Hike #1/Top-10: Concordia and K2 basecamp (Karakorams)

Part II: Hiking in

July 13: Askole to Jola

Excitement! The long drive was over and I was chomping at the bit to get started with the hiking. Since I've been a solo hiker for a long time there were some nerves on my part, regarding how my fitness level and hiking speed would compare to the others in my party, all strangers to me.

The day began with a 6:00am breakfast. As we ate, our tents were packed up by the support staff of porters and cooks, numbering more than twenty! Each of us had been assigned a personal porter, who would carry most of our gear, leaving us free to hike with a daypack. Mine was loaded with camera gear.

It was 6:30am when we started. Quite rapidly, we all spread out and I was soon hiking by myself. The trail paralleled the northern bank of the Braldu River and was mostly flat. However, just when I’d become comfortable a steep vertiginous path would appear to lead me up and over headlands, with the roaring Braldu an uncomfortable presence below. Bakhor Das Peak was a jagged spear to my right, on the far side of the Braldu, but other than that there was no hint of the big mountains to come. As the sun rose higher it started to become uncomfortably hot, but I did not let my pace flag.



After crossing a side stream on a swaying rope bridge I jogged left, away from the Braldu River and towards the mouth of the Biafo Glacier. Magnificent treks lead up this valley, which is deeper than the Grand Canyon and full of wondrous peaks, but this was not part of my itinerary. I continued to follow the main trail as it skirted the mouth of the Biafo Glacier. This was just a jumble of rocks and dirt, with no visible ice, except in the distance further up the valley.





Once done with the Biafo moraine crossing the trail sidled back up to the Braldu River and began to traverse some steep cliffs, to get to the Dumordo River side-valley. The Dumordo River, in early season, can be waded, but this is impossible in mid-summer when the Panmah Glacier fills it full of snow-melt water. The solution is a one mile detour up the sandy Durmodo River valley, where I expected to find a pulley bridge. I had used such bridges before, so wasn't really worried, but was still pleasantly surprised to find a 'proper' rope bridge instead of a precarious pulley bridge. (Upon inquiring, I found that the new bridge had only been set up 2yrs ago.)





Just on the other side of the bridge, 15min away, was the campsite of Jola (elevation 10,500ft), our home for the night. It had taken me 5hrs to get here; I'd soon realize that such short days would be the norm, in order to give us time to get acclimatized. The rest of the day was spent lounging and watching shadows march up the mountains that were ringing us, as the sun went down.

July 14: Jola to Paiyu

I rose early to watch the sunrise, before joining the others for breakfast. We were all on the trail by 6:15am, walking in the shallows of early morning. Similar to the day before, we soon spread out and I was once again hiking by myself. It was fun watching the shadows lift tantalizingly from the valley floor, like watching a particularly artistic striptease act. Too soon however, I hit the sun and immediately started to get hot. I think that day the temperature exceeded 90F...just energy sapping heat. In compensation, the scenery was quite magnificent.


Bakhor Das Peak




GaliWalker photographing Bakhor Das Peak




Braided Braldu

Once again the going was relatively easy. 'Lunch' was taken at 9:30am (!), at the Bardumal campsite, where we were hosted by two genial caretakers. A rudimentary stone hut with three rooms allowed us to take shelter from the heat during lunch, but then it was back out into the blazing sun.


Our host at Bardumal


Mohammad Yasin, our assistant cook






Lunchtime for the trekkers

The post-Bardumal section was harder going. The route took me down to the river bank where sandy sections made for tiresome walking. Periodically, I'd have to scuttle along the rocks lining the river bank to stay above water. The final section before Paiyu was a cruel up-down-up sequence, which was just brutal in the heat.





Paiyu (elevation 11,100ft) was one of the more established campsites on our trek. It was situated at the base of 21,883ft Paiyu Peak, though this was not visible from the campsite. Trees lent welcome shade and soothing greenery to our surroundings. Best of all though were the awesome views of the Cathedral group and Lobsang Spire. Finally, we were getting into the thick of it! The next day, we would make our way onto the Baltoro Glacier and walk amongst the big peaks.




