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Less than a month to the beginning of my fourth round of tournament in Baltoro, where - despite all my good will - I have not yet reached the summit of any eight thousand, although I have been very close to it on several occasions. I hope this time will be the good one. I'll retry the ascent of K2, or Chogori, a name that reminds me of a chocolate and puffed rices sweet, object of desire of my childhood: the legendary Ciocorì. Sweet K2 has very little, even climbing the normal route, the Abruzzi's Spur. It would be the twenty-sixth repetition of an Italian, but who cares, I'll go for me, not to make an exploit. This May in the Alps sucks, and in recent weeks I've tasted the caresses of the storms that are raging through the area of Matterhorn, as if to prepare myself for what I'm going to find in Karakorum. Between me and my leaving, there are two more considerable obstacles: the threshold test with the Magnificent Dr. Roi and the ascent of Mont Blanc with my friend Paolo Filippo (and if something happens, I'm ruined). Even this year I'm loaded of sponsors, which, translated, means just ONE: 50% discount granted by Intermatica Ltd on my mobile phone recharge. Better than nothing, thanks to their contribution I'll be able, even this summer, to bore the net surfers with my talks and gossips from base camp and beyond.
The first full-lenght simulated mission to Mars started four days ago from Star City, near Moscow. A crew of six men, including an Italian-Argentine engineer, will live in isolation for 520 days in a 1:1 scale model of a "spaceship" firmly anchored to the ground, studying the psychophysical implications of a future trip to Mars. I participated to the international Mars500 mission crew selections as an ESA's member, and I could have been in the place of my Argentine colleague if I had not given up because of another departure: my personal expedition to K2, which starts today from Malpensa. From my point of view, being on a flight to Islamabad instead of one to Moscow, only changes the perspective: I changed from a psychological journey to a vertical travel, from a contribution to science in preparation for the most fascinating adventure of our time, to the exploration of my limits, during a challenging climb of K2. I will miss Mars500, though ultimately the aim is to stay shut for more than a year and a half, along with five other men, to see if someone is able to make it out without slaying each other. This was my only chance to participate, albeit as a stunt, to the great dream of man on Mars: at 47, I'm far too old for the mission itself that, if all goes well, will take off not earlier than within a quarter of a century. I will miss the magic of thinking that I would have been there, just over there, even in the fourth row. In a thousand years from now, do you think that the first half of this twenty-first century will be remembered for our miseries or for the conquest of Mars? What do you remember of 1492? Is it the year in which the great Florentine statesman Lorenzo de' Medici disappeared or the year of the discovery of America? However, I have no regrets because I would have been a man in a jail, and I like to breathe the air (albeit thin) of freedom. But that freedom must always deal with the Unbearable Heaviness of Being: 175 kg of baggage in three, all without cargo (to save money) entrusting the good offices of Gilberto (Adventures in the World's factotum). The challenge starts today, at boarding time, and I must confess that we did it, without using our modest economic resources but wearing jackets and boots and loading hand luggage up to the limits allowed. It was a challenge in the challenge. Beggars, you'll say. You are right, but everybody is able to spend.
This afternoon we were at the Ministry of Tourism for briefing, and this is the official list of expeditions registered so far to K2:
1) ATP International Group (Adventure Tour Pakistan): 19 members of various nationalities (we share the permit with them)
2) Team American George Dijmarescu - K2 & Broad Peak: 9 members
3) Swiss Expedition: 2 members
4) Polish International Expedition: 9 members
5) ATP U.S. Expedition: 8 members, leader Fabrizio Zangrilli
6) Korean Expedition to K2: 9 members
7) Italian Expedition EvCNR-K2: 12 members, leader A.
Greco. The group will rise until the c3 to clean up the mountain from the fixed ropes. They will arrive on 28th.
Rumours say that Gerlinde Kalterbrunner is arriving, but so far, there is no certain information.
