Having survived our first night on the glacier we arose to the now familiar 4am start. There is a sense of urgency as tents are packed away ready for our journey to our next destination. Our progress and programme was modified by the porters so we will not be stopping at Concordia as planned. Instead we have a long day to our next stop.

The journey to Concordia was stunning with the very top of Masherbrum glowing in the morning light and Gasherbrum 4 had a shawl of cloud also lit by the rising sun. Our first hour was on the ice progress and with very little rock or rubble for grip our progress was slow and slippery. Finally Masherbrum disappeared out of sight and Muztagh Tower dominated our view.

Eventually we arrived at Concordia with clear skies. The view of K2 is awesome alongside Broad Peak, Gasherbrum 4 and the remaining Gasherbrum’s. Many photos were taken as lenticular cloud started to build, signalling a change in the weather would be upon us very soon.

Departing Concordia the gain in height was easy as we crossed the ice to another lateral moraine on the upper Baltoro glacier. This one was red/brown in colour with smaller stone size. It was a long hard grind to the camp at Shagharing at 4700m.