The Germans are locked up with the weather in the C3 at 7000m. There is a good danger from avalanches and they are to wait for three days when the weather should get better. But I'm leaving already tomorrow for the K2 Base Camp. Over there I will have myself inspected by an American doctor. I think that the toes are more bruised from the going down than from the chill but they have a strange color. I share the permit for K2 with the Americans so I believe they will cure me up.

So finally I'm fully acclimatized as I needed for the K2. The altitude carrier is very well also as he felt alright also in the 7800m altitude. No headaches or other problems at all. That's all from 448 as of now.

We will take a few days rest under K2 and then will start the way up via the Abruzzi ridge. I made a cooperation agreement with one more expedition, but not Czech one unfortunately. The same as at Broad Peak - when I come under K2 and according to the weather conditions we will agree on the peak day and will go for it together.

I woke up worrying about my toes and the Germans. The fingers didn't get swollen but hurt intensively. With the sun reaching the camp we started packing up everything at 8:30 am. At nine I was putting on the boots. Interesting thing was that I felt better having my feet squeezed in the tight boots. The Russians passed by forming another wave to try for the peak but they were back in ten minutes. Their leader radioed them back and sent down finishing the expedition at Broad Peak since their major goal, same as mine, was the K2. The Russians also told me that the Germans reached the peak at about 7 pm and climbed down to the C3 through the whole night reaching it at 3 am.

I showed the Russians clouds forming in the shapes of small fish. I explained to them that we must hurry down since such clouds mean a negative change of weather within 24 hours. They stared at me but I kept telling them. This time the other way - in 7 hours the carrier and in eight me sat back in the BC. And we were happy to be there since my prediction was correct. The mountain is overcast and it is snowing up there. I tried to radio the Germans in the evening and was lucky. The leader explained to me that they were not able to go down that day since they were totally exhausted with no energy left for battling with the fresh snow. They were left there alone. All other expeditions went down to the BC.

The peak day

At 2 am I stand with my carrier in front of the tent and we go up. The German tents are a bit higher and as we pass them we see them ready. Their leader follows as the first. As we thought the snowshoes prints were of little help for us and more to that, the wind that blew during the night covered those anyway. For the first 200 vertical meters me and my carrier were bulldozing the path, which thought was more than enough. Then we waited for the others and the German leader replaced us. In some 20 meters much more difficult slope elevation came. We were collapsing through the snow up to our crotches. After a while the German leader waived on my carrier to get in front of him and do the bulldozing. At that point I got quite angry. I pushed both of them aside and started the labor on my own. I continued up to an icy point and by that time the German leader got the message. A guy from their expedition asked me if I wanted to be replaced. I went back becoming now seventh in the row. Then a perfect exchange started as it was supposed to be from the very morning.

At 5:30 the sun lit the peak and I had to take out my Olympus E400 and keep taking more and more pictures. Perhaps that was the reason, or it wasn’t, but when I was finished I started to feel my feet as being pretty cold. I don’t know what happened. Already in the dark and cold morning I was appeased feeling the warmth in my boots. Well, know I had to take them off and massage my feet. It took my about 30 min but the group continued in a slow pace so it wasn’t a big problem to catch up with them then. I felt having lot of energy and being fine. But after an hour the whole situation was back and I had to massage my feet again. At that point I considered it to getting serious. So when I stood next to the Russian tent at 7500 m after another hour of walking I asked one of them to help me with warming up my feet. By coincidence it was the expedition leader. He lit up a cooker right in the tent and meanwhile he explained to me that they didn’t want that badly to be the first ones as it might looked. But there were lot of them and the weather was to change soon hence the rush. He also wasn’t surprised regarding my feet. They also set off at 2 am but they were back after some 10 minutes only due to the extreme cold. They had to warm up and set off again at 6 am but without him, as he still felt cold. Not even above the cooker could I warm up my feet. At one point I smelled a burning sock but no decisive warmth was to be felt. My toes seemed to be from stone. I continued with the procedure for a while and hoped that when I reach the sun at about 9 am everything will change and I will start feeling warmth.

I thanked him and rushed up. I caught up with the group in half an hour when they rested under an ice cliff. I saw two other people massaging their feet at 7550 m. Above the ice edge I saw the sun and couldn’t wait to let it warm us up. The group got split up. There was no need for changing the leader position since the path was already walked through by the three Russians. My feet started to feel like stones again or better, I didn’t feel my toes again. So for the fourth time I took off my shoes and started another massage at the altitude of 7550 m. As everybody advanced quite slowly I continued the warming procedure for about 30 min. I noticed no signs of total chilblains but on the other hand I didn’t feel my feet at all.

