9 years ago I came here and it changed my life.

In 2015, having watched movies like Into The Wild, I decided to go alone and camp at the Rakaposhi Basecamp. Smoking almost 2 packs a day and never having hiked more than an hour or ever gone camping, my sense of bravado had no fear or respect for the mountains.

To understand the scale of my naivety, for 2 nights of camping I was carrying a 25 kilo backpack which included an axe.

The next days were a nightmare, I survived without serious injury purely due to mercy of the locals who were there by chance.

I gave up from exhaustion lying wet in the rain on the ground blowing my emergency whistle asking for help, almost slid off the mountain and sprained my ankle which made me unable to limp more than a few meters.

The experience changed me.

I had felt tiny before when I looked at the stars but now I had experienced first-hand how negligible I was in front of this massive tower of rock, snow and ice.

My enormous childish ego put into its place by a few kilometers of dirt.

You don’t conquer these mountains like I had heard, instead these giants allow you to stand by their side.

In the last years I have learnt a little bit more on how to take care of myself in the mountains and learnt to treat them with the awe and respect they deserve. Grateful for every glimpse I get of them and all that they encompass.

As I sat down alone looking at Rakaposhi, I cried like I have never cried before. Tears kept flowing and there was no effort to hold them back. My mind in a trance and my gaze fixated on the cloudy rakaposhi peak. The silence only disturbed by the glacier grumbling every now and then.

When the tears finally dried themselves from the cold glacial wind, I had no thoughts or memory. Just a sensation of feeling extremely light in my heart. I felt reborn and it felt like I finally understood something deep in me.

I came to Rakaposhi as a child and it made me a man.