49807_p73-84_mountain info_P

NORTH
AMERICA
ALASKA PART TWO
RUTH GORGE
DICKEY
After Arctic Rage on the East Face of
Moose’s Tooth (see elsewhere in this report)
the most significant new route climbed in the
Alaska Range during 2004 was Snowpatrol on
the South East Face of Dickey.
British climbers, Sam Chinnery and Andy
Sharpe, making their first visit to Alaska,
flew into the Ruth on the 28th March and
were immediately attracted by a superb line
of relatively well-formed snow and ice gullies
running almost the full height of the South
East Face just right of the 1974 Original
Route on the South East Pillar
(Roberts/Rowell/Ward: 1,500m: VI 5.9 A2).
On the first good day, the 1st April, they
climbed 10 pitches, each of 60m, up steep
névé smears and ice runnels to the third
snow patch, where they bivouacked. Next day
they climbed two pitches (one through a
strange tunnel formation) before cloud
rushed in, spindrift started to fall and it
became impossible to climb. The route is a
huge funnel for anything that falls from high
on the face and during the descent the pair
experienced some exciting moments in the
narrow sections, where the weight of falling
snow constantly threatened to pull them off
and made it difficult to breathe.
Good weather returned after a week and
on the 9th April the two set off at 4.30am,
determined to get a great deal higher on the
face this first day in order to avoid as much
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A foreshortened view of the c1,500m South East Face of Dickey, Ruth Gorge. (1) Italian Route
(Barattoli/Borgonovo/Defrancesco/De Dona/Leoni/Manica/Zampiccoli, 1991: c1,500m: 38 pitches to VII+
and A4), (2) South East Pillar-Original Route (Roberts/Rowell/Ward, 1974: c1,500m: 5.9 and A3: second
ascent by Hollenbaugh and House in 2003 at 5.9 and A2), (3) Snowpatrol (Chinnery/Sharpe, April 2004:
c1,500m: VI WI5+ 90°: second ascent by Gilmore, Samuel and Wilkinson a couple of weeks later). (4)
Eagle’s Feather (Gross/Komarkova, 1977: c1,500m: 47 pitches to 5.8 and A3), (5) Blood from the Stone
(Easten/Steck, 2002: c1,500m: 5.9 A1 M7+ AI6+), (6) The Wine Bottle (Bonapace/Orgler, 1988: c1,500m: 53
pitches to VII+ and A3+). SAM CHINNERY
of Snowpatrol (1,500m: VI WI 5+ 90°) on the South
East Face of Dickey. SAM CHINNERY
sunny. Three pitches of mixed climbing with
tricky route finding took them to the ridge
and summit snow slopes. They reached the
top at 5pm and headed down the West Face,
encountering every type of snow imaginable,
from good névé to breakable crust over
waist-deep crud. Seven hours later they
were back at their tent on the glacier.
Snowpatrol was climbed with a normal
Scottish winter rack and one, invaluable,
snow stake. The 1,500m route was graded
US VI WI 5+ 90° and involved around 40 roped
pitches.
Surprisingly, the route was repeated just a
couple of weeks later, making it only the
second route on the huge south and east
flanks of Dickey to have been climbed twice.
Prior to Chinnery and Sharpe’s arrival,
American Freddie Wilkinson had been in the
Ruth attempting a new line on Bradley but
had noticed the unclimbed line on Dickey
was in condition. When his partner’s time ran
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073
Large rucksacks and vertical ice on the first ascent
spindrift as possible should conditions
worsen. By midday they had passed their
previous bivouac and at 3pm had reached the
spot where the line heads left into the upper
gullies. At this point it started to snow and
the pair quickly started to dig in. Fortunately,
the snowfall eased, allowing them to climb
four more pitches to the start of the upper
gullies, where a relatively sheltered site
offered a good bivouac. To this point they had
climbed around 20 pitches of ice and névé to
90°
The next morning began with a good lead
by Sharpe on a pitch of steep nasty ice with
very poor protection in order to negotiate a
big snow mushroom. Climbing through cloud
and more spindrift, the pair overcame a
further six ice pitches to reach the shale
band at the top of the wall, where they
settled down to an unpleasant bivouac in
falling snow.
Unpredictably, the 11th dawned clear and
in association with
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The Moose’s Tooth group seen from the southwest. (A) Moose’s Tooth West Summit (first reached in July 1962 by Barrie Biven and Tony Smythe). (B) Englishman’s
Col (the exit point for the 1997 Jim Donini/Greg Crouch, 800m, south-facing couloir, Shaken Not Stirred; AI 5). (C) Moose’s Tooth Main Summit (3,150m). (D) Bear’s
Tooth (3,050m). (E) Wisdom Tooth. (F) The top of the Stump. The Root Canal Glacier lies between Wisdom and the South Face of Moose’s Tooth. (1) West Ridge Original Route (Klaus Bierl/Arnold Hasenkopf/Alfons Reichegger/Walter Welsch, 1964: AI 4, corniced). (2) Ham and Eggs (Tom Davies/Jon Krakauer/Nate Zinsser,
1975; 850m: AI 4). (3) Levitation and Hail Marys (Scott Adamson/James Stover, 2004: c850m: V M7). (4) Original Route via North Col and North Ridge (Dave
Lunn/Dave O’Neill/Margaret Young, 1973). (5) White Russian (Sergei Matusevych/Taras Mytropan/Aleksey Shuruyev, 2004: Alaskan 2/3: 70°). (6) Unforgiven (Gilly
James/Ivan Ramirez, 2004: 350m: M5 and WI 6; second ascent by Scott Adamson/James Stover, 2004 at M6+ R). (7) Goldfinger (Chris McNamara/Joe Puryear, 2004:
c450m: 5.11a). (8) Original South Face (Mugs Stump/Steve Quinlan, 1991: 5.10 and A2). (9) Game Boy (Helmut Neswadba/Andi Orgler/Wutscher, 1995: c450m:
F6c/5.11-). (10) Novocaine (Kevin Daniels/Mark Davis/Bill Gambel/Graham Frontella, 1997: c750m: 5.10 and A2). The South Ridge of Moose’s Tooth, dropping to the
col north of Bear’s Tooth was first attempted by the Germans in 1964. They were stopped by rotten rock, as it is rumoured was a later attempt by Chouinard who, at
one stage, chopped steps in the granite with his ice-axe. It remains unclimbed. BRUNO HASLER
out, he flew with him to Talkeetna,
scrambled Ben Gilmore into action and
quickly returned to the Ruth, only to find
Chinnery and Sharpe one day up the face on
their successful attempt.
Also in the Ruth at that time were British
climbers, Guy Willet and Owen Samuel,
intent on adding another new ice/mixed line
to Dickey. However, before setting foot on any
climb, Willet injured his back and had to fly
out. Samuel teamed up with Gilmore and
Wilkinson to climb Snowpatrol over the 25th26th April. The three enjoyed good weather
and found the route to give classic Alpine
couloir climbing, defined more by its huge
length and commitment rather than
sustained technical difficulty. They too found
the cruxes to be vertical pitches around
tenuous snow features and the nasty shale
band to give some steep mixed climbing.
