Broad Peak | ravensgully

I had always wanted to go to the Karakorum mountains and for years had read all about them and the expeditions that had gone there. I had been tempted to do the k2 trek before but i knew if i went there i would want to do some climbing too, so i waited my time and gained experience. In 2009 the time was right and i signed up for a big expedition to try to climb Broad Peak and K2.

The team assembled in Islamabad and composed of 11 climbers who were there solely to concentrate their efforts on K2, another 11 climbers were there to climb Broad Peak, (four of these later transferred over to K2 after the Broad Peak expedition had finished), there were also 4 trekkers with us for the adventurous journey in to base camp. Next we travelled north to Skardu (2500m). There are two ways to get there, the easiest way is to fly, which is a 45 minute flight passing the mighty Nanga Parbat mountain en route, the alternative is an epic 2 day road journey up the Karakorum Highway, an experience you wont forget in a hurry. Skardu was our home for five days, we organised gear and supplies and also did a lot of wandering around exploring the area.

The next major challenge for the expedition leaders Fabrizio and Chris was to get ourselves and our mountain of gear to the start of the trek at Askole, this involved a convoy of jeeps and a ride along the Shigar valley and then along the infamous track following the Braldu Gorge, this track has been much improved over the years and we managed it in just over 6 hours. At Askole the porters were hired and the loads weighed and we started the 7 day trek up to base camp, (all heights are approximates).

Askole (3050m) – Jhula (3200m)
Jhula – Paiju (3700m)
Paiju – acclimatisation and rest day
Paiju – Urdokas (4200m)
Urdokus – Goro 2 (4500m)
Goro 2 – Concordia (4600m)
Concordia – Broad Peak base camp (4835m)

Broad peak was to be our home for the next 28 days and we were well looked after by our local kitchen staff at base camp and on the mountain our high altitude porters/climbers were invaluable. We spent our time setting the camps up and making acclimatisation trips and sleeping at all the high camps, we visited K2 base camp and the Gilkey memorial and there was also a lot of waiting around too, hoping for good weather. Our plan in a nutshell looked like this :-

Advanced base camp (5200m)
Camp 1 (5600m)
Camp 2 (6150m)
Camp 3 (7100m)
Broad Peak summit (8047m) hopefully!

K2 from Camp 3 on Broad Peak

At the end of the Broad Peak expedition four of the team joined the K2 team, an hour or so up the Godwin-Austin glacier, for the last 16 days of climbing. The K2 team had been busy fixing lines and setting up camps in challenging conditions on the Cesen route while we were on Broad Peak. We hoped to join them for the summit attempt to see how far we got and just to enjoy the climbing on such an iconic mountain. The highest any of our team got was camp 4 on the shoulder of K2 and that year nobody climbed K2 at all.

David Ohlson who was on the K2 team has made an adventure documentary about the expedition, its called “K2: Siren of the Himalayas”

He has also put some put some professionally produced videos on youtube which are well worth a look.

K2: Expedition part 1

K2: Expedition part 2

and finally some photos from the expedition…

[ Thanks to Wim Smets who was also on the expedition for some of his K2 photos ]

: Nanga Parbat on the flight from Islamabad to Skardu

: Skardu Airport – 45 Minutes flight time from Islamabad

: Skardu – runway on the left

: Skardu

: Hassan Sadpara who has climbed all 5 of the Pakistan 8000m peaks

: Skardu after Friday prayers at the Mosque

: Skardu Fort on the big hill overlooking Skardu

: Climbing the big hill in Skardu

: Skardu looks surprisingly big from above

: Preparing to leave Concordia Motel, our base in Skardu

: Fabrizio getting interviewed by Dave for the documentary film he later made called “K2: Siren of the Himalayas”

: Wide valleys and good roads to start on the drive to Askole

: higher up the road got more challenging..

: Askole – where the jeep track ends and the trekking begins

: Organising gear at Askole camp

: Askole camp (3050m)

: Curious kids at Askole

: Dividing the expedition gear into 25kg porter loads

: Porters taking a break

: A precarious path contouring along a wide valley

: Matt heading for Paiju and the big mountains

: Paiju camp where we had a rest day (3300m)

: The start of the Baltoro Glacier from Paiju

: Porters on the trail to Urdukas

: Trango Towers

: Matt, Paul and Jim on the trail to Urdokas

: Trango Towers

: The rubble strewn Baltoro Glacier on the way to Gore 2 Camp

: Urdukas camp at about 3800m

: Baltoro Cathedral from near Urdokas

: The porters separate into small groups to eat and sleep

: Mustagh Tower (7273m) on the right which was the subject of Andrew Greig`s expedition book “Summit Fever”

: Masherbrum (7821m) also known as K1

: Heading for Concordia, the Gasherbrum group in the distance

: Gasherbrum IV (7925m)

: Our first view of Broad Peak (8047m)

: Pakistan Army post at Concordia

: Concordia at about 4400m overlooked by the Gasherbrums

: K2 from Concordia

: K2 from the Godwin Austin Glacier, Angel Peak on the left

: K2 from near Concordia

: Ales and Dagmar and Mitre Peak (6010m)

: Taking a break on the Godwin-Austin glacier

: Chris and Wilki approaching Broad Peak base camp

: Fixed line practice….

: Fixed line practice on the glacier

: Acclimatisation hike to start of the climbing on Broad Peak

: K2 after an overnight snow storm

: K2 Sunset

: High winds batter the top of Broad Peak

: Start of Broad Peak normal route

: Fixed ropes started in the steep gully

: Broad Peak advanced base camp at about 5200m

: Camp 1 on Broad Peak at about 5600m

: Heading for Camp 2 on Broad Peak

: Almost at Camp 2 on Broad Peak

: Camp 2 at about 6150m

: Broad Peak Camp 2 was spread over a large area

: Broad Peak Camp 2 at about 6150m

: On the way to Camp 3 on Broad Peak

: Looking down on huge snow plateau between C2 and C3

: Broad Peak Col on the way up to camp 3

: Broad Peak Col looks deceptively close from camp 3

: K2 from Camp 3 on Broad Peak

: K2 from Camp 3 on Broad Peak

: K2 from camp 3 on Broad Peak

: Masherbrum (7821m) in the distance from Camp 2

: Looking towards Skilbrum and Savoia Kangri

: Looking over to the Gasherbrums from Broad Peak Col

: Looking East into China from the Broad Peak Col

: The Gasherbrums and Broad Peaks summit

: The true summit of Broad Peak is on the left

: A small rock step bars the way to the false summit slopes

: A small rock step bars the way to the false summit slopes

: It was now a race against tiredness and the weather….

: A small rocky chimney allows access to the first false summit

: A second false summit has to be climbed ..

: A second false summit has to be climbed

: Cristina Castagna at the highest point we reached on Broad Peak`s summit ridge very close to the true summit. By now the group of climbers present were very tired and the weather and visibility were changing for the worse so we decided to head back down the tricky descent. Tragically Cristina died in a fall a few minutes later.

: The remains of the Broad Peak team departs base camp, four of us headed up the glacier to join the K2 team, while the rest trekked home via the Gondogoro Pass