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Dispatch: Turned Back to Yechem Yechem, China - Thursday, June 1, 2000
Mountaineering expeditions are replete with adventures, and they don't necessarily have to be of the climbing kind. As reported before, the K2000 team has been faced with illness and mechanical mishaps, punctuated with healthy doses of mountain scenery and Eastern culture. Not bad for the "standard ante" one pays up to climb in the great ranges of the world. Anyway, the K2000 team's approach from Yechem to Mazar, and on to our waiting camels goes right up a heavily garrisoned road near Kashmir/Jammu. We spent almost two days pleading for passage through Mazar to the end of the road (Ilik), but to no avail. When in Rome, do as the Romans do; when the region is under martial law and the local Roman with the loaded weapon says go back to Yechem, one tends to capitulate. To make a long story short, the evening of June 1 finds the whole K2000 team cooling their collective heels and tempers back in the CMA hotel in Yechem. The long version is K2000 now needs special military approval to cross the militarily sensitive region around Mazar. Nevertheless, being good-spirited lads and motivated by international harmony, the garrison saved the balance of our "visit day" with them for the very popular Chinese game called "basketball at 12,000 feet." Since the only thing we were in control of that day were the boards, the outcome was never in doubt: final score; USA 40 vs China Army 28. Even the defection of our Chinese interpreter to the opposing starting five, and a short-but-aggressive Chinese guard dressed in red NBA togs could not alter the outcome of a match against hardened "NBA junkies." Winning the game may have been our biggest mistake. At the Chinese border, a similar game, when lost by the Americans, ensured safe passage. — Fred Ziel, MountainZone.com Correspondent |
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