greater himalaya

57156_P61
30/8/07
15:09
Page 61
GREATER
HIMALAYA
A
C
E
H
F
J
fr
Trango Monk
ne
ag
az
i
lim
bm
3
.c
The Trango peaks from the Uli Biaho Spires to the southwest. (A) Biale (6,772m). (B) Trango Monk (5,850m). (C)
Trango Tower (6,251m). (D) The Sun Terrace. (E) Muztagh Tower (7,284m). (F) K2 (8,611m). (G) Great Trango
w
w
w
North East. (H) Great Trango (6,286m). (I) Great Trango South West (6,250m). (J) Little Trango (5,450m). (1) West
Pillar (Dedale/Fauquet/Piola/Schaffter, 1987: 1,100m: VI 6c A4). Eternal Flame (Albert/Guillich/Stiegler/Sykora,
1989: 1,000m: 7c+ and A0) more or less takes the right skyline above Sun Terrace. (2) North West Ridge –
Normal Route (Selters/Woolums, 1984: mainly 40-60° snow and ice). (3) Parallel Worlds (Lowe/Ogden/Synnott,
1999: c2,000m: 46 pitches: VII 5.11 A4). ANDREJ GRMOVSEK
Jakofcic, Klemen Mali and Miha Valic at F6b, A2
and 70°. Ales led the first six pitches in
crampons, Matjez donned rock shoes and led
the next four, which included the F6b offwidths, and Nejc battled strong wind and
darkness to take the party to the summit at
9pm. The rappel descent of the 450m route was
a horror story and the three were only able to
save two 35m lengths from their 60m ropes.
Prior to this ascent and like many other teams
operating from Trango Glacier last season, they
also climbed various rock routes on the towers
above Base Camp and made an acclimatization
ascent of Great Trango’s Normal Route. In
addition, the Cesen brothers repeated the
original American Route (McMahon/Wharton,
2000: 250m: 5.10+) on Little Trango (5,450m),
finding the technical difficulties to be no more
than 5.9.
Trango Tower
A Swiss team comprising Francesco Pellanda,
Giovanni Quirici and Christophe Steck made the
second ascent of the 6,251m Trango Tower’s
West Pillar (Dedale/Fauquet/Piola/Schaffter,
1987: 1,100m: VI F6c A4). This demanding route
nl
oa
de
d
On 14th September, three days after their free
ascent of Trango Tower reported below, Ales
and Nejc Cesen (sons of Tomo Cesen) and
Matjez Jeran made the second ascent of
5,850m Trango Monk, the rock spire
immediately northwest of the Tower that was
first climbed in 2004 by Slovenians, Tomaz
2
1
om
After an unsuccessful attempt on the
spectacular finger of rock known as The Flame,
first climbed in 2002 by Brian McMahon and
Josh Wharton via Under Fire (5.10+ X A3 M5 AI
4), Matthias Auer and Karl Dung from the
Austrian Tyrol team made the second known
ascent of Trango II (6,327m). Starting early on
the 19th August and travelling light, the pair
climbed the huge snowy couloir on the South
West Flank that falls from just north of the
summit to the Trango glacier close to Shipton
Base Camp. At least a good part of this
c1,700m couloir is known to have been climbed
before and is straightforward, though subject to
stonefall, until near the top. At two-thirds
height the Austrians slanted right through a
mixed section to reach the summit icefield (55°
and M5). The last four pitches proved to be the
crux and the two summited at 2pm. They
rappelled and down climbed part of the couloir
before bivouacking and descended to Base
Camp the following day. Trango II was climbed
in 1995 by Antonio Aquerreta, Ferman Izco and
Mikel Zabalza via the broad snowy South East
Ridge above Trango Monk. The summit was
nearly reached again in 2005 by Jonathan
Clearwater, Jeremy Frimer and Sam Johnson
after their ascent of the Severance or South
West Ridge. There may have been other
ascents.
.c
D
om
B
PAKISTAN PART THREE
TRANGO GROUP
Trango II
I
G
do
w
BERGHAUS EXTREM PRODUCTS FOCUS ON FUNCTION, EASE OF USE AND LOW WEIGHT.
Maximum performance. Minimum complexity. The highest quality materials and the most advanced construction techniques.
It's the best product available for the most committed outdoor activists, whatever they do and wherever and whenever they do it.
OCT 07 61
30/8/07
15:09
Page 62
Grmovsek in the lead and Karo jumaring only
the hard pitches with a light ’sack, the pair
reached the Sun Terrace in just four hours. On
the initial pitches above the terrace, Grmovsek
used some aid, but then climbed free to the top
of pitch 19, where Karo took over. At this point
the time was 2pm and they were six pitches
below the top of the wall. Unfortunately, a snow
shower and icy winds meant that they had to
aid most of these difficult pitches and at 9pm
finally reached the top of the wall and the start
of the snowy/mixed terrain leading up to the
summit, 150m above. There, they found a lot of
snow cover and climbing up to M5, a tricky
business for the second man, who was shod in
lightweight trainers and carried no ice gear.
The two reached the summit shortly before
midnight and rappelled through the night,
reaching the foot of the face at 4am, 24 hours
after leaving and having completed the ascent
at VI F7b A2 M5. Prior to this, the only Alpine
style ascent of Eternal Flame to the summit
had taken place over three days in 2004, when
it was climbed by fellow Slovenians, Tomaz
Jakofcic, Klemen Mali and Miha Valic.
