Nicholas Rice: Broad Peak Dispatch

2007 Broad Peak Expedition

Dispatch Three: June 12th, 2007

Day Three: Briefings and Still No Bag

Today I woke up early to get ready for my briefings, had a quick breakfast and waited for the call from Essar Karim to call me down to the lobby. The first briefing was at Askari Aviation and involved the steps we would have to go through in order to be evacuated in the case of an emergency. We were issued our secret codes, paid our deposit, were issued our special kit (with tools to make a helicopter landing pad) and met our liaison officer. From there, we went to the Envoy Continental Hotel to have lunch and wait for our forms to be signed by the government. At 2:00PM we departed the hotel for the Jinnah Stadium where the Pakistan Alpine Club is located and had our briefing with the Secretary of the Alpine Club, Mr. Saad Tariq Siddiqi. Afterwards, I went to the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad for an early dinner, then met with the other members of my expedition to discuss the details of our departure to Skardu. We decided on a 6:00 AM departure from Islamabad to drive up the KKH (Karakorum highway) to Chilas. We then all returned to our rooms to sort our gear and pack our bags for the following day’s journey. I went to bed slightly panicked about the prospect of having to scour the bazaars of Skardu for my missing gear (harness, ice screws, high altitude tent, down pants, pocket knife, shovel, lead acid 12V sealed battery, etc.). My only flicker of hope was that British Airways would pull through in the end.