FTA Broad Peak Update - Trekking towards BC

Team Safe and Sound
Our team is enjoying the trek to BC and everyone is doing well. They have had some hot but clear days and enjoyed views of the peaks along the way. They will be pulling into base camp in the next few days and we look forward to having an update from them when they are settled in. We have no word on the impact of the events in the Nanga Parbat region on any groups in the Baltoro region but to this point there has been none and treks and climbs already under way are proceeding as planned. Decisions are still being made that could affect us and we will simply have to wait and see.

The Trek to BC
Arrival at an 8000m base camp in the Karakoram is quite unlike the treks to any other place on the planet. The glacial avenue on which they walk is bordered by an extraordinary array of peaks from small to tall and from rocky and jagged to snow adorned. By the time they are ensconced in their tents at base camp they will have walked through a century of climbing tales, which have been retold in journals, books and film, and have an understanding of these stories that one can only appreciate fully in person. On arrival at Concordia one can imagine the first expedition to reach there in 1892 being just as awestruck by the density of immense peaks soaring up some 4000m/13000ft above you.

Chogalisa from Concordia © stu remensnyder

Looking left, from Concordia, you see the pyramid of K2 nearly the same as it looked to Aleister Crowley and his crew who tackled its northeast ridge in 1902. Turning to your right and seeing the airy crest of Chogalisa, it is hard to imagine that the Duke of Abruzzi made it to within just 150m of the top after having already spent many weeks working on the ridge which bears his name on K2. Straight ahead of you is Gasherbrum IV which remains still one of the most demanding climbs in the world. It lacks but a few meters to have been included in the 8000m club, but this did not stop Walter Bonatti from finding its top in 1958. Situated in-between K2 and Gasherbrum IV lies our objective, Broad Peak. The 12th highest peak on the planet and first summited by Markus Schmuck and his team in 1957. In a few days our team hopes to set foot on this very peak and follow in their footsteps!

K2 from near Concordia © brad jackson

Broad Peak from Concordia © stu remensnyder