Pakistan, Autumn 2023
It started with a message on Instagram.
Mathias Ekornås reached out—someone I didn’t know at the time—with a simple question: “Want to join an expedition to an unclimbed peak in Pakistan?”
Not exactly something you hear every day.
We met for coffee. He showed me the objective, tucked deep in the Karakoram range, and talked about the plan. I said yes. Due to work on a Netflix production, I couldn’t leave until late September. ChatGPT said winter usually arrived later in the season… we decided to go for it. Into the Rupal Valley
Five months later, we’re walking up the Rupal Valley, alongside a caravan of 15 porters and donkeys, with the great Nanga Parbat towering above us.
Our local partner, Rupal Expeditions , helped coordinate the logistics, and Abbas, our sirdar, led the team steadily forward.
But as we neared the location of our intended peak, things became a bit uncertain. The mountain wasn’t quite where it was supposed to be. The name “Toshe I” was more of a placeholder—named after the Toshe massif, though no one really knew what it was called.
We adapted.
Basecamp ended up lower and further from the glacier than planned due to lack of water. For the next three days, we ferried gear through deep snow to establish a camp on the ice. Progress was slow. Crevasses were hidden. Navigation was difficult.Avalanche Season Arrives Early. Each day, more snow fell.
We could hear avalanches, rockfall, and ice collapses echoing across the valley. Still, we moved higher, setting up camp above the first icefall. At around 4,900 meters, I led through a tricky glacier section—crossing a snow bridge and climbing above a large crevasse—when a 15x10 meter slab cracked beneath me.
By luck, it held.
If it hadn’t, I would’ve gone straight into the crevasse. And Mathias would have had the job of rappelling down, digging me out, and somehow getting me off the mountain.
We took a hard look at the terrain above us. The forecast showed snow every day, and the slopes only got steeper. Winter had come early.
The decision to turn back was a quiet one.
No drama. Just mountains doing what they do best—reminding you who’s in charge.
A Different Kind of Summit
We didn’t reach the top.
But we gained something else: insight, partnership, resilience—and a deep respect for these wild places where plans rarely go as expected.
Throughout the expedition, we created content for both Devold and Vitaloop.