Also part of the 2006 Slovenian expedition
were Tina Di Batista, Tanja Grmovsek (Andrej’s
wife) and Aleksandra Voglar, who made the
third Alpine style ascent of Eternal Flame to the
summit and the first all-female ascent of the
Tower. The Slovenian women took bivouac gear
and three days, from the 7th-9th September, to
complete the route. They climbed mostly free
to the Sun Terrace (first bivouac) but mainly
aided the rest of the face due to cold. They
bivouacked again on the ‘big ledge’ at the top of
pitch 23, where there is just room for one
person, and after mostly free climbing the
upper mixed section, reached the summit at
9pm the following day. They regained Sun
Terrace at 2am next morning and Base Camp
late on the 11th, having completed the route at
6c, A2 and M5. During their ascent they
mistakenly took the Pou brothers’ Variant,
noting that on this occasion it was completely
dry. The 2005 variant, if free climbed at an
estimated F7c+/8a, which the Basque brothers
could not because it was wet, would avoid the
remaining aid and offer an entirely free ascent.
Another notable free ascent of the Tower
came from yet more Slovenians, this time the
Cesen brothers, Jeran and Matevz Kunsic, who
also climbed from the 7th-9th September.
These four took haul bags and spent their three
days making a completely free, Alpine style
ascent of the Slovenian Route
(Cankar/Knez/Srot, 1987, 1,000m: FFA at F7a+
by Albert, Guillich and Munchenbach in 1988)
on the face right of Eternal Flame. They made
bivouacs on the Sun Terrace and at a point
c350m below the summit. Both Ales and Matjez
climbed every centimetre free.
oa
de
d
fr
om
w
w
w
.c
lim
bm
ag
az
i
ne
.c
om
57156_P62
Andrej Grmovsek climbing above the Sun Terrace on Eternal Flame during the first one-day Alpine style ascent.
nl
TANJA GRMOVSEK
do
w
involves considerable amounts of hard aid
climbing, more or less confirmed by the highly
experienced Spanish big wall climber, Alfredo
Mandinabeita, who attempted the route, solo, to
half height in 2004. The Swiss were attempting
to free the route and after a lot of work,
reached the summit on the 2nd August using
aid only on pitches 13 (A4), 15 (A3) and 16 (A3).
They estimate the 13th pitch would go
completely free at around F8a.
There were at least two ascents to the
summit of the increasingly classic Eternal
Flame (Albert/Guillich/Stiegler/Sykora, 1989:
1,000m: best free effort to date by Denis Burdet
in 2003 at F7c+ and A0) on the South East Face.
One or two more parties climbed as far as the
junction with the Original British Route, not far
from the summit ridge, notably Hansjörg Auer
and Thomas Scheiber, who made an Alpine
style ascent of these 28 pitches at F7b and A2,
taking only eight hours to climb from the Sun
Terrace to their high point. Both summit
successes came from Slovenians.
On 8th September, Grmovsek and Karo made
the first one-day Alpine style ascent. Starting
from the foot of the route at 4am, with
NEW EXTREM RANGE NOW AVAILABLE IN STORE WWW.BERGHAUS.COM
62 OCT 07
57156_P63
30/8/07
15:10
Page 63
B
A
D
F
C
G H
I
K
I
M
ne
L
N
O
P
3
lim
bm
2
ag
az
i
J
.c
om
E
On 31st August, Andrej Grmovsek and Silvo
Karo spent eight hours adding Piranski zaliv
(650m but 800m of climbing: F7a obl R) to the
same face. This pair completed a number of
‘Base Camp’ climbs, all without bolts (though a
few pitons were left in place for rappel anchors)
and felt this was the best. However, a few days
later they decided to clean some of the
vegetation and exfoliating granite from the route
to give better quality climbing. In doing so, they
decided to add a single bolt to one of the cruxes,
an unprotected slab; the other F7a R crux was
left in its original form.
Just to the left is Sadu Peak (c4,400m), which
was first climbed in 2003 by Antoine and
Sandrine de Choudens via the left (west) arête
(as seen from the glacier) to give Sadu (350m:
F6c). Jakofcic, Mali and Valic added another
route in 2004 up the wall to the left, which they
named Piyar, Piyar (Love, Love: 350m: F6b+ and
A0). On 17th September 2006, the Poles Maciej
Ciesielski, Jakub Radziejowski and Wawrzyniec
Zakrzewski added a third route, Pretty Close
(430m of climbing: F6b), which takes the rather
bigger South West Face to the right. Although
they descended via a gully to the left, they
recommend rappelling Sadu. The same day the
other two members of the their expedition, Adam
Pieprzycki and Marcin Szczotka, climbed a route
up the centre of the South West Face of the
slabby tower left of Sadu Peak. It is unclear
whether this formation has been climbed before,
Looking southeast over the Trango Glacier to the Trango Group. (A) The ridge leading to Trango I (6,363m). (B)
Trango II (6,327m). (C) Trango Monk (5,850m). (D) Trango Tower (6,251m). (E) Little Trango (5,450m). (F) Great
.c
Trango North East. (G) Great Trango (6,286m). (H) Great Trango South West (6,250m). (I) Trango Castle (5,735m).
(J) Garden Peak. (K) Garda Peak (c4,700m). (L) Severance First Tower. (M) Ibex Peak (c4,200m). (N) Sadu Peak
w
w
w
(c4,400m). (O) Base Camp Slabs. (P) the approach gully used to reach Trango Tower and the Normal Route on
Great Trango. (1) West Couloir (first known ascent by Auer and Dung, 2006: c1,700m: 55° and M5). (2) Severance
Ridge (Clearwater/Frimer/Johnson, 2005: c1,600m: VI 5.11 A2 AI 3 M5: not to summit). (3) Azeem Ridge
(Cordes/Wharton, 2004: 2,250m: 5.11R/X A2 M6). DODO KOPOLD
om
Rock Towers above Trango Base Camp
do
w
nl
oa
de
d
fr
There was considerable activity on the various
rock towers that lie close to Trango Base Camp
on the east side of the glacier. These offer
excellent quality day routes that generally face
southwest; they proved popular with climbers
while they waited for longer spells of settled
weather in which to do battle with the bigger
peaks above.
