Chapter 4 - Swaying Bridges and Sleeping under the Stars - The walk to Korophon

A panorama from our campsite at Thungol. This was our first camp before we started the journey on foot to the largest glacier in the world, the Baltoro Glacier.

Every day, the porters went through the process of weighing each load so that they all got a 50 lb load.

The luggage lined up in THungol. Ayub is still trying to figure out which people he will pick for porters.

The fields by the camp in Thungol. Since there was another break in the jeep road further on, we had to camp the night here instead of our original goal which was Askole.

Khalil takes down the names and picks the porters. His job as Head Porter was to keep order and make sure the porters were treated equally and fairly. This was seconds before the riot when the waiting crowd all ran in and grabbed bags and tried to take off. Immediately Khalil was swinging his pickaxe to restore order.

We set out for Askole to give Khalil, Ayub and Murad some sapce to restore order.

Crossing a stream before Askole.

Anisa smiling as she sees a horse passing us.

Jeff seeing something that catches his fancy.

we start the up hill and down hill routine as we march to Askole.

Linda scrambles up the trail where the jeep road had washed away.

Korphe, which is made famous by Greg Mortensen on the other side of the Braldu from Askole. Everyone knew about the book although there seemed to be some jealousy of Korphe getting fame.

Tanya looks over the wall at the village of Askole, a collection of about 60 households that came from three brothers who crossed over the border from China many centuries ago.

Uncle Joji catches up after getting the porters all sorted away. He was going to wait in Askole for Linda who planned to walk the two days to Sam Tsok and then return in a single day.

Sultan, the Pakistan Army commando had come into town repairing the all important phone cable that stretches to COncordia and beyond. Uncle Joji charged him with brining Linda back safely to Askole.

We walk through the fields of Askole towards our second camp site, Korophon.

Breaking up rock to buiild a house.

Walking with our assistant cook, Ibrahim. He had great stories and kept us greatly entertained.

Marching towards Baltoro. Even in the far distance we cannot see the big mountains we would come accross later.

The trail here was easy although at the time we didn't think so.

A porter rests with his load of plastic chairs for a different expedition.

Anisa crosses over the first of the bridges on walking bridges. This is the one that Greg Mortensen missed when he was returning from K2 and thus ended up in Korphe instead of Askole. It was a good eye opening moment with the bridge swaying and bouncing as you walk, the river is thundering under you as you try to stay as centered as you can.

We reach Korophon and find the nicer camping areas all taken over by the Brits who had started before us while we bought the goat. The Army was nice enough to let us use their helipad to camp on...a nice flat dry area.

Camped out on the helipad. We were not supposed to take pictures of the army post so we tried to keep the background towards the mountains.

We try the solar charger that came with the Iridium Satellite Phone to charge the camera batteries. It involved an inverter that Adil had so we could try the OEM charger that only worked on AC. If the sun was strong, it worked but any clouds and it could not put out enough juice.

Our mess tent goes up.

Linda goes though the medical bag that she had stocked up in Rawalpindi with Saadia's help. Their selection proved to be very useful. The entire bunch of medical supplies was no more than Rs 6000/-. Ayub chats with Linda in the mess tent.

The gravity filters in full swing. Tanya would have them operational as soon as possible.

Ignacio does the altitude and temperature check. Altitude 10015 feet, Temperature 84 deg F. We found that the watch altimeter would often give readings at odds with the GPS that Ignacio carried. So we stopped relying on the watch after a while.

Out goat dinner that we bough in Askole for Rs 7500 or about $88. Anisa was under firm orders to not bond with it but it was a lot to ask.

Rich practices stitches on a piece of cloth. IT healed very nicely.

The chappati goes on the hot "taava". A minute and you flip it over.

Ibrahim showing proper technique while Zahoor makes soup. Squatting is a very normal way of sitting in Pakistan.

Ayub and Khalil comparing notes and accounts.

The mountains ringing Korophon.

The sun sets on the peaks around our camp. They were too small to have names.

We noticed the cairn on the mountain top. Ayub told us it was natural and nobody had built anything up there.

Rich and Tanya's tent goes up on the helipad.

Matthew relaxes as the sun goes down.

Sunset in Korophon.

Snacks are being made ready for distribtution for the next day.

Night time in Korophon. Ignacio and Erin were going to sleep under the stars. The night was not too cold and the sky was just beautiful, so Anisa joined them and convinced me to come out there too. We fell asleep watching shooting stars and satellites passing overhead.

The morning foot clinic was a popular place and kept Rich from his breakfast every morning. Meesha gets treated for a blister.

Linda doing her stretches in the morning.