Barrill
074
The Cobra Pillar on the East Face received its
fourth overall but first one-day ascent from
Americans, Chris McNamara (well-known for
his activities in Yosemite and his SuperTopo
company) and Joe Puryear, on the latter’s
third trip into the mountains during the
season. The pair flew into the Ruth during
light rain on the 14th June but the weather
cleared just a few hours after landing and
the two scorched up the route in a
continuous ascent of 15 hours and 10
minutes. They descended the sloppy snow
slopes of the North West Face and walked
back round to the tent the following morning,
just in time to meet the biggest storm of the
season, which pinned them in camp for the
next four days. The previous fastest time for
this route, achieved on the third ascent in
June 2002 by Poles, Maciej Ciesielski, Jakub
Radziejowski with American Zack Martin,
was a continuous ascent of 36 hours.
The 900m line, which climbs the central
pillar on the East Face left of the big corner
systems taken by Tommi Bonapace and Andi
Orgler’s 1988 route Happy End, was first
climbed in 1991 by Jim Donini and Jack
Tackle (26 pitches; 1,200m of climbing: 5.10+
and A3, climbed at F6c and C2 on the third
ascent). Much of the rock on Barrill is poor
but Donini always praised the quality of the
Cobra Pillar. The Poles found long sections
of flawless granite but also some of the
worst climbing they had ever encountered.
With only two aid sections, it is undoubtedly a
prime target for an all-free ascent.
Puryear had an amazing season, climbing
more routes than the majority achieve during
a lifetime’s worth of seasons in the Alaska
Range. Apart from those mentioned
elsewhere in this report, with David Gottlieb
he climbed the Japanese Couloir
(Segawa/Suemasa/Suga/Tsai, 1975) on the
left side of the East Face of 2,332m Barrill,
then climbed the South Face of Dan Beard
via the left-hand ridge on the face. Moving to
the West Fork of the Ruth this same pair
ascended the classic South West Ridge of
Peak 11,300 before taking a break in
Talkeetna. There, Puryear met his next
climbing partner, Daniel Zimmermann from
Switzerland, and the two flew to Kahiltna
Base Camp. They first climbed the c1,000m
South Face of Peak 12,200 (600m of steep
mixed terrain and rocky barriers followed by
a long snow slope to the summit),
descending the dangerous South West Face.
They followed this with an ascent of the
South West Ridge of Mount Frances, which
they likened to the South West Ridge of
11,300 and thought it to better one of the
better climbs easily accessible from Kahiltna
Base. After a rest day (!) these two did the
North Couloir of the c3,200m Mini
Moonflower (first recorded ascent by Cordes
and De Capio in 1998; mainly 50-70° with a
hard M6 R pitch that becomes much easier
in thick ice) before a spell of bad weather
moved in. During a short break, they
managed the West Face of 3,776m Kahiltna
Queen (probably first climbed by Arty Mannix
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Moose’s Tooth - South Face
Americans, Scott Adamson and James
Stover, on their first trip to the big
mountains, climbed a major new line on the
South Face of Moose’s Tooth (3,150m). The
two first based themselves next to the
Mountain House in the Ruth Amphitheatre,
from where they made an ascent of the
classic Ham and Eggs couloir (Thomas
Davies/Jon Krakauer/Nate Zinsser, 1975: the
most logical line to gain the main summit)
via a ski/climb ascent into the Root Canal
glacier basin below the South Face. Later,
they opted for a more modern approach and
took a flight up to the basin, camping
opposite the face until the weather turned in
their favour. It was during this period they
made the second ascent of Unforgiven,
reported elsewhere. Incidentally, the name
Ham and Eggs comes from a remark made
by first ascensionist, Nate Zinsser, in bad
weather close to, but unsure of the exact
location of, the summit. Krakauer remarked:
“If only we could see where we were”, to
which Zinsser replied: “ If we had some ham
we could have some ham and eggs, if we had
some eggs…” While climbing this landmark
route, Adamson and Stover witnessed a huge
serac fall from the summit rim of Dickey. The
particle-filled blast travelled two and a half
kilometres across the Ruth and climbed
700m to the Root Canal, dusting the
Americans’ tent at the head of this high
glacier basin. Future parties travelling in the
Ruth; be warned.
On the 24th May, Adamson and Stover
made their first attempt on the new line up
the steep face right of Ham and Eggs. After
an approach across wet, unconsolidated
snow, caused by higher than normal
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A foreshortened view of the right side of the South Face of Moose’s Tooth from the upper Root Canal Glacier.
(1) Ham and Eggs (Tom Davies/Jon Krakauer/Nate Zinsser, 1975; 850m: AI 4). (2) Levitation and Hail Marys
(Scott Adamson/James Stover, 2004: c850m: V M7). (3) The Moose’s - Bear’s Tooth Col. JAMES STOVER
temperatures in the Ruth last season, the
pair started up the initial section of the route,
the obvious and relatively straightforward
left-to-right-slanting snow couloir. Part way
up they broke out left into the prominent leftfacing diedre and where the real climbing
began. There, they spent some time trying to
free a section across a steep slab before
finally resorting to a pendulum. Above and as
a result of the pendulum, they discovered
several serious areas of damage to their
ropes. As snow conditions were also getting
rather soggy, they retreated.
Two days later another break in the
weather prompted a 3am start. Stretching
their remaining 70m-long, 9.5mm lead rope
on every pitch, they re-climbed the diedre via
an ice ribbon and a series of jamming cracks
with good protection, to reach the top of the
conspicuous pillar forming its right side.
They then sat five hours in swirling cloud
trying to see a way through above.
Eventually, none the wiser, they were forced
to commit themselves and make a big
traverse into the upper face, gaining the
prominent corner that leads to the West
Ridge just below the summit. The two
traverse pitches proved insecure, sparsely
protected and ungradeable. Once at the big
corner they could see no obvious sign of
climbable features, so instead opted for a
10cm-wide strip of plastic ice in the back of a
corner that slanted up right for 30m at an
average angle of 70°. Working through heavy
spindrift, the pair climbed this section, then
a snow ramp and convoluted mixed pitch, to
reach the summit flutings. They arrived on
the West Ridge c15m left of the highest
point.
In zero visibility Adamson and Stover then
made a serious navigational error. Climbing
over the summit, they descended the far
side, thinking they were heading down the
West Ridge towards the top of Ham and
Eggs. Instead, they were heading towards the
Buckskin Glacier and the top of the huge,
precipitous East Face. Eventually, confronted
with a committing rappel, they admitted they
were lost and began retracing their steps. It
was now the morning of the 27th and as the
sun rose, it broke through the cloud and gave
the climbers a fleeting view of their
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075
and Brian Okonek during the second ascent
of the mountain), climbing most of the way
up and down in a storm.
After another break in Talkeetna, Puryear
returned to the Ruth with McNamara as
reported above but as well as the Cobra
Pillar and the new line on Wisdom Tooth (see
below), this pair also climbed the South West
Face of 1,890m Hut Tower (Jochler/Orgler,
1987: 800m from lower snow slopes to
summit: VI+/VII-), which gave 10 pitches of
good rock up to 5.10, and Dream in the Spirit
of Mugs on the West Pillar of c2,970m Eye
Tooth (Bonapace/Hass/Orgler, 1994: 23
pitches: all free at 5.10c/6b), which Puryear
reckoned might be the best Alpine rock route
he’d ever done. The two carried no snow or
ice equipment, so like all previous parties to
have ascended this route, did not continue all
the way up the final snow arête to the
summit (the point defining the summit may
only have been reached in 2003 after the first
ascent of The Talkeetna Standard by Jeff
Hollenbaugh and Steve House). Later there
followed more routes in Little Switzerland,
which were reported in the last issue.
in association with
surroundings. Realizing the mistake, the two
climbed back over the summit and groped
their way down to the start of the Ham and
Eggs rappels, familiar from their previous
ascent. The storm increased in fury, burying
the anchors and frequently sweeping the
climbers with avalanches. However, at 9am
and 30 hours after first leaving, they were
back in their tent on the Root Canal.
The new line, only the fourth on this face
of the mountain, was christened Levitation
and Hail Marys, and given a grade of V, M7
with one point of aid on the pendulum. The
M7 cruxes occur on the fourth pitch, where
knee bars are needed to overcome an
overhanging verglassed chimney, and on the
sixth pitch, entering the upper corner via a
loose 5.11 face sequence.
Moose’s Tooth: East Face
076
The most impressive ascent throughout
Alaska and the Yukon last year belongs to
Americans, Ben Gilmore and Kevin Mahoney.
Their direct route up the East Face of
Moose’s Tooth (3,150m) in full winter
conditions completed a project only dreamed
of during the last 30 years. In 1981, after a
decade of attempts by nearly 10 different
parties comprising high standard European
and American Alpinists, Jim Bridwell and
Mugs Stump became the first to climb this
1,500m face via a route they named The
Dance of the Woo Li Masters.
After a bold Alpine style push over pitches
of thinly snow-covered rock, overhanging
rotten ice, difficult aid and nighttime
temperatures lower than –30°C, Bridwell
and Stump arrived at the summit on the 20th
March. The following day they rappelled
500m down the South East Face into the
snow couloir separating the Moose’s and
Bear Teeth, then descended this to their tent.
The descent was totally blind and the pair
was forced to make several committing
rappels from extremely sketchy anchors. The
route was considered at the time to be the
hardest in Alaska and the technical
difficulties, evaluated on today’s ratings,
were WI 4+ M6, with a section of A4.
However, Bridwell and Stump were forced off
a direct line, traversing left below the huge
upper headwall to gain the top section of the
East Pillar (in 2001 Bridwell returned and
with Spencer Pfingsten climbed a direct start
to the East Pillar, following his previous line
in the upper section. At VII A5 5.10 WI 4 M6,
The Beast was rated by Bridwell as the
hardest route he’d ever climbed).
It was left to Mahoney and Gilmore 23
years later to complete the direct line
proposed by Bridwell. Supported,
coincidentally, by the Mugs Stump Award,
the pair was landed in the Buckskin on the
20th March. From there the two made an
initial attempt, climbing the steep narrow ice
chute of the c80m Caldron in the lower part
of the face and then two very technical
The Main Summit of Bear’s Tooth (left) and its subsidiary South Summit from the upper Root Canal Glacier.
The line of Unforgiven (Gilly James/Ivan Ramirez, 2004: 350m: M5 and WI 6; second ascent by Scott
Adamson/James Stover, 2004 at M6+ R) takes the obvious, narrow, right-to-left slanting gully in the centre
of the picture. Note the hanging serac barrier to its left. JAMES STOVER
pitches up the headwall, before bivouacking
in a snow hole. Next day, the pitch above the
snow cave gave WI 6+R climbing on thin,
impending ice before the pair reached a
nasty off-width. Despite attempts by both
climbers on this unprotected, overhanging,
snowy monster, the pitch beat them and they
retreated, not wishing to take a big fall
c700m up the face.
Bad weather intervened and it wasn’t until
4am on the 31st March that they again
crossed the rimaye. The temperatures were
much lower than previous and spindrift
proved annoying but by evening the two were
once again ensconced in the now partially
collapsed snow cave.
After a miserable night Mahoney set off in
the lead, finding the 6+ pitch even harder
than he remembered, then opting for a
weakness right of the off-width. Using aid he
bypassed the wide crack and then Gilmore
led through for a 60m pitch, dubbed The
Pipeline, which climbed a thin flow of brittle
ice up a narrow and often overhanging crack.
Above, easier terrain led to their second
bivouac on a snow ridge. Next day the two
climbed a bottleneck couloir christened
Shotgun Alley, largely moving together with
ice screw protection while fighting constant
spindrift. Eventually, they emerged on to the
summit in a full-blown storm. Seven rappels
from Abalakovs took them back to the
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previous night’s bivouac and the next day a
further 19 deposited them on the glacier. It
had snowed so much that skis left in what
they thought had been a safe, protected area
had completely disappeared. The two waded
waist-deep back to their buried tent and
collapsed inside before being flown out the
next day. The new route, Arctic Rage, was
graded VI WI 6+R A2, though due to the
notoriously bad rock on the Tooth, a number
of the pitches featured very minimal
protection and less than satisfactory belays.
This is the pair’s second new route on this
side of the Tooth; in October 2000 they
climbed the East Couloir and South East
Face with Steve House at WI 5+ 5.8 and A3.
The Gargoyle
On the steep West Face of The Gargoyle,
which is the relatively small feature
immediately north of the Moose’s Tooth and
forming the eastern side of The Gateway to
the Ruth Amphitheatre, Steinak Holden,
Jarle Kalland, Mars Lund and Lars Mjaavatn
from Norway climbed a new route named
Electric View. The 18-pitch route was put up
from the 13th -25th July and had difficulties
of A2+ and 5.11a. There is at least one other
route on this wall but details are lacking.
Taking time out during this ascent, Kalland
and Mjaavatn climbed a new seven-pitch line
on the small, unnamed rock feature
immediately north of Barrill, facing the
Gargoyle across the Ruth. Phanerotime,
which lies on the East Face of this formation
and is around 300m in length, was climbed
on the 17th July and graded 5.11b and A1.
line towards the right side of the Stump.
Bear’s Tooth
Ukrainians, Sergei Matusevych and Taras
Mytropan, with Aleksey Shuruyev from
Russia climbed a short new route on the
West Face of Bear’s Tooth (3,069m). The
three originally wanted to climb the Original
Route, which ascends snow slopes above the
Root Canal Glacier (the upper basin below
the South Face of Moose’s Tooth) to the col
between the Moose’s Tooth and Bear Tooth,
then up the North Ridge of the latter to its
summit. However, numerous prominent
cornices on the ridge made them wary, so
after crossing the rimaye, they headed up
right towards the summit. Five technical
pitches of excellent steep ice (70°), snow and
mixed terrain were encountered and the
route, climbed on the 27th April, named
White Russian (Alaskan Grade 2 or 3). Dave
Lunn, Dave O’Neill and Margaret Young
made the original ascent of Bear’s Tooth in
1973. These three camped on the col, hoping
to climb the ridge above to the summit of the
Moose’s Tooth next day. Instead, they opted
for what they referred to as the South
Summit of the Tooth and followed its North
Ridge for seven pitches to the highest point.
On the 13th May, Anchorage climbers,
Gilly James and Ivan Ramirez, put up a short
but excellent ice/mixed route on the West
Face of the unnamed subsidiary summit
immediately south of Bear’s Tooth (on the
ridge between the Bear’s and Eye Teeth).
Dropping west to the Root Canal from this
south summit is a very prominent rock spur,
flanked on each side by large serac barriers.
The new route climbs a narrow goulotte on
the right flank of the rock spur, slanting left
to reach the crest around mid-height. Above,
the spur continues as a snow ridge to the top
of the subsidiary summit but the two
climbers found conditions on the ridge
diabolical and opted to rappel from the top of
the goulotte. Unforgiven is 350m with a short
section of WI 6 at mid-height and mixed
climbing up to M5 elsewhere. The final WI 4
pitches in a chimney were reported to be
most enjoyable and exit alongside the big
serac left of the spur. While seracs do not
threaten the route itself, great care should
be taken to give them a wide berth on the
approach.
