No K2, only clouds.

Day 1- As momentum for the trek began to build, the group I would be traveling with swelled to four. Two people from Switzerland (Martin, and Ivan), One from New Zeland (Robert), and then Dave and myself. We were all about the same age except for Robert who was 53. We hired a jeep and at 4pm and headed to Hopa, which was the jumping off point for the trek. After about 10km we met a fresh landslide which was uncrossable by jeep. There were many people running around, and a short line of cars at the base of the huge pile of dirt and rocks that used to be the road. One of the people scrambling to pull things of the top of a jeep said there was a bus on the other side and we could ride it to Hopa. Hopeful we trudged through the slide with our packs knee deep in loose dirt. On the other side we came across the "bus" which was in fact a small van and swarming with people. After working out some logistics, we set of in the van, with 40 people inside, hanging of the back, or sitting on top of the massive amount of luggage tied to the roof. The high moutain roads for the next 35 km were pretty exiting. We arrived in Hopa at dark, and ended up staying at the Hopa Hilton, which didn't quite live up to its name.

Day 2-We hired a guide to get us across the two glaciers and made the crossing early in the morning. It was simplier than we expected with heavily used trails made by locals. After the crossing we followed the outside of a moraine to a small goat/ sheep hearding area where the trail began to climb steeply. After some discussion we decided to go up to some Goat Herding huts near Rush Lake. The climb was relentlessly steep and the altitude gain became a huge factor. At the begining of the day we started at about 3000m and ended the day at 4400m. The last 100m became even more intense as a snow storm moved in. I've never treked through the snow and I don't think I will ever try to do it again... at least not in sneakers. We set up camp at the goat huts and spent a misserably cold night above the snow line.

Day 3-The snow cleared, the sun came out and we decided to push on to the Rush Pharie Peak. After about an hour we reached Rush Lake, dropped out packs and headed for the now visible Rush Pharie Peak. The last climb became almost unbearable as we topped 5000m in altitude. Less than 100m from the peak, Dave and I turned around. Niether of us could feel our toes, and the climbing had become too difficult with a thin layer of snow over loose rocks. The wheather was also threating and the peaks that were supposed to be visible at that point were all obscured by clouds. Robert, Martin, and Ivan all made it to the top. Getting back to Rush Lake lake was quick and we decided to descend down to 3500m to sleep that night. The descent took an hour and a half. Breathing became easy and the temperature increased dramaticly. That night was signifigantly more confortable than the one spent above the snow line. The next day we treked back down, across the glaciers and through Hopa down to Nygar. We scared children and turned into a small parade as the locals followed us through the town showing us shortcuts through fields and peoples backyards. When we reached Nygar I had an intense bargaining session, that included a stairing contest, before we agreed on a price to bring uthe group back to the hotel. The landslide had been cleared and we reached Kariminabad by nightfall.

I think what I learned from the experience is that climbing moutains that high is not something I enjoy doing but was great experience to have. Also doing a 5 day trek in 3 is a little insane.

Caroline is fine. She immediatly found a new person to travel with and is staying at the same hotel I am at the moment. The northern territories are safe enough for a woman to trek, cycle, or bus alone.

Ramadan is coming. It will be interesting to have to deal with it when I get to Islamasbad. Some shop owners are already talking about closing down for a month.

There's always more, but I'll save it for later. Cheers.