DISPATCHES

Heilprin

	click

It was left uncertain whether the K2000 Expedition, three years in the making, will be able to cross the military checkpoint and begin its six-day camel trek toward base camp as planned.

The American climbers reached Mazar on Tuesday afternoon, after a series of mishaps including two vehicle breakdowns and a collision. That led to the unusual spectacle of Americans spending the night as guests of the People's Liberation Army.

The army's biggest concern was that no photographs be taken since filming the military is forbidden in China. Late at night, they huddled around Alzner's video camera to inspect the images.

There were some tense moments as the Chinese worried about whether pictures were taken in the compound.

"It doesn't make any sense," said Sadiq Hoxur, an expedition interpreter from Kashgar.

The expedition was told at first that some paperwork was out of order, and recent heightened security measure meant checking paperwork more closely. But as the day wore on, it became clear the military operations in the area were the real issue.

The expedition had spent about $115,000 for its travel and arrangements in China, mostly through the Chinese Mountaineering Association. He and Fred Ziel, an expedition doctor, used a satellite phone to contact Beijing officials Wednesday. They also were trying to get help from members of U.S. Congress.

Team members slept in four-bed barrack rooms each with camel-hair mattresses and rice pillows.

Despite the delay, relations were generally friendly between the Chinese soldiers and American climbers.

Chinese soldiers initiated a full-court basketball game against the Americans, who hoped to show good will. Playing at an elevation of 12,500ft, the teams played hard, each side cheering for the other at times. The Americans won the half-hour game 40-28.

The strange sight of American citizens sharing quarters with Chinese military personnel resulted from an eventful day just a couple weeks into the four-month expedition - the first all-American attempt in a decade.

Two of the seven sport-utility vehicles carrying climbers and porters broke down along a dirt road that led over a 16,000-foot pass between Kashgar and the base of the mountain. A Toyota Land Cruiser needed its main suspension pin welded at a nearby oil refinery, while a Nissan Patrol got a flat tire.

Then the Patrol — carrying climbers Ivan Ramirez, Shawn O'Fallon, a Chinese interpreter and the driver — collided nearly head-on with a military-owned flatbed truck driven by a young Chinese soldier. No one was injured.

As the climbers' vehicle rounded a right-hand turn, the military truck came around the curve a bit fast and cornered the lane, according to Ramirez. The Patrol became wedged beneath the flatbed truck and had to be towed out.

"We barely avoided it head-on and hit just behind the passenger part of the truck in the left rear gas tank," Ramirez said.

Five hours after the accident, the truck finally limped into the intersection at Mazar, where several inhabitants at some roadhouses made of insulated particle board served tea and dinner cooked from chickens slaughtered on the spot.

The locals were inundated with hungry, somewhat unruly Americans who worried where they would spent the night because they were told at first they could not camp anywhere near the military outpost.

— John Heilprin, MountainZone.com Correspondent

Email this story to a friend