Karakoram Diaries – 7th July
A round-up of today’s events on the mountains of the Karakoram.
(Concordia’s SCOM antenna has broken down and will take several days to fix so teams are not able to communicate easily)
“My dream to scale a challenging mountain is now just a few steps away…
I will be leaving in few days to make my country proud by raising the green flag on K2, the 2nd highest mountain in the world Inshallah!
Though it’s a sudden plan but yes once you start living your life at the mountains you can’t enjoy or live the city life anymore.
I’m bursting with excitement, energy and above all impatience…”
Garrett Madison (K2 and Broad Peak)
“We had our puja ceremony today, it was a wonderful way to begin our climbing.
“We will head up to ABC on our 1st rotation tomorrow and plan to climb to Camps 1 & 2, spending 2 nights in each camp. The weather looks good and everyone is doing well. Our Sherpas are also heading up to work on fixing the route.
“The cell tower in Concordia is down so the Internet hasn’t been working the last couple days.
“We’re excited to get up on the mountain and become familiar with the route and hopefully have some nice views!”
“In a few days I am leaving again for Pakistan! I’m going back with joy and fear at the same time, but above all I’m going back with an open heart and a mission!
“Monday July 5th was the 6 month anniversary of that fateful day! What could have been a day of great joy, was instead the day that changed everything, bringing with it really difficult moments, and pain and sadness. It feels like yesterday and at the same time it feels like a lifetime ago. What remains the same is how much JP is missed! Sergi, Alì, Jon and Atanas as well of course!
“Every difficult and painful moment can also bring with it something beautiful and in this case it’s this: we decided to take the baton and carry on the project that JP cared so much about goes on in his honor and memory, the project was to teach climbing to Pakistani children, in the Shigar Valley, certainly to make them have fun but also to guarantee them a future starting from the resources of their land.”
CumbriaToK2 (Broad Peak and K2)
“Our boys have been working hard on Broak Peak mountain. Some exploratory missions and in the last few days we have made progress to Camp 2.
“We are now safely back down at Basecamp, regrouping and being looked after by Sakhi’s team. We are pleased to let you all know we are safe and sound and ready for some rest. At the moment communications are down so we will update you more on our adventures soon!”
“Arrived to Broad Peak Camp 2 (6,160M) will spend 2 nights here to acclimatise, heavy snow on our way up slowed our progress.”
Death Zone Freeride (Broad Peak)
“There are difficulties with the Internet at Broad Peak Base Camp… While we are establishing communication, we are sharing the news. Death Zone Freeride is doing well. All participants are healthy, well fed and are working on the film “Oxygen” and are preparing for the ascent. They promise to establish the Internet in a couple of days, and then we will again be inundated with details,”
Czech / Slovak Team (Gasherbrum II)
“Hi, today we conquered C2 after endless fight. It was not a walk, but from the tent the view of Gasherbrum I and II, so we are almost fine.”
Hiroshi Kawasaki (Lupghar Sar)
“It’s sunny, rain, and snow, and it’s not going well with the weather like monsoon, but I’m going to go to the top of the day from tomorrow.
Another big one came today, but no problem with our route. It’s time to starting climbing in Pakistan.”
“We are already in Skardu, the gateway to the Karakorum mountain range. We had to get here by plane but it was impossible to fly and we had to make by road. From here we will go to Askole, were we will start trekking to the Trango Towers base camp. Every day we are closer to the walls.”
Manuel Gonzalez and Sergio Carrascosa (Nanga Parbat)
“Sergio and Lolo tell us that they have managed to open the entire footprint, climbing the serac above Camp 1, to access the top of the Glacier Diama. Climate adversities persist, non-stop snowing, so they have returned to Camp 1 to rest and hope that in the next few the days weather improves.”
Summer Season in the Karakoram – 2021
