So the monsoon officially arrived last night (yes there is such a thing) and honestly it was monsoonal. amazing storm, planes were diverted to Lahore and lightning was everywhere and the roads in Islamabad were almost instantly flooded. It was amazing. What is not amazing about this news is that flights to Skardu have not gone for two days and so we (all of the Blue Sky Tours clients heading into
Category Archives: News
2011 K2: KKH and Skardu
The drive up the Karakoram Highway was really good when it was done. In all honesty it is not as bad as I make it out to be, just a bit hot and bumpy. We stayed in Besham with the guys heading into the Charakusa Valley, and had a super dinner of fried chicken, chips, subzi ( vegetable curry) and lentils and roti. Way too much food, we slept 3 hours and then finished off the last 18 hours of
K2 2011: Trek
Off to Askoli! 22/6 Jeep to Askoli23/6 Trek to Jola24/6 Trek to Paiju25/6 Trek to Urdukus26/6 Trek to Goro 227/6 Trek to K2 Base CampI love this trek, we will be in touch along the way!
K2 2011: Snowing in Base camp
July 02 2011A super fast trip to base camp (5 days from Askoli) has led to not much activity. Strong winds, clouds and snow has meant a lot of reading and not much else. We did wake up this morning at 4 am to try and go up to camp 1 or 2, but returned to bed as clouds and snow were obviously on their way. The mountains look very dry, rock fall is my biggest concern for this season. A stroll along
Summit push starts tonight!!!!!
I have worked hard this season,and am very proud of the fact that Ihave opened the route from the bottom to the start of the snowfieldbelow camp 3. The 400 meters of trailbreaking from the bottom of thesnowfield to C3 was done by 3 others. I again fixed the last twohundred meters of rope to C3. The division of labor has been set forthe rest of the route during our push – I will fix the first
Post summit attempt wrap up
August 08, 2011 – Update from base campWe made it down to base camp late on the 6th – around 8pm, directlyfrom the shoulder. Another trip to the shoulder, many for me now. Icannot say I did not see it coming. We really should have tried forthe summit on the 4th, both Kinga and Christian’s forecast – both fromMeteoexploration.com which has been very very accurate this seasonsuggested it as the
K2 2011: Off the Baltoro
Out from the Baltoro and infact in Islamabad already. I took a trip up to camp2 and conditions had really gone south with the heat the few days after the summit attempt, hard ice and unconsolidated snow with a bit of rockfall to spice it all up. The conditions on the Basque route reminded me of the descent from the second summit push last year, very dangerous. Upon comparing metoexploration.com
Kathmandu!!!!
So nice to be back in Kathmandu – pizza, beer, ice cream and rain! The rain is good too because it is not so hot. Off to see my very good friends at Cho Oyu Trekking to discuss plans for the next season of guiding as well as Everest for next spring with clients….more on this later.
I have spent so much time in Kathmandu over the past 15 years that it does feel like a relief to be back here.
North Side going for it tonight?
Update 22/08/11: From Gerlinde’s website it says they want to fix some rope today above C4, then try on Tuesday for the summit….good luck to them up there, I hope they find good conditions!!! They are strong as anything!!!!!!!
Well, I am not sure, I dont have direct contact with them, but Explorersweb.com and National Geographic’s websites say that Max, Vasily, Darek and Gerlinde are all in
