K2 : A Journey of a Lifetime – 2
Episode 2 of 5
The blog covers the story of our epic journey to Concordia K2 which was my ultimate desire. It’ll be a five episode blog & I’ll try to cover the details of my experience of this memorable journey.
And we got up with somebody shouting outside our camp at 4:15 AM. It was time to wake up & get ready for our trek to Jhula. Got ready, packed our things & off we went to kitchen camp where a super-breakfast was waiting for us. It was mind-blowing to see bread, parathas, omelette, porridge, variety of jams, cornflakes, milk, tea, coffee, ovaltine, hot chocolate, green tea, energile etc, in our breakfast. And we not at all expecting so much while staying at a campsite. This routine kept on going through-out our trekking days & we were lucky to have such a lavish early morning breakfast.
Just to give a few details of the our group. We were nine individuals from different parts of Pakistan, including two foreigners.
- Moin Ghazi — My camp mate & a Pakistani settled in US
- Umair Rana — Lahore
- Umair Mushtaq — Bahawalpur
- Mukhshif Umair — Islamabad
- Sheaheryar Junejo — Karachi
- Kamil Jabbar — Karachi
- Arslan Majid — Karachi
- Amina Feres — France
We were strangers but we gel together so quickly & it was really good to see mingle together from the start of the trip.
So, we left Askole at 5:55 AM in a very nice & pleasant weather. The cool breeze in the morning made our day & it was lovely being, close to raw nature. In around 45 min, we reached to the entrance of Karakuram National Park where we had to made an entry on a lengthy form & paying Rs. 750 for entry ticket. Got really impressed with the facilities at this checkpoint. Nice & clean washrooms & there was a kitchen as well.
Our boys were carrying a portable speaker along with them & this made trekking quite exciting. Got a chance to listen to a podcast titled “Above & Beyond – group therapy” & episode 187 was just awesome. Starting out from Askole, the initial stage is deceptively calm, passing through green valleys and a few rocks; the trail crosses through valley with Brando river on one side & a few fields/villages on the other.
Later, the trek got converted into sandy plains mixed with a few ascends, till we reached Korofon in 3 hours.
The hike from Askole to Concordia is broken up into 9 stages – Korophon is the first stage on the hike. Some groups camp here, but it is now generally a tea/lunch break only. We had a few energy bars, dates & dry apricot which we were carrying with us. We stopped there for around half an hour & relaxed alongside a river stream coming from Biafo Glacier which is world’s third largest glacier outside the polar regions, second only to the 70 km, Siachen Glacier & 77 km long Fedchenko Glacier.
After Korofong, the trek changes, and suddenly you see a lot more ascend & descends. We were now moving very close to River Braldo & a few times inside the river stream. For the very first time, I got a realisation that this trek is no joke & it would really test me out. We crossed a few rocks which were difficult ones, considering the first day but we did managed them.
It was five hours into the trek when we saw an army camp on the other side of River Domardo but to our surprise, there was no place to cross this wide river. We were told that there’s a bridge a few kilometres away from where we’ll cross this river & reach Jhula campsite. Our feet were souring & walking on a sandy trek made it really tough for us. On top of it, the sunlight was very harsh & it was a hot noon time.
Finally, we were there at famous hanging Jhula bridge & we crossed it to reach campsite at 12:15 PM.
It was a big sigh of relief, at least for me to finally take some rest & have something to eat. It took 6 hours & 20 min for me to reach Jhula which wasn’t that bad. But my feet were in a bad shape, as I had four blisters on the first day. Not a very good start of the tour by any means.
The evening was spent, chatting with group mates & an old doctor who came along with his team from Faisalabad. The rest of his team members went ahead with the trek but he stayed at Jhula. It felt good to see him coming from so far at such an old age which speaks volumes of his passion for mountains.
Sunset views of Bukhior Das Peak were amazing along with other 6000+ peaks, many of them have not been named.
Our porters reach campsite much earlier than us & they got busy in making dinner for us. Carrying 25 kg weight, walking faster than us & getting busy in making our stay comfortable as soon as they reach a campsite, was hallmark of our team. Simply superb!
It was an awesome menu for the night including soup, chicken biryani, mix veggies, fried chicken, french fries & salads. And after taking such a heavy dinner, no one can stay awake for long.
The next morning started with beautiful sunrise scenes at Bukhior Das peak & it was mersmering waching first light spreading all around it.
Even more challenges today, as we had to trek 22 km versus 18 km yesterday & we were told that it’ll take 7–8 hours for us to reach Paiju campsite. So, we were off to an early start of the day at 5:50 AM & our first destination was Barmudal. I was fortunate enough that my blisters healed a bit during the night & it I wasn’t feeling any pain.
The first hour of the trek wasn’t that difficult & we kept a good pace. There were a few tough points to cross but our guide Hassan, made us cross them easily. It was long walk on a sandy trek, coupled with stones in between.
We reached Barmudal at 9:30 AM & took a bit of rest. It was like re-gaining our strength in a stone-walled room without any roof. There was a little shadow & we managed to get some rest, filled our water bottles again & resumed our trek to Paiju.
It was Hassan Jan, who motivated us throughout the trek & kept us going. We had to cross steep rocks in the later part of the trek which were really tough for a guy like me.
Today, sun had absolutely no mercy on us & it was hot like hell. We were not expecting such harsh weather while trekking to K2 so it was a big surprise for all of us. The trek after Barmudal was challenging us in every possible way. There was absolutely no shelter out there which could have given us some relief. The only thing, we could get some inspiration from, was the view of Liligo peak which was stunning.
In later part of our trekking, we crossed a few rocks & from nowhere you can call it “trekking”. It was rock climbling for sure, & I still can’t believe that I crossed them. The last two hours of the trek were really tough & tested me to the limits, at times I cursed myself for selecting this trek :).
Reached Paiju campsite at 2:15 PM, in desparate & terribly exhausted condition & I was welcomed by our porters with Coke which was like something coming from Havens at that time. The evening time was spent in recovery of my body, as my blisters were in terrible condition along with a few new ones. It was sigh of relief that tomorrow was a rest day at Paiju & we desperately needed that one.
We were served with delicious pakoras in the evening after which a sumptuous dinner was waiting for us. The kitchen staff had throughly impressed us so far & making chineese cuisine at such a remote & high altitude was commendable.
It wasn’t that cold that night & it was lovely watching stars all around. I was facing a bit of tough time with pillow from the last two camp nights, so I invented a new kind of pillow by putting my clothings inside the cover of my sleeping bag which served as an excellent pillow throught-out the later part of the trip.
The next was spent in this serene enviroment with lovely mountains all around & river Braldo flowing peacefully in a wide valley. Had to wash my clothings as we would not be having time & the facility to do that task later on.
We had chit chat with our porters about their life & the cutlure of their respective tribes. Life is definitely, not a bed of rose for them as most of them work in big cities & have come back for this season earnings. They’ll make a few bucks, go to their homes to spend a few days, before going again to the to cities, to earn their hard living.
The overcast condition were giving us symptoms of what’s coming in for us in next days. The forecast was not in our favour, as there were good chances of rain which would definitely make the trek worse for us.
(To be continued)
