After that day, Lucrezia received intensive training form her father. They woke up at four in the morning. They practiced running for an hour and a half on high altitude and spent another half hour doing physical exercises to strengthen her fitness. Then she went to school. In the first week, she felt very tired during lessons and struggled hard so as not to fall asleep. She was tired not only because she had to get up early and do exercises, she also had to learn the skills of ice climbing after school. At home, she learned the theory of climbing and survival skills form her father’s notes. Every night, she was weary and had a deep sleep.
Three months passed, Lucrezia was getting stronger and her father was satisfied with her performance. During that time, he had been busy, discussing the route of climbing to the summit of K2 with his teammates. There were certainly many things to be settled. They had to get visas, call some mountaineers to be their backup, check and buy the equipments, food and drinks they needed and also gather the most up-to-date information about K2. The last thing for the climbing team to do was to check Lucrezia’s ice climbing skills. One of the team members exclaimed, “Francesco, how well you have trained the girl. I would prefer calling her Noin, to Lucrezia, a name sounds like describing a timid girl.”
The day has finally come. Lucrezia and her father set off for K2. Her father hugged warmly with his wife, promising he would come back for her. Lucrezia’s mother reminded that Lucrezia should be careful and always obedient to her father. Then they started the journey to K2.
The climbing team met at a small village near to K2. There were ten climbing team members, including Francesco Noin; five backup team members including Lucrezia. The climbing team aimed at climbing the summit of K2 while the backup team would climb only to Camp II. Everything was checked once more, from the smallest items like personal notebooks and pens, to the important items like survival kits, ropes and axes. Lucrezia helped them as much as she could. When everything was ready, they started to head for K2.
They had to walk six days in order to get to the site of the base camp. They had to go there on foot since the road was unsuitable for any vehicles. Lucrezia was really astounded by Karakoram Range, which had thirty-five peaks. The peak, which attracted most of Lucrezia’s attention, was, of course, K2. “It surely is the perfect mountain.” She thought. The peak of K2 was a white pyramid of 12000 feet in height. Although from appearance, K2 seemed to be very stable. Actually, K2 was the pyramid of storms and it was famous for its rapidly changing weather and violent storms. Dangerous as it sounded, it was the ultimate foal of all mountaineers. Everybody in the team was excited; the team members were talking merrily and making jokes on one another. At first, some team members volunteered to carry the things for Lucrezia, but she politely refused. Little by little, she showed her strength. She could not only take care of herself, but also help others. She was delighted that she finally won the trust of other team members. At day, they spent all the time walking; at night, they set up some fires and talked. Lucrezia’s father could waste no time. Every night, he taught Lucrezia to recognize the stars in the sky. Whenever Francesco Noin took Lucrezia to a new place, he always taught Lucrezia to recognize the stars. Knowing the position of the stars was vital for survival in the wild. Lucrezia knew this well and tried her very best to learn.
Six days later, they arrived at the site and began to set up the base camp. They spent their whole day setting up camps, resting and packing the equipments needed. In the evening, Lucrezia cooked the dinner for everyone. After the meal, they all gathered together to have the final meeting. The leader of the team repeated the route they were going to take. They would have the alpine style assault and take the classic route. They would start at the south-facing slope, from Godwin-Austen Glacier, through Abruzzi Ridge to the summit. The weather was fine, and the wind speed was moderate. That was a good start, before going to sleep, the communication system was checked again. When everything was finally checked and prepared, everybody said goodnight and go to sleep. Since Lucrezia was the only female in the team, she had to share a tent with her father and two other team members. “Good night, papa.” Lucrezia whispered. “Good night, my dear.” her father answered. Then there was only the sound of the wind echoing in the mountains.