Never mind, when I reach the saddle at 7845m I will warm them up on the sun and feel them again. That was my goal. In front of me a German lawyer was climbing up who was besides a bad articulation also slowing me down. But you really cannot make it pass somebody at this altitude. Thus I reached the saddle right behind him. Another four people from the group reached the saddle afterwards and all of us shared the same view. We saw the three sad Russians who had been already for some hours watching the last 200m ridge of Broad Peak, too exhausted to start climbing it. Well, this final crest was a tough nut to crack - very dangerous final part full of rock berms and covered with 50 - 100cm of fresh snow. The Russians also explained that lot of ropes were necessary, more than anybody expected to. Each group had few meters of fixing ropes but still the Russians didn't want to go for it. I added that it was 1 pm and regardless the number of mountaineers cooperating it would take 4 - 5 hours to reach the peak under such conditions. The Russians turned away, said good-bye and went away.

The Germans also decided to go back down and I started taking photos from the saddle. It took about half an hour already when I realized that I wasn't sure if I stopped feeling the toes completely or they still chill. I was walking with my camera at 7845m here and there like I was on my porch. Little bit of breathe exercise now and then, everything else was just fine. Suddenly, I saw the Germans with backpacks again coming back. They said they will go for the peak. Obviously, they didn't realize that they will have to reach the C3 at night already, not mentioning a possible change of weather and definitely the chill of dark Himalayan night. And yes, climbing up with almost no backup.

I kept watching their leader who was a bit reluctant but one of the other mountaineers, a relatively young guy, started explaining him that they were a commercial expedition. He asked him to go up being aware of the risks. The leader gave up and thus all of them started the battle with their fate. Me and my altitude carrier began climbing down. The way down wasn't easy at all. The Broad Peak's slope made the snow slipping away under our feet. Most of the time there was the danger of us slipping and falling down with it.

It took me 4 hours of real labor to reach the C3 and one more hour for the carrier. When I started to take off the boots I knew it was bad. Both of the toes were partially chilblained and I was quite afraid that they would get swollen until morning. Then I couldn't put my boots back on and climb down. As the fingers kept slowly defrosting in the sleeping back my carrier kept watching me. The pain was so big that few tears slipped out of my eyes, probably something he hadn't seen before. The pain diminished in about two hours. I don't know how but I fell asleep.

Yesterday evening we agreed that we would stick with the Germans. We also discussed the marking of the path up to the saddle at 7845 m (200 meters below the peak) but the Russian were really eager to reach the peak first and decided to go on their own. So we watched them as they competed among themselves for being the first on the Broad Peak. We saw that even wearing the snowshoes it was lot of struggle to bulldoze the way up. The German leader decided to set off at 3 am but as I like to have enough time I replied that I would leave at 2 am already. The rest of the day we spent watching the sky and checking on the weather. In the evening the German leader came to my tent and said that they changed their mind and will leave same as me at 2 am. Thus we could change in bulldozing the way up. The first Russian team came back without reaching the peak. They reached the saddle 200 m below the peak but then had to go down. The other team replaced them (occupied the tent at 7500 m) thus they had to go down to the C2. That team will be ahead of us. But all of us knew that the other day was the only one for reaching the peak as change in the weather would be coming.

A beautiful morning as the sun started to lit the tent about 9 am. I made myself a breakfast and started to pack as I expected the second Russian tem to reach the C3 yet in the morning. I was all right as I looked down from the tent at 10 am and saw the first of them walking up. It took him another 90 min to come to the C3. Well, C3 is at 6900 m and the higher one even at 7000 m. That is where I will build my C3 tent today. When the Russian came a debate covering many topics started. He also thanked me for ploughing the path for him and said it was nice cooperation since his mates were already walking up to build the last C4 altitude camp. Well, I told him that it wasn’t t really like that since we were missing the snowshoes and it was us who will plough the path for the guys wearing shoes with crampons.

In another hour my altitude carrier came and in another 90 min we already cooked in my own set up C3 tent. We rejuvenated for the remaining part of the day and didn’t continue higher. Also the Germans reached C3 and thus all three expeditions were now present in the C3. Russians were eager to be the first on the peak thus they were 500 vertical meters in front of us as the first team built a tent at 7500 m.

