Thieves, Liars and Mountaineers: On the 8000 Metre Peak Circus in Pakistan's Karakoram Mountains Read Online Free PDF Page A
Author: Mark Horrell
word “amazing” as freely as Gordon uses “cleavage”.
“It's the 19 th ,” says Phil. “I've got to hand it to Jamie for calling it. He said the weather would improve on the 19 th .”
Phil's business partner Jamie McGuinness has been sending him weather reports from Kathmandu, and several says ago he said the weather would improve today. Assuming this wasn't a lucky guess, the fact that we're getting reliable weather reports is one more factor greatly in our favour for the climb.
Along with Arian, I'm the last of our team to leave camp at 7.30. For the next three hours we amble slowly up the Baltoro Glacier in the direction of Concordia. Every step is a photo opportunity and our cameras are constantly out of their cases. The dusting of snow has covered the glacier moraine in a white carpet. To our left is the impressively steep Muztagh Tower, and behind us to the right, the snow pyramid of Masherbrum. Up ahead, the skyline above Concordia is dominated by the steep trapezoid of Gasherbrum IV. While the name “Gasherbrum” has been variously translated from local languages as “Beautiful Mountain” and “Shining Wall”, most people seem to agree that of the seven Gasherbrums, it is to the distinctive Gasherbrum IV that the name originally refers.
As we approach Concordia, the massive dome of Broad Peak hoves into view, and to the right Mitre Peak pricks up like a needle. I arrive at Concordia, the junction of glaciers, at 11am. To the north Broad Peak and the jagged outline of the much smaller Marble Peak stand as a gateway to the Godwin Austen Glacier, at the end of which rises K2, the steep triangle with a fearsome reputation. The Abruzzi Ridge, angling down from the right of the summit and supposedly the easiest route up K2, looks horribly steep. It's not a mountain I will ever be tempted to climb, but to look upon, it's one of the most impressive mountains I've ever seen. This is definitely in my top ten places to sit and have lunch.
K2 (8611m) and Broad Peak (8047m) from Concordia
As we're leaving Concordia Arian and I are invited for tea by the Italian-funded Baltoro Glacier clean up team, who will be spending five months here cleaning all the camps between Askole and K2 Base Camp of detritus left by previous trekking and mountaineering parties. They are keen to tell us about their work, which involves not only litter picking, but a programme of education for porters and tour operators. They have a display containing examples of some of the rubbish they've picked up this year. Sad to say empty gas canisters, beer tins, coke cans and batteries can only have been left behind by tourists. Unfortunately, they're not allowed to clean up any military waste. Our liaison officer Major Kiani, who is sitting and listening nearby, tells us that the military are the biggest polluters in the area, but have little sense of environmental responsibility. He seems annoyed and embarrassed about it.
For Arian the meeting is something of a result. A student of environmental sciences at the University of Christchurch in New Zealand, he is currently doing his masters dissertation on the somewhat specialised subject of waste management on 8000 metre peaks in Pakistan. While the focus for the rest of us is on getting to the summit of G2, Arian is planning on cleaning up Camp 4, which apparently contains all manner of abandoned tents and mountaineering waste. As well as allowing him to interview them and get some decent video footage, the Baltoro clean up team also offers to send porters up to G2 Base Camp to take his rubbish back to Askole where they have an incinerator, and send him copies of the reports they will be writing, to provide data for his dissertation.
By the time we leave Concordia at 1pm, we're a long way behind the rest of the team.
“Do you think Gordon will poke fun at us if we arrive in camp behind Bob,” Arian asks.
“He wouldn't be Gordon if he didn't,” I reply.
Concordia marks a junction
“It's the 19 th ,” says Phil. “I've got to hand it to Jamie for calling it. He said the weather would improve on the 19 th .”
Phil's business partner Jamie McGuinness has been sending him weather reports from Kathmandu, and several says ago he said the weather would improve today. Assuming this wasn't a lucky guess, the fact that we're getting reliable weather reports is one more factor greatly in our favour for the climb.
Along with Arian, I'm the last of our team to leave camp at 7.30. For the next three hours we amble slowly up the Baltoro Glacier in the direction of Concordia. Every step is a photo opportunity and our cameras are constantly out of their cases. The dusting of snow has covered the glacier moraine in a white carpet. To our left is the impressively steep Muztagh Tower, and behind us to the right, the snow pyramid of Masherbrum. Up ahead, the skyline above Concordia is dominated by the steep trapezoid of Gasherbrum IV. While the name “Gasherbrum” has been variously translated from local languages as “Beautiful Mountain” and “Shining Wall”, most people seem to agree that of the seven Gasherbrums, it is to the distinctive Gasherbrum IV that the name originally refers.
As we approach Concordia, the massive dome of Broad Peak hoves into view, and to the right Mitre Peak pricks up like a needle. I arrive at Concordia, the junction of glaciers, at 11am. To the north Broad Peak and the jagged outline of the much smaller Marble Peak stand as a gateway to the Godwin Austen Glacier, at the end of which rises K2, the steep triangle with a fearsome reputation. The Abruzzi Ridge, angling down from the right of the summit and supposedly the easiest route up K2, looks horribly steep. It's not a mountain I will ever be tempted to climb, but to look upon, it's one of the most impressive mountains I've ever seen. This is definitely in my top ten places to sit and have lunch.
K2 (8611m) and Broad Peak (8047m) from Concordia
As we're leaving Concordia Arian and I are invited for tea by the Italian-funded Baltoro Glacier clean up team, who will be spending five months here cleaning all the camps between Askole and K2 Base Camp of detritus left by previous trekking and mountaineering parties. They are keen to tell us about their work, which involves not only litter picking, but a programme of education for porters and tour operators. They have a display containing examples of some of the rubbish they've picked up this year. Sad to say empty gas canisters, beer tins, coke cans and batteries can only have been left behind by tourists. Unfortunately, they're not allowed to clean up any military waste. Our liaison officer Major Kiani, who is sitting and listening nearby, tells us that the military are the biggest polluters in the area, but have little sense of environmental responsibility. He seems annoyed and embarrassed about it.
For Arian the meeting is something of a result. A student of environmental sciences at the University of Christchurch in New Zealand, he is currently doing his masters dissertation on the somewhat specialised subject of waste management on 8000 metre peaks in Pakistan. While the focus for the rest of us is on getting to the summit of G2, Arian is planning on cleaning up Camp 4, which apparently contains all manner of abandoned tents and mountaineering waste. As well as allowing him to interview them and get some decent video footage, the Baltoro clean up team also offers to send porters up to G2 Base Camp to take his rubbish back to Askole where they have an incinerator, and send him copies of the reports they will be writing, to provide data for his dissertation.
By the time we leave Concordia at 1pm, we're a long way behind the rest of the team.
“Do you think Gordon will poke fun at us if we arrive in camp behind Bob,” Arian asks.
“He wouldn't be Gordon if he didn't,” I reply.
Concordia marks a junction
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