Maksut Zhumayev's team at the table. ©National Geographic\Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner
The cook made a special Kazakh national broth and meat for participants of the international expedition to K2 who came back to the base camp. “Yesterday we came to the base camp, today is our first day of rest. The cook made us Kazakh national broth and meat with onions. Of course, we also had pasta with meat, fried rice with eggs and fresh fruits and vegetables,” Kazakhstan alpinist Maksut Zhumayev told Tengrinews.kz on August 11. According to Zhumayev, a caravan with fresh meat and vegetables arrived three days ago from the Chinese camp. “We are all very glad to find ourselves in the kitchen; this is the first time we finally have an opportunity to sit down at the table and drink water without attaching any extra efforts to it since our last very tough trip to Chogori,” Zhumayev added. According to him, despite of the cough, scratches on their hands and bad vision because of the blazing sun, all the participants are in a good mood. “Ralf came to us and said that he received a call from the president of Austria Heinz Fischer who asked him about the state of the forth camp. At this important moment, during restoring our energy and at the time when we are preparing for the final ascent, he calls us and supports not only Gerlinda, but also the whole team. We don’t divide alpinists by their country of origin here. We are one team and we have one goal. The victory depends on each participant,” Zhumayev said. Kazakhstan alpinist also said that it was very cold on the last day of the forth trip and participants of the expedition worked from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. “We did not only set the forth camp, but also returned back to the second camp. When our final team of three people -- me, Vassiliy and Darek -- were going down, Darek got very tired. He turned 52 during this expedition. He sat on his backpack and suggested us to leave him there and continue down to the second camp without thim. We did not do it of course, because there was a landslide threat. We insisted on walking together. In the end he finally found energy to get to the second camp,” Zhumayev said. According to Kazakhstan sportsman, the expedition is waiting for the official weather forecast for the next ten days. The forcast is necessary to make the decision on when to go start the final ascent. The forecast will also help them plan their rest. The international expedition to K2 includes Maksut Zhumayev and Vassiliy Pivtsov from Kazakhstan, Gerlinda Kaltenbrunner from Austria, Ralf Dujmovits from Germany, Darek Zaluski from Poland and Tommy Heinrich from Argentina. Chogori is located in the Karakorum mountain system in Kashmir province at the territory of Pakistan. Its height is 8,611 meters.
The cook made a special Kazakh national broth and meat for participants of the international expedition to K2 who came back to the base camp. “Yesterday we came to the base camp, today is our first day of rest. The cook made us Kazakh national broth and meat with onions. Of course, we also had pasta with meat, fried rice with eggs and fresh fruits and vegetables,” Kazakhstan alpinist Maksut Zhumayev told Tengrinews.kz on August 11.
According to Zhumayev, a caravan with fresh meat and vegetables arrived three days ago from the Chinese camp. “We are all very glad to find ourselves in the kitchen; this is the first time we finally have an opportunity to sit down at the table and drink water without attaching any extra efforts to it since our last very tough trip to Chogori,” Zhumayev added. According to him, despite of the cough, scratches on their hands and bad vision because of the blazing sun, all the participants are in a good mood.
“Ralf came to us and said that he received a call from the president of Austria Heinz Fischer who asked him about the state of the forth camp. At this important moment, during restoring our energy and at the time when we are preparing for the final ascent, he calls us and supports not only Gerlinda, but also the whole team. We don’t divide alpinists by their country of origin here. We are one team and we have one goal. The victory depends on each participant,” Zhumayev said.
Kazakhstan alpinist also said that it was very cold on the last day of the forth trip and participants of the expedition worked from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. “We did not only set the forth camp, but also returned back to the second camp. When our final team of three people -- me, Vassiliy and Darek -- were going down, Darek got very tired. He turned 52 during this expedition. He sat on his backpack and suggested us to leave him there and continue down to the second camp without thim. We did not do it of course, because there was a landslide threat. We insisted on walking together. In the end he finally found energy to get to the second camp,” Zhumayev said.
According to Kazakhstan sportsman, the expedition is waiting for the official weather forecast for the next ten days. The forcast is necessary to make the decision on when to go start the final ascent. The forecast will also help them plan their rest.
The international expedition to K2 includes Maksut Zhumayev and Vassiliy Pivtsov from Kazakhstan, Gerlinda Kaltenbrunner from Austria, Ralf Dujmovits from Germany, Darek Zaluski from Poland and Tommy Heinrich from Argentina.
Chogori is located in the Karakorum mountain system in Kashmir province at the territory of Pakistan. Its height is 8,611 meters.