Alpinists warned Zhumayev of difficult ice conditions in the Hymalayas

Kyrgyz alpinists warned the International Expedition to K2, or Chogori, of the difficult ice conditions in the Himalayas: the snow layer is not deep enough and ice is showing through in places, Kazakhstan alpinist Maksut Zhumayev told Tengrinews.kz. The expedition is processeding along the river to the mountain pass at 4,500m. “Compared to 2007, there is not as much water in the river. Our Kyrgyz colleagues who are now ascending one of the neighboring mounts in the Himalayas, Nanga-Parbat, have faced difficult ice conditions. This tells us that there is not much snow in the mountains now, that is why ice is showing up. Plus there is not much water in the river,” the alpinist said. This might effect the speed of the expedition's ascent. Earlier Tengrinews.kz English reported that in China the expedition reloaded its equipment and food from jeeps to 40 camels. We have around 4 tons of equipment and food, not only for ascending but also for the base camp. These are kitchens, tents, cooking pots. A chief named Muhamet will cook for us. He is Uighur so he will feed us with plov (national Uzbek dish of rice, carrots and meat) and, I hope, tasty lagman (national Uigur noodles),” Zhumayev added. The goal of the expedition is to ascent the most northern eight-thousander: the 8611 meter tall Chogori. It is located in the Karakorum mountain range in Kashmir province (at the border between Pakistan and China). This is the sixth attempt to ascent K2 for Zhumayev. By Dmitry Dubovitskiy