By Mir Areeb Ali with Aqeel Ahmed
I didn’t even think about being a man at work, but like most of us, I was trapped.However, even if I never become a professional explorer, the preference never died.And the story of my to Concordia begins with the revival.of this very hiking mistake.
Having explored the maximum of northern Pakistan several times with my friends and family, I sought a new challenge.That’s when the concept of mountaineering came to me.I ran in Dubai but the burden of learning subsided in Pakistan and the mountains were so much more exciting and picturesque.
Temporarily, I set out to conquer the K2.
Each one begins with a bachelor step, so I think I’d make a stop at base camp first.
I started for climbing and trekking teams in Pakistan and discovered a K2 Base Camp Trek event.
I didn’t waste my time resting my place.
As I prepared for the trip, I downloaded the Concordia trekking map and started jotting down all the campsites, seeking to memorize all the names and their altitudes by heart.
Our organization of 15 other people was destined to meet at a local hotel in Skardu.The flight to the beautiful city was, as usual, a magnificent flight with simply stunning landscapes.We met at dinner and discussed the logistics as we had to leave early.the next morning.
That’s when I found out how unprepared I was for the trip, no sleeping bag, no cane, no gloves, plus my jacket and shoes were also not waterproof, although some of those pieces were fixed through my guide, I bought the rest myself in the morning, since the problems with the permits gave us overtime in Skardu.
At 12:00 hours, we leave for Askole, the last obstacle that any vehicle can reach, beyond that, are exhausting, foot or horseback walks.
It was a 5-hour jeep ride from Skardu to Askole, about 115 kilometres away, on a rugged and very damaging route. When we arrived at Askole, it was already dark and the camp presented a lively show.
To my great joy, Eva Zubeck, a prominent Polish player, also camped there.While this was our first camp for Concordia, it was Eva’s last to return.
The next morning we had to leave for the next camp called “Jola”.That night, we had the possibility to mingle with the bandmates and be taken with other people as our leader who would accompany us on the next trip.
Then I sought to inform Eva about her delight and if she had any recommendations to give us before we left, a possibility I had in the morning when we shared some opinion about K2 and its difficulties.The credit with communicating with him was that I went through all my gadgets that my consultant had asked me to drop due to an additional weight: I carried a 14kg backpack containing my laptop, drone, DSLR, clothes, shoes and chocolates.
But Eva said maybe I’ll wear all this if I can, so I did!
Our first trekking at 7 a.m.
Our guides had hired Hasan Jaan, a well-known mountaineer, for something complex that I had no idea about.It has reached the most sensitive of many mountains, adding up some of the 14 powerful 8,000 around the world, and is one of the largest in Pakistan.Mountaineering stars Hasan had lost two of his hands on top of Naga Parbat, one of the deadliest mountains in the world.
After an hour of walking, we stopped at the Karakoram National Park register and signed the contracts.After about 2-3 hours of hiking in the Shigar Valley, we stopped at a place for lunch and rest.The Braldu River followed us all the way and we had a shade of trees.
After an hour of rest, we walk again. About 2-3 hours later we saw some campgrounds and felt comfortable seeing Jola’s view, but we ignored the fact that just before the campground from Jola’s site there is a huge river and we had to take a long detour to cross it. river from the airlift. This detour almost broke our back.
Exhausted, however, we arrived at Jola where we ate a soft meal and lay on the ground as the camps were prepared, I wondered the strength of my hiking guides who were moving forward and who respected the calendar.was potentially the most productive of total adventure.
It was a beautiful starry night that looked like a performance straight from a fairy tale book for kids.There were no roads, no infrastructure, no connectivity, just mountains, glaciers, infinite nature, twinkling and fleeting stars, and us.
The next morning we had to depart for Piaj’u, a shorter and smoother hike, which faced the challenge of maximum altitude.I felt in poor health, but we had to keep walking, so we did.With each step, I felt bad as the altitude went up; He was dizzy and had flu symptoms.
The relief of knowing that we were going to stay in Piaj’u for two days to acclimatize our bodies to a maximum height.The evening we spent in Paiju could not be more incredible.
All the porters, climbers who were staying in Piaj’u accumulated in one position and sang songs, danced and watched the stars all the time.
The next day we woke up later and went for a walk with a partner to explore the domain around Paij’u.We took a long walk along the dry bank of the river.That day we had dinner early and woke up, at 4.30am and leave Piaj’u for Urdukas at 5.30am.
The next day is going to be the hardest day of this whole walk and our consultant prepared us mentally: there is no going back, no plan B.We were in the middle of imposing mountains without maritime transport and without connectivity of any kind.
Unsurprisingly, we woke up on time and left Paij’u at 5.30 a.m.Now we were walking on the imposing Baltoro Glacier, this direction much more complicated than the previous ones, is completed with small river crossings and ups and downs.The prospects of passage were incredible and we were able to glimpse the stunning Trango and Lobsang mountains.
The roads were so messy that we lost the track and wandered the glacier for hours until I flew with my drone and saw our way.Soon after, we had to cross this huge icy river.The consultant asked us to take off our shoes and get on.a position to cross the river. He took our hands very firmly and we slowly began to cross it.
