Expedition

We cross a long plateau and are then as close to the mountain as the truck can take us. Now, with heavy backpacks on our backs, it's an hour and a half up and down 5000 meters through a moraine landscape. During a break, a discussion begins which results in Peter leaving his skis behind, while Brigitte and I decide to take the skis with us to the bitter end, even if we might have to carry them back down the mountain, although it is not yet clear whether and how a descent is possible at all.

The two extreme athletes and speed climbers The two extreme athletes and speed climbers Benedikt Böhm and Sebastian Haag wanted to ski up and down Pakistan's Broad Peak in the shortest possible time. But miserable weather turned the tour into a race against time...

Munich vet Sebastian Haag and sports manager Benedikt Böhm share a great passion: speed climbing high mountains. This means that the two of them climb various giant mountains at record speed, – and then ski down them even faster. Together they form the Gore-Tex Dynafit expedition team, which has already achieved several eight-thousanders and other highly acclaimed successes. Their latest project: the 8047 m high Broad Peak in Pakistan.

17.05. Camp VI Tundra 22:45 750 m - We are somewhere between McGonagall Pass and Wonderlake. After leaving our campsite this morning, we made good progress at the beginning. We then entered a huge glacier break, with several small difficulties, including extreme rockfall, which we then bypassed. The Muldrow Glacier stretches on forever and if it were a bit warmer, you'd probably sink up to your knees in silt. You probably wouldn't be able to get back and forth. We reached the McGonagall Pass at around 18:00. The descent from the pass was brilliant. It saved us two hours of walking. Hiking through the tundra with our light backpacks and skis on the back is a special experience. I'm really glad we didn't do the whole thing in the other direction, because we wouldn't have got very far with our equipment. Swamp, dense bush, etc. Now, for the first time in a long time, we are lying in the tent without snow, without ice, without storms, without cold. We've hung the food up in a tree in case we get a visit from a bear. Now we are enjoying the evening atmosphere with the tent open.

We have reached our camp IV and are on the Denali Pass. If the altitude is correct, we are at about 5750 meters. It is now 22:30, the sun is setting and we are doing relatively well. It has taken us seven hours to get here from the last camp. We are very lucky, there is almost no wind. We are quite exposed, if the wind came up we would have big problems.

It is now 12.05.09, 11.00 am. ?so one day later: we are now lying in a tent belonging to the Americans. It's the only place where it's a bit warm due to the radiation...

Massive elephant seals, sea lions and seals lie just behind the waterline on the beach. The deafeningly loud "burps" of the elephant seals in particular give us a queasy feeling for the first few meters. We explore the surroundings for a few hours, see the first king and gentoo penguins, and one or two mouths remain open in amazement and enthusiasm. As the weather is stable and the swell allows it, we sail on to explore Prion Island. A few wandering albatrosses nest here between meters of tussock grass, which at this time of year are about to hatch their offspring.

"Looking for volunteers for dangerous journey. Low pay, bitter cold, long hours in complete darkness guaranteed. Return uncertain. Honor and recognition only in case of success." (Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton in a 1907 advertisement for his expedition to the South Pole.) About 100 years later, the start of a journey to the Antarctic polar region can look very different: