There are few places on Earth as remote and challenging as the Karakorum. Much of the area is so far away from civilization that is largely remains unexplored even today. Which is why I found this article over at K2Climb.net so interesting. It tells the tale of Michael Beek, a German trekker, who has spent the better part of 35 years exploring the Karakorum. During that time, he has come to know the people that inhabit the area and much of it’s landscape.
However, last July Michael decided to get off the well worn trekking paths and head into areas that were far less traveled. Along the way he claims to have viewed K2’s North West face from a location that no other westerner has ever seen it, and had the honor to name three mountains and two mountain passes.
At times, he was in such remote areas that border’s between countries became indistinct and he had to rely less on the sketchy maps that he had with him and more on satellite images and the help of Pakistani guides.
Beeks sems to exhibit the spirit of adventure. He looks for and finds all kinds of challenges in his exploration, and certainly isn’t afraid to get out into some remote areas, isolated from human contact. It sounds like a great adventure to me, and I’d love to hear more about his expedition.
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i’m not so sure no other westerner has seen the noerthwest face. i dunno about what distance from the mountain he was talking about, but there were 8 of us westerners in a group on the north side of K2 in 2004
I wondered about that claim myself. Seems kind of dubious unless he’s being super specific like: “No other Westerner has ever seen the Northwest face, while standing in this specific spot, and hopping on one foot!”