Gasherbrum II

The program

On 8th June 2004 departure to Islamabad.
You spend some days in the Pakistan capital for legal formalities and to check the equipment.
Transfer to Skardu (the main town of Baltisan) by bus. From there you reach Askole by jeep.
The trekking from Bralbo Valley to Concordia goes through the never-ending glacier of Baltoro and lasts 7 days. From Concordia you reach the BC (5200 mt) in a 7 hour walk. From there you can climb 2 Gasherbrum.

I’ll try the climbing in 30 days.

I should be back in Italy by mid August.

The aim of the expedition

The aim of this expedition is to climb Mount Gasherbrum I (8068 mt) via south-east spur and Gasherbrum II (8035 mt) following the south-east face. I’ll climb alone, in the alpine style, without oxygen and high altitude porters.

Gasherbrum II

GII, as it is generally called, is a 8035-high mount in the Karakorum Chain between Pakistan and China. It was climbed for the first time in 1956 on the south-west ridge by an Austrian expedition. The normal route follows this via. Unfortunalely this face is falling to pieces because of the falling of big seracs taht have changed the aspect of this mount. So it is easy to find vertical iced faces expecially between 6500 and 7000.
Our adventure starts from Islamabad (new town) or Rawalpindi (old town), twenty kilometres from Islamabad. There is nothing interesting to see in both cities. It is really hot and June is even hotter than August.
We have to travel 800 km (by minibus or by flight from Skardu) to reach our destination. I suggest to do it by land because the famous Karakorum Highway is worth it.
In two days we reach Skardu where we spend two more days, then we travel by jeep to reach Askole, where the road ends. Here porters are recruited (3 porters each mountaineer). As each porter carries 20 Kgs, it’s better not to overload the sacks, otherwise you’ll have to discuss and to haggle about the price. A suggestion: make sure that your baggage leaves before you do, otherwise it may happen that you arrive at destination and your baggage is not there.

• Askole (3050) – Jula (3250): 20 km of undulating ground
• Jula – Payu (3400): 31 km, a little bit boring journey
• Payu – Hurkucas (4100): 18 km, an undulating morain
• Hurkucas – Gore2 (4400): 14 km; you might find snow
• Gore2 – Concordia (4650): 11 km; here we relax one day and admire K2
• Concordia – BC (5500): 16 km

In case of bad weather you might stay longer in one of the above-mentioned places. For example it took me 9 days to reach BC.

BC – C1 (5900): 13km following a huge serac. It’s better to do it fastened to somebody and during night hours. Be careful when you are walking under the face of GVI, the avalanches here are so powerful they can destroy the vale you are crossing!
C1 is at about 1 km from the face of GII, on a wide platou. Here crevasses are really dangerous becaouse they are covered!

C1 – C2 (6500): after a walk on a flat ground, you have to climb a face with an inclination of 45° of about 150mt (it is dangerous in case of a lot of snow). Then you attack the “Banana Rige”, made of snow and ice; it is about 45° and it is long 7 or 8 rope lenght. Once you have reached the top of it you go down the opposite side for about 40 mt and then you climb for other 200 metres. There is little room for the tents (just 5 or 6 tents)

C2 – C3 (6900): this part is dangerous because of the falling of seracs and avalanches with 20mt-high-ice walls. The place for the tents is safe and “confortable”.

C3 – C4 (7400): after a 40°-slope there is a rocky part thet is much more difficult than what it seems at a distance.

C4 – Summit: after crossing a steep slope you climb 200mt and you reach a narrow rocky passage. You can see the over-hanging side (the summit is on your right). You have to climb 400 metres (inclination 50°) to reach the crest and after 40 more metres you are on the summit.

As the way between BC and C1 is very dangerous, it would be better to supply C1 with every tool and equipment necessary to stay there all the time needed to get acclimatized.