GII Dispatch #3 – The cold welcome from GII
GII welcome to The North Face athletes includes extreme cold, avalanches and a choice of crevasses.
GII Winter Expedition – Three days and two nights on the mountain
Theese three days and two nights on the mountain that just ended was a very important stage and a demanding one. Denis and I (Cory was at base camp due to a mild illness). We were going to reach 6500 meters in area two, but we never expected to swim eight hours in the snow and struggling to earn only 250 meters in altitude.
GII Dispatch #2 – Cold acclimatization on Khosar Gang
The North Face athletes Simone Moro, Denis Urubko and Cory Richards have completed the acclimatization on Khosar Gang.
GII Winter Expedition – Prepare the journey to base camp 2
Today the sun finally showed up! Everything is changing thanks to the great ball of fire. Temperatures remain rigid and prohibitive but the mood changes a lot and if you close the tent you can enjoy a little ‘heat and warmth. That ‘s what we did today, even dedicating time to personal hygiene. We then made videos and photos to the mountains that we had not seen!
GII Winter Expedition – Opening paths day 2
Today has been stormy and crazily cold…. but despite these conditions we were able to trace all the Icefall and then open up the path in the long plateau which leads to Camp 1.
GII Winter Expedition – Opening paths
Today was an important day. The G1 and G2 are protected from this ice fall that puts a strain on the orientation and the nerves of those who cross for the first time in order to find the passage and this work can take several days. Fortunately in a few hours we were already out, [...]
GII Winter Expedition – Finally at Base Camp
Finally we arrived at base camp of Gasherbrum 2 after a fantastic helicopter flight that had to make more trips to be able to carry all of the base camp at 5100 meters. The helicopter took us from Skardu and landed in Paju (intermediate stage) and then to the Gasherbrum. The helicopter landed at the [...]
GII Winter Expedition – Acclimatization at Khosar Gang
Today in a very stormy and cold weather we started from C1 for the summit push of Khosar Gang 6400m (but 6000/6100 in reality). We arrived very near to the summit on the col between the shoulder and the summit but I aborted the final effort because Cory was frozen and really in danger to get serious frostbite. So instead to send him down alone I ordered to Denis to stop in that place and go down all together.
GII Winter Expedition – Flying into the heart of Karakorum
The team has landed in Pakistan and has finally reached Skardu. They are now ready for the acclimatization
Watch out on the space for more…
G2 Winter Expedition – Islamabad to Skardu
After three days in Islamabad we were lucky to get a good weather for flight. Pakistan’s Northern area airports became open and a Polish expedition team (Broad peak expedition) flew with us in same aircraft to Skardu. Chief-minister of Northern areas (Gilgit-Baltistan) of Pakistan Mr. Mehdi Shah met us at the airport and was very [...]
