DUSHARIN:
K2 (8,611 m), in the northern part of Karakoram, is the cherished dream
of every climber. In 1991, when the expedition to Mt. Everest became a
reality for our club, we started talking about K2, the second highest peak
in the world. Those were the talks about our future plans. Unfortunately,
nothing came out of these discussions. After a successful Everest climb
(8 mountaineers of our team reached the summit), we started discussing
financial expenses, a tactical scheme for such an expedition, and started
analyzing opportunities of the club. Still, it's a "foreign mountain" and
its "owner" is China. We didn't know anything about China's demands for
the expeditions and we could only assume how the Chinese would treat foreigners.
As a result, we were not sure that our initial plans would be realized.
In the beginning of 1996, our friends from Novosibirsk informed us about
the permit for expedition to K2. The expedition will be held on the North
Ridge (the Chinese side). They were willing to invite 4 climbers from the
Everest team. The process began, but then came to a sudden stop. In Novosibirsk
there wasn't enough money to support the expedition. As the result, the
Novosibirsk team started looking for financial support in Togliatti.
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K2 view from the Base Camp
Everest |
