K2 & Gondogoro La trek in Pakistan

Trip Report for K2 & Gondogoro La led by Roland Hunter in August '10

2010-09-03T00:30:00.000-07:00

Photo: K2 seen from Concordia

I arrived back to UK this afternoon after leading The Mountain Company’s K2 & Gondogoro La trek in Pakistan. At the start of trek the group arrived to Islamabad on August 6th, this was shortly after the heaviest monsoon rains in Pakistan for last 50 years causing widespread flooding throughout the country. In fact we were seriously considering whether to cancel this trek however after researching the current situation we were confident could operate this trek as planned. As it turned out we made the right decision as we enjoyed good weather with fine views of K2 and other mountains around Concordia, we even had a beautifully clear day on crossing Gondogoro La.

After arrival to Concordia on 19th we discussed the options for the next day, five people decided to make the long walk to K2 Base Camp and Gilkey memorial while the others opted for the shorter walk to Broad Base Camp. As ever it was an emotional visit to Gilkey especially seeing the new memorial and a broken ski from Fredrik Ericsson who died earlier this summer, for further information please see his blog

We decided to leave Ali Camp at 1am in order to ensure we had enough time to cross the pass and descend the other side. It was a beautiful morning with starry skies and nearly full moon illuminating the peaks around. The group made good progress to the base of the pass and by 7am everyone had summited Gondogoro La at 5,550m. As ever the descent is more challenging than ascent and we made steady progress however the unseasonal snow from week before started to melt releasing some rockfall, it was a good thing everyone had helmets for this descent! The recent snow made the rapel down the ropes easier than previous years however on reaching the bottom of the ropes the trail was less established than in 2008.

At The Mountain Company we believe strongly in looking after our porters, we are the only trekking company operating on the Baltoro that provides waterproof jackets and trousers plus walking shoes to our porters. We follow International Porter Protection Group five guidelines in Pakistan. We do not think it is appropriate for porters to cross Gondogoro La in plastic shoes and cotton shalwar kameez! Please take a look at this YouTube video that shows this gear being given out to our Balti Porters.

Overall we had a great trip with perfect weather at Concordia and for crossing Gondogoro La, as ever Pakistan is a true adventure destination and one needs to be flexible and be prepared for the unexpected! We certainly had our fair share of good luck on this trek and were fortunate weather improved when needed higher up. As ever I would like to thanks our superb Pakistan trek crew for looking after us so well, in particular our local guides Ghulam Hassan and Momin Shah as well as our cook Syed Jhan.

The Mountain Company plans to run our K2 & Gondogoro La trek again in August 2011 so please get in touch soon if you would like to join this group. We also plan to operate our Snow Lake Biafo Hispar trek in July 2011

Please click here for our full Trip Report on The Mountain Company's blog

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Roland Hunter will lead K2 & Gondogoro La trek in August 2010

2010-01-31T13:00:00.000-08:00

Roland Hunter will be travelling to Pakistan again later this summer for his sixth trek to K2 & Gondogoro La (August '10). This departure is now guaranteed to run, please get in touch soon if you would like to join the group.

For more information on our K2 & Gondogoro La trek

Roland Hunter will lead K2 & Gondogoro La trek in August 2009

2009-02-12T10:58:00.000-08:00

Roland Hunter, owner and founder of The Mountain Company, will lead the K2 & Gondogoro La trek in August 2009.

For more information on our K2 & Gondogoro La trek

YouTube videos from our K2 & Gondogoro La trek in August '08

2009-02-02T09:58:00.000-08:00

Check out these YouTube videos produced by Alistair from our K2 & Gondogoro La trek in August 2008:

K2 & Gondogoro La trek

Porters at Concordia receive their equipment

Trip Report for K2 & Gondogoro La led by Roland Hunter in August '08

2009-02-01T11:10:00.000-08:00

Photo: K2 as seen from Concordia

The August '08 K2 & Gondogoro La group have just returned from Pakistan. This year we certainly had our share of good luck with no landslides blocking the Karakoram Highway (KKH) or Skardu to Askole road as well as having great weather for most of the trek.

To top it off we flew back to Islamabad from Skardu at the end of the trek. This flight is notoriously unreliable and is often cancelled due to poor weather or lack of available planes. Flying back at the end of the trip saves a two day bus ride on the KKH and means having two nights at our hotel in Islamabad and a chance to do some sightseeing and shopping.

Photo: climbing up Gondogoro La

This year the Gondogoro La was in a good condition and all of the group successfully crossed the pass. This was especially good news after last summer when a large crevasse blocked the route up the Gondogoro La. Having spoken to the Hushe Rescue Team, who are responsible for maintaining the fixed rope on the pass, there was a large serac fall during the winter that luckily plugged this crevasse.

Roland did a recce of the Gondogoro La the day before the group arrived to Ali Camp (on their rest day after the long day to K2 BC and Gilkey memorial) in order to check the quality of the ropes and anchors. Generally the ropes were in a reasonable condition, however we put in 200m of extra rope secured by icescrews and snowstakes to protect our passage. The Mountain Company donated this equipment to the Hushe Rescue Team (as well as paying the toll to cross the pass) so hopefully will be used in the future to increase the security of other groups going over the pass.

Photo: Gilkey memorial near K2 BC

Roland is planning to return to Pakistan next summer to lead the Snow Lake Biafo and Hispar trek in July and K2 & Gondogoro La trek in August. Please get in touch if you are interested in joining him, his email address is roland@themountaincompany.co.uk

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Best dressed porters on the Baltoro!

2009-02-01T11:04:00.000-08:00

Photo: The Mountain Company porters

At The Mountain Company we believe in providing the right equipment to our porters especially when climbing a high pass such as the Gondogoro La at 5,600m. In line with our ethical approach to porter protection we invested over USD$5,000 purchasing porter equipment in Pakistan this summer.

All of our porters crossing the Gondogoro La were lent the following items: wind jackets and trousers, good quality walking boots, sunglasses, socks and gloves. We also paid the porters their equipment money as per government regulations.

The handout of gear was captured on video by Alistair who has posted it onto YouTube, the link is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRBK-Yyjm2E

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Photos: K2 & Gondogoro La 1

2009-02-01T10:57:00.000-08:00

Photo: Karakoram Highway (KKH)

Photo: typical KKH truck

Photo: Landslide on KKH

Photo: K2 motel, Skardu

Photo: walking through fields near Askole

Photo: bridge over Braldu river

Photos: K2 & Gondogoro La 2

2009-02-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

Photo: Jhola campsite

Photo: river crossing

Photo: hiking up the Baltoro glacier

Photo: Trango Towers

Photo: rest day at Urdukas

Photo: on the Baltoro glacier

Photos: K2 & Gondogoro La 3

2009-02-01T10:37:00.001-08:00

Photo: porters dancing

Photo: K2

Photo: Roland, Ahmed & K2

Photo: lunch with a view

Photo: approach to Ali Camp

Photo: Gondogoro La

Photos: K2 & Gondogoro La 4

2009-02-01T10:29:00.001-08:00

Photo: snow slope on Gondogoro La

Photo: descending Gondogoro La

Photo: Hushe side of Gondogoro La

Photo: camp at Khuspang

Photo: Hushe valley

Photo: The Mountain Company group August '08