Nicholas Rice: Broad Peak Dispatch

2007 Broad Peak Expedition

Dispatch Thirteen: June 22nd, 2007

Day Thirteen: Day Five of the Trek: Urdukas to Goro II

Today we woke up at 5:00am, got our things together and were once again rushed out of our tents (this time we protested), had breakfast and got moving. We knew the day was a relatively short one so we took our time, taking plenty of pictures of Masherbrum and Gasherbrum IV along the way. The terrain changed quickly from dusty trail to glacial moraine (rocky rubble on top of melting ice). Four hours later, we arrived in Goro II, a camp in the middle of nowhere. We had great weather and fabulous views of Masherbrum, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum IV, Mitre Peak, among countless others. We had lunch, charged up some of our electronic gear, saw a few more “patients”, had dinner, sorted out the tedious task of tipping 95 porters, two sirdars, two assistant sirdars, and our trekking “guide”, and went to bed knowing that the last day of the trek was finally upon us. After seven days of carefully guarding your bags against thievery, it is quite a lovely prospect to know that the porters were going to be leaving us soon.