BROAD PEAK WINTER 2008
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| THE GEOGRAPHY: Broad Peak is part of the Gasherbrum massif on the border of Pakistan-China. It is located about 8 kilometers (5 miles) from K2. Broad Peak was originally named K3 right after the naming of K2 but on closer inspection by a later party, it was discovered that the summit was over 1½ kilometers (1 mile) long, thus "Broad Peak". THE HISTORY: In spite of several attempts, none of Pakistan’s 8000ers have been summited in winter. On Broad Peak in Particular, Italian Simone Moro and Pakistani climbers Shaheen Baig and Qudrat Ali have been rejected by loads of snow, bitter cold and bad conditions for the past two years. |
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| Dr. Robert Szymczak has been in expeditions to Kyrgyzstan, Nepal and Pakistan. He is a medical doctor specializing in high altitude medicine. He is also a member of the International Society for Mountain Medicine. More... | 2008 marks Don Bowie's 4th season climbing in the Himalayas, with previous expeditions to Broad Peak, Cho Oyu, K2, and the South Face/East Ridge of Annapurna in 2006 and 2008. More... | Artur Hajzer has summited five eight-thousanders: three of them via new routes. He also achieved the first winter climb on Annapurna. More... | ||
| Gasherbrum Base Camp - For the moment! |
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June 27th, 2010 Travel in Pakistan has been difficult this year with poor weather beating up the roads and delaying flights into Skardu. Once again we were unable to fly up north and were forced to endure the grueling 24 hour bus ride up the Karakoram Highway - this time in non-stop fashion. I woke up in Skardu with my right cheek sporting an impressive macramé waffle pattern, courtesy the dirty window curtain I drooled on during the final 8 hours of the trip. Apparently, I can still manage to sleep practically anywhere required...
We'll depart base camp at 4am, so instead of a long text dispatch, I'll let a few photos do the talking for now. More to follow... Don     Click on pictures to enlarge |
