High-Altitude Gene-2. K2 expedition. 2023

Guide and director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Pakistan:

June 23. All salaam from Pakistan from the participants of the expedition to K2 "High Altitude Gene 2" or briefly GenKa2! Hurray! We have finally started moving towards our goal - K2. Early in the morning at 5 a.m. we had breakfast and at 6 a.m. we got on jeeps and moved to Ascole. The road turned out to be difficult and interesting - after an hour the asphalt ran out and the broken primer went. Many times the rivers were forded - in some places it was just dangerous - deep and stormy waters. But our dashing drivers successfully overcame everything. After lunch we arrived in Askole, a village at an altitude of 3050m, settled into tents, had lunch, rested. We are having dinner now and going to bed early, since tomorrow is an early exit. There will be a 7-8 hour walk to the Jola camp.

The head of the expedition to K2 Lyudmila Korobeshko and the expedition doctor Andrey Selivanov were in touch.

Guide and director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Pakistan:

June 22. All salaam from Pakistan from the participants of the expedition to K2 "Height Gene 2" or briefly GenKa2! This morning we went to one of the highest plateaus in the world - the Deosai Plateau. There, at an altitude of 4,300, bears live, stormy rivers flow, snow caps of mountains rise. There we made a couple of acclimatization trips, visited a high-altitude classified military base, tasted pink Baltistan tea. In the evening we returned to our hotel, where we had a hearty dinner, a barbecue with a bonfire and music.

Tomorrow we leave for Ascole very early in the morning! Towards adventure!

Guide and director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Pakistan:

June 21. All salaam from Pakistan from the participants of the expedition on K2! The second day we are in a hot Skardu. In the morning, we packed the trunks, which will leave earlier immediately to the Base Camp. We walked through the market once again and pleased ourselves with vitamins, which we will not see soon now - we bought cherries, mangoes, melons.

Having received a message from Abramov from the trek, we rushed to buy umbrellas and shorts to escape from the incredible heat that is now on the trek. In the evening we went to a very interesting place - a Cold Desert. We rode on the dunes in jeeps, and the bravest even flew on moto-paragliders and hang gliders.

Already late in the evening we received information that so far the military has not given us the permit to enter the border zone. Well, we are not discouraged. We have a plan B. And tomorrow we will implement it!

Lyudmila Korobeshko, the co-head of the expedition to K2, and Andrey Selivanov, the expedition doctor, are in touch.

Alexander Abramov is in touch on his way to K2 Base Camp:

Yesterday was a great hot day. We had breakfast at 5 in the morning and at 6 in the morning we were already on our way. After 9 am it gets very hot, so we go with umbrellas from the sun. The Karakoram Mountains are something incredible. The views are striking in their beauty. In parallel with us there are 4 more groups. Many familiar climbers. They say that there is an unusual amount of snow this year, and the season is just beginning.

There is also unverified information that this year is a record for the number of expeditions to K2, about 25 expeditions. I am going to K2 Base Camp with Nepali and Pakistani guides.  Our team bears the proud name of GENKA2. Wish us good luck!

Guide and director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Pakistan:

June 20.  Greetings to all from Pakistan - now from Skardu (2300m) from the participants of the expedition to K2! Three more members of our expedition arrived early this morning (Sergey Bogomolov, Dmitry Moskalev and Bartek). And already a full team (16 people) we flew to Skardu.

Just 45 minutes of flight - and we are at an altitude of 2300 (the heat, however, is almost like in Islamabad). While flying, we admired the second highest peak of Pakistan – Nanga Parbat (which is often called the killer mountain).

We settled with the maximum comfort available in Skardu at the Summit Hotel. A visit to the castle was scheduled for the evening… And for good reason - the walk around Skardu and the surrounding area turned out wonderful: we visited the local market with colorful characters and goods; we looked at the local sports complex - the stadium where matches are held for two of the most popular games in Pakistan - polo and cricket. The main event of the day is the acclimatization ascent on the top of Karpocho (ruins of the fortress of Karpocho). From here we had stunning views of Skardu, the bends of the legendary Indus and the distant peaks of Karakorum. At the end of the day, we took a picture at the inscription "I love Skardu". And, indeed, we managed to fall in love with this hospitable town.

Tomorrow is our procurement and preparation day. The day after tomorrow we plan to leave for Ascole, where our track to K2 will begin.

Lyudmila Korobeshko, the co-head of the expedition to K2, and Andrey Selivanov, the expedition doctor, are in touch.

Guide and director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Pakistan:

June 19.  Greetings to all from Pakistan from the participants of the expedition to K2 "The High Altitude Gene"! Today, almost all the members of the expedition and the entire crew of the RD Studio have arrived in Islamabad. As soon as the temperature dropped a little below 40 C, we went on a tour of the capital. We visited the Monument of Pakistan - a huge structure in the form of a flower, symbolizing Pakistan itself with its regions. Then we visited the largest mosque in Pakistan (and one of the largest in the World) - the Faisal Mosque, which simultaneously accommodates more than 300,000 worshippers. And we went up to the Himalayas - to the hills that end the Himalayas in Pakistan. This is the Margalla Ridge.

3 more participants will arrive tomorrow, and we will all go to Skardu together.

President of the 7 Summits Club Alexander Abramov reports from Pakistan:

Today, the Sherpa team of the K2 High Alttude Gene project left with all the things from Skardu. And after 5 hours we successfully reached the last village of Askole. The height is 2900m. 140 porters were already waiting for us here, who would take all our belongings to the K2 Base Camp in 7 days. We are already spending the night in tents. All 20 high-altitude Sherpa porters feel you perfectly. We have a long road ahead of us on the Baltoro Glacier. We will go, eat and sleep. Get fit and fat for hard work on the most difficult and dangerous mountain above 8000m.

