Skardu

June 10th

Yesterday we tackled our last leg of flying before heading into the mountains. The flight from Islamabad to Skardu is a direct b-line over the Himalayas. It was a beautiful day and the pilots were psyched to share their views with anyone interested in coming into the cockpit- domestic flights in Pakistan are apparently a bit different than the United States!!

Ingrid, Kip and I were the first to go into the cockpit as the mountains splayed out before us in an unreal panorama, with Nanga Parbat on the right, the Indus River flowing beneath us, and countless more peaks filling out the view to the left. We went back to our seats after a few minutes to let other passengers enjoy the view. As the flight came to an end, and the flight attendants ushered everyone to their seats to buckle up, Ingrid and I were again told we could go into the cockpit for the landing. You have to love Pakistani cowboy pilots inviting the ladies into the cockpit to show off their skills; and these guys had skills. The canyon they navigated was narrow enough at one point to warrant some wing tipping, all the while the alarms are going off in the cockpit with a very loud, automated voice repeating the uncomfortable phrase “Pull up! Pull up! Pull up!”. Ingrid and I just looked at each other, wondering if we shouldn’t be sitting down with our seatbelts on… Mind you, this was no turbo prop plane but rather a 737 jet! As we finally cleared the narrow gorge we could make out the landing just beyond a bend in the Indus River. A swath of concrete in the middle of the sand, surrounded by soaring mountains. They nailed the landing. Even sitting right there I could hardly tell they had touched down. The pilot said he liked to “kiss” the runway!

Skardu is an entirely different world from Islamabad. For us, it is much more comfortable. The town is small, in the mountains and not nearly as hot- all things that as skiers and mountaineers, we can relate with a bit better. We are staying at the Concordia Motel, a nice, very clean place on the outskirts of town, all our rooms overlook the massive Indus River with big peaks further in the background.

We have a full day in Skardu and Kim and I have to spend a good portion of the day at the government offices in town getting our visas extended from one month to two months. Fortunately our base camp manager, Karim, and our LO Major Zabir, both helped us to navigate the antiquated system of stamps and signatures and hole punches as our papers were put into huge folders. A bit of haggling went on as to what day our visas should end. Some arguing amongst the officials as to which pen worked better, whose name came first alphabetically, etc. and then we got our zillion new stamps in our passports and off we went.

Since the last few days have consisted of traveling, sitting, eating and trying to get over some vicious jetlag, we are really looking forward to tomorrow and to being one step closer to the Baltoro Glacier and GII.

Hilaree O’Neil

Jet Lag

June 7th

I was feeling a bit apprehensive before coming on this trip; there’s the mountain-wondering if I’m fit enough, etc.–there’s also the factor of coming to a very different environment where the political situation could be described as less stable than home.  However, pretty much since setting foot in Islamabad, yesterday morning, I have not felt endangered or scared in any way.  Our Pakistani guides have been wonderful, as have all of the people we have encountered, from salespeople to service people to the gardener at the hotel who was picking off fragrant white blossoms and giving them to us by the handful this morning (I kept them in my shirt pocket most of the day-they smelled wonderful, unlike hot, sweaty me in this hundred-plus degree heat).  If anything, I guess we’ve felt a bit like people are staring at us at times, but never in a bad way-they’re just curious, like I want to be staring back at them (it’s all I can do to practice restraint!), trying to understand such a wildly different culture. 

We arrived at the airport at 7am local time, feeling groggy but hyper aware and curious about what we were getting ourselves into.  For the most part, no one could care less about our presence in the airport, which was reassuring.  We were only missing two bags out of 24–pretty darn good, considering….; after a brief nap for some at the hotel, and a delicious late lunch of “Dall of the Day”-lentils and chapatti and vegetables-we headed to the offices of Hunza Guides to discuss the particulars of our trip.  Amir served us cake and wonderful melon while we struggled to stay awake under the oppressive heat and jet-lag, and chatted amiably about gear, prices, the city, whatever.  Finally he told us we needed to rest; I hit the pillow at the hotel around 8pm, not even thinking of dinner, and didn’t get out of bed until 6 this morning. 

 

John counting the thousands of dollars it takes to make a 8000m expedition happen.

Today consisted of more great food and running errands around the city, trying to gather everything we need (including our missing bags) before hopefully catching a flight to Skardu tomorrow morning.  I loved cruising around Islamabad in our stylish air-conditioned van, peeking out from behind the curtains while we sped down very organized and clean streets, past all of the bikes, motorbikes (some carrying up to four people, all looking totally stoked to be catching the open breeze), and highly decorated tractors, dumptrucks, and buses that put our boring old utilitarian vehicles in the States to shame-these cars are seriously cool.  Even the tractors are bedazzled and festooned with streamers, paint and elaborate and colorful designs-like Hilaree said, “It’s as if everyone has their own bedangler and they just bedangle up their vehicles!”  Now-bedtime.  This jet-lag is something fierce! 

Ingrid Backstrom

 

 

Islamabad

June 7th

Eleven years ago I first visited Pakistan, I was twenty-three years old and had just graduated from university. For all practical purposes my life had been mostly sheltered from the ways of life outside my small town Montana upbringing and visiting Pakistan for the first time provided a glimpse into how a huge portion of the world lived.  When I arrived in 1997 my eyes were open to a culture I had read about but never imagined contain such striking contrast to the West. Aside from the countless journey’s over the Canadian border near to my home I had no way of exposing myself to this world and an expedition to the Karakoram mountains of Pakistan proved nothing like climbing in Canada.  Drastically different with voices of Urdu in the streets and the call to prayer being broadcast from one of thousands of mosques at 4 in the morning, I knew from the first moment I walked out of the airport the East would be enchanting beyond anything I had ever been exposed to. 

Now 2008 is upon us and the country of Pakistan is rife with turmoil in the political arena, it is infested with Al Qaida insurgents along the border with Afghanistan and most recently struggling to feed it’s population with rising food costs. Strangely, from a visual appearance here in the capital of Islamabad, life actually seems to be better for the people of Pakistan. On the surface I have a hard time believing there was a major bombing at the Danish embassy last week as the order of the country seems peaceful with improvements dominating the views. Building and construction seems abundant with new roads around the capital, workers and new heavy machinery paving the way for continued modernization. Is this a benefit to a select few here in the newly built capital or across the country are the citizens of Pakistan seeing an improved way of life? Not unlike the urban areas of the western world where standards of living are higher for most, the rural communities hold the true glimpse of life often with less. My guess is not all see the benefits as the average Pakistani living outside the capital struggles to simply live and find a better way of life their family.

The team meeting with the Alpine club of Pakistan at the Sports center in Islamabad.

I look forward to seeing the changes of the country as our journey into familiar territory unfolds over the course of the next few weeks.

Kristoffer Erickson