Americans, Scott Adamson and James
Stover, repeated this route just a few weeks
later, before their ascent of a new line on the
Moose’s Tooth reported elsewhere. The pair
climbed the route at M6+ R in six long and
sustained pitches from a tent on the Root
Canal. They also attempted to continue up
the snow arête above the final mixed
chimney but in common with the first
ascensionists, bailed after making little
progress in appalling, unconsolidated snow.
They rappelled the route from excellent fixed
anchors (good pegs and slings on spikes)
and were back in camp having completed the
climb in a round trip of seven hours.
KICHATNA SPIRES
Tatina Spire
British climbers Mark Reeves and Steve
Sinfield visited the Tatina Glacier for a short
stay in late May-June. Having waited five
days in Talkeetna for the weather to improve
sufficiently to risk attempt a flight in, they
were surprised by perfect blue skies during
Wisdom Tooth
The East Face of Nevermore seen from high on Middle Triple Peak. (A) Pt 2,455m. (B) Nevermore South
Summit, (C) Nevermore Main Summit (2,469m). (D) Tatina Spire (c2,500m: first ascent via the South East
Face by Hooman Aprin, David Black and Michael Graber, 1975: 700m: VI 5.9 A4), which is mostly obscured by
(E) Neveragain (2,408m: first climbed in 1975 by Gary Bocarde, Clancy Crawford and Charlie Hostetler via the
prominent snow couloir to the left of the summit. (F) Pollak Spire (2,286m: first climbed in 1975 by Gary
Bocarde, Paul Denkewalter and Peter Sennhauser via the North Couloir; II and 5.8). (G) Tatina Glacier. (H)
Monolith Glacier. (1) Call of the Raven (Mike Houston/Doug Workman/Jed Workman, 1998: c750m: VI 5.9
A2+). (2) The Perfect Storm (Dai Lampard/Stuart McAleese/ Mike ‘Twid’ Turner, 2004: c1,000m to summit: VI,
British E4 6a, A1 and M6). (3) The Original Route - North East Ridge (Joe Fitschen, Charles Raymond, Royal
Robbins, 1969: III 5.6/5.7). JAY SMITH
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077
On the c450m Stump, the name given to
the pillar that forms the left side of 2,350m
Wisdom Tooth’s South Face (a.k.a. the
Wisdom Wall), McNamara and Puryear
climbed a direct finish to the June 1991
Mugs Stump and Steve Quinlan attempt
(5.10). This attempt followed the left of two
major corner systems on the face, until a
traverse left led to a gravel wall not much
more than 150m from the summit. Stump
and Quinlan descended and then the same
day (!) climbed the right-hand corner
system at 5.10 and A2.
McNamara and Puryear followed the
attempted line up fantastic rock to below
the gravel wall, then gave up and
rappelled. After a rest day they came back
and, ignoring the left traverse, continued
direct for six more excellent new pitches to
the summit. Climbed in this fashion,
Goldfinger gives 12 long and sustained
pitches of quality climbing up to 5.11a, all
equipped with sound rappel anchors. Apart
from those mentioned, the only other route
on this formation is Game Boy
(Neswadba/Orgler/Wutscher, July 1995:
F6c/5.11-: repeated in 2002), which takes a
in association with
Western Kichatna Spires. Looking up the Monolith Glacier towards the Monolith-Tatina Col at its head. On the far left the West Fork of the Monolith leads up towards
Flattop Peak (c2,560m). In the centre is Nevermore and visible on the right are the steep North West Flanks of North Triple Peak (c2,560m). Marked is the Call of the
Raven (Mike Houston/Doug Workman/Jed Workman, 1998: c750m: VI 5.9 A2+). More or less everything else in the photograph remains unclimbed. STUART MCALEESE
078
their first morning at Base Camp. After a
quick packing session, they headed north
down the glacier to the far end of Mount
Haffner’s West Face, where they discovered a
less-than-vertical granite slab. The pair
climbed 14 pitches of British VS/HVS in
wonderful sunshine before the slab began to
merge with the lower reaches of a snow
basin and the terrain became unpleasant.
Increasing cloud and the water feature up
which they were now climbing combined to
force a retreat. At 6pm they began rappelling
the route and arrived on the glacier at 9.30.
Base Camp was regained at midnight.
It rained most of the following day but in
late afternoon the two were able to inspect
the small glacial cirque near the head of the
glacier that rises southwest to Flat Top Peak.
On the broad South Face of c2,500m Tatina
Spire they spotted an unclimbed line right of
the existing climb Alaskan Rose (Calder
Stratford and Kevin Thaw, 1996: nine long
free pitches with a crux of 5.11c and R),
which climbs a steep south-facing buttress
to the top of a subsidiary summit south of
the highest point of the Tatina Spire. Rising
c600m from the glacier, the line was
considered by the British pair to be more
suitable for a one-day, all-free ascent. The
first ascent of the higher Tatina Spire was
made in 1975 by Hooman Aprin, David Black
and Michael Graber via multi-day route up
the 700m South East Face at VI 5.9 A4.
Unfortunately, it rained for the next four
days but on the fifth the weather cleared,
allowing Reeves and Sinfield to start up their
proposed new line with 100m of static, a 60m
lead rope and another 60m of 8mm static.
The first four pitches (VS to HVS) led to an
undercut traverse and a hanging corner. This
corner gave three pitches of slightly damp
E2/3 with a couple of aid moves on the first
and around 10m of aid on the second
(A0/A1). The remaining seven pitches were
climbed on-sight with sections up to E3 and
the top reached at 1am. The route was
rappelled in three hours and Base Camp
regained shortly before 5am. The 14-pitch
route has been christened Groundhog Day
and has difficulties of E3 5b/5c or 5.10c R
and A0/A1. With their hands trashed from
jamming, the pair decided to radio for a flight
and were picked up just at the start of the
unusual heat wave that effected all Alaska.
Nevermore
Also landing near the head of the Tatina, but
prior to the previous pair, was the Welshbased team of Dai Lampard, Stuart McAleese
and Mike ‘Twid’ Turner. On two previous
occasions McAleese and Turner had flown
into the range, hoping to attempt the
unclimbed South East Ridge of Middle Triple
Peak from the Sunshine Glacier. While the
three main northern glaciers of the
Kichatnas have seen a fair amount of traffic
due to good landing sites, the southern
glaciers are much more difficult of access
and their peaks still offer huge scope for first
ascents.
On this third attempt the British group
planned to cross the col at the head of the
Tatina, reach the Monolith Glacier and follow
it south, down and around the foot of South
Triple Peak and a little way back up the
Sunshine to the East Side of the Triple Peak
group. There, the classic line is the East
Buttress of Middle Triple, which is one of The
50 Classic Climbs of North America and was
first climbed over eight days in June 1977 by
Andrew Embick, Michael Graber, Alan Long
and George Schunk.
Lapard, McAleese and Turner arrived in
Talkeetna at the end of April to find that a
previous huge storm that month had dumped
copious amounts of snow throughout the
range. The crossing of the Tatina-Monolith
Col proved a rather dangerous affair and
when the three descended to the snout of the
Monolith, they found a complex icefall
bombarded from all sides by rockfall, some
of the boulders as large as cars. Switching
objectives, they returned up the glacier and
camped below the East Face of Mount
Nevermore, which rose above the west bank
of the glacier just southwest of the col.
