Trango Towers and Broad Peak - Photos courtesy Bilal Khan

PIA used to have an “Air Safari” about 10 years ago, which has been discontinued. See an account of this in:

 http://www.the-south-asian.com/Nov2000/Karakoraair_safari1.htm

For runners, there used to be a Skardu Marathon that was organized by Sylvain Saudan of Chamonix, France. It follows a route that the jeep track now takes. One goes up the Shigar valley, north to Askole.   

Karakoram Weather – Chamber of Horrors.

The Catch-22 of K2 and Nanga Parbat climbing:  

Both Nanga Parbat and K2 are considered more difficult to climb with their combination of weird weather and difficult climbing approaches. Climbers are offered a catch -22 situation -- Death by getting blown off the mountain [as did Alison Hargreaves – the Scottish woman climber]  -  @ 140 + mph, or death by getting buried in an avalanche. There are few places where both wind speeds and humidity are low, and more importantly, there is really no previous history/pattern present. These brief, low/low situations occur early in the summer season, in the middle, and later on as well. On Everest, there are small pockets of good weather in end-May for the spring expeditions and in early-October for the fall expeditions - the monsoonal transition, when it happens, creates a weather window. It is a fact that most K2 climbers get killed descending the mountain. To understand the winter Karakoram weather read www.the-south-asian.com June 2002 for a full account of Zawada’s abortive K2 winter ascent when their expedition was snowed in for full two weeks.

“The frosty winds blowing from Concordia in the south caused many a problem for us in the Base Camp. Meanwhile on the top of K2, winds were blowing from the West and the North West. We started towards the Abruzzi Ridge on December 27 ...  Our progress was interrupted by persistent spells of appalling weather. Hurricanes were accompanied by thick clouds and heavy snow. During our winter climb of Everest, the winds had been blowing constantly but at least there had been a blue sky above and this made a tremendous difference to us." -  [Pakistan- 50 Years – A winter expedition to K2- by A.Zawada , Belgravia communications, U.K.]

K2 in Winter - Mountain Madness  

Zawada became the pioneer of Everest in winter -1987-88. Read the article in:

http://www.the-south-asian.com/June2002/K2_Expedition.htm by Andrzej Zawada – “A Winter expedition to K2” – 1997-98].  Although Zawada was unsuccessful in 1997-98 winter K2 expedition, his account in this article is instructive:

“The pressure of desperate situations and dangerous conditions reveal a person’s real character. The weak blame others …failure is very bitter but it makes you reflect more on the situation than the euphoric state of victory …it is good that the mountains still teach humility to human beings particularly in this day and age when people think that we can conquer nature completely. K2 in winter still remains a challenge.”

Krzystof Wielicki has carried on the work of winter expeditions with another winter expedition in 2003. Zawada is no longer there; he passed away a few years ago. Wielcki set a new winter altitude record -7630 meters. In 1987 under Zawada they reached 7100 meters.

Krzysztof Wielicki [born on January 5, 1950] in Szklarka Przygodzicka (Wielkopolska) to a teacher’s family is quite a character. Learning independence as a Boy Scout, he went on to study electronic engineering at the Wroclaw School of Engineering. He has completed 8000-meter summits 15 times. He climbed Nanga Parbat solo. During his first climb he fractured 3 lumbar vertebrae. Soon after this, to attend his brother’s marriage, he escaped from the hospital and cut his plaster corset with the help of some friends, just so that his mother would not stop his climbing. Later he got his certificate of climbing without the authorities knowing about his accident. He climbed the Tatras, The Hindukush, the Pamirs, the Alps, the Cuacasus, and fell again, getting his head stitched in the process. A member of the “Solidarity “movement, he went to Alaska working on gutting fish, where he made about $1500 - enough for him to build a small house. As a real working class hero, he worked as a painter, then in a Fiat car assembly plant. He has a son and two daughters. His story is a fascinating account of guts and glory and “those who dare win” type commando thriller. A rock avalanche shortened his spine in the Garwhal Mountains, India. Here is a Weilicki  view:

“Do you have to justify for having a passion? You can change your hobbies, not your passion. With time, it fills all spheres of your life.”

His comments on Wanda Rutkiewicz: “…. She was a wonderful woman. Her tragedy was the loneliness experienced by big stars. Everybody recognized her when she was walking down the street in Warsaw. But there was nobody there waiting for her at home. She was too strong a personality to have a life partner. She left her profession, rejected maternity, lost her family. There was only one way left for her. There is no better psychotherapy than many fields of activity….”

For further reading, an account of Weilicki’s life and his praise of Wanda Rutkiewicz is given in:    http://www.russianclimb.com/k2/interview.html 

Mountains and Men - Introduction & Early Surveyors

Nanga Parbat - the Killer Mountain

K2 - the most difficult mountain to climb

Mt. Everest & the Sherpas

Women on Nanga Parbat, K2, and Mt.Everest

Pakistan's Hunza and Balti climbers

Ecological Nightmare on Big Tops & Conclusion

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