How It All Goes Down
The Wrong Side of the River
- Mortenson opens his eyes—guess sleep wasn't out of the question after all—and his face is frozen under a smooth mask of ice.
- He sets off, admiring the beautiful mountain ranges and hoping he won't die.
- Eventually he spots a "man's form" (2.15), which is a heck of a lot more useful on a mountain than a maidenform would be.
- The man turns out to be Mouzafer, his porter. Mortenson agrees to pay him, even though he doesn't have many rupees left. He plans on giving him more when they'd made it out of the mountains (by going to the ATM at the K2 gift shop, we guess…).
- Mouzafer leads Mortenson to a cave and warms him up with a concoction of tea and yak butter.
- Mouzafer "never let Mortenson out of his sight" (2.30) until, four paragraphs later, he does, and Mortenson gets lost again.
- He assumes he's approaching the village of Askole (but when he assumes, he makes an Askole of himself…) and instead ends up in village of Korphe, where he meets Haji Ali, the chief.
- Haji Ali gives him some ibex jerky.
- Mortenson tells the villagers that he's an American climbing K2, and he's glad to find rest in Askole. (All Pakistani villages look the same, we guess…)
- They correct him and tell him he's in Korphe, which he's never heard of.
- Haji Ali informs him that Askole is only a half-day away, and Mortenson sleeps to rest up for the journey.