First off were the Belgians, Christophe
Bingham, Sanne Bostels, Jasper de Coninck,
Stijn Dekeyser, An Laenen and Hans Marien,
who in July put up Oceano Trango (300m: F6a+)
on the slabby formation that rises directly
above (and just right of) the moraine lake close
to Base Camp. The Belgians compared it to
routes in Northern Italy’s famous Mello Valley
and it became an instant classic, with almost
every climber at Base Camp repeating it during
their stay. Later, on the 29th August, Tina Di
Batista, Tanja Grmovsek and Aleksandra Voglar
added two further pitches to the top of this
climb (F5 and easy F6a) to reach the top of the
tower, which they christened Pinocchio. This
formation has an altitude of c4,700m and the
face was subsequently referred to as Base
Camp Slabs.
Belayed by Tina di Batista, Aleksandra Voglar leads one of the fine granite pitches of Karakoram Khush (300m:
F6b), Garda Peak (c4,700m), during the first free ascent. TANJA GRMOVSEK
NEW EXTREM RANGE NOW AVAILABLE IN STORE WWW.BERGHAUS.COM
OCT 07 63
Page 64
fr
d
de
oa
nl
do
w
om
.c
bm
From the 20th June-16th July a large Spanish
team comprising Antonio Bayones, Oscar
Cadiach, Ramon Canyellas, Elias Coll, Pilar
Rossinyol, Albert Segura and Toti Vales
climbed a big new rock route on the Baltoro
Cathedrals, a complex collection of rocky
spires rising above the east bank of the lower
Dunge Glacier opposite the Trango Group. The
new route was named Reflexes Nocturns
(1,500m: F7a) and can be described in four
sections. In the first the difficulties are
relatively moderate with plenty of F4 but a crux
of F6b. Above, 300m of scrambling and easy
climbing led to the upper section of the wall,
where difficulties steadily increase. The crux
F7a pitch is situated quite near the top. This
wall finishes at around 5,500m. From there, a
further 300m of scrambling leads to the
c5,800m summit. Three camps were made on
the route and it is unclear exactly which of the
several summits forming this group was
reached. Several routes have been completed
on the Cathedrals, the first recorded climb in
1989, when American big wall specialist, Jim
Beyer, soloed a huge 54-pitch line off the
Dunge Glacier to the summit of Thunmo
(5,866m), which lies south of the main
Cathedral Spire. His impressive 13-day ascent
was graded VII 5.10d A4+.
Nearby, Anne and John Arran, abandoning
ideas of making a free ascent of Lobsang Spire
(5,707m), attempted the first ascent of an
unnamed 5,607m rock peak opposite. This
peak had been attempted once before by
Germans in 2000. The pair made two attempts
on the North West Face, on each occasion
climbing 12 pitches up to British E4 6a before
retreating about four pitches from the summit
in bad weather.
ne
Baltoro Cathedrals
failed to reveal the huge objective dangers.
Almost immediately after arrival at Base
Camp, Odintsov became seriously ill with
hepatitis and had to be evacuated by helicopter.
Later Michel Michailov was injured, falling into
a crevasse. Alexander Ruchkin, who was the
first to summit Jannu in 2004, took over as
leader and, having decided that the lower North
East Face was severely threatened by avalanche
and serac fall, switched to an approach via the
North Pillar to the right. The weather was most
unhelpful and work on the route had to be
carried out at night or during early morning.
Eventually, an Advanced Base was established
on the ridge at 5,800m but after repeated
snowfalls, Ruchkin realized there was no
safe way forward and the objective was
abandoned in mid-July. Interviewed at a later
date, the climbers stated they had no intention
to return, leaving this awesome project for
the next generation.
The North Pillar itself is a superb and
elegant goal that has been attempted three
times. Japanese tried it in 1975 from the Mandi
Glacier to the west but retreated from 5,500m,
when they found the start too threatened by
serac fall. Another Japanese expedition started
up it in 1985 from a Base Camp on the
Yermanendu but finding the upper glacier
highly dangerous, made a long traverse right to
the North West Ridge and climbed this to the
summit. A strong American-Slovenian team
tried it again in 2003 but retreated in
dangerous avalanche conditions from 5,900m
(see June 2004 INFO, page 57, for a photo of
the North Pillar and North East Face).
ag
az
i
described make good warm-ups for more
challenging goals in the Trango Group and
there will undoubtedly be considerable
development in the years to come.
om
but if not the pair propose the name Ibex Peak
(c4,200m). Their route was named Escape from
the Freedom (300m of climbing: F6b).
Moving left again and we quickly arrive at the
start of the Severance Ridge on Trango II,
climbed in 2005 by Jonathan Clearwater,
Jeremy Frimer and Sam Johnson (1,600m: VI
5.11 A2 AI 3 M5: not to summit). The Poles
climbed two routes on the First Tower. On 14th
September, Pieprzycki and Szczotka, unaware
that the ridge had been climbed, repeated the
original line, making variations to the first
three or four pitches. After 700m of climbing at
F7a and A0, they reached the top of the tower,
descended easy ground to the south for 150m,
where they then made seven rappels into the
gully on the right (they later attempted the
South Face of the Second Tower, climbing a
pillar for 650m to within 80m of the top, where
they were stopped by a section that would
probably have required hard aid, to their high
point the difficulties were F6c and A0).
Four days later Ciesielski, Radziejowski and
Zakrzewski climbed a new line on the South
Face of the First Tower, slanting left to join the
original line. Let’s Go Home finished after 670m
of climbing at a point where only a short
section of scrambling remained to the top. In
the initial section there was a pitch of F7a+,
which they could only climb with rest points.
Higher, there were difficulties of up to F6c with
a short section of C1 (the Poles took no pegs
on their routes). They think they climbed at
least 200m of new ground and after joining the
original 2005 line, met difficulties no more than
F6a with a single point of A0. The rock quality
was excellent, almost as good as that on
Trango Tower itself.
On the far side of the gully to the left of
Severance Ridge stands Garda Peak (c4,700m),
first climbed in 2004 by Jakofcic, Mali and Valic
via the line Karakoram Khush (300m: F6b and
A0). Tina Di Batista, Tanja Grmovsek and
Aleksandra Voglar repeated this climb and
made a variation to the 50m first pitch, thus
completing the first free ascent of the route at
around F6b. This free version was also
completed by Pieprzycki and Szczotka, who
noted there are many possible variations in the
upper section.
On 5th September, Ciesielski, Radziejowski
and Zakrzewski made the first ascent of the
higher tower to the left (northwest) which they
christened Garden Peak. They climbed more or
less up the centre of the West Face to create
PIA (540m of climbing: F6c+ and A0, the point
of aid being a pendulum from a mud-filled
crack). The rock is mostly good though rather
vegetated (hence the name given to the peak)
and the descent involved four rappels into a
gully to the northwest. All these routes
lim
15:10
.c
30/8/07
w
w
w
57156_P64
Jordi Corominas climbing the gully through the left
side of the big serac high on the West Face Couloir of
Gasherbrum IV (7,925m). Below, the West
Gasherbrum Glacier leads down to the upper
Baltoro. ORIOL BARO
UPPER BALTORO
Masherbrum
In late June, a strong Russian expedition under
the noted leader of the Russian Big Walls
Project, Alexander Odintsov, set up Base Camp
on the Yermanendu Glacier for an attempt at
the futuristic North East Face of Masherbrum
(7,855m). This face is considered as impressive
and as hard as the North Face of Jannu,
climbed by the Russian team in 2004. It is
around 3,000m high and the crux will
undoubtedly be the quasi-vertical yellow rock
band starting around 7,000m. A reconnaissance
in 2005 led the Russians to believe the wall
would be very difficult but possible. However, it
NEW EXTREM RANGE NOW AVAILABLE IN STORE WWW.BERGHAUS.COM
64 OCT 07
30/8/07
15:10
Page 65
.c
B2
2
B1
ne
3
now inadequate to make a summit attempt.
Down on the South Gasherbrum Glacier, Camp
I on the Normal Route to Gasherbrum II looked
most inviting. They decided to descend in that
direction. After a rest at Camp 1 they both
made attempts on Gasherbrum II with other
Spanish friends. Corominas made a single
push ascent to the summit, meeting up with a
friend who had slept at Camp 3; Baro retreated
from 7,600m.
Gasherbrum IV has received nearly 20
attempts but only four teams have been
successful in reaching the true summit:
Bonatti and Mauri in 1958 via the North East
Ridge for the first ascent; an AmericanAustralian trio in 1986 via the North West
Ridge; Koreans in 1997 via the Central Spur on
the West Face and Koreans again in 1999 via
the North West Ridge. By far the most famous
ascent, the first of the West Face by Kurtyka
and Schauer in 1985, actually stopped at the
North Summit (c7,900m), from where the pair
descended the North West Ridge. The South
Ridge has been attempted several times,
mostly from the east, with c7,200m being the
best effort to date. The only attempt from the
west was made in 1986 by a British expedition,
which was defeated at 6,600m by avalanche
danger; the exact line followed is not clear.
om
57156_P65
ag
az
i
1
bm
4
The famous West Face of Gasherbrum IV (7,925m). (1) North West Ridge. The line shows the route taken, and
lim
high point of 6,900m reached, during an acclimatization climb by the Spanish pair in 2006. The entire ridge was
first climbed in 1986 by Greg Child, Tom Hargis and Tim Macartney-Snape. (2) Central Spur of West Face
(summit reached by Koreans Yoo Hak-jae, Bang Jung-ho and Kim Tong-kwan in 1997 after fixing ropes to
.c
c7,700m). (3) West Face (Kurtyka-Schauer, 1985: in this historic Alpine style ascent the pair reached the summit
ridge but did not go to the highest point). (4) West Couloir and South Ridge attempted by Oriol Baro and Jordi
lead towards Gasherbrum V (7,321m). ORIOL BARO
Gasherbrum IV
Jordi Corominas at c7,200m on the South Ridge of Gasherbrum IV. Behind is the South West Face of Gasherbrum
III (7,952m). ORIOL BARO
do
w
nl
oa
de
d
fr
om
Spanish climbers, Oriol Baro and Jordi
Corominas, attempted the South (also referred
to as South West) Ridge of Gasherbrum IV
(7,925m). The pair set up Base Camp below
the West Face and first acclimatized by a
partial ascent of the North West Ridge. The pair
took only 100m of 5mm rope for this, camped
at 6,500m on the col and then climbed to
6,900m, below a big serac on the ridge, before
descending to Base. Baro then went around to
see friends at Broad Peak Base Camp and
climbed up to 7,000m on the Normal Route of
this mountain to further his acclimatization.
On 18th July, the pair started up the big
snow/ice couloir, characterized by a huge
serac towards the top, which lies right of the
West Face and leads to a col on the South
Ridge. The following day they reached the top
of the serac and camped. On the 20th they
emerged on to the ridge, having used the
rope solely on the approach up the West
Gasherbrum Glacier and when bypassing
the serac. Passing traces of previous
passage, they climbed up the crest to
7,200m and camped.
At this point the weather deteriorated badly.
