The last day in Skardu was spent shopping in the morning followed by a good walk up the nearest local berg. We aimed for a big black rock tower, although we knew we could never make it. We had our first deception that we all get in the Himalayas - it was deceptively large. After climbing to 3500m , 1250 above Skardu it looked even further away than when we had begun. It was still a good 1000 very steep meters above when we turned back arriving at night. A pleasant walk in the Karakorums!

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To the north we got views of the "foothills' , five to six thousand meter peaks on the way to the Baltoro, and below a very scenic Green Skardu.

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Greetings from Skardu, 2300m gateway to the Karakorums. Had a very long trip over the past 2 days to get here, however it was made up by the incredible scenery of the northern areas of Pakistan.

Massive river gorges and rapids below us. Lofty mountains above culminating in the massive massifs of Nanga prabat, Rakaposhi, Diran and Harmosh. The seven and eight thousand meter peaks have a very distinct character of there own looking more like clouds than mountains.

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Rakaposhi was especially spectacular, a white pyramid glinting in the sun soaring above a thundercloud. There's been a succession of heavy snow years here culminating in a huge snow winter just past that defies both El Nino and climatologists - its continuing to snow at the at base camp.

We have our final day in Skardu tomorrow then the week long trek to base camp. From then, 5 weeks of no contact with the outside world will begin - except for the odd satellite phone message.
 

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A final big thanks to all those that helped make this possible, family friends and sponsors.

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Bike testing and leg testing time - another mission at the Nelson Lakes with Sergio and my friend Carl! The bike got its first snow ride and I managed to get a few good meters in after several attempts and face plants.  Gale force winds all day made it a long one , over 12 hours for what normally done in 9 making the final training mission a real tester. The winds turned the snow into rime ice and the gale had us skating around everywhere. With a big storm on Angelus Carl decided to be Base camp and Sergio and I headed up. Fortunately the same wind producing the white out had bared the snow away from most of the rock  leaving a reasonable route up the icy west face. The way back was even more viscous and we ended up pinned to the ridge tops several times crawling on hands and knees to safer ground.  Great day had by all - even the bike!!