K2 : The Journey of a Lifetime – 5
Episode 5 (Last)
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.
Finally, we were at Khuspang, a place we always had wished to reach safely & Allah was so kind to all of us. Khuspang is a great campsite, green valley, alongside a river stream with snow covered mountains all around, especially Laila Peak. To our luck, Laila peak was under cloud cover whole day. We were tired as hell but this place was truly magical & we felt some freshness inside us.
Laila peak has an elevation of 6096 meter & has a distinctive spear-like shape. It’s northwest face has a slope of 45 degrees for more than 1500 vertical meters which makes it a tough climb. After crossing the mammoth Gondogoro LA, it was a true delight watching this Laila.
A very important question that kept repeating in my mind was “whether it was a worth taking risk to cross Gondogoro LA?”. And the answer was a confusion. It certainly is a risk for first timers, like me & one has to fully understand the nature of the trek before making a commitment. We were lucky to have experienced guides like Mehdi with us otherwise it would have been a nightmare.
We all had a good sleep in the afternoon & later at night, and we thoroughly deserved that. Crossing Gondogoro was an achievement by all set of standards. The next morning was a delight, bright sunny day & crystal clear sky. What view Laila gave to us, that morning.
The flowers of Khuspang were truly a delight to our eyes. It was after 10 days, we saw some colours in our surroundings.
We started our trek in a relaxed mood, considering that the trek would get easy after crossing the glacier. Laila was with us & presented magnificent views especially when we were on Gondogoro glacier. Got in love with her, for sure.
It was a lovely day for trekking & we really enjoyed every bit of it. There were a few tough climbs in between but nothing compared to the ones, we had already crossed. Crossed the Queen Mashabrum mountain from this side now & to our luck, the top was covered with clouds. The glacier of Mashbrum is huge & our guide, Mehdi told us their story of finding a route to Baltoro by crossing Mashabrum La. It was really a story of courage, determination & extreme fitness.
After three hours of trekking, we were finally on a plain grassy trek & it was like a dream coming true. We were finally out of the danger zone but then we suddenly saw a river stream to cross & there was a steep descend, followed by crossing of water stream & ending with a steeper ascend. Later, we had to even do a rock climbing as well. The very thought of crossing on the edges of the rock frightened us to the core. “This trek would finish us all” thats what my mind was pondering after crossing this milestone. And now I can safely call myself a Rock Climber!
However, we were landing to a land of magnificent beauty & it was mesmerising to see the untouched landscape of Hushe Valley.
In an hour or so, we landed to a giant plain which is called as Gondogoro. Yes, it’s called Gondogoro on which all these mountains & glaciers are named. The “Gondogoro” means a green plain where animals come for their food. We met a family along with a few kids & it was such a great feeling that these kids were studying in schools but they had to travel 10+ km a day for their education.
We reached Siacho campsite at 14:30 hrs & it was probably the best campsite of our entire trip. A green valley with river stream on one side & mountains all around. The campsite has a dedicated kitchen along with a tuk shop where you can buy cigrattes, yes finally cigrettes :)
A clean water stream has been coverted into a source of drinking water channel. One can take showers as well, if you can bear really cold waters.
Heard a story of a ski-rider, named Leonardo Comelli who lost his life his life while skiing from Laila peak in 2016. An there are many who live their passions & even lost their lives in persuit of their purpose. It’s sad for the family left behind but an inspiration for me.
And now we were only four hours away from life.
The next day started with excitement & we started an easy trek to Hushe village. Fantastic scenery was all around us & finally we were able to see people on the trek.
We reached in Hushe & it’s an extremely scenic place. The trek goes through lush green fields & one walks around lovely homes alongside water channels.
We went straight to meet Little Karim in his hotel. Abdul Karim popularly known as “Little Karim” was a high altitude porter who got recognised as one of the best mountaineers of Pakistan. His glittering career boasts one world record for climbing the 8,035m-high Gasherbrum-2 without supplementary oxygen. Also to his name are countless rescue feats where he would routinely risk his own life to save his fellow mountaineers. Our meeting with Little Karim was clearly one of the best moments of entire trip.
I’ll be writing separately on Little Karim. In the meanwhile, you can find more details about Little Karim at the following page.
The day ended with our jeep travel to Skardu & we reached at 11:00 PM to see the life in full swing. We were back to the world of chaos.
The trip to the land of “Gigantic Mountains” has really been a life changing experience & there are moments when one can truly feel the presence of a superior force that dictates everything from creating these magnificent mountains to controlling our breadth. The trip will always be remembered as the turning point of my life.
The End…
