And the Trek to Base Camp Begins
The first day of trekking is done and the team is now at Paiju camp along the Braldu River on their way to K2 base camp. Expedition leader Garrett Madison checks in via satellite phone from camp:
Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 2022 expedtion team. Today is Wednesday, June 22nd.
Today we started our trek! First day trekking up towards base camp. We started off at Jhola camp (3151m/10,338ft), where we arrived last night by jeep from Skardu (2220m/7,283ft). We trekked all the way up to Paiju camp (3400m/11,155ft) today. Everyone’s doing great, we had some cool cloudy weather which made it nice for the trek, not too hot.
Now we’re all settled in here at Paiju camp and looking forward to a nice dinner tonight. Tomorrow we’ll either take a rest day or we’ll make our way up the valley onto the Baltoro Glacier – up to Urdukas camp (4034m/13,235ft). We’ll make that decision tomorrow morning – see how the weather is, see how we’re feeling.
All’s well here. Everyone’s doing great and we’re excited to be on our way! We’ll check in soon, thanks.
(photo: Madison Mountaineering archives)
In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:
– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:
- Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions. Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“
– Instagram:
Best of luck with the weather and enjoy the adventure. Stay warm and safe. I’m looking forward to following your progress up the mountain.