Last night was the best sleep that I have had since arriving to Pakistan and I’m honestly feeling 100%. It couldn’t have come at a better time because about 8 hours of hiking over tough terrain lay ahead. Unfortunately, I found out that a couple of my teammates, Dan and Jason, had their health in the opposite direction. It sounds like Jason got some food poisoning too because his symptoms were exactly the same as mine. I couldn’t have empathized more, as I watched Jason grind his way up the awfully rocky trail and onto the Baltoro Glacier. The first couple of hours were rough on the knees and ankles, as we bounced off of boulders and tried not to slide down the glacial hills of scree.

I spent a lot of the time hiking alone and enjoyed the peacefulness of my surroundings but I soon caught up with David, one of my teammates. He is a fascinating guy, who is a Mexican citizen but resides primarily in Seattle when he isn’t climbing or paragliding, which isn’t often. This was our first chance to get to know one another and we really hit it off! The next 2 hours flew by as we discussed big peaks, philosophies on climbing and life, and ultra running. It had been overcast for the entire day, so we barely noticed the incoming rain.

It hit us hard and fast. We quickly threw on some rain gear but it was just enough time for Geoff to catch up to us. When the 3 of us reached the top of the next hill, we saw our first real obstacle of the trek, a river. We looked up and down but saw no rocks for hopping, and it was clear that we were going to have to wade through it. Our shoes and socks came off and we cautiously waded into the water that was just above our knees. It was absolutely bone chillingly cold but we laughed our way across.

The laugh was just what we needed because the weather was about to get nasty. Clouds brought freezing rain, wet snow, and even hail over the last 3 hours of our trek to Urdukas. The smile wore off my face as we maneuvered through sloppy mud and rocks but eventually our next campsite came into view. It was perched on a series of large granite boulders off the side of a steep hill, higher than any of the previous camps. It took some focused footwork to prevent myself from sliding down the muddy embankment but the hard work paid off when I walked into camp and turned around. What I saw next was one of the 10, if not 5, most fantastic views of my entire life. Our camp sat across the glacier from the famous Trango Towers, one of the most revered and challenging rock climbing towers in the world. They are up there with El Capitan, you just probably haven’t heard of them because they are in Pakistan, hah! Anyway, this was our first chance to see them because the clouds had just begun to burn off and we were not disappointed.

We spent the balance of the afternoon staring at the towers, soaking up the brief sun, and snapping lots of pictures. It kind of had the same effect as chicken noodle soup after getting beat up pretty bad throughout the day. Hopefully this afternoon’s good weather will stick.