Nicholas Rice: Broad Peak Dispatch

2007 Broad Peak Expedition

Dispatch Fourteen: June 23rd, 2007

Day Fourteen: Day Six of the Trek: Goro II to Broad Peak Base Camp

Today, we woke up at 5:00am, and during breakfast we decided that Felix and myself should go ahead of the porters in order to pick a good place for our base camp and ensure that the porters wouldn’t decide to stop at the very first place that could conceivably be considered a base camp. I arrived at Concordia two and a half hours later and stopped for tea with Ameen, ATP’s supplier of goods to all the base camps in the Baltoro. Afterwards, I continued on the very difficult to follow route for a few hours more, taking in breathtaking views of K2, Chogolisa, Gasherbrum IV, and Broad Peak. I arrived at the first set of tents at base camp and continued on despite the desires of the porters who were close behind me. I quickly found Felix, and we chose a spot on the moraine that was both central to the start of the route and had good access to water. We started making our tent platforms as we waited for the stream of porters to arrive. When they finally all were present, we bore witness to the heated debate between our trekking “guide” and the angry mob over their pay. After this seemed to be settled, I sorted out the tip business, and the porters were finally on their way. I set up my tent, sorted my duffel bags into a more logical system (now that they didn’t have to weigh 25kg’s each), and had a long relaxing lunch. Afterwards, it was back to work setting up my solar array with a sealed lead acid battery and charge controller, and organizing the interior of my tent. We had a late dinner, where Badia pointed out that my new shoes were completely ruined thanks to all the sharp rubble I had been stepping over all day. We sat around talking for a few hours sporting our down jackets and went to bed.