The initial idea was to climb two eight thousand meter peaks in one single expedition: Gasherbrum 1 (8068m) and Gasherbrum 2 (8035m).

The plan was to first climb G2 (considered easier) in expedition style and then, having the proper acclimatization, to make a fast alpine style ascent of G1. The things turned to worse when two German climbers were killed on an avalanche between camps Two and Three on G2, many others having a close call as well. Few days before, Alex just retreated from the mountain at around 6800 m due to the same highly unstable snow conditions.

A period of prolonged bad weather followed and Andrei Nan, Alex’s partner, considered their project as not being an attainable goal anymore. Feeling in a realistically way that the game was not over yet and partnering with Polish Pawel Michalski (which he had met one year before on Cho Oyu and by sheer luck the guys happened to share the same base camp) , Alex succeeded in climbing G1 via the Japanese Couloir. Spanish Jordi Jill and Iranian Mehdi Etefadmar were also part of the summit team (and sharing with the two the tent in Camp 3 at 7000m as well).