They spent two nights at this spot and when
the weather improved, climbed a few more
pitches before realizing their provisions were
w
w
w
Corominas in 2006. B1 and B2 mark the bivouacs, with two nights spent at B2 (7,200m). The walls on the right
NEW EXTREM RANGE NOW AVAILABLE IN STORE WWW.BERGHAUS.COM
OCT 07 65
57156_P66
30/8/07
15:10
Page 66
K2
bm
ag
az
i
ne
.c
om
All climbers reaching the summits of the four
Baltoro 8,000m peaks did so by standard
routes. Only four reached the summit of K2
(8,611m). On 26th July the Italian husband and
wife team of Romano Benet and Nives Meroi
reached the top via the Abruzzi, while on the 1st
August two members of Yoshitsugu Deriha's
Japanese team, Tatsuya Aoki and Yuka
Komatsu, climbed via the South South East Spur
(a.k.a. Basque Route). Meroi became only the
seventh women to reach the summit, while
Komatsu was the eighth – and youngest, at 23
years, 10 months and nine days. She is the only
women to have climbed K2 by any route other
than the Abruzzi Ridge and it was her first
8,000m summit. In 2005, she went to Everest
but was not allowed to proceed above Advanced
Base. At 21 years 10 months and seven days,
Aoki is the youngest person ever to climb the
mountain. Sadly, in mid-August four Russians,
Alexander Foygt, Petr Kuznetsov, Arkady
Kuvakin and Yuri Uteshev, were caught in an
avalanche above 8,300m on the summit
pyramid and disappeared.
lim
Spanish mountaineers, Pep Permañé and Carles Figueras Torrent, high on the North West Ridge of Trinity Peak
(a.k.a. Tasa Peak or Tasa Burakha) during an Alpine style attempt to repeat the 1978 Japanese Route from the
East Gondogoro Glacier. They retreated not far above this point and c300m from the 6,614m South West Summit,
which appears as the highest point in this photograph. CARLES FIGUERAS TORRENT COLLECTION
w
w
w
reported above, all members of the Spanish
expedition, comprising Jordi Bosch, Ramon
Estiu, Permañé and Torrent, crossed the
Gondogoro La and from a camp on the west
side of the Vigne Glacier spent the 30th and
31st July climbing the 1,100m North West Face
of the South West Ridge via a line to the right of
that followed by Heinz Fischer’s German party,
who in 1983 made the first ascent of the South
West Ridge from the Vigne Glacier (The first
ascent of the ridge, and first of the South West
Summit itself, was made in 1975 by Edi
Koblmuller's Austrian team from the Kaberi
Glacier on the opposite side). This line was also
slightly right of that taken by Andy Fanshawe’s
British team in 1986, which made the first
traverse of both summits.
The Spanish camped the first night at 6,000m
in the middle of the face and the following day
reached the crest of the ridge at the c6,500m
col between Chogolisa and Prupuo Barakha
(this is known as the Kaberi col, as it was first
reached from the Kaberi Glacier in 1975). That
same day they were back at their camp on the
Vigne Glacier. On 2nd August all but Torrent reclimbed the face to the col and camped for the
night. Next day they found the ridge ahead to
be corniced and the snow deep. Estiu stopped
at about 7,100m, but Barraca and Permañé
continued without rucksacks until above
7,400m, a point where they considered all the
difficulties had been overcome. However, it was
now not only late but also snowing, so they
decided not to push on to the summit.
do
w
nl
oa
de
d
fr
om
Spanish climbers, Pep Permañé and Carles
Figueras Torrent, made a rare and spirited
attempt on Trinity Peak (a.k.a. Tasa Peak or
Tasa Burakha) from a Base Camp at Xhuspang
(4,680m) on the East Gondogoro Glacier. The
pair attempted the North West Ridge leading
directly to the South West Summit (c6,614m)
and on 24th-25th July climbed Alpine style
1,700m up the ridge, the first day on excellent
granite to grade IV and the second day mixed
climbing, first on snow, then ice. However,
c300m below the top, snow conditions
deteriorated badly and they were forced to
retreat, down climbing and making 25 rappels
to the glacier.
This ridge had been climbed once, or
possibly twice, previously. In 1978 a sixmember Japanese expedition led by Sadamasa
Tadahashi made a full-scale siege of the ridge
to the South West Summit, not realizing at the
time that the c6,700m Central Summit of the
three tops that comprise Trinity Peak was the
highest. The Central Summit may have been
reached in 1988 by British climbers Julius
Grainger and Nicholas Hellen, possibly by the
same route or the South West Ridge. It appears
they at least reached the South West Summit,
though at the time of writing details of their
ascent remain unclear.
.c
Trinity Peak
Chogolisa
Two teams gained permission to attempt
Chogolisa (7,668m), both seemingly by partial
new routes. After the attempt on Trinity Peak
At much the same time Ben Gready’s young
British party was on the mountain, having had
their permit to Noshaq in the Hindu Kush
denied shortly before leaving for Pakistan. They
were behind the Spanish but found the route
very dangerous. One evening a colossal serac
fell down the entire face along the line of
ascent; the Spanish had only just finished
climbing through this section and the British
felt they were extremely lucky to escape
disaster. After a week of bad weather at Base
Camp, the British returned to climb a steep,
400m ice line to a col on the North West Flank
of the South West Summit, above which they
made a cache on a flat section of the crest at
c6,000m. They hoped to return and follow the
ridge to the summit, but daily snowfalls of
15cm prevented further attempts.
The trapezoidal Chogolisa has two summits;
the South West and the lower North East or
Bride Peak (7,654m). Martin Conway saw it
from the north in 1892 and gave the mountain
the name of Bride Peak and thought the North
East Summit was higher. The Duke of Abruzzi's
1909 Italian expedition reached c7,400m on the
North East Ridge, which was a world altitude
record for the following 13 years. The most
famous attempt took place in 1957 when
Hermann Buhl and Kurt Diemberger reached
7,100m on the straightforward North East
Ridge before bad weather called a halt.
Descending unroped in poor visibility, Buhl fell
through a cornice to his death. Having just
climbed Broad Peak, he and Diemberger are
NEW EXTREM RANGE NOW AVAILABLE IN STORE WWW.BERGHAUS.COM
66 OCT 07
30/8/07
15:10
Page 67
ag
az
i
ne
.c
B3
om
57156_P67
B1
2
1
om
w
w
w
.c
lim
bm
B2
fr
Roungkhanchan III (a.k.a. Logmun Tower or Green Wall, c4,700m) seen from the Nangma Glacier. Marked on the North Pillar are (1) Inshallah Mi Primo
(Ascaso/Díaz/Larrañaga, 2006: 850m of climbing: A3 and F6a). (2) Dirt Box (Davis/Offenbacher, 2001: 20 pitches: VI 5.10 A3). In 2001 McCray and Warren also climbed a route
de
d
on the pillar that in some parts appears to be common with 1. The peaks in the background lie on the east side of the South Nangma Cwm. JONATAN LARRANAGA
do
w
nl
oa
the only people to have made the first ascents
of two 8,000m peaks. In 1958, Japanese
completed this route, only to find later that the
true summit lay nearly a kilometre away along
the almost horizontal snow ridge. It had to wait
until 1975 before Austrians, Gustav Ammerer
and Fred Pressl, followed by Alois Furtner and
Himar Sturm, reached the highest point.
