Miro Caban

I kept feeling pain throughout the whole night. The painkillers worked for few hours only and then I woke up because of the pain. I was still undecided in the morning but then a clear sign came. A cloud of a specific rounded shape appeared on the sky, the same cloud like above Broad Peak, which means mostly the same all around the world - total worsening of weather within 24 hours of the cloud's first appearance. I explained this to two young Russian mountaineers (24 and 28 years) but they replied that they had to bring the oxygen bottles to C3 and disappeared. I knew then that due to the bad weather and problems caused by my chilblains my expedition 448 was getting over for me.

All the equipment Ghulam and I brought here had to be packed once again and for last. I had to carry those all on my own from the C2 which is at 6700m. Luckily, an Iran mountaineer was going back on the same time. Kazim was so kind that he carried one of my tents all the way down to ABC which took 7 hours to reach. On the way the pain extended from toes to the rest of the fingers which assured me that my decision was the only correct one. I had a brief discussion with the Russian expedition leader who confirmed that the weather was getting bad - three days of dense snow falls and wind that will reach 120 km/h on the K2's peak. His boys made it with the oxygen load to C3 but he urged them right back over the radio.

The whole way to the BC took me 11 hours altogether. There I was meeting sad looks from other mountaineers. Everybody knew that my long eighthousanders journey was at the end. I felt their sights as well as tears coming to my eyes. By now I know that my expedition Project 448 was a daring toward the nature. Maybe somebody else is destined to accomplish it. Unfortunately, nature hasn't allowed me to and I'm leaving for my home.

Miro