Paiyu Peak shadows


Cathedral and Lobsang Spire


Cathedral


Lobsang Spire

Part IV: Throne room of the mountain gods
Concordia and K2 base-camp

July 18: Goro Two to Concordia

Three days of bone-jarring roads and five days of sublime hiking had led to this. Galen Rowel, the great photographer and mountaineer, had dubbed Concordia the "throne room of the mountain gods". This was the day I would enter this room, featuring some of the finest mountain scenery in the world. The excitement, which had been building the past couple of days, was now almost uncontainable.

That morning I had a poor night's sleep, due to being too amped up and the temperature being below freezing. Once I got going I deliberately slowed everything down, determined to eke out every bit of enjoyment from the day.


Trango Towers




Urdukas Peak at dawn


Masherbrum at dawn

A half hour's hiking got me to the mouth of the valley, at the head of which stood 23,871ft tall Mustagh Tower. Earlier this year I had been enthralled by the excellent book "Summit Fever", which chronicled the third ascent of Mustagh Tower. So, I was really looking forward to my first sight of the peak. Mustagh Tower had originally been made famous by a misleading photo taken edge on from the upper Baltoro, which depicted it as an impregnable tower. Even though I did not get to see the famous 'unclimbable' view the mountain was quite striking, so I spent a good hour wandering up and down the Baltoro trying out different compositions.




Mustagh Tower

Concordia, elevation 15,500ft, is a T-junction. The Godwin Austin glacier flows southwards from K2, while the Upper Baltoro Glacier flows northwards. The two glaciers collide and merge at Concordia and then flow west as the Baltoro Glacier, which is what we had used for our approach. As I hiked on, heading east towards Concordia and the wall of Gasherbrum IV, marking the end of the T-junction, it seemed that I was making no progress. The scale of the mountains was so huge that what had seemed a stone's throw away turned out to be wishful thinking. Anyway, there were lots of wonders to see: Broad Peak, at 26,414ft the world's twelfth tallest peak, was now in view, to the left of Gasherbrum IV, while Gasherbrum II, at 26,362ft the world's thirteenth highest peak, could be seen peeping out from behind the right shoulder. Disappointingly, Gasherbrum I, at 26,509ft the world's eleventh highest peak, lived up to its second name of Hidden Peak by remaining hidden behind Gasherbrums V and VI.



Hiking past glacial pools, contouring tediously around or over ice-dune after endless dune and jumping the odd crevasse I finally caught sight of a cluster of tents...Concordia, a giant amphitheater, ringed by mountains that soared straight up on all sides. Mitre Peak to my right and Marble Peak to my left formed a giant gateway to the throne room. As I passed through I immediately looked left, up the Godwin Austin glacier, and there stood the pyramid shape of K2. Finally! I couldn't help but lift my arms up high and whoop in exultation.





The rest of the day was spent drinking in the magnificence of K2. I'd periodically drag my eyes away to take in Broad Peak, Gasherbrum IV, Baltoro Kangri (23,990ft) and the lesser peaks, but inexorably my eyes would be dragged back to K2. A thick band of clouds hung stubbornly across the peak, though not the summit, but I wasn't too worried at this stage, since we still had two nights at Concordia.


Marble Peak summit






K2 and stubborn clouds


Broad Peak


Broad Peak: Rock and snow


Broad Peak: Dragon's back


Gasherbrum IV


Goodnight

July 19: K2 base camp

A big day, the climax of our trip. The plan was to hike to K2 base camp (elevation 16,500ft) and back, a round trip of 14mi on difficult terrain. This would be our longest day on the trek, estimated to span at least 10hrs. Keeping this in mind, for the first time on the trek I ditched the extra photography gear, only keeping the camera.

