pod beta: news
03/06/08
2008 UK/Canadian Distaghil Sar Expedition
We’re very proud to be supporting the 2008 UK/Canadian Distaghil Sar Expedition. Pete and the team will report back on how they get on with their expedition. We wish the team the best of luck with their challenging objective and a safe return.
Islamabad, Pakistan, 2nd June
I spent this morning filling up my Black Ice Podsac with last minute shopping for the 2008 UK/Canadian Distaghil Sar Expedition. Yesterday Bruce, Ben and I did the main shop in the Metro, a massive new superstore; less exotic than the bazaar but more practical. The fourth team member, Canadian Don Bowie, arrives shortly from Nepal after an eventful climb on Annapurna.
The Black Ice is the only rucksack I’m bringing on this trip. Not only is it useful for shopping, but also as a day sack, for load carrying and as a lightweight climbing sack without the removable internal frame. Our objective is the first ascent of the North Ridge of Distaghil Sar, the highest mountain in the western Karakoram at 7,883m. The mountain has not been climbed from the north and three climbers have died trying, not that there has been much time for apprehension during our intensive preparations in the UK and since we arrived in Islamabad.
We are very pleased to have become Pod Climbers, and we will put the four sacs provided to good use on the mountain. These are the Thin Ice, an ultra-light mountaineering sac, the Black Ice as described above and an X Pod, for the load carrying we will have to do before our alpine-style attempt on the ridge.
We have been fortunate enough to be the recipients of this year’s Nick Estcourt Award, a Shipton/Tilman grant, and we are supported by the Mount Everest Foundation and the British Mountaineering Council. All we have to do now is travel up to Hunza on the Karakoram Highway, trek to Base Camp and climb the mountain…
Pete Thompson
