Pakistani Alpine Club – hoop jumping and paper signing

The Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) is in charge of administering mountaineering permits here. So on June 11th we went over to the ACP to sign some papers and meet our liaison officer. Because K2 and Broad peak lie near the disputed border with India it is mandatory that all expeditions be accompanied by a military liaison officer. We have been assigned a 29 year old Major. I can't remember his name so I call him Major Tom. He doesn't get the reference, but also doesn't seem to mind. As in Nepal, where a similar system is in place, liaison officers are not chosen for their mountaineering skills, knowledge, fitness or whatever. I'm not sure how they are chosen, but it seems to be a coveted position and is usually their first trip out of the lowlands. It does not always go well for either party... and I'll leave it at that.


For those of you who have read the Trial by Franz Kafka, or seen the Orson Welles movie Le Proces from the thirties (with Gregory Peck; really awesome) you can perhaps imagine the absurdity of a bureaucracy that has rules upon rules, many of which contradict each other and none of which accomplish the stated aims of having the regulations in the first place. When we arrived at the office they had two people on the permit. One on K2 and one on Broad peak. Three hours and four signatures later our team of 21 people has a permit listing something like 27 and we were free to leave. Major Tom was conspicuously silent during most of this officious paper shuffling and seemed extra nervous when we started talking about the rigors of high altitude, avalanches and pulmonary edema.

On a positive note, no one blinked an eye when I walked into the office with my camera rolling and kept shooting the whole time.

Dave & Adam in Islamabad

People say things like, "Man it was hot! Like, Africa hot." But seriously, these people must have never been to Pakistan because down here in the low elevation city of Islamabad it is HOT! PAKISTAN hot. And this is Spring time, so it's going to be even hotter when we return here in August--typically over 40 degrees Celsius (104° F).

We arrived here without event and have begun shooting some little slice-of-life segments, shopping for shalwar kamiz, riding in taxis that sort of thing. We have a rather large group. Some people have already flown to Skardu, the rest will go by bus tomorrow. After arriving and going to bed after 5:00 this morning I woke at 7:00 being kicked on the bottoms of my feet by Fabrizio who said, ”Be in the lobby in fifteen minutes. We got a flight.” It didn't work that way, of course. Mountain weather has kept flights from leaving for days, so although we were issued tickets, other passengers with pre-booked flights trumped us.

So tomorrow Fabrizio, Chris (the Broad Peak leader), Adam, and I get to spend another sunny day here and hope to leave the following day. By air if we're lucky, otherwise by land rover.

I realized today, as I was contemplating visiting the Abu Faisal mosque (a gigantic modernistic mosque built in the seventies by the Saudi King Faisal) that I didn't even bring a long sleeved shirt with me. At least, not one that can be worn in this heat. So I went out and bought a traditional and rather stylish kurta (the long cotton shirt worn by most Pakistani men). Mine has some great embroidery and will hopefully be impressive enough that tomorrow I will be allowed into the mosque, despite the fact that I am not a Muslim.

And by the way, for those of you who follow the news close enough to have heard, the bombing at the Pearl Continental was at the one in Peshawar. There is one here in Islamabad, right across the street from the hotel we had planned on staying at and, for much of today we thought that was the one that had been bombed. I was packing my camera gear to go to the scene when I was informed that it was the one in Peshawar. In any event, much of this city is locked down by roadblocks and the general consensus is that leaving is a good thing. Skardu is calm and quiet and a bit cooler.

A Dispatch from Dave: Dubai: Land of Plenty

As Adam said, this place is like a cross between the Mall of America and Las Vegas.

Had the pleasure of seeing how little ice remains as we flew over Canada and Greenland, though the perpetual sunset is nice. Off to Islamabad in thirty minutes.

--Dave

Off to Pakistan

Dave and Adam are on their way to K2 in Pakistan (or will be in about ten minutes, when their flight takes off -- and really not even then, since they're flying through San Francisco and Dubai). Watch this space for updates and hopefully some photos sent back from the mountain.

Seattle International Film Festival

Went to two screenings of films today.

Earlier today I went to a screening at the Seattle Center of :"Three Minute Masterpieces," a short film contest held by SIFF and the Seattle Times. The film I shot was called "Three Minutes of Movie Masterpieces."

Timothy Watkins and Charles Forsgren's pastiche of movie history, filmed in and around Seattle, lampoons "Casablanca," "Psycho" and other screen classics.

I shot in on my HVX200, but unfortunately, they screened a version they'd downloaded off YouTube, so the quality was not very good at all.

The second film, "Black Coffee" directed by Tran Quoc Bao and written by Charles Forsgren and Tim Watkins was made for SIFF'S Fly Film Challenge. Shot on black and white 16mm film it was in the noir genre with nods to hitchcock. I was only a PA and so can't say I contributed anything much. But it was satisfying to see it up on screen. Good job everyone.

Lung Test at fourteen four

Thought I'd go test my lungs out before leaving for Pakistan. Climbed Gibraltar ledges on Mt. Rainier with photographer and artist Kendall Dewey.

Tried out a pair of La Sportiva's Olympus Mons boots too.

Conclusion: these are the warmest, most comfortable boots I've ever had.


And yes, my lungs still work.

Also, I did a sweet headstand. Well, maybe not sweet. But i did a headstand.

K2 and Broad Peak Expedition

We are pleased to be announcing that we've got some Summer plans worked out. While the prospect of loading the kids into the truck and hauling the Airstream around the great campgrounds of the West was very appealing, we have instead opted for a working vacation in Pakistan.

K2 and Broad peak, the second and twelfth highest mountains in the world are located right across from each other in the Karakoram mountains of Pakistan. K2 has been the scene of many notable expeditions, including one led by occultist and "wickedest man in the world," Aleister Crowley. We, however will be concerning ourselves with the 1909 expedition led by Luigi Amedeo, the Italian Duke of Abruzzi.

We have attached ourselves to an expedition to K2 and Broad peak being organized by Field Touring. Friend and occasional couch surfer at Ursus Films world headquarters, Fabrizio Zangrilli will be leading the K2 effort. The planned route is the SSE spur (marked in red) AKA the Cesen route after alpinist Tomo Cesen. This route is a slightly safer alternative to the Abruzzi spur (in yellow).

Dave Ohlson and Adam Forslund will be heading to Pakistan June 8th. Our primary goal is to film for a long planned documentary on the 1909 Italian expedition to K2. Besides comparing a modern day effort with the 1909 one, we are looking at the photographs taken by Vittorio Sella (images above are of the West Face of K2 and climbers in the Chogolisa icefall, 1909), recreating many of them and relating these to climate change in the Karakoram mountains. See more images of Vittorio Sella's by clicking here. Climate change in the Karakorams has many interesting facets that differentiate it from the rest of the world. While every research expedition we had hoped to accompany this Summer has cancelled due to the unrest in Pakistan, we think that accompanying this climbing expedition will allow us to make a solid start to the film. We plan to return in 2010 to follow research in the field and to do more photo recreations.

If everything goes according to plan we will be updating this blog via satellite phone every week or so. So please subscribe.