The first thing that goes thru my mind is a bad feeling that I will not be able to climb K6 this trip. Furthermore, I screwed up the ankle so badly that It'll be hard just getting back to base camp, not mentioning how far it is back to Hushe, the nearest village two days walk away… 

A mix of butt-sliding, four-legged crawling, one-foot humping and lots of pain get me back to base camp. Even more painful though is actually leaving base camp, Max, Kelly and Scott and everything that surrounds the Charakusa valley (a decision I take after 5 rest days nursing my injury). I manage the trek back to Hushe with the help of homemade crutches and porters. The possibility of hooking up with Steve House, Marko Prezelj or Vince Anderson (that are also in the valley) and a solo project convince Max to stay in base camp. The rest of the trip is better reported by Max himself: 

“I decided to stay with the others and see what the weather would bring us. On the 11^th, after my third Cypro pill (the joys of traveling in Asia) I find my way back to the tent I left over a week before, at the base of Farol, for an attempt on a narrow ice line (spotted on our epic climb) that leads to the unclimbed 6350m East summit. Extreme heat from the sun slowed my progress on the South-West oriented route and I had to bivy as soon as I reached the summit ridge. Saved by an early start, I was standing on my personal highest summit ever by noon the next day, alone in the middle of the Karakoram under a perfectly clear sky. Over 1300m above the surface of the glacier, with only 50 meters of 6mm cord to go down; there wasn’t any time to loose. At 9h pm, soaked wet due to an extended session of canyoneering and with barely half the rope left, (it was so frozen it could stand straight by itself) I was back to the security of my tent. 

On the 17^th, a day before the porters came, Marko Prezelj felt like he still had some energy to burn. So I joined him to recon what the south face of K7 West had to offer. Without previously scoping the face for a particular line, we turned our attention to a shallow dihedral and crack system that split the south face of the farther east pillar.