The head of the K2 Altitude Gene expedition is Alexander Abramov.

By the way, I met Lhakpa, who climbed Mount Everest 10 times. Now she goes to K2.

Our goal is to climb the second highest mountain in the World, the K2 peak (8611 meters), famous for its severity. The climbing expedition consists of 7 climbers, two guides, 12 Nepalese Sherpas and 8 Pakistani high-altitude porters.

The expedition program also includes a trekking trip to the foot of the peak, to the base camp of our expedition (two groups).

 The result of the joint work of RD Studio, the 7 Summits Club and the 8000 Club should be a full-length film that will be watched by millions of viewers. On our side is the experience of filming on Everest of the film "The High Altitude Gene", which had a huge audience of millions. It was repeatedly shown on Channel One - Russian main TV Channel. The documentary will show the most interesting moments of the expedition itself, and the host of the film Valdis Pelsh will tell about the history of the mountain itself, about the dramatic moments of the history of climbing it.

We present the participants of the expedition!

Expedition leaders and guides of the 7 Summits Club and 8000 Club:

Alexander Abramov

Founder and President of the 7 Summits Club. Master of Sports of the USSR in mountaineering, mountaineering instructor, mountain guide, high-altitude cameraman. 12-time summiter of Everest. Three-time summiter to the "Seven Summits", one of the first to complete the "Seven Volcanoes" program. Organizer of numerous expeditions to the main summits of the world.

 Lyudmila Korobeshko

Director of the 7 Summits Club, 3-time Everest climber, the first (and only) woman in the world to have completed the 7 Summits Project twice and thrice. If successful, she will become the first K2 climber in Russia who lives on the territory of our country. And together with Alexander Abramov, they can become the first married couple to successfully complete the ascent to this peak.

 Expedition Doctor:

Andrey Selivanov

A native of Tyumen, skilled in mountaineering and rock climbing. He has been working with us on expeditions as a doctor from time to time since 2005. He has extensive experience in mountaineering expeditions and medical practice in different regions of the world.

RD Studio crew:

Valdis Pelsh – head of the company, author and presenter

Kristina Kozlova - director

High - altitude cameramen:

Luis Lopez

Ivan Vasiliev

Alexander Kubasov

Climbers, members of the expedition:

 Arno Ter Saakovs

If successful, he expects to become the first Armenian at the top of K2. Arno has traveled with the 7 Summits Club many times, including reaching the summit of Mount Everest.

 Daniil Briman

The most famous brewer of the "Seven Summits", elected chairman of the Council of the Union of Russian Brewers. Summiter of Everest and other iconic summits together with the 7 Summits Club. We will wait for the signature author's beer "K2"!

 Valery Tebiev

One of our most active participants in the 7 Summits Club programs. He started with a trip to the North Pole. Climbed of Everest and Manaslu.

 Sergey Bogomolov

Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, "Snow Leopard", who has made more than 60 ascents of the highest category of difficulty in almost all mountain systems of the world. The summiter on 13 of the 14 eight-thousandths of the planet is the first Russian contender for the "Crown of the Himalayas". If successful, he will become the first Russian to reach on all 14 eight-thousand-meters.

 Dmitry Moskalev

Our partner since the very first our Everest expedition in 2003.  President of the Moscow Mountaineering Federation. The second person in Russia who completed the "Seven Summits" program.  Founder and president of the MONT Group of companies (the largest distributor of software from the world's leading manufacturers).

 Ekaterina Safronova and Maria Oglobleva

Twin sisters who have been involved in physical education and sports since childhood (in synchronized swimming). After a passion for parachuting, rock climbing, career and family construction, they turned to high mountains. Elbrus, Lenin Peak, Aconcagua and, finally, the sensationally fast ascent on the eight-thousand-meter Manaslu.

President of the 7 Summits Club Alexander Abramov reports from Pakistan:

Today in Skardu we collected all the goods, bought everything, packed everything. The biggest shock among local porters was caused by 200 liters of Coca Cola, which 10 porters will carry to the K2 Base Camp. As is known, CO2 is washed out at altitude. And this will be our know-how. Coca Cola, of course, will not replace 120 oxygen cylinders for us, but according to our calculation it will give the necessary acceleration.

Tomorrow our team of 12 Nepalese Sherpas and 8 Pakistani high-altitude porters will leave for Ascole. According to the plan, they should arrive at the K2 Base Camp 5 days earlier than the participants, put our most comfortable base camp on K2. And I will go with them - the head of the expedition, Alexander Abramov. By the way, cherries have already ripened in Skardu. Come here!

Guide and director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Pakistan:

June 17.  Hello everyone from Pakistan! The advanced troika of the expedition on K2, consisting of the leaders Alex Abramov and Lyudmila Korobeshko, as well as the expedition doctor Andrey Selivanov, flew from Moscow on June 16.

Early in the morning on June 17, we arrived in hot Islamabad. A few hours later, Alexander Abramov went straight to Skardu. From there, he will soon start moving to K2 together with our Sherpa team in order to prepare everything in advance for the arrival of the main team.

Andrey and I stayed in the capital to wait for the arrival of the whole group. We are making purchases, looking for hot spots to add spice to the future film about K2 and Pakistan!

Alexander Abramov, Lyudmila Korobeshko and the expedition doctor Andrey Selivanov flew from Moscow today in the direction of Pakistan. Thus, our historical expedition to K2 began, about which we thought and talked a lot, which we had been preparing for more than one year. We are waiting for heat and cold, heavy roads and trails, the most formidable and ruthless peak. We are waiting for the shooting of the film "High Altitude Gene 2.0. K2" ...

Watch the video from Vnukovo airport: