K2 : A Journey of a Lifetime – 3
Episode 3
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.
The next day at Paiju started very early & in no time, we were ready to set off for the longest trek of our trip. The destination for today was Urdukas & we were told by our guide that it would be a 10–12 hours trekking. But for a guy like me, it was like 14 hours & this very thought was creating wobbles in my mind. A big challenge.
The trek started with an hour of bumpy ride, full of stones till we reached Paiju glacier. The glacier welcomed us with a steep ascend & at the same time, we had to cross it all the way to the other side as well. The start of the glacier was frightened me, for what was coming ahead. Unlike the common thought that a glacier is made of ice, it was all covered with stones, all sizes of stones which together with multiple ascends & desends made it really tough.
The first delight of the trek was to see a glimpse of Trango towers. Trango are a family of rock towers & offer most challenging rock climbing in the world. Sadly, Goras are after these towers & treat them as celebrities but in Pakistan, we hardly know about these gigantic rocks. The views of the Trango remained withus for a very long time.
We reached Liligo campsite at around 11 AM & were already tired. We took a bit of rest there & were offered a cup of green tea by another group who was already there. Once you’re on the trek, I’ve seen every group to be very hospitable & it’s such a good gesture. Liligo campsite is a bit sparse, huddled against a hanging cliff & it looks like that it will fall on you anytime. A stream runs down from the top, we filled our empty bottles with fresh water & got ready for our long trek. It was quite evident that we might not be able to reach Urdukas today.
Our guide told us the story of how the campsite got its name. Once, there came a hiker, named Lily who fell ill, fell of the mountainside and died. Her guide rushed back to the rest of her group & shouted Lily Go! Lily Go! And so it got the name Liligo.
We reached Khubersay at 1:45 PM & decided to camp there as it was quite late & clearly it wasn’t possible to continue to Urdukas. It was a tiring day, especially after the last ascend which tested every muscle of my body.
The target for the next day was to reach Urdukas & take a bit of rest, instead of going to Goro-1. Our guides were of the view that Goro-1 is the coldest part of the trek & we should avoid night stay there.
The way to Urdukas winds up and down, over rocks and ice. Most parts of the Baltoro glacier are covered with rocks, sand, dirt, so you get a overall greyish look to the whole glacier; but the parts which are naked are something else altogether. This part of the glacier is often exposed, the ice melting in the sun — making the hike tougher.
We crossed two big glaciers on the way & one of them was very difficult to pass by. One of the difficulty, one has to face is to identify the trek, if the guide is well ahead of you. However, these glaciers & lakes present some magnificent views.
We reached Urdukas at 11:45 AM after a trek of ~4 hours & now we had almost a complete day to rest & recover ourselves. The last killer ascend of Urdukas made everyone extremely tired. But Urdukas is a beautiful campsite with a bit of greenery around. We decided to take rest but harsh sunlight & hot camps made us desparately look for any shade. The afternoon was spent playing cards & watching scenic views from the camp.
In the evening, we were joined by a group of doctors who were coming back from Concordia & one of them was really a tough trekker. They started their travel from Concordia & had reached Urdukas in a single day. Wow! Later, on having detailed discussion it got revealed that they are from the same group of doctors that we met in Jhula.
The campsite presents some great views of Uli Biaho, Trangos & Paiju peaks. Sunset views at Urdukas were just out of the world & we spent good hour, just capturing these beautiful scenes.
In the evening, finally our porters slaughtered the goat who was trekking with us all the way from Askole. We were served a sumptuous dinner that night, including soup, mutton nihari, ojri, red beans & COKE which clearly was the highlight of the day :)
The next day started with a long walk to the washroom in the dark but on return presented some great views of sunrise. Our time at Urdukas was definitely a memorable one. Today, our aim was to reach Goro-2 & it was a hell of the trek, especially till Goro-1. The main attraction of the trek was to see the mighty Mashabrum, popular known as K1. We were told by our porters that “Masha” means lady, and “Masherbrum” is the “Queen of Peaks”. However, a few others said that “Masher” means “no sunlight”, in reference to the year-round snow cover at the summit.
The trek is surrounded with lovely mountaineous views, especially with “Queen of Peaks” showing its glimpses every now & then.
We took lunch at Goro-1 underneath Masherbrum peak & cloud started coming towards from the south side & all of a sudden it got really cold. Thankfully, it didn’t rained till we reached Goro-2. There’s a continuous ascend till Goro-2 & it was getting slipery at times. The evening time was spent inside at our camps, as it got really cold & we slept early after our dinner.
We got up early next day and it did become a routine to be up at 4:30 AM. The excitement was at its peak to get to Concordia & see K2 in its full glory. Little did we realised at the time that K2 is the king of the mountains & therefore it depends on his mood to let us see his magnificent views.
We started our trek & cruised towards our destiny. The views all around were just out of this world. The water streams inside big glaciers were a delight to watch. One can spend hours sitting at such quiet places & thank Allah for his blessings.
So which of the favours of your Lord would you deny? (Surah Rahman – Al Quran)
There is a lot of exposed white glacier on this part of the trek, and at times we walked through ice sharks whcih are exposed fins of ice stretching up to 50 meters up, some of them look similar to shark fins. The wind and snowfall carves the ice into fantastic shapes, so it’s literally a museum of ice shapes on the way!
There is a army check post on the way to Concordia, just 40 minutes short of the main Concordia campsite. The army jawans posted there, were sitting on the path, waiting for us — as they had spotted us miles back and had figured only Pakistanis would be travelling so slow and with so few porters! Had a long chit chat with them. Everyone is friendly out here, so far away from normal busy life. A big salute to these Army Jawans for their untiring efforts & commitment to their cause.
One gets so desperate to see K2 but the king doesn’t give you a glimpse till you reach, right at the base of Concordia. To our luck, we were unable to see the complete view His Highness, till late evening that day. Almost covered with clouds all day, we spent our time enjoying the views of this Throne of God. Surprisingly, every mountain peak was clear that evening, except our beloved King.
A delicious dinner at 4700 meters made us sleep really tight, that night.
The next morning, first thing I did was to peep outside the camp just to see whether the mighty K2 got cleared. But it was all covered with thick dark clouds & it was drizzling. Sad & utterly angry, got out of the camp & I felt severe pain in my feet because of blisters in almost all of the fingers. Nothing was going in favour but I had managed to come this far on my own.
We took breakfast, peeping outside our dining camp every five minutes or so, just to confirm whether the clouds are getting away or not. Finally, the luck came on our side & it started getting clear at 8:00 AM but the king was king & made us pray to “The King of All” to get us a clear view of K2. Finally, at 12 PM, we got almost full view & off we went to take loads of photographs.
The delight & satisfaction was all over our faces. It was like a dream coming true.
(To be continued)
