DISPATCH BY DON BOWIE

The trip from Skardu to base camp went relatively smoothly - except for an impassable section of road being pounded by a huge mud flow and hurtling boulders on the jeep ride to Askole. We retreated and spent a night in the village of Apo Ali Gon, waking early the next day to pass through the dangerous section. When we reached the mudflow, we found the road semi-rebuilt, but the battered and narrow stretch was still scary enough that we all bailed from the jeeps and ran to the other side - just in case.

Good weather on the trek to base camp permitted us the usual astonishing views of the Trango Towers, Masherbrum, Mustagh Tower, and finally one of our objectives: Gasherbrum IV. Although it was only three months since I was last here, the Baltoro seemed an entirely different place when free from the bitter grip of winter.

 

The sun shone down on us most of the way to Concordia, and the turn towards the Gasherbrums was exciting new terrain for me; I've never traveled south of Concordia before.

We arrived in G2 base camp the morning of June 4th, set up our tents, and by the afternoon began scouting a way from the moraine up the ice fall. The following day Guy, Bruce, and I decided to ignore the new snow and overcast skies and began punching a way up the glacier. After backtracking a few times due to big crevasses, we found a good depot spot under a big serac band, dumped our gear, and returned to camp. The following day Billy, Guy, and Bruce retraced the track up to the high point with some more gear, despite another day of low visibility and at times heavy snow.

I have now been to the Karakoram on three prior expeditions, and in that time I have become aware of the many objective dangers this wild region has to offer - including the seldom experienced frigid winter winds. But as of yesterday, Billy was kind enough to add to this list of dangers by discovering a new element of Karakoram pitfalls: the hidden glacial pool. Negotiating a narrow slot between seracs, Billy suddenly punched through the snow and into a small but deep pool of glacial melt. Before going completely under, he managed to self-extricate (amid certain unmentionable utterings) at the end of the rope anchored by Bruce and Guy. After his unexpected dunk, Billy removed his boots, poured the water out of each, and then saddled-up for the (somewhat squishy) walk down the glacier. (He was soaked to the chest.) By the time the three of them reached base camp, the "Billysicle" was near hypothermic - but after a quick change of clothes, a few cups of tea, and an hour or so tucked deep in his sleeping bag, Billy was his normal self again...er...at least as normal as someone who attempts K2 (twice) after already summiting once...with a gorilla. (Google "K2" and "Murph")

The next few days we expect over a half meter of snow in base camp. At sometime, perhaps between the snow-squalls and fog, we hope to push further up the glacier toward Gasherbrum III. We know it's up there, somewhere.