South African climber and friend Rob is visibly enjoying our climb in the early morning on mighty Chogolisa mountain, fixing ropes for the ascent.

We were the only team here, just a few dozen kilometers away from the crowds on K2, the Gasherbrums and Broad Peak. In the back you can see our trail and our ABC, in the middle of the glacier, about the only place that was relatively safeguarded against the constant avalanches. It is so good to be active and in the mountains!

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Taken a bit later than my previous posted image of K2, the 2nd highest mountain in the world at 8611m altitude, in the Karakoram mountains of Pakistan.

Shot with Eos 5 and 70-200mm on provia slide, scanned later.

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Pakistani porters help us carry the drums with gear and food after the expedition to nearby Chogolisa peak. In the back is Laila Peak, relatively unknown, but for those who have seen her, hailed as one of the most beautiful mountains in the world…

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Everybody who has been to Pakistan knows the huge elegant trucks that drive around. They are mostly hand built, based on an imported Bedford chassis on which a wooden structure is placed.

Though already functional, the truck will be decorated by up to a dozen men simultaneously, creating small metal bits and pieces, paintings, texts & slogans and other ornaments. Sometimes inspired by the business the owner is in, the area or lines from the Quran or just general international words like ‘love’:)

In total an almost hand built truck can be purchased for a few thousand dollars, this one above is almost finished, just the cabin gets the finishing touches

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These guys helped us set up Advance BaseCamp here on Choogolisa, the high mountain in the Karakoram, not so far from K2.

They were fun to work with, but when posing for pictures, they usually took a serious or ‘cool’ stance, which is of course totally useless if you wear gear like this, especially the glasses and knitted sweater :)

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Chogolisa is known as Bride Peak and it is here that famous climber Hermann Buhl died. I went on a non-commercial expedition with 8 South African members and us 2 dutch climbers. After all the crowds on the -beautiful- hike in on the enormous Baltoro glacier, it was nice to separate us from the main track in search of a way up Chogolisa, more than 7500m high.

The old descriptions were outdated as an icefall was blocking our way and after I found our way past it, we could set up our tents here for ABC, Advanced Base Camp at 5500m. It was in the middle of a cirque, with steep icy walls all around us, releasing avalanches constantly, creating the sound of a busy railway station…

Some days it snowed all the time and some nights like this one were really clear, though at the end the huge snowfall of this 2004 season stopped us from summiting. A great experience nonetheless, scanned from Provia slide, shot in July 2004. The light inside is from Marian’s head torch, I told her to move her head a bit so I could capture the glow of the tent. The light in front of the tents is from my own torch, the light in the back if from the great torch in the sky :)

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K2 or Mount Godwin Austen or Qogir; Chinese: 乔戈里峰, Pinyin: Qiáogēlǐ Fēng; other names include Lambha Pahar (“Tall Mountain” in Urdu), Qaumi Pahar (“National Mountain” in Pakistani Kashmir) Dapsang, Kechu, and Chogori, which means “The King of the Mountains.”

The mountain is the 2nd highest in the world, after Everest, and is 8611m high (28,251ft). But it is much more difficult and dangerous, even the ‘easiest’ route is not safe from avalanches and is very steep on average and the mountain has taken many lives, including those of famous climbers.

We were on our way to Chogolisa basecamp when we passed ‘Concordia’, a crossroad of huge glaciers, overlooked by giants like Gasherbrum IV, Broad Peak and K2. K2 -the ‘K’ stands for Karakoram, the range- is really impressive as the glacier is already about 4300m high, but standalone mountain doubles that height. No-one will ever conquer K2, maybe she lets people visit her for a short while…

Many times in the clouds, it just peaked out for a few moments and I could quickly take this shot of the evening light shining on the summit. Scanned from Provia slide, shot July 2004 with EOS 3.

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At the end of our expedition to Chogolisa, we passed the small town of Hushe, the start of the road back to the real world. The children were interested and followed us around while we visited the small shops. Officially you are not allowed to photograph women or even girls, it is signposted in the village.
The people are very friendly and interested, though a few regions we passed are women-unfriendly. Not that they bothered the 5 female members of our 10 person expedition, but they were mostly just ignored, even while they dressed properly according to local habit and culture. But in general we were welcomed by everybody, and some even spoke english.
The nature is really stunning, from 8000+m peaks like K2, Nanga Parbat & the Gasherbrums to gorgeous valleys and fruit trees. Recommended for a great trekking: Skardu – Askole – Baltoro Glacier – Gondogoro La (pass) and down via Hushe, where this pic was taken. Submerse yourself in a different but friendly culture.

Scanned from provia 100 slide, taken with Eos 3.

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