K2: I’m Home, I’m Home, I’M HOME

I’m home. I’m home. I’m home! What a great feeling to be home. I knew I would get here, but I didn’t realize it would be such a process. Again, I’ll repeat, and I find myself saying it multiple times a day: I am home, I am home, I am home!

K2, like Broad Peak, did not end with a summit for me this year. However, on both mountains, I made it up to a point that left me with the invaluable confidence that I can summit them when the timing is right for me. While this year unfortunately wasn’t it, like most things that don’t go according to plan, not all is lost. This adventure was packed with learnings that will make me a better mountaineer and person. I am still working on “packaging” them into bits to share with you all, so please stay tuned.

I came down from K2 because we had a tragic accident on the mountain. Our teammate and friend, Rick Allan, passed away in an avalanche. His body was recovered, and per request, laid to rest on the mountain. I hope to go back to K2 and leave plaques in appropriate places honoring him and his legacy.  

This expedition was very different than my experience in Nepal and on previous climbing expeditions. Honestly, it was wrought with struggle before it even started. Enough so that I even tried to get my money back before I left US soil, but that wasn’t possible. I’m developing a filter for evaluating future foreign expeditions and I’ll share that down the road, but for now, I’ll settle on paying close attention to any potential flags and my intuition in future endeavors.

Leaving the Mountain…

We had warm weather for a few days in a row while we were there, which is why there were so many successful expeditions on K2 this year. While the warm weather on K2 was great for K2 specifically, it was terrible for the rest of the region. The melting mountains meant lots of water draining into lower rivers crossing the approximately 55-mile hike out. The extra water meant that usually dry and passable areas were now flooded and expected water crossings were so swollen with strong currents, that they weren’t safe to cross. In a country like Pakistan, this terrain change means a lot of waiting. We waited until the middle of the night to cross riverbeds because that was when the water flowed the weakest due to cold temperatures and slowing snow melt. Because of all the extra water crossings, none of us had dry footwear hiking down. Covering as much ground and mileage during the day when it was warm became essential. Warmer wet feet were better than freezing cold and wet feet.

We tried to hike out fast because the monsoon season was coming upon us quickly, and rains were expected to fall in our path, adding to water crossing and road problems. The drive from the start of the trek in Jhula to Skardu (town with an airport to fly to Islamabad) is about 6-8 hours. When the rains come, however, the roads can get washed away. This was our scenario.

We then face two options. Option #1: Wait until the road was repaired, which could take about a week. No, that wouldn’t work. We went with Option #2: Get out of the vehicle you are in, hike with your stuff up the mudslides that are blocking the road, and then get into another car that drives you to the next block in the road. Repeat, repeat, and repeat. It took us three vehicles to get from Jhula to Skardu with this leap-frog method.   

To Fly or Drive to Islamabad?

We got to Skardu and since airplanes could only fly by visual reference, not using instruments, flights are often canceled. We had more than one flight out canceled and had to drive instead. To put it into perspective the difference in mode of transportation, the flight from Skardu to Islamabad can be two hours and the drive between Skardu and Islamabad can be anywhere from 18-30 hours in good weather. I know that sounds like a huge range of time. Reason being is these roads run along the mountains where roadblocks from rockfall are common and very slow to clear. The roads are mostly unpaved and unmaintained, which makes it difficult to drive fast on them. They also run through all the little towns along the way causing slowdown and traffic in each town. These towns usually have only one or two main roads, meaning all traffic, including cars, trucks, tractors, semis, and animals passes on them.

We first tried to drive from Skardu to Islamabad because we didn’t trust the airplanes to run again with the upcoming weather forecast. We drove a little way out of Skardu, but damaged roads turned us back a bit, putting us in a town called Gilgit for two days. We tried to fly out of Gilgit because of the road damage, but weather canceled two full days of flights. I even stopped at the Police Commissioner’s Office to see if we could pay for helicopter evacuation, but we couldn’t. He did, however, give us a permit allowing us to travel through the blocked/missing roads when we came upon them since police were only letting locals pass. While the permit allowed us passage on all roads, through traffic became the leap-frog game again. We drove as far as we could in one car, got out of that car, hiked to the next good road space, and drove in a new car until we needed to repeat the process again. And again. And again.

I was in a hurry to leave. The Covid situation in Pakistan was getting worse, thus limiting international flights more and more by the day. I found a flight that could get me to California if I could make it to the Islamabad airport in time, and if I missed this flight, then I would be stuck in Islamabad for another week waiting for the next available flight.

Back to the USA via London and Los Angeles

By the grace of God, I got to the Islamabad airport one hour before the flight’s departure. Un-showered and barely fed, I boarded the plane and enjoyed every meal they served. I had a layover in the London airport where I bought clothes and found a shower. It was my first real shower since leaving the USA nearly five weeks earlier. It felt so amazing that I actually signed up for two shower spots so I could take my time and just decompress. The next flight landed me in LA. Since I couldn’t catch a flight to SLC that night, I got a hotel room and stayed the night. It ended up being a blessing, as it served as a transition spot where I could decompress and rejuvenate before coming home to my kids.

Honestly, the adventure in and out of K2 Base Camp was more extreme than the actual climbing of either of the mountains. When I go back next year, I will work with another company and make it a priority to arrange a helicopter in and out of Base Camp. 

For now, I am just grateful to be home connecting with my kids, family, and friends. Ordering my favorite foods, sleeping in my own bed, and having clothing on hangers are just a few of the many simple things in life that I am currently celebrating. That in itself – simple joy – is where it’s at.

Stay tuned for lessons, learnings, and general reflections over the next few weeks. The amount of support that I gather from all of you following along is not possible to quantify, but please know it is a source of my strength when times get hard. And this adventure was HARD! I am humbled and greatly appreciative for each and every one of you. I would not be who I am today without your participation in my life. Thank you!