Story 02: Info & preparation

Muztagh Ata - means “Father of Ice Mountains” in the local language.

It lies on China-Tajikistan border and it is just slight 5524 km from the place where I live now. All that means that even that it's the same country it seems the other side of the world for me.

To get there I will have to take a few hours flight to Kashgar and then few hours bus or jeep ride on bumpy, steep, scary but scenic roads to the foot of the mountain. Unfortunately, this is a spot where I have to start 'climbing' on foot. 

 

Base camp is set up in 4450m and from there we will set up a camp another 3 times with the highest one in 6800m. The climbing is not technically difficult but we have to be ready for all side joys as altitude sickness; frostbites or even sunburns; snowstorms or lack of oxygen. The temperature around the peak is about -24 degrees but because it is not enough for us the wind makes it chilly to as much as -45.. 

All this is enhanced by a thought that we will enter a death zone - zone where even the most powerful helicopters can't fly to and you cannot expect any help from outside the world. You can only rely on you and on your team mates.If some injury happens in this altitude, the person can be dead within a few hours...People cannot survive in this hostile places for more then 2-3 days due the lack of oxygen and the high air pressure that makes your blood circulation too slow or your brain swollen so much that it can be fatal...

But better to stop with counting all the dangers and let’s focus more on how to prepare for such a climbing to avoid all those joys mentioned above. 

The best what I can do is to do a proper acclimatization – which means staying in the high altitude for some longer time to let my poor body get use to it.

And what can I do now? Well, training and training is the answer, but this would be as challenging as getting to summit because of my daily dose of 10 hours office sitting... I promise, I will try my best!

And the last but not least at all are my trip arrangements, gear preparations and info gathering.

Unfortunately, my attempt depends on finding money on the street, winning a lottery or finding some sponsors – and now I don’t know which is the most unrealistic from it.

Hopefully I would get over all these primary but fundamental obstacles and will be able to continue blogging even from the slopes of Muztagh Ata. Wish me luck!