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Karakoum Big Wall wrap up
Jun 29, 2004 14: 47 EST
Action is on in the Karakoram Range, and not only on the 8000+ peaks. A bunch of bold climbers are facing some of the most demanding big walls on Pakistan spires and, once the snow recedes, they will be going straight up...
Latok 1:
The Benegas Brothers (Damian and Guillermo) finally reached Latok I base camp, after a hazardous trek in. They were amazed by the sights around them: “This place is a rock climber’s/Alpinist’s paradise; there is so much rock here that it would take a life time to climb just half of what is here. There are rock towers everywhere, long ridges and crack systems anywhere you look!”.
Now they are taking advantage of the good weather to explore the surroundings… and to do the laundry. “Yesterday we climbed a point across Base Camp, a beautiful buttress about the size of Washington column with a difficulty up to 5.10d perfect rock and some nasty snow ramps but in the end, a truly great climb. Today we decided to take it easy and since we have been on the move almost non stop for two weeks, hiking to the base of our route sounded easy, but we should have known better. Our day finished with a long 6 ½ hrs of walking in a totally flat glacier all white with fresh snow.” The Benegas’ intend to be the first to reach the sharp summit of Latok I (7145m) by its North Ridge.
Amin Brakk:
The Russian climbing and BASE jumping ‘Extreme Project’ team lead by Valery Rozov, burning with impatience during the last snowy days, jumped on the wall, not even allowing time for the ice to melt. “We finally started to work on the route!!! Yesterday we managed to walk around and choose the route. It is the first day of normal weather today, and we at once began fixing the rope after a lot of infinite conversations on how and where to climb. Finally we chose the west face for our ascent. In our opinion, there is no logical route from bottom up to the summit via the northern face. Any possible variant means huge bolt work especially on the bottom third of the wall. Plus, in its middle part the wall is less abrupt, that basically calls the opportunity of B.A.S.E. jumping into question. We plan to lay a new line between Spanish and Czech routes on the west face. The upper two thirds looks logical enough, the bottom third (typical for all the mountains) has extremely poor surface not readable from below. Today we could made 3.5 pitches via the bottom belt of not so abrupt, but ice-covered rocks.”
Spantik:
The Spanish Civil Guard expedition to Spantik expected to climb the neat mixed Golden Pillar, but their works on the route seem much more like digging a trench. A very steep one, indeed. “Snow conditions are impossible; we tried to go on a 70º slope with the snow up to our chest. It takes several minutes to gain a meter, while your feet rest on fresh unstable snow threatening to crumble down at any moment, down to the glacier, 1000m below.”
Trango Towers:
The Catalonian lady climber Araceli Segarra, along with the Mexicans Hector Ponce de León, Mario and Armando, wait for the conditions to improve at the base of the Nameless tower (6245m), where they intend to climb the 1200m-long Slovenian Route. “Yesterday evening it stopped snowing. At night we saw the moon rising and could enjoy the impressive view of Ulibiaju peak covered in snow. This morning though, snow was falling again. We have no other choice than to be patient. It is the sixth bad day in a row!”.
Benegas Brothers | Spanish Civil Guard to Spantik | Araceli Segarra Nameless Tower | Russian Extrem Proyect Amin Brakk
Image of Willie Benegas doing ‘Laundry with a view’, courtesy of the Benegas Brothers.
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| Ireland K2 expedition leaving town Sunday Jun 3, 2005 | | Avalanche alert in Pakistan and media reports of 2005 causalties Jun 2, 2005 | | Vikings for Pakistan sky descents! Jun 1, 2005 | | Russians for K2 West Face first ascent May 31, 2005 | | ExplorersWeb Week in Review May 30, 2005 | | Pakistan's last images of Chinese/Tibet expedition May 28, 2005 | | China/Tibet's great loss - Rena dies, Bianba Zaxi seriously injured May 28, 2005 | | China/Tibet Gasherbrum expedition caught in big avalanche May 28, 2005 | | Simone Moro's Batura II expedition: “Thank God Alpinism is anything but dead,” part 2 final May 26, 2005 | | Simone Moro's Batura II expedition: "Thank God alpinism is anything but dead" part 1 May 25, 2005 |
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