As news filters in of ten climbers murdered in Pakistan (Nanga Parbat), my thoughts, hopes and dreams that mountaineering transcended boundaries lay ruined.
Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones.
BBC News - Nine tourists shot at north Pakistan mountain base camp
In a century of assaults on K2, only about 300 people have ever seen the view from the planet's second highest peak. More than a quarter of those who made it didn't live long enough to share the glory, or to tell the tale.
In August 2008, twenty-four climbers from several international expeditions converged on High Camp of K2, the last stop before the summit of the most dangerous mountain on earth. Forty-eight hours later, eleven had been killed or had vanished, making it the worst K2 climbing disaster in history.
(Film directed by Nick Ryan; Image Now Films & Pat Falvey Productions in association with Passion Pictures, Diamond Docs, Fantastic Films, BBC & RTE)
My old Dubai Roadsters buddy and adventurer Adrian Hayes is currently on his way to Pakistan to climb K2.
As Adrian says it took "3 years thinking about it, over a year in planning and preparation and 6 months of specific and frenetic training" (Adrian keeps relatively fit, doing Ironman, climbing Everest, walking to the North and South poles, and kite surfing across Greenland... To name but a few)
"In the World of high altitude mountaineering K2 is probably the greatest challenge of them all; it's risky, the success rate is low and there is no guarantee of reaching its lofty heights. And due to this, in many ways I'd be happy to keep this quiet and just go off and hopefully do it..."
Follow Adrian here... Hayes - K2 Expedition 2013
