DISPATCHES

Howkins

	click for dispatch photos

"Kurut," he calls it. It is hard, lumpy and a mottled, gray-and-black color, just like any one of the millions of dusty hunks of granite that cover the glacier. In fact, if I accidentally dropped it, I'm not sure I'd know which piece of rock-like substance to pick up off the ground.

Kurut, our cook Sher Afzal explains, is a special kind of goat cheese from Pakistan made in areas near the Afghanistan border. This particular piece is from Gojal, and some of the other chunks in his multicolored bag are from Chitral.

"You must try it, sister" he urges, "it is very good for high camp. The Pakistani army use this type of piece, Rakpi, for toes or fingers if they are burned by cold. One man, his partners all had their arms cut here (he motions to a point just below his elbow), and this man lost only fingers."

Eating a rock-like substance seems improbable, if not impossible, but I decide to try it anyhow. The Pakistani army is renowned for their stints at high altitude, spending as much as six months at a time in active duty above 18,000 feet. They have been fighting a high-altitude war with India since 1947, and I figure they must have learned something about surviving the vicissitudes of cold and thin air over the past 50 years.

I am pleasantly surprised. The Kurut has a chalky but strongly acidic taste, a little like the vinegar in a jar of pickles would taste if you added Pepto-Bismol and a handful or two of grit.

"How do you use it on burned (frostbitten) fingers?" I ask Sher.

"Add a little bit of water, and put it on the skin," he replies, "Do you like it?"

I nod, and he gives me the entire bag as a gift. I know he has carried every ounce of this bag for miles up the glacier, and I am profoundly moved. Sher was the cook for my K2 expedition in 1998, and this year, cooking for a hungry mob of eighteen, he has been as thoughtful and thorough as ever.

Our entire team of Baltis is something to be thankful for. Collectively, as a team of 10, they have over 150 years of experience working in the Himalayas. Four have been to altitudes of 7000 meters or more, as high-altitude porters on previous expeditions. Three are professional cooks, and one is a nurse. They took their first "rest day" this past Monday, after carrying for 11 days straight, typically between 25- and 40-kilos per day. Without their support, there is no way we would succeed on K2, and if we do succeed, they deserve just as much credit as the summit team.

Click here to meet the porters.

— Heidi Howkins, MountainZone.com Correspondent

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