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2008 K2 and Broad Peak Expedition

Dispatch Sixteen: June 14th, 2008

Day Sixteen: Rest Day in Paiju

Today, we planned on sleeping in, however, thanks to a loud argument that broke out between a group of porters at 4:45am, we all were up quite early. We had breakfast around 8:30, then joined the Italians for coffee afterwards in their mess tent. We chatted awhile, then moved our mess tent and kitchen tents down to a shadier location. I sorted through some gear, shared some photos with the Italians of GII and Broad Peak, laid out my solar panels to charge my sealed lead acid battery, checked that my generator was still in working order now that it had been carried on its side for three days (oil was everywhere but it started on the first rotation), then joined the Italians for lunch (we decided that our cook would cook for both our groups for dinner last night, and that their cook would make us all lunch today). We had some Italian Espresso, Grappa, and Pavarotti to finish off a great lunch. I spent the rest of the day chatting with Simone and repacking the gear I had removed carefully into the same duffel bags so that they would still all weigh 25kgs. Tomorrow, we plan on getting up at 4:00am and starting the long trek to Urdukas by 5:00am.