THE ROAD TO K2 NORTH SIDE

WE FIRST WENT TO THE NORTH SIDE OF THE KARAKORAM IN 2001, AND OUT TO THE NORTH SIDE OF K2 IN 2002. BACK THEN THINGS WERE VERY DIFFERENT, AS THEY HAD BEEN IN ALL THE YEARS BEFORE WE EVER WENT THERE, STRETCHING BACK TO THE CENTRAL ASIAN CARAVANS THAT PASSED THROUGH THE TRANS-KARAKORAM TRACT FOR CENTURIES.

WE VISITED AGAIN IN 2010 AFTER BEING ON THE PAKISTAN SIDES OF K2 AND BROAD PEAK, KNOWING WHAT WE WERE SEEING OVER THERE WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR NON-COMMERCIAL 8000m KARAKORAM ASCENTS. MAYBE A GAMBLE, MAYBE PRESCIENT, WE ARE NOT SURE, BUT THE SOAP OPERA AND THE INDUSTRIAL SCENE WE THOUGHT WE SAW HITTING TIPPING POINT, AS DID SEVERAL OTHERS WE SHARED A PERSPECTIVE WITH.

KNOWING THERE WAS NO TIME TO LOSE WE WENT STRAIGHT ROUND TO THE NORTH SIDE, BEING POSSIBLE THE FIRST PEOPLE TO VISIT BOTH SIDES OF K2 IN A SINGLE SEASON IN DECADES. WE SEND REPORTS BACK TO SOME OF THOSE WE CLIMBED WITH ONLY WEEKS BEFORE IN PAKISTAN, EVENTUALLY BECOMING THE SUCCESSFUL 2011 NORTH SIDE EXPEDITION THAT MADE GERLINDE KALTENBRUMMER THE FIRST WOMAN TO CLIMB ALL 14 8000m PEAKS WITHOUT OXYGEN.

TO THIS DAY, THAT WAS THE LAST CLIMBING EXPEDITION TO K2 NORTH SIDE.

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THE INTERVENING 13 YEARS HAS SEEN A CHECKERED TIME FOR THE NORTH SIDE OF THE KARAKORAM, BEGINNING WITH THE AFTERMATH OF THE SUCCESSFUL 2011 TRIP. BAD BEHAVIOUR FROM ALL SIDES – LOCALS, CLIMBERS, AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICS – HAS MEANT THE AREA HAS BEEN EITHER HEAVILY RESTRICTED OR CLOSED FOR MUCH OF THAT TIME, MEANWHILE THE 8000m INDUSTRY AT LARGE HAS MIRED EVER DEEPER INTO EXPLOITATION, MASS COMMERCIALISM, TOXIC BEHAVIOUR AND PETTINESS, MAKING THE NORTH SIDE OF THE KARAKORAM AN ISLAND APART FROM EVERYTHING ELSE.

THE RESTRICTIONS ON THE NORTHERN, CHINA, SIDE OF THE KARAKORAM HAVE TURNED OUT TO BE A BLESSING, PRESERVING IT AS A TYPE OF WILDERNESS OF WHICH IT IS THE LAST. NEARLY A DECADE AND A HALF OF NEGLIGIBLE VISITATION HAS RETURNED IT TO THE CLOSEST THING TO TRUE HIGH ALTITUDE WILDERNESS LEFT ON EARTH, FIRMLY SECURED BEHIND A WALL OF DISINTEREST, MISINFORMATION AND SOPHISTICATION.

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OVER ALL THIS TIME WE HAVE MAINTAINED CONSTANT DIALOGUE WITH THE AUTHORITIES IN CHINA, INCLUDING DIRECTLY WITH THE HEADS OF THE MOUNTAINEERING ASSOCIATION IN XINJIANG. LONG A SHADOWY, MYSTERIOUS ORGANIZATION USUALLY APPROACHED VIA SEMI-STATE RUN BUSINESSES AND OF VARYING REPUTE, WE HAVE USED OUR CONNECTIONS ELSEWHERE TO COMMUNICATE WITH THEM DIRECTLY, WITH A LONG HISTORY OF PERMITS AND GOODWILL TO BACK US UP. TRIPS TO URUMQI, REFERENCES FROM THE MAIN MOUNTAINEERING ORGANIZATION AND MOST IMPORTANTLY – TIME – HAS LAID THE WAY ACROSS THE YEARS OF CHANGES, SO NOW WE HAVE THE ONLY FOREIGN ACCESS AVAILABLE TO THE KARAKORAMS FABLED NORTHERN SIDE.

UNLIKE COUNTRIES SOUTH OF THE HIMALAYA, CHINA HAS NO INTEREST IN COMMERCIAL EXPLOITATION OF THE CLIMBING THERE, MEANING THE POTENTIAL OF REVENUE HOLDS NO LEVERAGE FOR THE WORLDS SECOND LARGEST ECONOMY. FOR ALL THE PROS AND CONS OF THE MODERN CHINA GOVERNMENT THEY HAVE A VERY DEVELOPED POLICY TOWARDS HIGH ALTITUDE AREAS, WHICH CANNOT BE CHANGED WITH THE SORT OF MONEY SOMETHING AS NICHE AS MOUNTAINEERING MIGHT PROVIDE.

THIS IS GOOD NEWS FOR US, AS A VERY SMALL OPERATOR, AS WE ENGAGE THOSE WHO GUARD THE NORTH SIDE OF THE KARAKORAM WITH VALUES OUTSIDE OF ECONOMIC GAINS. HAVING NO SIGNIFICANT FISCAL VALUE TO THE XINJIANG MOUNTAINEERING ASSOCIATION – ITSELF A TINY, PERIPHERAL CORNER OF THE CHINA SPORTS FEDERATION – WE PRESENT OUR INTEREST IN THE NORTH SIDES OF K2, THE GASHERBRUMS, BROAD PEAK AND THE HUNDREDS OF OTHER PEAKS OUT THERE, IN WAYS MORE INTERESTING TO ALPINISM.