This broad complex face approximately
1,000m high had only been climbed once
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previously. In 1998, Mike Houston with Doug
and Jed Workman climbed the left buttress
via a line they named The Call of the Raven
(c750m: VI 5.9 A2+). These three spent nine
days ferrying loads from the Tatina, fixed the
initial c250m, then set off in capsule style,
spending eight nights on the wall and a total
of 13 days on the entire ascent. From the top
of the wall they then continued up a relatively
easy ridge towards what they thought was
the summit. However, it is actually
impossible to see the complete East Face
unless high on Middle Triple and both the
Americans and the 2004 British team were
unaware that Nevermore actually has two
distinct summits. The Americans were
working towards the lower, more southerly,
summit, which is separated from the highest
top by pronounced gap. They turned back
c400m from this top, which remains
unclimbed.
The British trio chose a more or less
continuous crack and corner system rising
up the right-hand buttress and leading
directly to the true summit. On the first two
days, the 4th and 5th May, they fixed 200m of
rope, free climbing to British E3/E4 6a up
excellent granite in warm sunshine.
However, with the face still fairly plastered
with snow and ice, increasing melt water
hampered progress and eventually the
climbers were negotiating small waterfalls.
On the third day they started up the face in
capsule style with two portaledges,
coinciding their attempt with considerably
worsening weather. For the next five days it
was cold and snowy. Progressed slowed to as
little as 100m a day as cracks had to be
continually cleared of snow and ice and then
aided in very ‘Scottish’ conditions. On the
eighth day the weather improved and the
team made fast progress up fantastic cracks,
free climbing all the way, until a fine little
cave provided a perfect site to pitch a tent.
Next morning the sun shone and the three
negotiated mixed terrain and a snow arête
leading to the top, which they reached at
2pm on the 14th. The 1,000m route had
required 22 ropes pitches plus the 150m
snow arête and was christened The Perfect
Storm (US VI, British E4 6a, A1 and M6).
Not wishing to hang around, the team
rappelled the route through the night,
reached the glacier and continued over the
col to arrive at their original Base Camp at
5am on the 15th. Imagine their surprise
when they opened their tent and found five
cans of beer, left by some unknown
benevolent party. The satellite phone was
used to contact Talkeetna and the three were
flown out the same day, having seen no one
else throughout their entire time in the
range.
A legendary American combination of Joe
Fitschen, Charles Raymond and Royal
Robbins made the first ascent of the Main
Summit on the 18th July 1969. These three
climbed mixed ground to reach the North
East Ridge and continued up 5.6/5.7 ground
A foreshortened view up the South Ridge of West Witches’ Tit, Devil’s Thumb Group, South East Alaska. (A) West Witches’ Tit, (B) East Witches’ Tit and (C) Cat’s Ears
Spire (c2,590m). The 2,766m Devil’s Thumb is just off picture to the right. (1) South West Face (Bill Belcourt/Randy Rackliff, 1995: 500m: c16 pitches). (2) South Ridge Jack Hicks Memorial Route (Guy Edwards/John Millar, 2002: 700m: 5.10+ and A1, though climbed free by the second at 5.11+). (3) Witches’ Cleavage (Andre Ike/Jon
Walsh, 2004: 700m: 5.11a). (4) The 2004 Ike/Walsh Traverse via the West Ridge of East Witches’ Tits (first ascent) and North West Face of Cat’s Ears Spire (Simon
Elias/Chad McMullen, 1996: 5.10: this pair approached via c500m snow and ice couloir from the Witches Cauldron: 70° then an overhanging mixed chimney to the col).
(5) South Pillar of Cat’s Ears Spire - Least Snowed-up Route (Guy Edwards/John Millar, 2002: 250m: 5.10+). (6) East Face (hidden: Dick Culbert/Fred Douglas/Paul
Starr, 1972: snow approach from the Witches’ Cauldron then nine pitches of mainly free climbing). GUY EDWARDS
A
B
C
4
2
3
4
6
5
1
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079
2
in association with
to the summit. The ascent took 111/2 hours
from Base Camp but when a typical Kichatna
storm struck on the descent it took almost
the same time to reverse the route. The
mountain then lay unvisited until 1994 when
Doug Byerly and Doug Hall made the second
ascent via the North West Couloir (a snow
gully leading to the gap between the two
tops) and the relatively easy mixed terrain of
the ridge leading up to the North Summit.
This ascent took a mere four hours from
Base Camp.
ARRIGETCH
A team comprising some of America’s top
young free climbers, Max Hanft, Tim Kemple,
Justen Sjong and Adam Stack, visited the
remote western side of the Arrigetch Range,
making a three-day approach to establish a
Base Camp below unclimbed granite peaks.
Taking advantage of continuous daylight at
this time of year, the team first spent four
days putting up a new c600m route at 5.11+.
The initial 400m climbed a quasi-vertical
wall resembling the Diamond on Long’s
Peak. This was followed by 200m of
scrambling to the summit and the route
named Rock Jock. After this the team split,
with Kemple and Stack heading for a fine
sharp arête rising to the summit of a peak
they called The Samurai. Moving together for
much of the ascent, the pair climbed the
route in a day at 5.10. The other two began
work on a separate route but were unable to
complete it before bad weather set in, forcing
the party out of the region.
The Arrigetch is a sparsely glaciated
region of dramatic walls, spires and arêtes,
not dissimilar to the European Bregaglia. It
forms part of the Brooks Range in Northern
Alaska, lying north of the Arctic Circle and
west of the Alaska Highway in the eastern
sector of the Gates of the Arctic National
Park and Preserve. Access is usually by air
but occasionally, as was the case with the
four Americans last year, parties will make a
lengthy approach on foot across rough
country from the Dalton Highway to the east
(a rough unmade road used to access the
Arctic coastline oil fields). The area’s first
recorded climbs date back to 1964, when it
was visited by an Anglo-American team, and
the most prominent peaks are Witchman,
Badile, Disneyland and the spectacular fin of
Shot Tower with its magnificent West Ridge
(16 pitches; 5.8 and A2).
long West Ridge over the summits of the
Witches’ Tits and Cat’s Ears Spire. If
successful they would become the first
climbers to summit the Thumb and all its
satellite peaks.
After a week waiting for a spell of settled
weather the two set off up the lower South
Ridge of West Witches’ Tit, first climbed in
2002 by the late Guy Edwards and John
Miller. The first 300m of this ridge gives eight
pitches of moderate climbing with a few
sections of 5.9 before 100m of snow leads to
the headwall. There, Ike and Walsh climbed
a new line right of the 2002 route, which gave
eight pitches to 5.11a; at first up a crack-line
to the right arête, then to the col between the
two Tits, from where they followed the East
Ridge back to the West Summit. The 700m
route was named Witches’ Cleavage and the
ascent was possibly the third of this spire,
first climbed in 1995 by Bill Belcourt and
Randy Rackcliff via the South West Face to
the left. The pair rappelled east to regain the
gap before East Witches’ Tit, then climbed
its West Ridge to the summit in three long
but relatively straightforward 5.8 pitches.
Their ascent is believed to be the first of this
summit.
The sharp and exposed ridge down to the
col before Cat’s Ears Spire presented some
tricky rappelling and downclimbing but the
pair safely reached the gap below and settled
down to a cosy but cramped bivouac.
