Isaiah did the exact opposite to everything that Fab told him! Thanks to this, I will now try and glean a word of wisdom from Fab each day to share with you...!
So today was the first move up the hill towards Basecamp. Askole to Ghula. Today was a distance day - minimal net height gain (around 100m or so), but around 14 miles up the valley. We got up for a 6am breakfast (omelette and ketchup in toast for me) and to pack up all of our personal kit for the porters. We each had 75kgs of personal baggage, which was split between 3 porters (who would carry this all the way to BC over the next 7 days). We also had another 17 porters for the climbing equipment and high-altitude tents for our team on K2. Then there was all the equipment for BC (tents, cooking equipment food etc). Between us and the broad peak team, we had a total of 247 porters. Although this may seem a lot, it rather pales into insignificance to the 1976 Japanese who had 1500 porters for the expedition!
We climbers set out early (around 7.30am) whilst the porters were still being loaded up. Walking out of Askole we entered a wide flat bottomed valley with a river snaking through it. When we started, it was overcast, and trying to rain, however it did brighten up throughout the day and got quite hot. The valley floor was dusty and rocky, but the path was easy to follow (foot traffic only) and we had to cross the river a number of times over rickety wooden suspension bridges. The walk itself was pretty uneventful, we passed the occasional porter or group of porters coming the opposite way, obviously returning from load carries up to BC for other teams. When we arrived at the Ghula camp after 5 hours walking, we were surprised by the quality of the campsite. In 2003, having been sponsored by an Austrian project, the Ghula site was moved up and away from a river to a permanent site with a warden's stone house, properly flattened tent pitching sites and permanent good quality showers and toilets. To be honest, it's taken a lot of courage to actually write about it, rather than just imply that we've been properly wilderness camping! Apparently the next camp is like this, but from then on it does get hardcore! A bottle of orange tango purchased at an astronomical price (but worth every penny!) certainly put a smile back on my face, and we had to wait several hours before the first porters arrived with the kit.
Today's word of wisdom from Fabrizio: 'When the sh*t hits the fan, think of boobs'
