K2 mountain in Karakoram is called the mountain of mountains. It’s a dream not only for climbers but also for hikers and mountain photographers. The view of the mountain is worth its price and I don’t mind money expenses for travel, but time, physical effort, diseases or discomfort due to one of the most demanding trekking routes on the planet. Views, experiences and surprises on this path will stamp a great sign in your memory for those who decide on such an expedition despite all the adversities.

For me as a photographer and photo workshop leader, COVID-19 was one of the major problems. I was really happy when my friend Tomas, who invented this, offered me leadership of a light guide photo workshop in Karakoram in cooperation with the IRIX lens manufacturer brand, but suddenly problems came. I had a case of COVID-19, which left me with cardiological and respiratory problems and my doctor said that I couldn’t go to Pakistan to hike up to 20 kilometers every day and reach an elevation above 4000 meters above sea level. But dreams are a powerful tool which helped me to recover, so I was able to start the trip full of surprises.

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Glacier should be white. First surprise: it was mostly dark gray

Joy multiplies when it is shared, and I think that sharing the joy of passion is what drove me to conduct photography workshops. It all really started many years ago with a failure on Mont Blanc, when a sudden, prolonged breakdown in the weather made it impossible to reach the summit. The rapidly deteriorating weather created spectacles in the sky and on the mountain tops and since I was unable to summit the mountain, I could only focus on taking the best possible photos. Photos from the French Alps, which yielded victories in photo contests, encouraged me to devote myself to photography. Another important reason is the desire to experience real adventures. In the age of artificial intelligence, amazing landscapes can be generated completely effortlessly, but they are artificial, devoid of the story behind the image. The experiences, effort, adversity, the encounters with people that accompany photographic expeditions make the photographs tell real stories.

It should be cold on the glacier. Second surprise: we suffered from the heat of sun beams more than from the cold

Trekkers and climbers are the heroes of mountains. Not! The real heroes in Karakoram are the porters

K2 is called the mountain of mountains for a reason. The peak is the epitome of human nature. The more difficult something is to reach, the more appealing it is. As President Kennedy said, we fly to the moon not because it is easy but because it is difficult. The first attempt at what is considered the most difficult peak on Earth was made in 1909 by Luigi Amedeo di Savoia, Duke of Abruzzo. Attempts lasted half a century and the summit was conquered by Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli only in 1954. To date, attempts to conquer K2 have paid with the lives of nearly 100 people. K2 attracts mountain lovers like the moon attracts astronauts and if you love mountains and photography, a photo expedition under K2 seems a goal worth any sacrifice.

Music is everywhere. In the hardships of everyday life, the Karakorum heroes find time for music, which nowhere sounds more lively

Does success depend on you? Without guides and porters to support you, you can’t survive there

I was most impressed by the vastness of the space, the size of the peaks and the difficulty of rendering the scale in photographs. The biggest surprise, however, was the clash between my perceptions of the Baltoro Glacier and reality. I expected to see blue ice and cold, but up to an altitude of 4,500 above sea level, I suffered the heat of the sun and instead of ice underfoot, I felt stones. The glacier is alive on its own, life speaks to us with a bang as it cracks, carries down an incalculable mass of rocks. It is constantly changing, the path trodden a few days ago suddenly ends in a huge crack. In place of the snow bridge, over which we passed the day before, there is a chasm at the bottom of which flows water. I was very impressed by the boulders near our tents in the Urdukas camp, or the sight of the poor donkey that fell on the glacier into the abyss near Concordia.The impression and awe that the Baltoro Glacier inspired had the greatest impact on my perception of this land through my camera’s viewfinder. I usually photograph color, but on this trip, I felt a bit like Vittorio Sella stripping away the Karakorum for photographers in 1909.

Ice cream instead of ice blocks

You may wonder where you really are as ice mostly appears as a kind of bricks or stones, not huge blocks, on the Baltoro glacier as you mostly feel stones under your feet.

Where is my oxygen? As it was tough for us to breathe, the porters overtook us easily

A healthy fish always swims against the current, I would like to continue to be a healthy fish in the era of AI shocks and continue to present and relive stories and experiences of the outdoors in nature, not because they are easier than writing prompts for AI image generators, but precisely because they are more difficult. It’s hard to say today what photography and visual arts will look like but I’m not going to replace my backpack and tent with a desk and computer…

Is this real or is it Fata Morgana?

It was an unreal view when the peaks momentarily appeared through the clouds to hide again in seconds.

Coal and powder

Black stones just like coal and light ice pyramids somewhere, an unreal experience.

Cold water

Concordia Camp is an amazing place, there are cold glacier rivers and a 360-degree field of view full of peaks, stones and even ice-cold rivers too.

Magic Skies Karakorum Jhola camp. Bortle 1 sky class is visible even in black and white

Feel like Indiana Jones

During this hike, even if you follow the trail, you feel as if you are exploring an unexplored land.

Spectacle of light and shadow

Light is constantly changing to create spectacles, here the photographer is his feed not only during the golden hours but often during the middle of the day.

Trango Tower, where I ran out of words

Briefing in Urdukas. I could always deliberate in such a conference room

The higher, the more difficult. The risks and difficulties increase with altitude and what for tourists is the goal, for climbers, is only a prelude

The luminous wall of Gasherbrum IV

The sunset at Gore Camp was exceptionally colorful, and usually, the luminous wall is depicted as dashing reds and oranges against the deep blue of the sky, but I appreciate more the subtlety of the shades of gray, which for me better captures the majesty of these mountains.

Finally K2!

In Karakoram, everything is huge, but to have a scale, it’s good to see people in the frame. The stone on the ice column could look small until you compare it to a human’s size.

This is why I took a heavy backpack with fine lenses for a 21-day expedition. Thank you, IRIX!

Why is the target K2 and not K1?

The peaks in Karakorum were numbered in 1856 by Thomas George Montgomerie and Masherbrum, visible in the photo measuring 7821 meters, got the number K1. Its 3.5-kilometer-long wall is considered one of the toughest in the world but it is K2 which is called the mountain of mountains.

Worn like an old shoe. This is how a person feels after completing this extremely long and tiring trek

Shoes are made to be walked in; thanks to that, they write their own history and the human effort in Karakorum is not in vain either. By destroying shoes we create memories…

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