Next morning they climbed the left flank of
the c300m Cat’s Ears West Pillar, starting
with an exposed 45m rappel from the gap,
then reaching a crack system on the North
West Face that was probably climbed in 1996
by Simon Elias from Spain with American
Chad McMullen during the second ascent of
the East Ear. The Spanish-American duo
reported difficulties of 5.10a and A1 but Ike
and Walsh were able to free the five-pitch
line at 5.10. This led to the notch - the Cat’s
Brow - between the two pointed summits.
From there both East and West Ear were
climbed on fantastically featured granite,
both tops reached in single pitches of 5.9 for
probable third ascents of the higher East Ear
and second of the West. Some airy rappels
led down the east side of the Ears to the
loose gully separating them from the Thumb.
Unfortunately, while crossing this gully to
reach the start of the Thumb’s unclimbed
West Buttress and a possible bivouac site,
they managed to chop through their main
lead rope at the halfway mark. Continuing
the climb became impossible, so the two
were forced to descend south down the gully
(eight rappels plus down climbing), where
they eventually reached a good sheltered
bivouac. During the night mist rolled in and
by next afternoon, when the climbers were
safely back in camp, rain began falling and
remained heavy for the next day and a half.
A few days later the skies cleared and
leaving early one morning, presumably
with a spare rope, the two climbed the East
Ridge Direct of the Thumb in a 121/2-hour
round trip from their camp. This superb
route was first climbed in 1970 by Dick
Culbert, Fred Douglas and Paul Starr. It a
direct ascent (in c15 pitches) of the crest,
which was avoided until two-thirds height
using snow slopes on the South East Face by
Fred Beckey, Bob Craig and Clifford
Schmidke in 1946 during their historic first
ascent of the Thumb. Though Ike and Walsh
had not achieved the complete Devil’s Thumb
traverse, they were the first to climb every
summit in the group.
CHUGACH MOUNTAINS
An innovatory ski traverse of the Chugach
Jon Bracey striking out across iced slabs during the first complete ascent of the Kennedy’s North West Face.
RICH CROSS
STIKINE ICECAP
Devil’s Thumb
080
Canadians, Andre Ike and Jon Walsh, almost
completed a remarkable traverse of the
notorious Devil’s Thumb Group in South East
Alaska’s Stikine Icecap. The pair was
helicoptered to the east side of the 2,766m
Devil’s Thumb, from where they planned to
make the first traverse of the peak via its
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was achieved in April when Joe Stock and
Dylan Taylor made a south-to-north crossing
from Valdez to the Glenn Highway. The pair
left the airport car park in Valdez, ascended
the Valdez Glacier, then crossed the steep
Cashman Col and Tazlina and Science
glaciers to reach the daunting Columbia
Glacier. From there a corridor between
Mounts Elusive and Valhalla provided a
relatively gentle approach up the East
Shoulder of Mount Thor (3,734m and the
second highest peak in the Chugach).
Wearing crampons, they ferried their gear
down the elegant North Ridge to the
Sylvester Glacier and reached a 2,195m col
that gave access to the Powell Glacier. A
further c27km of high level skiing saw them
at the West Branch of the Matansuka, down
which they travelled to the Glenn Highway.
Crossing Thor provided technical climbing,
making this more than just a first ski
traverse, and the two estimate they
ascended nearly 6,000m during the course of
their 175km journey.
X
B2
B1
3
2
CANADIAN YUKON
Mount Kennedy
1
Jon Bracey approaching 4,238m Mount Kennedy across the Lowell Glacier, Canadian Yukon. (1) North
Buttress (summit reached by David Seidman and Todd Thompson from a four-man American team, July
1968: 1,800m: 56 pitches: Alaskan 6: ice, mixed and rock to 5.8 and A3. The crux rock band was avoided via
ice runnels to the right in 2000 by Andy Cave and Mick Fowler on the first Alpine style ascent). (2)
Approximate line of the Roberts/Tackle descent. (3) Bracey/Cross Route (1,800m: Alaskan 6: Scottish 7). A
Pair of Jacks (Jack Roberts/Jack Tackle, 1996: c1,400m: Alaskan 6: M6 and AI 5+) is more or less as marked
to the highpoint (X) at approximately 3,810m. (B1) and (B2) mark the two bivouac sites used by Bracey and
Cross, (B1) also coinciding with the location of the abandoned Roberts/Tackle portaledge. RICH CROSS
to a poor belay. A short traverse right led to
the remains of the portaledge and haul bag
abandoned by the two Jacks. Bracey and
Cross hacked out a small ledge in an
adjacent ice patch and settled down to a
cramped bivouac.
Next day, a further 15 pitches positioned
them at the top of the first big icefield, where
another poor bivouac was endured. Up to
this point they had more or less followed the
original line apart from a few variation
pitches. Above, they climbed five pitches
straight though the final mixed rock barrier
on virgin ground and on to the upper icefield,
where they slanted left, tying the ropes
together to complete gruelling 120m pitches,
to the ultimate snow crest of the North
Buttress. The difficulties of the route had
been mainly Scottish 4-5 in ice runnels or
over thinly iced slabs, with several steeper
pitches of 6, and the first day crux. However,
they realize the face was considerably more
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081
The most significant ascent in the Canadian
Yukon occurred in early May, when British
climbers, Jon Bracey and Rich Cross, pulled
off the much coveted first complete ascent of
4,328m Kennedy’s North West Face.
Remarkably, the pair reached the summit
only a week after leaving the UK. The remote
1,800m mixed face, dubbed the Arctic
Discipline Wall, was climbed to a point some
400m below the summit in 1996 by
Americans, Jack Roberts and Jack Tackle.
Hauling a portaledge these two highly
competent mountaineers climbed for nine
days through generally less than perfect
weather, overcoming difficulties more
sustained than either had previously
experienced, until in the final rock band at
c3,810m they were pinned down for two days
by a severe storm. A day prior to this, Tackle
had also dropped one of his crampons. When
the weather cleared, the two descended by
making 36 rappels down the left side of the
face. The incomplete route was christened A
Pair of Jacks (Alaskan 6, AI 5+ and M6) and
Roberts is quoted as saying ‘by denying
ourselves the summit… I know deep down
that, really, we failed’. Subsequent attempts
have been thwarted by concerns of constant
spindrift and the potential for serious
avalanche danger in bad weather.
Bracey and Cross were landed on the
Dusty Glacier on the 4th May and the next
day skied across to the base of the mountain
with six days’ food. Rising at 3am on the 6th
they were soon doing battle with the initial
steep ice runnels of the route. By mid
afternoon they reached the first major
difficulties - a thinly iced rock barrier where
Cross spent two hours on a hard and
strenuous mixed pitch of Scottish 7, leading
in association with
landing but seven days after they had first
set off on the climb a hungry Bracey and
Cross were successfully whisked back to
civilisation.
Incidentally, Kennedy, a fine pyramid in
the St Elias Mountains just north of the
Alaska border, was named in 1964 by the
Canadian Government as a tribute to John F
Kennedy. It was climbed the following year
by a team of American climbers guiding
Senator Robert Kennedy, who was
helicoptered on to the col between Kennedy
and Hubbard, leaving an easy snow plod up
the broad South West Ridge to the summit.
INFO: Kelly Cordes/Sam Chinnery/Rich
Cross/Denali National Park/Stuart
McAleese/Joe Puryear/Mark Reeves/James
Stover/Freddie Wilkinson and the reference
sources of Alpinist and the American Alpine
Journal
GREATER
HIMALAYA
PAKISTAN 2004
PART ONE
Rich Cross climbing through the final rock band on the North West Face of Kennedy during the third and
final day of the first complete ascent. JON BRACEY
082
iced than on the Roberts/Tackle attempt and
were full of respect for the considerable
difficulties the two Americans must have faced
scratching around on marginally iced granite.
