Steep down we go into Braldu-valley. Inside the jeep I feared we were toppling over.

The walk leads from Chongo; beyond Payu we walk on the Baltoro Glacier, about 100 km altogether.

Here in Chongo the porters wait to sign their contracts and receive their loads. 220 porters carry loads, another 70 carry food for the porters.

Over 7000 kilo's of gear are to be carried to K2 Basecamp. About half of it is food.

The signing of the contracts is Major Zia's business again.

The military use mules for transport, even on the glacier.

Chongo is an oasis at the end of the road. We camp here 1 night.

Apparently the dutch were here before.

Next day we start our walk; it leads us first, after about an hour, through Askole. It is the last permanent settlement on our track. It is a small, dirty village with litlle means of making money. In Askole the women are shy and hard to get on photo.

The men don't care for the camera; they hope to receive a rupee for their picture. They are not very beautiful, more like pityful.

Korophon is the first stage to camp on the walk. Porters cook their own chapatis.

Ronald was a little too touchy these days, probably because of too many worries about almost everything and too little sleep. I therefore wasn't completely confident when he decided we shared tent that night. On top of everything the number of porters seemed to raise beyond all expectations; counting and recounting the money also didn't prove relaxing.

The next morning I was somewhat shocked by the sudden leaving of the porters. I had to hurry; I feared getting lost in Baltoro. Ronald was busy collecting left-behind loads. Porters didn't seem to worry a lot about the expedition-gear.

Back on track. Notice the umbrella; I bought that in Skardu. Thierry told me to do so. He proved right a little later.

The first hurdle in sight: we had to cross the Dumordo river (coming from the left).

In may's mornings the stream is still relatively small, it can be crossed by wading. The water is very cold anyhow.

Wilco stood there filming. I hurried as fast as I could there because of the cold water.

One of the porters suffered severe abdominal pains; we knew no diagnosis, and therefore no therapy. The sirdar showed us how to do in such cases: Index-finger in the umbilicus and walk around the patient clock-wise. It worked for half an hour: porter and load had to be carried!

Payu (3807 m) is the last camp-site before the glacier. It consists basically of a small oasis (some 150 by 100 m) along a small stream, with about 150 small trees, which can hide about 200 porters and a couple of tents inside.

Expeditions have to cook with fuel-burners. Years ago an expedition burnt almost all wood on Payu, leaving it bare. The red roof is of the lemonade-shop!

Payu from aside. Right behind me are the latrines: in the middle of a ground covered by human (fecal) droppings! It stinks.

Camp with expedition-gear. We sleep conveniently in our modern dome-shaped tents.

Porters sleep huddled together, under a large plastic foil. They still prefer cooking on wood. They will try to find (or cut) wood to cook on, they would probably leave Payu bare again.

The Baltoro-ice in early morning.