HUSHE REGION
There appears to have been surprisingly little
new activity in the popular Charakusa and
Nangma valleys. The only report from the
Charakusa is a correction to December 2006
INFO. It now appears that the first ascent of
Farol West, (6,370m), the highest summit of the
Farol Peaks, was made in 1991 by British
climbers, Ian Stewart and Neil Wilson. The pair
climbed the 1,000m South Face at Scottish III,
reaching the summit at 3am. They began a
rappel descent of the route from that point,
leaving a snow stake in place. In the picture
that appears on page 82 (top) the British route
climbs the hanging glacier between the West
and Central tops until just above the large
serac formation in the ‘narrows’, where it was
possible to slant steeply up left direct to the
summit. While based on the Charakusa, this
same pair also made the second ascent of Sulo
Peak (c5,900m).
Nangma Valley
Roungkhanchan
A three-man Basque/Aragonese expedition, one
of the first to arrive in Pakistan during 2006,
added another route to the North Face of
Roungkhanchan III (c4,700m), an impressive
rock wall rising close to the standard Nangma
Base Camp. Three rock walls make up this
group, which has several aliases: Roun Khan
Chan (the peak of many graves), Green Wall or
Logmun Tower. A route on these towers may
not have been completed until 2001, when
Americans, Nils Davis, Brian McCray, Todd
Offenbacher and Brenton Warren, who would
later make an attempt on the North Ridge of
Shingu Charpa, climbed two lines on
Roungkhanchan III, the middle tower. The
Davis-Offenbacher route, Dirt Box, took four and
a half days to complete after fixing the first two
pitches. The climbing, on the right flank of the
North Pillar, was very steep and almost all the
cracks were filled with dirt. The pair could have
made the ascent in a considerably faster time,
free climbing most of it up to 5.11+, had the
cracks been ‘Yosemite clean’. Dirt Box was
around 20 pitches long, with the crux, A3
NEW EXTREM RANGE NOW AVAILABLE IN STORE WWW.BERGHAUS.COM
OCT 07 67
57156_P68
30/8/07
15:11
Page 68
Shingu Charpa
lim
bm
ag
az
i
ne
.c
om
Two teams were vying for the first ascent of the
elegant North Ridge of Shingu Charpa (a.k.a.
Great Tower, 5,600m), a 1,550m rock arête that
has rebuffed a number of strong parties and
become something of a prize in this corner of the
Karakoram, despite reports of less than perfect
granite. This prize was claimed in 2006 by the
Ukrainians, Igor Chaplinksy, Andrey Rodiontsev
and Orest Verbitsky, but their coveted first ascent
has now become one of the most controversial to
emerge from Pakistan in recent years.
The three Ukrainians first spent 10 days
circumnavigating the mountain, in order to check
out possible descent routes. They found the peak
highly impressive on all sides and quickly
realized they would have to rappel this huge
route. The three made an initial attempt and then
claimed that on their final Alpine style ascent
they started from the base of the ridge on July
20th. However, when later tackled by the
American magazine Alpinist, Chaplinsky
acknowledged that on the first attempt they
started at the very bottom but after the first day,
when Verbitsky was injured in the eye, they
decided to retreat. To do so they descended an
easy ramp/gully that slants down across the East
Face from a point on the North Ridge at c4,650m,
about one-third of the way up the route. This
ramp has been used in the past by several
parties, either to gain or escape from the ridge.
On their second and final attempt the
Ukrainians used this ramp to short cut their
ascent, after which they reported continuing to
the summit in a five-day push. The trio claim to
have climbed at least 58 pitches to the top of the
rock at c5,400m and then a difficult and
sometimes dangerous snow/ice ridge. They
reported the granite to be generally reliable but
the mountain very much ‘alive’ with frequent
rockfall. The last 150m to the summit were
climbed on the left side underneath large cornice
formations and mushrooms. On their descent
they found that one of these substantial snow
structures had fallen. Later publicity stated that
the route was climbed completely free at F7a or
7a+ and M5 and that although no bolts were
drilled on the ascent, three or four were placed
for rappel anchors. The team took two days to
descend the route to Base Camp.
A little later the ridge was attempted again by
Americans, Kelly Cordes and Josh Wharton, who
retreated down the East Face gully/ramp when
Cordes got ill. About four weeks after the
Ukrainian ascent, Cordes and Wharton made a
second attempt, starting from the very bottom
and climbing for three days (18th-21st August) to
complete 45 pitches to a sub-summit, 60m below
and perhaps 150m distant from the highest
point. They anticipated the summit ridge to be
snow, in fact, it was hard ice and their equipment
Gorka Diaz starting up fixed ropes on pitch 16 (V and A1 with a pendulum) of Inshallah Mi Primo, North Pillar of
.c
Roungkhanchan III (c4,700m), Nangma Valley. The high, impressive summit to the right is Nurishan Peak. Below
this, at the right edge of the picture, is Zang Brakk (c4,800m), home to many fine rock routes. The snowy peaks in
reached the 3,900m Nangma Base Camp on 5th
June and started up the North Pillar of
Roungkhanchan III, an elegant line with steep
crack systems that promised long sections of
free climbing. They fixed the first four pitches,
established a portaledge camp and then
climbed capsule style from the 18th-26th June,
with Camp 2 after c450m and Camp 3 at c570m.