Sitting on the summit in windy but clear
weather, the British climbers’ original plan making 50+ rappels back down the route to
their well-stocked Base Camp - now seemed
overly harrowing. Instead, they descended
the far side and after another exposed
bivouac made it right down to the lower
Cathedral Glacier at c1,900m, ready to be
picked up by a light aircraft the following
morning, the 10th May. Andy Cave and Mick
Fowler had employed identical tactics in 2000
after their ascent of the North Buttress, but
just one year later, the well-known glacier
pilot, Kurt Gloyer, had been killed higher up
the glacier, attempting to evacuate two
climbers in a similar scenario. Cloudy
weather prevented their pilot, Andy Williams
from Kluane, from making an immediate
For those interested in innovative ascents
and progressive mountaineering, the 2004
official list provides depressing reading.
Around 57 different expeditions took up
permits to climb peaks above 6,500m, with
11 of these having more than one goal, in
some cases permits for three different
peaks. Of these 57 only nine were attempting
mountains other than the five 8,000m peaks,
Spantik and Diran. Most of the remaining 48
were commercially organized groups to welltrodden standard routes. In terms of any
evolution in mountaineering, only three of
the 57 produced successes of note: on K2,
Gasherbrum III, K7, Nanga Parbat and
Kapura.
Climbing in the Pakistan Karakoram now
falls into two distinct categories; expeditions
attempting peaks above 6,500m, for which
peak permits, fees and liaison officers are
still mandatory, and teams attempting peaks
below this height, where no fees or
accompanying staff are required unless the
mountain lies in a restricted zone (in which
case a Sirdar/Guide needs to be taken and
very modest fees paid). The former, the vast
majority of which comprise commercially
organized expeditions to the 8,000m peaks,
must apply to the Ministry of Tourism and all
expeditions appear on an official list. The
latter generally need no such formality and
information on their whereabouts, successes
and failures is often difficult to find. In 2003
and 2004 the Ministry dropped all peak fees
by 50% to encourage more mountain tourism
to the country. This has been extended to
2005 and there is both internal and external
pressure on the government to abolish
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K2
The 31st July 2004 marked the 50th
Anniversary of the first ascent of 8,611m K2
by Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli
from Ardito Desio’s 11 (climbing) member
Italian expedition. To mark the occasion, 11
expeditions bought permits. One of these, a
Korean ‘Clean Up’ expedition, (an interesting
and welcome development giving that
Korean expeditions are often criticised for
their lack of tidiness in the mountains), met
with early disaster. On or before the 11th
June three of these climbers, Lee HwaHyong, Kim Jae-Young and Pae Kyong-Kyu
were at their Camp 1 on the mountain when
an avalanche overwhelmed them. All were
found dead in their sleeping bags.
K2 had not been climbed since José
Garces’s ascent on the 22nd July 2001.
Reasons for this involve the threat of
terrorism, weather, and most of all the
collapse of the serac forming one side of the
Bottleneck at c8,300m. The Bottleneck is a
leftward slanting snow/ice ramp between a
big serac barrier high on the Abruzzi Spur
and the rocks bordering the South Face.
Serac fall sometime after 2001 made the
lower section of the Bottleneck much more
difficult and dangerous, stopping climbers in
2002 and 2003.
By the summer of 2004 things had settled
down in this area but for a long time it still
appeared as if it was going to be another
non-year for K2. Then towards the end of
July a fine spell of weather coincided with
many climbers in position for a summit
push. During the night of the 25th-26th nine
climbers set off from the top camp at the
Shoulder and progressed slowly upward, the
Bottleneck proving passable but very difficult
and time consuming.
Silvio Mondinella (his 11th 8,000m peak)
and Karl Unterkircher led a team of five
Italians to the summit, although the work
through the Bottleneck, general trail
breaking through deep snow and the fixing of
ropes (this year ropes appear to have been
fixed through the Bottleneck and up the final
slopes above, leading to K2 being almost
fixed from base to summit), was shared with
the Basque climber, Ivan Vallejo, from the Al
Filo de lo Imposible team. Fittingly, given the
year, the Italians were first to summit and
one of them, Michele Compagnoni, is the
grandson of the first ascensionist. Last to
summit, at around 5.30pm, was the second
pair of four Basques, Juanito Oiazabal and
Edurne Pasaban. With her ascent (and safe
descent), 30-year old Pasaban became the
leading female 8,000m peak collector, having
now climbed seven of the 14 giants. Only the
late Wanda Rutkiewicz climbed more. In
addition, the Basque mountaineer is the
solitary living female to have summited K2
and has now climbed five out of the six
highest summits in the world. Remarkably,
this success has come in just four years.
Pasaban regained her tent on the
Shoulder at around midnight, 24 hours after
leaving, but Oiarzabal never showed. He was
subsequently discovered sitting in the snow
only 100m above camp by more Basque
climbers leaving for their summit attempt on
the 27th. Many summiteers and others on
the mountain rallied to evacuate Oiarzabal
and Pasaban, who had both sustained
frostbitten feet. Pasaban eventually lost two
toes but Oiarzabal’s condition was much
worse. Back in Spain medics were unable to
save any of his toes and he is making a slow
recovery. However, with his ascent, this
highly experienced 48-year old Basque
became only the third person to climb K2
twice, the two others being Josef Raconcaj
(1983 North Ridge; 1996 Abruzzi) and Shera
Jangbu (2000 Basque Route/SSE Spur; 2001
Abruzzi). He also set a record of climbing to
an 8,000m summit no less than 21 times.
On the 27th and benefiting enormously
from the opened trail, more climbers
summited, including six members of Sam
Druk’s China-Tibet expedition, members of
which have now climbed 12 of the 14 8,000m
peaks. The 28th saw another batch including
65-year old Carlos Soria, who became the
oldest summiteer and the only man to have
climbed three 8,000m peaks over the age of
60, and Mario Lacedelli, a nephew of the first
ascensionist. By the time four Japanese and
their two Sherpas had reached the top on the
7th August, a total of 47 climbers had
summited during the season but, notably,
only 19 of these climbed without oxygen, a
far cry from former years when climbing K2
with bottled gas was simply not the done
thing.
Sadly, three more people died high on the
mountain in a similar scenario to the 1986
disaster. On the 28th, Davoud Khadem Asl
from Iran and the experienced Sergei
Sokolov from Russia were camped on the
Shoulder. Unlike their teammate, Alexander
Gubaev, they hadn’t left for the summit that
morning but decided to wait another night to
see if the weather would improve (it had
gradually deteriorated overnight). It is
thought that Gubaev, climbing without
oxygen, reached the top (the first
mountaineer from Kyrghyzstan to reach any
8,000m summit) but he did not return. Asl
and Sokolov could not be persuaded to go
down and were subsequently trapped by a
big storm. They didn’t attempt to descend
until the 1st August, after which nothing
more was heard from them. Some of the
remaining climbers at Base Camp mounted
a rescue but were forced to abandon their
attempt due to heavy snowfall.
