Day 13 - Urdukas to Paiju

At this altitude you have to be constantly smothered in sun screen, even on cloudy days, to keep from being burned. You'll notice Ayub is looking a little red, as he had been using expired sun screen for a few days before noticing. With the weather clearing, it was more important than ever to keep the sun block on. Dad was always fond of taking pictures of us at inopportune moments to "document the whole experience". Turnabout is fair play.
We left Urdukas early in the morning for another long hike to Paiju. This trip bypassed the camp at Khorbutse that we stayed at on the way up, and we have lunch again at Liligo, but heading in the other direction.
The gang heading out of Urdukas.
Looking back at camp across the glacial lakes. The port-a-poties shine like beacons on the hill in all their glory. Lampposts of civilization.
We take a quick break after the first climb. It looks set to be another beautiful day.
Urdukas on the right, Baltoro Glacier on the left, Broad Peak in the background. Yes, that mountain we passed on the day up to K2 is over 15 miles away and about 3 valleys over and still towers over the other mountains in the area. Amazing.
The Cathedral, stone cairn in the foreground, and Dad making his way along the trail.
The day got hotter as the sun rose. Meltwater started running fast and furious.
No sense of scale. This is part of the path along the mountain, again hopping from boulder to boulder. This was also on a steep slope, so no slipping.
Paiju Peak. 21,686 ft (6610 m)
Back on the sand dunes. One of the rarer terrain features was just straight up sand. It was like walking on the beach...in the middle of a desert in the beating sun. Not quite sure what causes such a fine sand in the mountains, and very localized too.
Ibrahim had been feeling bad all day, and it seems he had caught some kind of stomach bug. He was no longer his usual, blustery self, but was struggling to just make it into camp. Tanya went to go help him out and grabbed his bag for him. Definite role reversal.
The day was getting exceedingly hot, easily in the 90's. The worst was the lack of wind. It seemed the sun was just beating down on you. We stopped for lunch at Liligo, and Zahoor helped set up an impromptu sun shelter using a couple of walking sticks and Dad's tripod.
Again, the only real wildlife we saw. Funny looking birds.
The completed shelter.
Our porters take shelter in a cave overlooking Liligo while we have lunch.
Matthew also improvises a sun shelter out of his khafiya for Erin, who was really dragging that day (later we were pretty sure she was in the early stages of her sun poisoning). Tanya takes shelter too, staying hydrated.
Leaving Liligo after lunch, we finally sight the end of the glacier. Almost back down into the river valley.
More blue glacial pools.
The terrian is just as difficult going back as it was on the way up. We are just picking our way across a giant rock pile. Here Adil hops from stone to stone as he follows the group up the path.
We can all tell we are getting close to the end of the glacier and can't wait to be back on solid ground.
Erin with Paiju Peak in the background as we take a break. With the sun beating down people are starting to get tired quickly.
Ayub taking a break.
Khalil, though, never seems to run out of energy. I believe they were trying to go for a picture with the mountains framed in the reflection on Ignacio's sunglasses.
Taking a break. The fast group out of Liligo was made up of Ignacio, Adil, Tanya, Erin, Khalil, Ayub and me. Misha, Iza and Asif were just a little ways behind. While Dad, Matthew, Anisa and Rich were further back, as Anisa started feeling sick and was slower to move on the trail.
Making our way down the terminal moraine. Here Erin wears gloves, despite the heat, to fend off her sun poisoning, as blisters were already starting to appear on her hands.
The view down the valley toward Paiju.
Erin and the mouth of the Braldu river.
Khalil, Iza and Misha make their way down the boulder pile. Mountains in the background. Possibly Masherbrum.
Mouth of the Braldu. The gray rock at the mouth is really ice. The rock piled on top is actually rock.
Back to solid ground. The group descends. Where's Waldo moment: find the roadsign for Trango. Just in case you didn't know which way to go...
Ayub leads us back to Paiju camp.
So much running water is a bit of a shock after being on the glacier for so long. The water here is a dark, opaque gray from the silt (ie, mountain debris) carried down from the glacier.
The group strung out along the trail with the Baltoro Glacier in the background, and Lobsang Spire in the far back.
Stone cairn marking the path.
Tanya, Misha and Khalil along the trail. Baltoro in the back.
Adil, Ayub, Erin and Tanya going up the trail. It was just another hour or so back to Paiju, which seemed like nothing compared to the never ending glacier hike. Most of the group was pretty ragged and tired by this point though. When we got back to Paiju, we bough Pepsi and Mountain Dew from the local "store" for $10 a bottle in celebration.
Ayub negotiates to send the pony back for Anisa, she is still feeling under the weather. While he talks, the rest of us walk on, eager to get back. The first thing I did back at camp was take a shower. My first in 7 days.