I have no idea where Goro I is but if it was worth skipping for Goro II, it must be really lame because II is downright ugly. Talk about a stark contrast in campsites and views, Urdukas camp had without a doubt one of the Top 10 views of my entire life and Goro II looks like a barren wasteland straight out of a Star Wars movie. It sits directly in the middle of the Baltoro Glacier and is covered with sharply crushed rock. Huge white glacial ice towers rise out of the rock and have wild patterns of lines cut from rock during thousands of years of glacial flow. From beneath the rock, the ice melts, causing pools of water to form, from the size of mini streams to lakes. I can’t help but think about how beautiful it sounds while I type out my description but I can assure you that it is not much fun to hike up and down the undulating rocky ice hills.

Our day started out with a late 6:30 AM wakeup, a blessing because I didn’t sleep very well thanks to my restless legs that were caused by a big day and a constricting mummy sleeping bag. I wasn’t able to solidly conk out until around 3 AM but from there I got some quality sleep. We quickly packed up our bags, gear, and broke down then tents, then headed to the dining tent for breakfast. Our meal consisted of bacon, eggs, flapjacks, and a healthy dose of coffee. Camp was packed by 7:30 and our team and small army of porters departed our luxurious perch of Urdukas for Goro II.

The trek is only a few miles with a planned for snacks after the first 2 hours and then another 1 1/2 hours of hiking to complete the move. Geoff and I hung back towards the tail of the group and meandered the rolling mini hills. Our always entertaining discussions consisted of buying houses and settling down one day, a joint family trip to Africa to hike Kilimanjaro, and immigration reform. Before we knew it, we were at our rest break and sat down with the team for some tea and snacks.

The second half of our short trek was not as enjoyable, due to incoming wet snow that would melt as soon as it grounded. This has become a norm over the past couple of days, as weather conditions have deteriorated into constant overcast skies and precipitation. Snow is not necessarily bad but wet snow is because it causes everything to become damp and has an annoying chilling effect. I picked up my pace, threw in some earbuds, and listened to a Hardcore History podcast on the fall of the Roman Empire. (Side Note: For any of you history lovers out there, I highly recommend Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History. I recommend his 18 hour World War I series “Blueprint for Armageddon” to start. I promise, you won’t be disappointed. Even my boss, Gary, a tough sell, would attest!) The team trickled into Goro II “camp”, which has no distinguishable features, other than the fact that it is an area where everyone stops. We hustled to build our tents and hop into them before we became too cold from the snow. Naps ensued…

I slept for about 2 hours, despite trying to fight it off, and was only able to get about an hour of writing in before dinner. I’m not sure that I’ll be able to get this post out, even though my modem is now working, because the weather has been so overcast that we haven’t been able to use our solar panels to charge anything. Half of our teams devices are now dead and my battery packs are on their last leg. We have been on the move for 5 days now and haven’t had an opportunity to fire up the generator as a backup but will tomorrow, if necessary. It must have been much simpler to climb in the days that we didn’t have all of these gadgets, hah!

The plan for tomorrow is to wake up at 5:30, break camp at 6:30, and then make our last big move to Broad Peak Basecamp, which is just a 2 hour hike from K2 Basecamp. It will be about 4 hours to Concordia, where we turn North, and get our first view of K2, The Mountain of Mountains. I’ve been dreaming of this moment for years and feel like a kid on Christmas Eve! Fingers crossed for clear weather!