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IN CHINA, CLIMBING MOUNTAINS IS NOT SOME RECENT ACTIVITY, BUT PART OF THE CULTURE AS FAR BACK AS ANY KNOWS. THE MODERN PURSUIT OF MOUNTAINEERING IS LAID ON TOP OF AN EXISTING SPACE FOR IT IN THE CULTURE, SEPARATE FROM THE INDUSTRY THAT HAS ALWAYS DEFINED IT ELSEWHERE.

THIS REFLECTS ON THE PROCESS OF CLIMBING IN THE NORTH SIDE OF THE KARAKORAM, WHERE THE LOGISTICS NEEDED DON’T COME FROM THE TOURISM INDUSTRY BUT FROM MILLENIA OLD TRADITIONS. TWO THOUSAND YEARS BEFORE YOUNGHUSBAND LAID EYES ON THE NORTH FACE OF K2, SILKROAD CARAVANS HAD BEEN USING THE SHAKSGAMS RIPARIAN PASTURES, IN VERY SIMILAR WAYS TO THE LOGISTICS WE MUST USE TODAY. IN THIS WAY ‘THE ROAD TO THE NORTH SIDE OF THE KARAKORAM’ IS NOT JUST A METAPHOR, BUT LITERALLY THE ROADS THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS AND ACROSS THE DESERTS AND OVER THE HIGH PASSES OF WHICH OUR FEET ARE ONLY THE LATEST.

KNOWING ALL THIS, OUR DIALOGUE WITH THE AUTHORITIES HAS BEEN AN EXPEDITION IN ITSELF, AS WE SINGLE-HANDEDLY REOPENED THE CHINA SIDE OF THE KARAKORAM TO CLIMBERS. THERE WERE TIMES WHEN IT APPEARED THINGS WERE GOOD TO GO ONLY TO BE CLOSED AGAIN, OR FOR THE CLIMBING COMMUNITY TO HAVE NO UPTAKE AS THINGS HAVE STALLED OR BEEN DISTRACTED THERE. THROUGHOUT ALL THIS, IN CONCERT WITH OTHER EXPERTS IN THE FIELD, WE KEPT INNOVATING AND REFINING AND TESTING, FOR THE TIME WHEN ALL THE PIECES CONVERGED TO OCCUR.

TO KEEP THE AUTHORITIES ENGAGED WE HAVE KEPT PRESENTING BETTER AND BETTER WAYS OF RUNNING TEAMS IN THERE, REFINING AND RETOOLING WHAT EXPEDITION HIGH ALTITUDE CLIMBING CAN BE. AT SOME POINT THIS ALL STOPPED BEING SOME SORT OF PARED DOWN VERSION OF WHAT GOES ON IN NEPAL AND PAKISTAN, TO BE ITS OWN MANIFESTATION DRAWN FROM ELEMENTS OF WORLD CLIMBING THAT BRING WITH THEM LESS BAGGAGE.

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CHINAS DISINTEREST IN INDUSTRIAL MOUNTAINEERING THANKFULLY DISMISSES ALL THE ESTABLISHED TROPES OF WHAT THAT STUFF HAS BECOME, NAMELY THE OXYGEN INDUSTRY, THE MASS ROUTE FIXING, THE MONOPOLIES ON LOGISTICS AND CULTS OF PERSONALITIES THAT ORCHESTRATE THE SPECTACLE. AS CHINA HAS NO NEED FOR 8000m CLIMBING AT ALL AS A SPORT, THEY GET TO PICK AND CHOOSE THE VIRTUES OF THOSE WITH THE WHEREWITHAL TO EVEN FRONT UP AND ASK.

WE HAVE NO INTEREST IN BRINGING THE PROBLEMATIC ELEMENTS OF ELSEWHERE TO THE CHINA SIDE, IF ANYTHING WE FIND OURSELVES DEFENDING IT. OFFERS TO RUN LARGE TEAMS FULLY RELIANT OF EMBEDDED SUPPORT FREQUENTLY SHOW UP IN OUR MAILBOX, NEVER GETTING FAR ONCE WE SHOW OUR DISINTEREST IN SOLVING THE PROBLEMS OF LARGE GROUP LOGISTICS. OF COURSE, IN CHINA ANYTHING IS DOABLE AND WE COULD SHIP OXYGEN AND KILOMETERS OF FIXED LINE TO XINJIANG, BUT OUR ENERGY GOES TO OTHER THINGS NAMELY THE ACTUAL CLIMBING, NOT THE SUBSTITUTE FOR IT.

FOR FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS THE ROAD TO THE NORTH SIDE OF K2 HAS BEEN THE PROCESS OF LOOKING AT WHERE 8000m CLIMBING IS GOING AND RETHINKING IT. THE NORTH KARAKORAM, BY ALREADY HAVING NO ESTABLISHED SYSTEMS TO CLIMB THERE, IS LIKE A BLANK SLATE, LETTING US CHERRY PICK THE BEST OF WHAT WE SEE ELSEWHERE AND PLAY IT OUT FREE FROM ANYTHING ALREADY IMPOSED. THIS IS AN EXTRAORDINARY THING, EFFECTIVELY IMPOSSIBLE ELSEWHERE, AND THE OUTLET ALPINISM NEEDS TO GET BACK ON TRACK WITH NEW IDEAS ON THE WORLDS BIGGEST PEAKS.

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