De senaste veckorna har vi rapporterat en del om Everest. Det har ju nämligen varit säsong för just Everest. Men nu tar ett annat berg över: K2. Extremskidåkaren Fredrik Ericsson påbörjar återigen sitt försök att med skidor klättra och åka skidor utför K2:s branta sida, och det utan syrgastuber på ryggen. Han och kompanjonen Trey Cook kommer att rapportera regelbundet här på Outsideonline.se och här är deras inledande rapport från Islamabad.

31 May 2010 – Islamabad, Pakistan (457 meters)

As-Salamu alaykum*. After months of preparation and one long day of traveling, Fredrik Ericsson and I have finally arrived in the capital of Pakistan on the first leg of our adventure. You probably already know of K2’s hard-won reputation as The Savage Mountain. That’s the term of endearment she earned by slamming the door on many of the world’s best alpinists and sending them home with their tails between their legs. In his book “K2: Life and Death on The World’s Most Dangerous Mountain” Ed Viesturs states, “I had previously climbed Everest and Kangchenjunga, the first and third highest peaks in the world, but I knew that K2 was in another league of difficulty and danger”. Indeed, the last time anyone made it to the top of K2 was in 2008 when 30 climbers from 10 different expeditions joined forces to make a summit bid. Around 18 of them are believed to have made the summit and in a terrible chapter in the history of climbing, 11 of them never returned.

The next year, 2009, the mountain brushed off all her suitors, sparing all but one precious life, that of Michele Fait, an experienced Italian ski mountaineer whose tragic death deeply saddened both the climbing and skiing communities. But 2009 wasn’t all bad. American ski mountaineer Dave Watson was also on the mountain last summer and skied down from the Bottleneck just 300 meters (1000 feet) below the summit. His effort confirmed others’ belief that the impossible might actually be possible. One of those believers is Fredrik Ericsson. The other is myself, y’know the strong yet sensitive alpine journalist. You’ll be hearing a lot more about Fredrik, K2, our plans, and our ability (or lack thereof) to stick to those plans in our daily(ish) blog that’s being posted by the adventure-loving fanatics at Outsideonline.se.

At any point along the way we encourage you to hit us with questions about topics we haven’t covered, things you don’t understand or anything at all about our expedition that you’d like to know more about. Taking the time to respond might very well be the only thing that keeps Frippe and I from strangling each other as the weeks drag on and the down days (and those annoying idiosyncracies) begin to stack up.

In the meantime, we’ll be in Islamabad taking advantage of our last two days in civilization to enjoy the simple pleasures of champagne-drenched and cocaine-fueled nights! Nah, just joking. Anyone who knows anything about Islamabad (or Fredrik and me for that matter) knows that simple pleasures at this point mean little more than a comfy bed, a hot shower, cold Coca-Cola and ice cream. Man, how we’re gonna miss that ice cream.

As-Salamu Alaykum*,

Trey (and Frippe)

*Arabic greeting meaning ‘peace be upon you.’

Frippe behind the scenes