On our way back from K2 base camp, we wanted to get a closer look at the Trango Group, so we crossed the Baltoro Glacier once more and went to Trango Tower base camp for a night. When we arrived, we met an expedition team consisting of two Brits, two French, and two Polish who had been there for forty days attempting to do the first free ascent of Eternal Flame on Nameless Tower.
Nameless Tower
Nameless Tower with snow and clouds in the background. Unfortunately, it was a bit late in the season and they encountered tons of snow and ice in the cracks. The pitches they completed were mixed snow, ice and rock adventures instead of pure rock as they should have been. It sounded miserably cold up on the tower, but they got some great footage when they tossed their Black Diamond haul bags
The expedition team had a sweet satellite hookup with internet, phone and even SMS capabilities, so we found out from them about the Marriott Hotel bombing in Islamabad. They had also just learned that British Airways canceled all flights in and out of Pakistan. Since everyone on the Trango expedition as well as our three Polish trekking partners were supposed to be flying out on BA, everyone was focused on trying to figure a way out. Luckily, everyone found a way out of the country and it wasn’t a problem for us, as we had plans to cross the Khunjerab pass into China.
Here’s us and three Polish trekking partners with the Trango expedition team at Trango Base Camp:
The Expedition Team and our Trekking Crew
From left to right, top to bottom:
David Kaszlikowski, Wojchiech Szender, Denis Roy, Jerry Gore, Pierre Muller, Gaz Parry, Monika Szrajda, Eliza Kubarska, Gabriel Vanrenen, Mirostaw Dygdon, Maria Ly
The Trango08 expedition team consisted of a number of top world climbers, including Gaz Parry, one of Britain’s best. Gaz was nice enough to give us the beta on the approach and ascent path of Eternal Flame. Thanks for the beta Gaz, and don’t worry, we won’t be stealing your FFA of Eternal Flame 
We also met David Kaszlikowski, a renowned Polish climber and photographer. His photographs have been published in everything from Climbing Magazine to Playboy - way to diversify your portfolio, David!
Another member of the Trango08 team was Jerry Gore, an accomplished mountaineer and rock climber who is on a mission to climb the ’seven rock summits’ - the world’s most classic longest technical rock climbs on each continent in the world. Sounds like a great idea to us! He has been on an expedition every year since 1977, so we’re confident he’ll achieve his goals. Not only is Jerry putting up new routes in remote places of the world, he’s doing it with a case of adult diabetes. One of his missions in life is to help spread the word that adult diabetes doesn’t have to destroy your livelihood. Clearly, he’s not letting it get him down. If you’re interested in more info about Jerry, here’s a bio and make sure to take a look at his Chalet and Mountain Course center in the French Alps.
From left to right: Maria Ly, Jerry Gore, and Gabriel Vanrenen
The Trango Expedition was also putting together a movie about Trango and culture in Pakistan. One of the French members is a film maker who’s done it before in Madagascar - the whole team actually went there and put up a new big wall route and made a movie, which you can find at www.totempole.fr.
Trango Team, thanks for the crackers and tea in your expedition tent and hopefully the weather will cooperate next time!
Tags: baltoro glacier, black diamond, eternal flame, expedition, nameless tower, Pakistan, Rock Climbing, trango, trango group
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