In the evening I felt very good and I thought to myself that it would be nonsense to stay in C2. With the German leader we had an agreement that I could use their C3 tent if they were not there and they could use mine in C2. As the Germans were only climbing to C2 I packed my stuff, packed things that the carrier would pick the other day and take them to C3, and left. The first hour of walking was good though I was burying deeper even in the Russians’ footprints.

They were young sturdy guys and formed an ‘assault’ team of the expedition. Very few could match their pace. Besides lot of physical power and persistence they had one more advantage. The expedition leader decided that with all their power they could take and use when suitable snowshoes. It was kind of a pioneer approach that paid off. The Russians went up like machines.

As the Germans were only coming to the C2 I was again alone to bulldoze the way through since I was burying deeper without any snowshoes. Though going in the Russian team’s footprints I was getting buried (through most of the track) between 50 – 70 cm deep while them only some 10-20 cm. Though it was really physically demanding I felt like immune to it. Those 800 vertical meters took me ten hours of walking. When I reached the Russian tents I asked them where would I find Germans’ tents. They told me no tents were there at all. That was a shock for me since it was my carrier who will bring the C3 tent, the next day only. “No problem” the Russians said and let me to sleep in their free tent some 100m lower. The Germans slept there also and the Russians slept in their tents in the C1 until they built their own. Thus I found out about this extraordinary set up of sleeping in others tents between our three cooperating expeditions. So the German leader meant this Russian tent when offering me to sleep in their C3 tent. Hopefully, he was in touch with them and knew that this one was unoccupied. So I cooked me a dinner and lot of tea and went to my sleeping bag at about 9 pm.

Higher and higher

The Russians left already at 6 am for C2 while I waited until 7:30 for my carrier who was coming from the BC. Together we loaded all the necessary equipment we deposited here five days ago on our backs and were off for the C2 as well. Going up was a bit easier for me this time as the Russians were walking the snow in front of us. But this slight advantage was more than offset by the load on our backs since only two of us were carrying equipment for another two altitude camps. We reached C2 at 12 am and built our tent at about 6200 m. Suddenly, my carrier said that he was not going to sleep over here. Thus I sent him down to the BC and while he will take one relax day there I will take mine here. I could clearly see that he wasn’t acclimatized yet and he definitely needed that day in BC. The weather wasn’t much ideal yet thus I thought we shouldn’t miss anything by adding one day of relaxation.

40 cm of fresh snow fell until the morning and any trying for the next altitude camp was quit before it started. I radioed to the BC in order to find out about the actual weather forecast. I was told that few days long nice weather should come very soon thus I decided not to go back but stay. At noon sun started to shine. As I was dazzled by the sightseeing from 5600m my eyes noticed the fixing rope was moving though no wind was blowing. It was obvious that somebody was coming up and that the other day we will go higher. It was the first wave of the Russians. When I asked them why did they stayed in the BC the day before I heard the classical excuses including headaches.. But it didn’t matter at all since they are nice guys and I had plenty time that day to refresh my Russian.

Since it was overcast still in the morning I set off at 10 am. As my altitude carrier said that he would leave the other day and head straight to C2 I left on my own. The Germans stayed in the Base Camp. When I reached the beginning of the ice plateau I found out that the Russians obviously also stayed in the BC. Thus I started to fight with the snow on my own. In the beginning it was quite normal, there was only about 20 cm of fresh snow. But as I was getting higher also the amount of snow was rising. Near the first altitude camp the depth was already some 30 cm. I reached the C1 in 5 hours and I was standing there completely alone.

We agreed with the German leader that I would take the radio out of their tent and call them when at 6 pm what was the situation in C1. Thus I radioed them about the situation and asked them to tell my carrier to stay one more day in the BC. Following my deep footprints a single member of the German expedition reached C1 as well. He was 66 years old and came by the dusk quite exhausted.

As days go by

In relevance with pre-agreed cooperation on K2 me and the German expedition leader visited the Russian camp under the K2. The Russian expedition consists of 16 climbers and same as me or the Germans they used a sherpa on the Broad Peak. We had some fun speaking Russian, agreed the preliminary date of the peak-day and agreed on some other things as well.

The other day all expeditions will head for the first altitude camp C1. It’s not possible to build so many tents in the camp hence Russians will split into teams of four. Due to a bad communication between the service organization and the cook I’ve been having problems with the cook who hasn’t been willing to cook for me.

It had been snowing until the early morning but I’m leaving for C1 as was agreed assuming that the Russians are off as well.