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Saxon
Karakorum Expedition
Paiju-Urdukas,
7/3/01
After
having a recreation day yesterday, this day's stage
leads us to Urdukas with the Trango Towers on our way.
The sky
was cloudy and grey this morning when we waked up at
4.30 a.m. It has rained the whole night. After a fast
breakfast we started 5.30 o'clock. Half an hour later,
we got to the giant Baltoro Glacier.
There
are three days we have to go on this glacier before
getting to the famous Concordia place, two days more
to the base camp. The dimensions of the Baltoro are
gigantic. One need to ascend 200 meters at the mouth
of the glacier to stand upon it. The Baltoro is 58 km
long but only the fourth in length within the
Karakoram...
Unfortunately,
it rained from time to time during the first hours.
Therefore we had to wear weather clothes. Around noon,
the sky cleared and we saw the first sun rays. The
famous Trango Tours were only visible for a short
period in the afternoon and mostly obscured by clouds.
In
Urdukas, we had to prepare additional camp sites
because most of the available space was already
occupied by a Korean Trekking group. Our carrymen were
in high spirits despite the rainy weather. They prefer
the cloudy weather for the heat of the last days. The
number of carrymen is decreasing daily because the
food used corresponds to some weights. Those who are
not necessary anymore are sad. Not only because they
loose a job but also because of "Doktor
Lydia" who treats wounded feet, tooth problems,
stomach-ache, sunburn and does even surgical removal
of furuncles in her daily consulting hour. A common
carryman never can pay a surgeon, therefore, some come
with banal problems to get the experience of a medical
treatment once in their life ...
