Mountain Madness Gasherbrum II 2005: Getting caught up...

Dispatches: Dispatch #5 - June 27, 2005

Greetings from basecamp. The weather remains clear and hot and we wonder, “how long will it last?” Today we took showers and rearranged basecamp, as it is melting out fast. We made a carry up to a depot on the glacier yesterday morning. At 1am tonight we will go from basecamp to camp 1, where we will spend a couple of nights. While at camp 1 we will work on pushing the route to camp 2 along with several other teams. Conditions on the mountain are snowy, and with the continued hot weather, avalanches are constantly falling all around. Joe, Nick, Megan and I are doing great, feeling strong, and ready to get on the mountain.


Dispatch #4 - June 22, 2005

We arrived at basecamp yesterday morning under sunny skies. Today is even nicer, with great views of all the peaks. We got a good look at the route on G2 - it looks snowy but straightforward. This morning we took a short hike up the icefall above camp to stretch out and assess conditions. Tomorrow, before sunrise, we will hike up the icefall towards camp 1 and drop a load of gear. In a few days we will climb all the way to camp 1 and spend the night. The whole team is doing great and having fun.

Dispatch 3 - June 16, 2005: (Paiyu) A few days ago Joe, Megan, Nick and I drove by jeep to the trailhead at the village of Askole, where we met the rest of our team. Guiding us to basecamp will be Manzoor. Our high altitude porters are Mohammed Siddiq and Ezet Ullah, both of whom have climbed G2 before, among other high peaks. Our cook is Farman Ali, who was also the cook in 2002 when Chris Boskoff and I went to K2. That night he made us a special meal of rice, potatoes and capsicum.

The next morning after our porters had divided up our loads, we hit the trail to basecamp. it was a 6 hours hike to camp at Jhola (10,000 ft.) yesterday we continued the trek up the Braldu River Gorge to Paiyu camp. Last night the porters were in a festive mood, with much dancing and singing. Today we are taking a rest day in Paiyu, before the final push to basecamp, where we should arrive on the afternoon of June 20.

The weather is good today, and the forecast for the next few days is for clear weather, as well. Everyone is doing fine and in good spirits. Cheers, Charlie

Updates

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