بخوان ای دوست و تو ای رفیق
بخوان ای دوست و تو ای رفیق به یاد آنان که خودمان یادمان رفت که هستند .
امروز که رفتند یادمان افتاد که بودند .
بخوان به یاد و نام آنها که سکات پُوری برایشان اینگونه نوشت ولی من و تو ننوشتیم
شاید وقتی دیگر بنویسیم به نامشان و به یادشان .
Bittersweet Homecoming
Posted Yesterday by Scott Powrie
Fresh off the plane as of last night. Still tired and a bit lighter than when I started, but am working my way into regular life. I have missed my wife, family and friends dearly and thank you all for your encouraging comments. The trip was hard and had every element of a big expedition. Sadly, however, the element of loss seems to have dominated the spectrum.
On July 16th three members of the Iranian team that we had been climbing with made an incredible summit on a new route up Broad Peak. It was a monstrous achievement for these extremely talented climbers- an objective that they had been working on since 2009. The celebration, however, has been short lived. The climbers were unable to descend as planned and had to bivy multiple nights above 7,800meters. Help was sent from the lower camps but rescue attempts have been unsuccessful. Details of the rescue can be found here:
http://altitudepakistan.blogspot.com/2013/07/broad-peak-new-route-iranian-climbers.html#idc-cover
I was in Skardu when I heard the news. With a heavy heart, I leave behind three very good friends. On this trip I didn't think I was going to meet new friends, just someone to share the rope with. But friendships evolve in strange places and in strange circumstances. The Iranian team was made up of the highest quality individulas you could ask to spend time with. I spent my weeks in the Karokorom in the shadows of the giants- both the mountains and the men.
I met the Iranian climbing team for the first time in Islamabad on June 10th. We were going to be sharing a climbing permit as well as basecamp. We all sat down and talked about how the transportation would work to Skardu. One of the climbers from our team needed to extend his visa and another did not get his bag. I was expecting that the Iranian team would not want to wait and would instead want to get to the mountain as soon as possible. But, as I soon would find, the team was comprised of good-hearted men, very nice and thoughtful of others. I asked if they would be ok with waiting a few days to leave and Aidin immediately said, “ No Problem, we can wait, do what you need to do”.
This trip had many hurdles to overcome. We had climbing permit issues and we had to drive to Skardu instead of fly, but we conquered all the issues that came up as a team, not as separate entities. Surprising for guys who had only been together for a few weeks.
Base camp life with the guys was wonderful. I learned how to say "pass that food" and "thank you" in Farsi and the guys learned all the slang I could teach them from my California accent. They had brought many goods from Iran, Cheese, meats, pickled vegetables, yogurt, dried fruit and nuts. This was their own food to sustain them for the entire expedition and they did not need to share. But they were very giving and wanted us to feel welcome and try their local cuisine, offering all of what they had for us to try.
They extended the same giving nature on the mountain. One of our climbers, Brian, had an accident near camp 1. He had fallen off the fixed lines and broken his leg in 6 places. Mojtaba was descending from camp 3 and was exhausted. Even as weak as he was he gave aid to Brian, helping to lower him down the fixed lines and even lent his ascender to a HAP to help finish the rescue.
In this world I have been lucky enough to live in many different places and meet many different people. Some good, some bad and in some rare cases you meet some who evoke a powerful feeling of good inside you, almost like a white light of happiness. These people are very rare and are the ones that make this world a better place to live in for all of us. There are so few of these special people on this earth that if you lose even a few there are tremendous negative effects for the rest of us. Aidin, Pouyu, and Mojtaba are of these few, rare people. The world will miss these young souls; I will miss these young souls. They were my friends and I am sad to see them go. My heart goes out to the families and friends of these individuals. The entire Iranian team was a great show of talent and character, an amazing reflection of their country from which they came.
(As I wrote this Ramin, Afshin and the Iranian Mountaineering Association have decided to keep the search going which is great news!! I will keep my thoughts with them and hope the guys will read this themselves when they are rescued)
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