Today my alarm clock rang at 4:45 am, on the notes of Malika Ayane's song "I start from here." An omen. It was still dark. The idea was to fly until Skardu, but yesterday night the weather forecast was bad, so we decided to leave to Chilas along the Karakorum Highway, early in the morning. This is my sixth journey by minibus to Chilas. Just once, I succeed in catching a flight to Skardu. This "tradition" has been respected, and we started in a chilly dawn, to afford the almost 500 km of the Karakorum, "the road around the holes". Everything went smoothly until Besham, accomplices the first part of the road recently resurfaced, the early hour and almost no traffic along the KKH. The huge landslide that created a new lake in high Hunza has devastated the live in the valley: since four moths, the commercial traffic to China is interrupted, and many villages have been evacuated pending the overflow. The day spent quietly, and we hoped to reach our goal in "only" 15 hours, very fast, if compared to the journey that took 18 hours last year. A quick and smooth journey, but it was too good to last. Less than 160 km from our destination, after yet another hole, we heard a strange noise coming from below. A sort of rattling metal. We blamed the dancing muffler, but after less than an hour, after another pit, the noise turned into a horrible screeching sound, like a metal scratching the asphalt. We stopped. Temporary low diagnosis: incurable disease to the right rear suspension. Luckily, we stopped three kilometres before the (unknown to me) town of Pattan, District of Kohistan. We reached the town on our dying vehicle, at a less than walking pace, down for an endless hours gladdened by the shrill sound of tortured metal. The mechanic of the bazaar adjusts the springs even with spit and wire: less than three hours after the accident, we left to Chilas. We arrived before midnight, not exactly fresh as roses, but at least in par with the road map. Tomorrow we should reach Skardu, Inshallah, of course.
This morning, I woke up at 6 am, to the tune of "Charming", Subsonica. And indeed the day was beautiful and sunny, although we were too exhausted to appreciate the scenery. Last night, or rather this morning, including late arrival and later dinner, we fell asleep at 2:30 am. At 7 am, the sun was already set up high in Chilas, and the idea of other 9 hours travelling between holes and dust was not the most exciting one. That old fox of Ali, found out the way to motivate me, with the proposal of driving his Toyota Landcruiser on the Karakorum Highway! At first I thought he was kidding. But he was serious. Could I miss such an opportunity? Then I got behind the wheel, followed by a hesitant Adriano who dropped himself in the seat behind me. For those who've never been in Pakistan, driving here means drive on the left, the Karakorum is getting rebuilding, the road is gutted, without asphalt and the potholes outnumber the stars in the sky. Last but not least, the art of driving of huge pakistani trucks is absolutely unpredictable. With all this, I drove 52 km from Chilas to the bridge of Rakhiot, where a checkpoint in the distance seen by Adrian advised me to swap the seat with the official driver. After the first moments of tension, I relaxed and totally immersed in the local driving style, which is not difficult because the Rule No. 1 is always hoot those in front of you and Rule No. 2 is that there are no rules, much less code road. You go where you can, at your preferred speed, ignoring all elementary security rules. I really enjoyed it; Adriano and the other passengers perhaps a bit less. At the end of everything, though, I was congratulated by Ali, who was also on board. The rest of the group was on the same minibus of yesterday, which followed behind at a safe distance. Finally, after seven hours of travel with the official driver, we arrived at Skardu, the capital of Baltistan. We spent our last energies visiting the bazaar for the final purchases (postcards, umbrellas, shoes and any other business). This evening a well-deserved rest and then tomorrow we leave to the nearby ("only" three hours by jeep) Deosai plains, where there is still some snow at 4000 meters, at least judging by what you see here in Skardu. Over there, our acclimatization will finally begin.
Today's song is "Sweet Disposition" from "The Temper Trap". In accordance with title words, I have to soften the impression we had on arrival, three days ago ... (what are we doing here?). Although so far we had just one day out of three of good weather, we managed to climb some peaks; on Sunday Nisar and I reached the summit of the highest mountain in the area, about 5000 m. There are higher peaks, but unfortunately they are not within walking distance, and it's impossible to reached them on a day-trip basis from our camp. Perhaps with a SUV or in a less snowy season...
A track, now unaccessible due to the snow, proceeds through the whole plateau and arrives at Chilas on the Rupal side of Nanga Parbat; but I am digresssing. Coming back to Sunday, while I descended I noticed footprints on fresh snow. They were vaguely human in shape and size, but any sign of shoe soles was missing. Nisar explained to me that in the Deosai Natural Park there are dozens of brown bears which hunt for marmots.
And I thought to have found footprints from the legendary Yeti! Abominable Snowman or not, with every day that passes we feel better, the oxygen saturation grows and the pressure drops. This is the ideal place to acclimatize; a paradise for ski touring and this year you'll be able to practice until the end of June. The gradients are not extraordinary, but one remains at a high altitude: between four and five thousand meters. Developments are however significant and some steep slopes can satisfy the most demanding skiers. Even if we were expecting meadows, the landscape covered by snow has a certain charm and firn is exceptional. At least, until at 9 o'clock in the morning. Then, the sun starts melting the snow and what hasn't been done untill then, won't be done anymore. This year the snow will remain until end of July, but same time last year the fields were covered by violets. Ultimately we are happy with the choice of this place for acclimatization, easily accessible from Skardu and logistics can easily be organized. We were the firsts to arrive and so far seam to be the only ones; at least for this season. The only regret is not to have brought skis and skins with us. An idea for those who will come after us.
The alarm clock's song of this morning was once again by U2, "Desire" to give us some 'charge'. As we woke up under a beautiful snowfall, someone commented that we have also paid for that, and Sergio wisely replied: "If wealth does not bring happiness, imagine poverty." In this way consoled, after a later breakfast, we started to walk around on foot for about ten km on the deep snow that cloaks the plateau. The goal was a summit deceptively close, specially chosen for its central location in order to give Claudio Andreola an excuse to be photographed in an elevated position with company logos. The aim was to dispel the suspect of the members of his company that he had gone to sea in Thailand rather than suffer cold, dysentery and altitude sickness in Baltistan. Of course, the weather changed suddenly and the sun first began melting the snow and then roasted us. Three hours' fatigue after, at first sinking few inches in the snow and later until the knees, we reached our goal. Only Adriano did not join us. The overall height difference of 350 + 350 meters constituted an insult to him. Therefore, like yesterday, he did "the usual lap". A few steps from our camp, there is an awkward path, even without no snow, that leads from the street to the river, 80 meters below. Adri cover the distance in 11 minutes flat uphill (please note that we are at 3900 m asl). 16 repetitions before and 16 after the meals are "care" of Adri: 2600 m in altitude per day. With him there is no competion ... Anyway, tomorrow we will back to Skardu and the next day we will begin the trek towards K2 basecamp. Stay tuned.
Today's morning song is "Before leaving on a long journey," Irene Grandi. I would dedicate it to so many people, that I prefer to choose myself and so I finish sooner. Today we are to Skardu, for a short rest before the trek that will take us to K2 base camp through Gondoghoro Pass. The day is devoted to personal washing, control of materials and correspondence. So we held a cooking contest, exclusively reserved for the kind and attentive (female) readers of the blog. I took a picture last night in Desoai (click to enlarge) of our Last Supper. Which is the food in obvious discord with the culture and tradition of Pakistani food? The first reader who guesses, posting the reply on the guestbook (shall prevail date and time of dispatch) will be offered a weekend in the mountains with the great Adriano Dal Cin, in the place and date to be agreed directly with the prize itself, see picture. We do not accept substitutions, refrain wasters.
The wake-up song of today is "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Events do not always follow the course set up without strong injections of will. Yesterday I had to undertake to convince Muhammad Ali (boss of the Adventure Pakistan) and his sirdar that it was our firm intention to reach Concord and K2 base camp through Gondoghoro La. Eventually I succeeded, because of the good weather of the last two days. Indeed some unknown factor remains: the heavy snowfalls of these months dropped the limit of the snow under 4000 meters. Another doubt is related to the fact that we are the first of the season to cross the Gondoghoro from Hüsch side. But “if your life were only made with certainty it would be extremely boring", said my concierge. Contingencies are the salt. Having got this pearl of wisdom for posterity, I have to add that we are enjoying the climb in a magnificent valley, sunny and, above all, little frequented by trekkers and mountaineers. Except us, there are no other trekkers arriving in or departing from Husche, while we know that many groups, in this very moment, are going up in the Baltoro from Askole, on the yak trail. In fact, without a proper and preventive acclimatization coupled with the support of strong and well equipped carriers, it is impossible to face Gondoghoro La at the beginning of hiking, as we are doing after Deosai. This morning we reached Saitcho or Shaischo, 3300 m. Tomorrow we will continue to Dhalzampa Xhuxpang and then, the last stop before the pass itself. Along the way we've come across several Husche women carrying huge bundles of firewood. They are the same that, in the evening, carry baskets full of hay for their animals. You’ll say “and the men?” Well, no trace of men, apart from our carriers. In these districts, the division of labour is very clear: women in the fields, to cut wood and men… lead operations. Now we come to things lighter. As evidenced by the guestbook, the first one to guess correctly the mysterious dish (ham) and lucky winner of our competition, is Chiara Andreola, daughter of Claudio, our fearless trekker. Chiara lives in Rome where she works as a journalist while continuing to study an abstruse subject. She likes mountaineering, and she will certainly enjoy the well-deserved prize, which will make direct contact when he comes back from K2. Rumours suggest the existence of a boyfriend, but Adriano is not jealous and famous journalists must always be ready for entangled situations...
Wake up by U2, "Beautiful Day". And it is true, besides being a hope for tomorrow. This morning I also listen "Live really" by Giorgia: we are doing our best, honey. We are here since two weeks, and I feel like we arrived yesterday. Good things are always fleeting. We are in Xhuxpang camp, 4600 m, directly under the steep slope of Gondoghoro La. At midnight we'll start to climb up, then the rest of the trek is downhill. The last time I was here was in 2001, nine years ago. Adriano and I were returning from an attempt (failed) to GII. My memory goes to the green fields on which we camped. Today, those fields are buried under meters of snow, but luckily the sun shines on us and do the track, since no group has yet climbed the pass from this side, this year. Adriano and I, not satisfied with the two hours spent to arrive here (we kept up with the Gondoghoro rescue team, carriers specializing in rescue that live here all summer), we continued up to 5000 m altitude in a cirque near where we had never been before. At 9 am we were back in Xhuxpang, because we began to sink in soft snow. Our days begin at 4 am and end at 10 am. The rest of the day is occupied by (in order): food, rest, another climb (Adriano) and (in my case) photos, blog and data transmission. Lunch at 11, "sur la neige". Claudio has offered us a stunning block of culatello Sauris (in Deosai we enjoyed a "trivial" Parma ham, kindly provided by Sergio). These goods are unavailable here because, in spite of the fact that the Hunza drink alcoholic beverages, pork remains taboo. With us, there are only a dozen porters and no one of the three chickens that have accompanied us (in spite of themselves) in recent days. Our voracious stomachs have become the graves of the poor beasts. Cannibals, tell you! Right. We only hope that their sacrifice will not be in vain. Tomorrow we will know.
The alarm of midnight is "Thank you" by Alanis Morissette (completely different music than the song by Dido of the same name, if you don’t mind). At midnight, we left toward the Gondoghoro, the glacial pass at around 5500 m that allows you to reach Concordia from Husch. Although it is not 6650 m high, as erroneously reported on some maps, it remains very challenging. I say with some pride that we were the first of the season to move towards Concordia, whereas in the normal sense (i.e. fast way back from Baltoro) has already been crossed by some groups. For our two (sic!) trekker the road is now downhill along the Baltoro: it will be a walk for them who are already acclimatized. The highness of the snow helped us in the slope and the weather was stunning. Tonight the moon was down early and we proceeded in the starlight, with the Milky Way to guide us to the pass. Occasionally, a shooting star lit up the snow-capped peaks for a fleeting moment. A flash. A wish. A dream to achieve. We arrived at the pass at 5 am, in time to see the sun rising behind the GI. They were all there, the 8000, in front of our balcony of ice: K2 and Broad Peak, GIV, GIII, GII, GI, Chogolisa and a host of other towering peaks, all visible from this privileged point. We have admired them while waiting for Bruna. Meanwhile the sun rose slowly in his everyday bow. Now there are no insurmountable barriers to achieving our goal: the base camp of K2 is just a couple of days from here. The person of the day is undoubtedly Bruna Monsignori, strong trekker in her sixties and a great traveller. To cross the Gondoghoro was her dream and today she realized it, marching to her rhythm. Tired, but happy. We never left her alone and we embraced all together at the highest point for the usual photo. Brava Bruna. A spirit of adaptation and determination that is rare even in women with half her age. If Baltoro makes a selection, Gondoghoro more. But you must not think of an athlete, far from it. She is just a person who is prepared and grits her teeth during the climb. She trusted us, joining the trek, and she was rewarded by nice weather and a memorable climb under the stars. She dedicates the feat to Matilda, her granddaughter. Any result is never absolute, but relative to the person, the timing and the circumstances. This was her K2.
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Con il patrocinio del Club Alpino Italiano |