At my insistence we had a 5:00am start, an hour earlier than normal, just so that we would have a safety margin for the end of the day. Our party also included three porters, without their normal heavy loads, to act as additional guides in case anyone had to turn back.

It was cold and inhospitable in the deep early morning shadows of the mountains as we set off. Almost immediately we faced the first obstacle. As we transitioned from the Baltoro to the Godwin Austin Glacier there was a labyrinth of crevasses and swiftly flowing glacial streams. Knowing the way through can potentially shave off hours. We began by walking the crest of an ice dune. This early in the morning the ice was rock hard and traction was not good. Slipping off the crest was a no-no. Next up we had to climb down, off the dune, in a semi-controlled fall. Immediately after this, another ice-dune crossing with a rope to down-climb...then, a series of jumps over crevasses and glacial streams, and a couple of sections of tip-toeing on knife-edged ridges. Abruptly, it all flattened out and the going became easier. We were now on the Godwin Austin glacier.



With the dangerous start out of the way, we all relaxed and spread out. Two of us, plus porter, took the lead, which we'd hold for the rest of the day. We motored on, towards the magnificent pyramid of K2, initially in the shadow of Broad Peak and then in sunshine. Looking back Chogolisa (elevation 25,148ft), also known as Bride Peak, was a gorgeous snowy sight. The great climber Herman Buhl, who has first ascents of two of the world's fourteen 8000m peaks, lost his life on Chogolisa, when he fell through a cornice.


Hiking in Broad Peak's shadow






Chogolisa



Soon, we reached our halfway point, Broad Peak's base camp, where we decided to wait for the rest of our group to catch up. As we waited we could hear rescue operations being organized for three climbers who had been stuck on Broad Peak's summit, above 8000m, for two nights now. The prognosis wasn't good. We would hear a day later that they had been given up for dead, bringing the deaths on Broad Peak to four for the year. May they rest in peace.


Broad Peak base camp

The section from Broad Peak base camp to K2 base camp was a maze of crevasses, glacial streams and pools. We stuck to our guide since it would have been easy to get off track. Most of the elevation gain also took place on this section. I still hadn't completely recovered from the cold that had struck me so badly a few days back – I was perpetually coughing – and it was all I could do to keep up. Curiously, the closer we got to the base camp the less impressive K2 became. From a photographer's point of view, the bright conditions and unaesthetic angles on K2 weren't very appealing. Thankfully, I was wearing my hiker's hat this day so I got my money's worth.





K2's base camp was a busy place, even more so than Concordia. Multicolored tents sprouted like a virulent rash on the glacier. Talking to a Balti high altitude porter - who had summited Gasherbrum II twice as well as Broad Peak, and now hoped to summit K2 - while sipping some tea, I learnt that no one had yet tackled K2 for the year. The high altitude porters were still establishing camps - they had struggled up to camp-2, but with the currently gorgeous weather hoped to have the final two camps set up in the next day or two - while the climbers were still acclimatizing. Summit day was tentatively scheduled to be July 27.



The way back was reasonably straight forward, until the final bit, when we had to transition from the Godwin Austin Glacier back onto the Baltoro. Once again, we had to exercise great care in our footing. In a few places conditions had changed dramatically from the morning, making for some spicy moments. Tired, happy and relieved, we reached Concordia exactly 11hrs after starting. Just in time for me to indulge in some evening photography!




Mitre Peak




Broad Peak and K2


K2


Broad Peak


Last light on Broad Peak


Last light on K2


Broad Peak by twilight


Baltoro Kangri


Moonrise over Concordia


First light on K2


Sunrise over Gasherbrum IV

The fireworks on our trip were (almost, but not quite) over. All that remained was the small matter of our multi-day return.

Thanks for posting this here. What a stunning, stunning adventure. And the photos are breathtaking.

We can't match the photos or the adventure, but you've inspired me to post our trips to Peru sometime soon...