After a while, we put our shoes back on and started climbing backwards to realize we were halfway there.This position called “Khoburshe” was a short resting position and there was a long way to go.
The direction had weakened me both in the brain and the body, however, it gave me the possibility of controlling my survival instincts and I was satisfied to recognize that it worked and, whatever happens, I had to walk and walk until I reached Urdukas at 6:30 pm Some of the bandmates had to rent horses because they may no longer walk.
Thirteen hours of complicated walking made me regret my resolve and I began to curse myself for coming on this walk, we had to climb the step to step to succeed in the camp and the sight of the most sensitive simply stunning.Here we rest and chat, while our chefs prepare delicious dishes for us.
Now, after achieving Urdukas, nothing seemed more complicated to me, I had already spent all those complicated moments and the only emotion that was sleeping on the glacier now, Goro II is about 15 km of trekking with 270 meters of positive elevation.sleep on the Baltoro Glacier.
The view of the mountains was beautiful after Paij’u and we had left all the rocky and sandy mountains, now they were snowy and a show for sore eyes, now we had the desirable prospects of Masherbrum (7821 m), Gasherbrum-4 (7925 m) and some other difficult mountains.
We arrived at Goro II around 2 p.m.It was a simple and fun walk, but few of us, myself included, were affected by altitude sickness.
It was then that the consultant asked 3 other people to come home from here because they should not walk as fast as the others and it has become very difficult for tour consultants to follow them.
Just before we reached Concordia, we had the appetizing glimpse of the mighty K2, surrounded by clouds, hidden other mountains, was an emotional moment for all and we expressed well feelings.
Why can’t we? The moment when the highest mountain in the world is right there before our eyes.It’s a thing straight from our crazy dreams.
The next prevent Concordia from where we had to depart for base camp K2.An altitude of 4,600 meters took our breath away. Concordia as a hotel for many peaks and other people stayed there and headed towards other mountains.
There were a lot of camps. People from England, Russia, Lithuania and so many other countries had gathered there.Now we’d walk on the snow and descend five feet deep.We stayed two days in Concordia.Nights were icy and starry, windy days and quiet.We had noticed the incredible Muztagh Tower (7273 m) and Mitre Peak (6010 m) on our way before observing the mighty K2.
The next morning, a companion organization had the concept of doing a cleaning crusade in Concordia and we all collected the trash.Foreigners also joined the cause and we collected about 20 bags of Concordia waste; we have recorded our efforts to raise awareness of the cleanliness of the mountains.
We were told that the weather was really bad and that it would be difficult to make a safe circular to base camp K2.He proposed another complicated option: move on to the Gondopassro La Pass, which had a 900-meter climb from camp Ali (the next campsite) and a descent of 1,100 meters.
We were meant to climb in the afternoon and everyone had to do a combination of climbing.Listening to Gondopassro La Pass gave me a pass and I was really excited about it.two of us made the decision to review base camp K2; the others made the decision to return from Concordia the next day.
It’s not a simple night. We had to return all the extra luggage before leaving for Ali Camp, so, packing, unpacking, overhauling, we had to meet all the other people returning from Concordia and the hardest task of falling asleep and forgetting all the excitement..
We had to leave at 6 a.m., but we woke up late.Our breakfast was frozen and I couldn’t eat anything.Four teammates had left early with the rescue team.He had a serious headache. The consultant yelled at us to leave — “You probably couldn’t walk in this snow if the sun comes up, ” he said.
We led him to those mountains. I was running through the mountains like a sorcerer and I was looking to hit him as fast as I imagined with the others who stuck to me.After a while, I couldn’t see obviously and felt this transparent layer of black dots in my eyes.. I was washing my eyes, wiping my glasses, but the black dots didn’t go away.
I was so uncomfortable that I was afraid of blindness. As I was looking to perceive my situation, I heard the voice of a doorman running behind us to tell us that a teammate was looking to come home; it may simply not walk and sink into five feet of snow after every fifth step and you may have to go back.
After hearing this news, I reflected on this last step of the adventure and asked my consultant if I continue or stop.You have to go back, too, he said. After all this effort and wait, retiring sounded like a terrible thing.But my fitness just didn’t allow me to move on.Then, with a grieving heart, I joined the teammate to return.I rested with him for a while while he was out of breath, took out my drone and took some pictures.
It kills you when you’re so close to your destiny but you can’t do it for some reason when you have a burning preference for being there, but you just can’t.I promised myself I’d come back and finish what was left.We lost all our power in an hour and a part and were flowing in the snow every step of the moment because the sun was emerging and the snow was softening.
It took us more than 3 hours to get back to Concordia, a teammate had left their energy bars in my bag, which I ate without shame, is the most productive and probably the maximum mandatory of my pleasures to blame.After all, he’s a sorcerer and he didn’t want any of these, I convinced myself by eating.
As I nibbled, I felt a wave of accomplishment flowing through my veins: I had come where many couldn’t, I was already making plans in my head with the richness of wisdom this had presented me until now.
Areeb is a director and virtual design consultant based in Dubai. Adventure is one of his key attributes and it is helping him take hazards and experiment with new things in design, technology, movies, and life.
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