Tom de Dorlodot in Pakistan. Photo: Tom de Dorlodot
Tom de Dorlodot is no stranger to flying in Pakistan among the giants of the Karakoram. But this was his most serious expedition yet: together with Ramon Morillas and mountain guide Simon Elias he embarked on a three week, 300km mountaineering and paragliding expedition through the world’s biggest glaciers outside the polar regions.
Along the way he reached 7,200m in the air, flew within feet of the summit of Trango Towers, and crossed several 5-6,000m passes on foot.
“I am exhausted. It is six o’clock in the morning. My hands are frozen and I am struggling with snow up to my knees. This backpack is killing me and I can feel my heart beating fast inside my head. I stop for a minute and look down at the glacier. I cannot stop wondering: “What on earth am I doing here?” I am laughing at the situation while wondering how I will cross the next crevasse.
Tom’s approach to flying here is almost spiritual – backed up by expert skills and the best technical know-how. After getting split up from Ramon towards the end of the trip, he continued on his own, completing a spectacular three hour flight at extreme altitude, covering the equivalent of an eight day walk in three hours.
Remarkably for a flatlander from northern Europe, he reveals, Tom feels very much at home amongst these mountains. He even has a plot of land where he has plans to build a house, a second home.
Some people call it commitment, we called it Homecoming.
