K2 expedition switched to mountain diet

Participants of the international expedition to K2 moved 300 kg of equipment to the advance camp on a glacier at the foot of Chogori. The sportsmen have started preparations for active acclimatization, when their appetite will be very low. The team will start ascending K2 on July 2 or 3, Kazakhstan alpinist Maksut Zhumayev told Tengrinews.kz. “We have moved all the personal equipment, seven Kyrgyzs accompanied us. We crossed the glacier, spent a long time looking for a save detour, as there are many ice rivers and cracks there. And of course there were some amusing incidents. On the way we saw many sites of previous expeditions who earlier ascended K2. Our Kyrgyz friends, who carried heavy bags, asked us to stop on every site, but we instead asked them to move on. In the end we managed to reach the planned destination,” Zhumayev said. The team then went down to the base camp to discuss the further action plan. All the participants are in a good mood: “Everyone feels well. The weather is cloudy but warm. The mount is very close. Possibly tomorrow or after tomorrow we will start working on it.” Speaking of the Kyrgyz camel-drivers who helped Zhumayev's team all these days Zhumayev said: “They are good guys. It was easy to talk to them. I understand Kyrgyz, they understand Kazakh, that is how we talk to each other. They are quite tired, they want to get their money and go back home.” Kazakhstan sportsmen also shared his concerns about irresponsibility of some of his colleagues: “Previous expeditions rarely cleaned after themselves. As we walked, we saw lots of garbage, old tents and fuel cans. We try to not leave any garbage.” Besides, Zhumayev told about an interesting mountain diet. “Appetite is quite low during the active acclimatization process. We need to work a lot, but there is no appetite. Thanks to our parents and families who fed us well before we set off for the expedition, we have some weight reserves to lose on the mount,” the sportsmen joked. A cook named Makhmud cooks in the base camp for alpinists. The menu often has plov (national Uzbek dish of rice, carrots and meat) lagman (national Uigur noodles). The main food on the mount will be canned food, instant noodles, candies and biscuits. Chogori is located in Karakorum mountain system in Kashmir province at the territory of Pakistan. Its height is 8,611 meters.