One more climber was to summit, bringing
the total for the season to 48 and the overall
total to 246 ascents. This was the Catalan,
Jordi Corominas, achieving what was
undoubtedly the finest ascent on K2, or any
Pakistan 8,000m peak last year, the second
ascent of the Magic Line. Reinhold Messner
dubbed the elegant South Southwest Ridge
the Magic Line, when he went to attempt it in
1979. He never set foot on the route,
deeming it far too difficult and dangerous. It
K2 (8,611m) from the Godwin-Austen Glacier to the south. (1) West Ridge (Japanese/Pakistani Expedition:
summit reached by Eiho Ohtani and Nazir Sabir on the 7th August 1981). (2) South South West Ridge – Magic
Line (Polish/Slovak Expedition: summit reached by Peter Bozik, Przemyslaw Piasecki and Wojiech Wroz on
the 3rd August 1986: second ascent Spanish Expedition with the summit reached on the 16th August 2004 by
Jordi Corominas). (3) South Face – Central Spur (Polish Expedition: summit reached by Jerzy Kukuczka and
Tadeusz Piotrowski on the 8th July 1986. (4) South South East Spur – Basque Route (Alberto and Felix
Iñurrategi, Juanito Oiarzabal and Juan Tomas on 23rd June 1994). (5) South East or Abruzzi Ridge (Italian
Expedition: summit reached by Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli on 31st July 1954). (N) Negrotto Col.
(M) The Mushroom. (H) Hockey Stick Couloir. (B) The Bottleneck. (S) The Shoulder. The white pyramid on the
left is Angel Peak (6,858m: climbed by Michel Afanassieff and Claude Stucki in 1983). ALAN ROUSE
H
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S
M
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4
5
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2
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083
royalty fees for all peaks below 7,000m.
Currently, it seems there will be a similarly
large number of expeditions again this year
but only 11 permits have been issued to
peaks below 8,000m (other than Diran and
Spantik). Part one of our report looks at
ascents on K2 and Gasherbrum III.
in association with
Spanish Basque ‘record breakers’ Edurne Pasaban and Juanito Oiarzabal at K2 Base Camp in 2004. DESNIVEL
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084
was left to another great Italian
mountaineer, Renato Casarotto, to take up
the challenge in the fateful year of 1986.
Casarotto made three attempts on this
audacious line, all solo, the last in mid-July
when he reached 8,300m. The weather
looked dubious and although he was in a
position to go for the summit, caution
prevailed and he decided to descend. After
reaching the foot of the face, he started back
across the glacier, a journey he had made
many times before. A crevasse opened
beneath his feet and Casarotto was dead. A
little later, on the 3rd August, the Slovak,
Peter Bozik (who would later die on Everest
after making the first Alpine style ascent of
the South West Face), and Poles,
Przemyslaw Piasecki and Wojciech Wroz,
completed the route to the summit but as the
three started to descend the Abruzzi, Wroz
slipped and was killed. Since then the route
has gained a reputation as the hardest
technical climb on K2 and until last year
remained unrepeated.
Oscar Cadiach, Corominas, Manel de la
Matta, Jordi Tosas and Valen Giro spent
around three months working the c3,500m
Magic Line, setting up camps at 6,300m on
the Negrotto Col, 6,900m, 7,500m on the
conspicuous snowy Mushroom, and the
highest at 8,100m. On the 16th August, the
highly experienced Cadiach, Corominas and
de la Matta left the top camp for the summit.
Corominas was going strongly but the other
two were not as fast. They were also getting
cold and at 8,300m decided to retreat.
Corominas continued without oxygen. Deep
snow hampered progress and the final 100m
proved particularly time consuming, meaning
that the Catalan did not reach the summit
until midnight. He descended the Abruzzi,
finally stopping to rest in Camp 3 after 30
hours of continuous effort. The other two
descended to their own Camp 3, spent the
night and continued on down the next day,
spending another night at Camp 2 before
reaching the Negrotto Col on the 18th.
Neither of the two climbers had experienced
any altitude problems but at Camp 1, de la
Matta suddenly complained of abdominal
pain, later thought to have been the onset of
appendicitis. His breathing became difficult
and deterioration appears to have been
relatively fast. The following morning he
died.
Born in 1963, de la Matta was a popular
and highly experienced Alpinist from
Barcelona, who was the first director of the
Spanish National Federation High Mountain
School and a pioneer of Spanish paragliding.
He had been a past recipient of the Piolet
d’Oro, the national equivalent of the French
Piolet d’Or, and had climbed in Patagonia
and the Andes. His high altitude
achievements include two attempts on
Everest without oxygen (one to within 80m of
the top), plus Alpine style ascents of Cho Oyu
and the South Face of Xixabangma (both with
Chantal Mauduit). He received a second
Piolet d’Oro posthumously, when the whole
Magic Line team were awarded the prize for
2004.
Gasherbrum III
Almost as significant as the repetition of K2’s
Magic Line, was the second ascent of
Gasherbrum III (7,953m), the 15th highest
mountain in the World. A top-class Basque
trio of Jon Beloki, Alberto Iñurrategi and
José Carlos Tamayo had permission for both
Gasherbrum III and IV but with deep snow
hampering progress everywhere, they
concentrated on repeating the Original Polish
Route on III.
First climbed 30 years ago this August, the
route to Gasherbrum III follows the Standard
Route (Austrian, 1956) up the South West
Ridge of Gasherbrum II as far as Camp 4
(c7,300m) below the summit pyramid, then
traverses north across the west flank of the
pyramid to reach a high col/cwm between
the two mountains. From there it ascends
the centre of the triangular South East Face
of III via a prominent snow couloir, which has
a narrows at around one-third height and
becomes steeper in the upper section where
it dog-legs to the right. Prior to the first
ascent Gasherbrum III was the highest
unclimbed summit in the world and remains
the highest first ascent by women climbers.
The summit party from the 1975 Polish
expedition comprised the foremost British
female mountaineer of that period, Alison
Chadwick (only one higher peak,
Kangchenjunga, received its first ascent from
British climbers), her Polish husband Janusz
Onyskiewicz, Wanda Rutkeiwicz, arguably the
foremost female high-altitude climber of all
time, and Krzysztof Zdizitowiecki.
Subsequently the only other attempt made
to climb this route was by a small British
military expedition in 1994. This team
established Camp 4 on the South West Ridge
of Gasherbrum II but heavy snowfall made
the traverse to the col between this and III
The highly accomplished Spanish Basque
Himalayan climber, Alberto Iñurrategi, at the
Torello Film Festival in November 2003. DESNIVEL
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far too dangerous. The only other real
attempt on the mountain took place in 1985
when in a spirited endeavour on the long
rocky South West Ridge British climbers,
Geoff Cohen and Des Rubens reached
7,700m before bad weather forced a retreat.
Beloki, Iñurrategi and Tamayo set off from
Camp 4 on the 26th July, traversed to the
cwm and started up the couloir. It proved
hard work and Tamayo turned back, leaving
the others to continue to the summit. In the
upper section they found snow ramps at 5055° and an old rusty peg, the only visible relic
from the first ascent. Style has always been
important to Iñurrategi, who is now the only
person to climb all 15 highest mountains in
the world. His first 12 peaks over 8,000m
were summited with his brother, Felix, until
the latter was killed in 2000 on Gasherbrum
II. When he climbed his second 8,000er,
Everest, in 1992, Alberto became the
youngest person to reach the summit
without oxygen. More high peaks were later
climbed by difficult routes, including K2,
where he made the first integral ascent of
the South Southeast Spur, now generally
referred to as the Basque Route.
INFO: Desnivel/Xavier Eguskitza/Nazir Sabir
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