K2: Living up to its nickname.

After 7 days of trekking, we reached K2's base camp early on June 1st. The morning sunlight warmed the thin veneer of rock that lays on this section of the Goodwin Austin Glacier. Even at 17,200 feet, the temperature rose above freezing. The meltwater carved little rivulets into the ice. It was the warmest day I've experienced in the two summers I've spent at this place, a metaphorical end of the road. Above us, K2 rises 11,000 feet. And up there, in the frigid air of 28,250 feet, the jet stream was blowing bits of moisture into vicious looking wind sculpted clouds.

By lunch the clouds covered the sky and snow fell. I began to feel more and more at home.

We aren't the only team here. Two Czech climbers beat us by a day. Radek and Dennik are back on the hill, like me, hoping that 2007 will be magical. They have both been here before. It is Radek's fourth season and it is not starting too well. Setting up his camp, he dislodged a boulder, which crushed a finger. When Don, our medic, unwrapped the blood stained bandages, a metallic taste poisoned my mouth. I was filming and zoomed deep into the crushed finger, past skin and muscle and torn tendons and focused in on the bone. I would have cried if I were Radek, if not from the pain, then from the fear of what this injury could mean for his expedition. 

Our expedition is intent on making progress every day. This morning we split into two teams: Bruce and Don to recon the route to advanced base camp (ABC). Joel, PV and I organized gear, set up the solar power "grid" and edited some videos. The reconners spent 8 hours on the glacier, creating a zig zagging route through the ice fall, marking it with wands and taking a sharp left at a rotting torso that is being pushed upwards from the glacier.

It snowed off and on all day. We were hoping that Don and Bruce would make it all the way to ABC. They didn't. Radek stopped by, with a fresh blood stain on his bandage. Talk about the dead climber, who he might be, when he might have died, and what to do with his body, dominated lunchtime conversation. Today, our first full day in base camp, could best be described as depressing. 

Tomorrow, Bruce and I will strike out again for ABC. This time we will leave at 3:30 a.m., hoping that we can finish the journey before the daily snow storm arrives. Don and PV, along with 6 porters, will carry a few hundred pounds of gear to the base of the ice fall, stashing it there. Progress will not stop just because K2 is living up to its nickname: the Savage Mountain.

Chris Warner