5th Report – the International K2 Expedition to the North Pillar of K2
5th Newsletter – International K2 North Pillar Expedition
When we were still on the mountain about a week ago, Charly had told us that we would have to deal with pretty bad weather for the coming days. With this in mind, we decided get some rest and breath some ‘thicker’ air at our Chinese Base Camp, which the locals call “Sughet Jungal”, at 3,850m. “Sughet Jungal” means virgin forest or jungle with bushes and that is exactly how we remembered it from our first few days of the expedition.
We had left our personal tents as well as the mess and kitchen tents pitched in the middle of these beautiful meadows, bushes and small creeks as we had expected to come back to recharge our batteries down there. After having spent more than four weeks at the rocky and barren Italy Base Camp at the edge of the K2 glacier, it was great to get down.
We enjoyed walking through the lush and green landscape and we had time to rest and relax. When we were not spending our time reading, we tested our skills with Tommy’s stunt kite, which was difficult to navigate in the strong wind coming from the Shaksgam Valley. For three nights, we enjoyed breathing ‘thick’ air and we had the feeling that our bodies recovered completely. The lower altitude even healed our chapped fingertips as well as our burnt lips, so it was a good move to spend some time down there.
After a long chat on Thursday afternoon with Charly (Dr Karl Gabl), who we would like to thank once again for his excellent weather forecasts, we decided to return to our real base camp the following day. When we arrived there after about five hours walk, we were once again reminded that this place also has a lot to offer: first and foremost the incredible and motivating view of K2, which was only showing its beauty sporadically between the fast moving clouds. Just looking at this imposing mountain is a huge incentive to start again on Monday, when the weather is supposed to get better. During this period, we are hoping to reach and set up our last camp at around 8,000m. However, until then we would like to send you warm regards from our completely remote base camp.
Ralf and Gerlinde and the rest of the K2 team
© TEXT G.Kaltenbrunner/R.Dujmovits; TRANSLATION: Elke Luginsland
Darek Zaluski in CII on the North Pillar of K2
Testing the GOLD awarded Immelman jacket.