The weather was good throughout this period
but underestimating the size of the face, the
climbers took food and water for just five days.
Fortunately, the day after their water finished,
they came across a large snow patch that
prevented them abandoning the climb. Most of
the cracks were very dirty but during the ascent
they found traces of previous passage; on
pitches two, three, six and several on the upper
wall. It is most likely that part of their route
coincided with the 2001 McCray-Warren line.
Near the top they made a couple of
pendulums to gain the North East Face, which
they felt offered faster ground to the top and
also got more sun. They finally hauled their
equipment to the top of pitch 16, left it there and
climbed the 17th and final pitch at night. From
the top, a three-hour descent on foot got them
down to Base Camp. Three days later they went
to the summit, rescued the gear and brought
everything down. Inshallah Mi Primo (850m of
climbing: A3 F6a,) was named in honour of their
Base Camp cook.
do
w
nl
oa
de
d
fr
om
hooking, about halfway up. They placed one
rivet at a belay before their hand drill broke and
thereafter only placed a few pitons. Four nights
were spent in portaledge camps under very
clear skies and when the pair launched the haul
sacks from a ledge system two pitches below
the top, the bags took two bounces and then fell
free all the way to the ground. From the top of
the tower a fantastic knife-edge ridge led back
to terra firma, from where there is an easy,
largely walking, descent. The grade was VI 5.10
A3. McCray and Warren climbed the first two
pitches of Dirt Box and then broke out left. In
the middle section of their route the pair
followed a long and very striking off-width that
was clearly visible from Base Camp.
In 2004, Frenchmen, Frédéric Hasbani and
Marco Vanpé, climbed directly up the North
Face left of the Pillar, but near the top slanted
right and finished via a few pitches on the East
Face. Their 600m route was sustained, though
never extreme, and named Zen and the Art of
Motorcycle Maintenance (VI F6b+ A3). The North
Face of Roungkhanchan I (c4,600m), the righthand tower, was climbed, most probably for the
first time, the same year by three Italians, Dario
Crosato, Stefano Zaleri and Marco Zebochin, to
give Troubles, Cough and Fever (14 pitches:
F6b+ A1: see October 2005 INFO).
The Basque/Aragonese team, comprising
Dani Ascaso, Gorka Díaz and Jonatán Larrañaga
w
w
w
the background are part of the Homboro Mountains. JONATAN LARRANAGA
NEW EXTREM RANGE NOW AVAILABLE IN STORE WWW.BERGHAUS.COM
68 OCT 07
30/8/07
15:26
Page 69
d
fr
om
w
w
w
.c
lim
bm
ag
az
i
ne
.c
om
57156_61-70_MOUNT_INFO_P
The 1,550m North Ridge of Shingu Charpa (5,600m). The line of the Cordes-Wharton attempt is marked, finishing
de
after 45 pitches, all-free up to 5.11+ R, some 60m below and 150m away from the summit. The arrow marks the
bottom of the ‘escape ramp/gully’ that slants up right to meet the ridge at one-third height. The first ascent of
oa
this granite tower was made in 2000 by three Koreans, who climbed the prominent snow couloir to the right, then
angled back left up the West Face (5.11 and A2) to the top. It is believed the East Face was attempted in 2006 but
nl
little progress made. KELLY CORDES
do
w
(approach shoes and strap-on aluminium
crampons) were simply not up to the job. They
retreated back down the ridge in one day, noting
that their high point was six or seven pitches
above the highest Ukrainian rappel anchor. The
rock cruxes occurred in the middle section of the
ridge and were rated 5.11+ R but their
assessment of the route included comments like:
serious run-outs; vegetation; closed cracks;
mud; loose blocks, and a ‘serious contender for
the world’s worst free climb’.
But more was to come. Despite the claims that
the Ukrainians had climbed the route completely
free, the Americans, who chatted with them at
Base Camp, were told by Rodiontsev that they
aided between 50 and 100m, photographs on a
Russian website later confirmed this. In addition,
local villagers, who have an unobstructed view of
the peak, were also convinced the Ukrainians did
not summit. However, by the time their climb
was included (surprisingly to some) in the five
nominations short-listed for the Piolet d’Or,
Chaplinsky had stopped replying to requests for
clarification from a number of magazines and
websites.
Only Chaplinsky and Rodiontsev turned up in
Day three on the North Ridge of Shingu Charpa
(5,600m) and Kelly Cordes is starting up the 40th
pitch of the route. There were still a few more
difficult pitches before the summit ridge was
reached. JOSH WHARTON
Grenoble for the ceremony last January, in which
the main awards went to Slovenians, as reported
in April 2007 Climb. A week or so later Verbitsky,
the youngest member of the team, announced
that he had stayed at home because the three
Ukrainians had not reached the summit,
stopping c100m below and, therefore, despite the
publicity, ‘had no moral right to be among the
nominees’. Would the Americans have pushed
harder had they known the ridge had not been
completed? Maybe, but the North Ridge of
Shingu Charpa remains unclimbed.
