The way to K2 is one of the most difficult approach marches in the Himalayas.
It's incredible how these Baltic borders climb with 50 pounds on their shoulders.
Most of the borders cannot even swim and even if they could they would never survive if they fell into the ice cold Baldo River.
In just a few places permanent bridges exist.
I have to admit I was very scared crossing this one and wondered how permanent it really was.
It was made of short lengths of woven twigs and a lot of air in between.
And swung and bounced with every step.
After three days walk through the Braudu Gorge we got to the fertile terraces of Ascoli.
The last human habitation.
Already we'd adopted the leisurely Pakistani pace.
Here it's nature that makes the time.
Kut, who's been through here several times, is quite at home and has no problems of communication.
This little boy is not playing.
All the fields have to be irrigated by careful control of water channels.
It's the activity of a lifetime.
My next assignment was at the hot springs.
What a way to relax after 50 miles of dusty walking.
These ropes were left by a big French expedition to K2 in 1979.
They saved three days of walking upstream.
When the French established the carbon fiber cableway they had 1,500 loads and 1,500 porters
to get over the river, one by one.
They were busy for days.
Even with this mass of men and material K2 defeated them.
At first many porters were frightened, but now they go across for fun.
Your chance to win a holiday for two to Hawaii.
It could be you taking in the wonders of the Hawaiian islands.
5A's biggest competition ever, coming soon.
And does the man from Rosella make the tastiest vegetable soup?
There's nothing but the best in Rosella.
You can taste it.
Rosella, chosen for taste.
Come out to where the good deals are at Chick Ross Motors.
The porters, at the start of every day, move like ants around the boxes, which the Swiss
have lined up with their usual precision.
Everyone has to find his own load.
This morning there seems to be a kind of competition to get away first.
I soon understood why.
Probably to find the best shelter for the next night.
We're moving on to the Baltoro Glacier, climbing up to 12,000 feet, getting above the tree
line.
At this height there's no more wood to be found, and even a splinter means heat for
a cup of tea.
It's a slippery and dangerous job.
Who in England would carry a gas oven all day long for £2.50?
One of the most difficult and daunting rock spires in the world, Trango Tower, first conquered
by the British in 1976.
A change in the weather.
While the porters are singing to keep warm, the rest of us begin to worry.
Too much snow, you must not wait, you must go in.
No Stefan, I think today we cannot move.
You know the porters, they are at a dry place now, and if we go out in the snow, all their
clothes get very wet and they won't keep going to base camp, they will return to their homes.
No, I think we have to stay today.
The weather improves.
Kurt is quite sure that Gullam Rasool, our seer, will get the porters going within an
hour.
He and his son are very experienced in leading the Baltis, and have done this journey up
the Baltoro Glacier many times.
And where did you learn English?
School also.
School, yes.
And Gullam, did you learn English at school?
No.
Only from expeditions?
Only from expeditions, yes.
And do you speak other languages too?
I will speak Galkiti, Urdu, Kashmiri, Balti, I speak many many languages.
I notice all the porters wear shoes now.
Yes, they also wear shoes.
Also shoes?
Also shoes, and gloves, and glasses, all of them.
Everything?
Everything.
Yes.
Gullam Rasool has fixed it.
Our army of 300 will soon be on the move.
We will be ready to take sevar.
Gullam Rasool counts his flock.
He must make sure that nobody is missing.
It's incredible that these men still go on, covered with no more than a blanket, slipping
with their sandals and rubber boots, relying on Allah for their destiny.
Still two days to go.
Getting to the mountain here in the Karakorum Himalaya can become a task in itself, an adventure
of its own.
Broad Peak, another of the world's highest mountains.
The expedition has permission to climb this as well.
By the time we arrived at base camp, I really began to know and like the Swiss.
They're very easy going, which is good because we'll be living here for over two months.
A small expedition of four Polish women joined us, led by Wanda Rakiewicz.
They provided a special ingredient for this frugal base camp life.
From base camp, at over 15,000 feet, we have still to find an approach to the foot of the
mountain.
About five miles up, a rather complicated glacier.
It's an ever changing maze of alleyways and ice towers.
Of course, we don't find the best way first time.
That's why Stefan and Rainie decided to climb one of the highest ice towers in the maze
to get a good viewpoint.
We feel well acclimatized after that long approach march of 14 days.
Even at this altitude, we do not have to struggle for breath.
We are ready.
Where are we?
Directly ahead.
K2. What will happen this time?
I like avalanches. They have the power of thunderstorms.
Well, as long as they're far enough away, I like them.
I like them.
Nick Escort died under an avalanche. I knew him.
Most of the other victims just disappeared.
The Polish woman, Helena, died of a heart attack just two years ago.
Our first steps up the Abruz-e Spur,
and immediately the experience of the hard work to come.
In 1954, when K2 was climbed for the first time,
the Italians fixed 15,000 feet of rope here on this route.
After two months of climbing, retreating, and battling with the mountain,
finally two of them, Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni,
reached the top on the 31st of July.
They used oxygen, but the last steps to the highest point,
28,250 feet, they did without, as the bottles were empty.
Since then, the mountain has been climbed six times,
which means that 75% of all attempts have been unsuccessful.
Well, we are right in the beginning, and anything is possible.
The oil it protects, the difference is the saving.
When the harvest is on and the hours are long,
remember the lubrication of Rimmular X.
The oil it protects, it's your diesel preservation.
Why are Kellogg's Corn Flakes your number one choice?
I don't look at the other brands.
I choose Kellogg's Corn Flakes because I know that the quality is always there.
Kellogg's Corn Flakes would have to stand at the top of the list for health food.
Everybody wants to be healthy these days.
Kellogg's Corn Flakes are the best thing to start the day off.
When I'm a mother, my kids will definitely be eating Kellogg's Corn Flakes.
Yeah, I think everybody in Australia would have a bottle of Kellogg's Corn Flakes every day,
and if they don't, they should. I think they're great for starting the day.
Kellogg's Corn Flakes, the simple things in life are often the best.
Tom Cruise is a jet fighter pilot with a lust for adventure and no respect for discipline.
He's Top Gun tonight on 5A.
God, day after day these storms.
I wonder if I've got this awful chest infection.
The winds, they're impossible.
It goes on and on and on from morning till night and right through the night as well.
And then the snow.
Snowstorms again and again blown by the wind into every nook and cranny of base camp,
into all your clothing, into every little niche in your clothing.
But how many times have we seen the top of K2?
Twice, three times, perhaps for fleeting glimpses.
The rest of the time it's covered in cloud.
The layers of cloud all bring their own weather.
In its presence nothing can be done on the mountain. It's just too dangerous.
Julie is recovering slowly, but it will take a while till she is able to help me with the film again.
It was a bad day for the women's expedition.
The Polish tent had been carried down all the way from Camp 1, which means a slide of 3,000 feet.
The same avalanche came right to the back door of our tent.
Kurt insisted on moving it to a safer place.
He was worried about his cameras.
The Polish girls' sleeping bags were still inside their tent.
For them they were in another camp. They would never have survived such a fall.
3,000 feet up to Camp 1.