INFO: Anne Arran/Oriol Baro/Kelly/Cordes/Ben
Gready/Andrej Grmovsek/Matjez Jeran/Jonatán
Larrañaga/ Tamotsu Nakamura and the Japanese
Alpine News/Anna Piunova and
www.mountain.ru/Jakub Radziejowski/Ian
Stewart/Carles Figueras Torrent and the reference
sources of the American Alpine Journal and Alpine
Club Himalayan Index
INDIA 2006
PART ONE
Thirty seven foreign expeditions visited the Indian
Himalaya during 2006, fewer than in recent
years. The number of Indian national expeditions
was also greatly reduced and it appears fewer
peaks are being attempted, especially by
challenging routes. One main deterrent to
climbing in the Himalaya is the unrealistic fee
structure and regulations set by state
governments, notably Uttarakhand (formerly
Uttaranchal), in which lie the popular venues of
NEW EXTREM RANGE NOW AVAILABLE IN STORE WWW.BERGHAUS.COM
OCT 07 69
Page 70
believed the Indian Army expedition climbed the
face left of Singhi Kangri towards the ridge
connecting this mountain with Afraz, hoping to then
climb both peaks from the col. They were thwarted
at over 6,300m by bad weather. Singhi Kangri has
only been climbed once, from the upper Staghar
Glacier on the far (Chinese) side in 1976, finishing
more or less up the left skyline. HARISH KAPADIA
Plateau Peak
A 15-member Indo-Italian expedition attempted
unclimbed Plateau Peak (7,310m), which lies
southwest of Saser Kangri I (7,672m) in the
Saser group. Jointly led by M S Gomese and
Marco Meazzini, the team established Base
Camp at 4,700m and an advanced base at
5,400m on the Central South Phukpoche Glacier.
During August they equipped the slopes leading
to the crest of the West Ridge with ropes and food
dumps, but bad weather prevented progress
above 5,800m.
ZANSKAR
Kang Yissay
It is reported that on the 17th July, Santiago
Sagaste from Spain soloed what is believed to
be a new route on the North East Face of the
very popular 6,400m Kang Yissay above the
Nimaling Plains in Zanskar. No further details
have been made available, so it is impossible
to know how the route relates to other lines on
this side of the mountain.
INFO: Harish Kapadia
do
w
nl
oa
de
d
fr
om
Gangotri and Garhwal. Most foreign expeditions
were either commercially organized to easy
routine peaks, or teams tackling popular high
mountains. Successful ascents were few and can
generally be attributed to poor weather. Notable
new or partial new routes of a technical nature
occurred on Keder Dome, Meru Central and
Thalay Sagar. The trend for Indian teams is to
forgo ascents of routine peaks like Kalanag,
Hanuman Tibba, Deo Tibba, Chhamser and
Lungser Kangri for attempts on those with low
technical difficulty but high altitude, e.g. Kamet,
Satopanth and Nun. However, there were also
interesting exploratory ascents.
In contrast, trekking has grown enormously
and more Indians than ever are enjoying the
mountains. Although this is a good trend, it has
increased concern about environmental damage,
despite it being negligible compared to the
damage caused by pilgrims, security forces and
the local population.
bm
foreground the pointed Pt 6,187m (unclimbed). It is
lim
left is the unclimbed Afraz (6,815m) and in the left
.c
side glacier to Singhi Kangri (7,202m, right). To the
w
w
w
Looking north from the upper Siachen Glacier up a
An Indian Army expedition led by Col Ashok Abbey
visited the Siachen Glacier in September with the
main goal of making the first ascent of the South
Face of Singhi Kangri (7,202m). After establishing
a Base Camp on the 12th at the junction of the
Siachen and Teram Shehr glaciers, the climbers
quickly started on an ascent of Junction Peak
(6,350m) at the northwestern end of the North
Terong Group, a fine vantage point first climbed in
1912 by American, Fanny Bullock-Workman, and
her Italian guides. The team climbed the
avalanche-prone West Face, reaching the summit
on the 18th in an eight and a half hour push from
the top camp. This was only the third ascent of the
mountain.
In the meantime a new Base Camp had been
established on the 16th below Singhi Kangri at
5,100m. This peak, which had only ever received
one attempt previously, is situated on the IndoChinese border forming the northern rim of the
Siachen. That attempt, which resulted in the first
ascent, was a remarkable climb. In 1976 a
Japanese expedition led by Haruo Sato,
approached from the west up the Bilafond
Glacier in what is now Pakistan, crossed the
Bilafond La and descended the Lolofond Glacier
to the Siachen (all within the area of today’s
disputed territory). They then moved up the
Siachen and attempted the South Face of Singhi
Kangri, but finding it too difficult, crossed another
pass (the Staghar La, some distant southeast of
the 5,855m Turkistan La) in the wall dividing the
Siachen from the Staghar Glacier in China. After
establishing Camp 2 (their Advanced Base) on
the Staghar, they climbed the North West Ridge
to the summit with two further camps. The
expedition left Kaphlu in Pakistan on 9th June
with 137 porters, and the first summit party,
Masafumi Katayama, Junichi Imai, and Shohei
Takahashi, only reached the top on the 8th
August. A claim in 2001 by an Indian Army
expedition under Col Dinesh Kumar to have
made the second ascent of Singhi Kangri and the
first ascent of a subsidiary 7,195m summit
referred to as Mercury, appears unfounded.
The 2006 expedition climbed the lower South
Face towards the South West Ridge and on the
21st placed Camp 1 at 6,325m. It appeared that
the hardest part of the climb was over and they
deemed only one more camp necessary before
making a summit attempt on both Singhi Kangri
and the unclimbed Afraz (6,815m). However,
poor weather and dangerous snow conditions
prevented further progress and the route was
abandoned on the 29th. After this, the expedition
travelled along Peak 36 Glacier to inspect the
North East Faces of Saltoro Kangri I (7,746m) and
II (7,705m) for a possible future attempt. The
lower of these two summits is currently one of
the highest unclimbed peaks in the world. A
serious expedition to the Saltoros could not be
mounted because of the ongoing Siachen war,
but hopefully last year's attempts by the Army
indicate relaxation regarding access permits in
the future.
om
EAST KARAKORAM
Singhi Kangri and Junction Peak
.c
15:11
ne
30/8/07
ag
az
i
57156_P70
The Phantom Light is made for climbing. It's a
super lightweight sac using the Fusion Light
back system for comfort and stability. It has bags of
features including a hydration reservoir pouch, lots of
attachments points and haul loops, and ice axe holders.
Fabric: Ardura 210 D Baby RS
Weight: 0.76kg (approx.)
Capacity: 37L
SRP: £50
AVAILABLE IN STORE NOW.
Visit www.berghaus.com for stockists.
70 OCT 07