As teams converge on Pakistan, we’ve learned of more exciting plans for new routes and first ascents.
Tom Livingstone (who won a Piolet d’Or in 2019 for a new route to Latok I) has teamed up with Mathieu Maynadier for an attempt on remote Pumari Chhish (7,350m). Yannick Graziani and Christian Trommsdorff made the first and only ascent of this peak in 2007.
Graziani is also climbing and skiing in the Karakorum this summer, in the company of Patrick Wagnon and Helias Millerioux. Their goals remain unclear, but the team’s latest track some days ago places them in the mountains northeast of Rakaposhi. That day, Millerioux wrote they had enjoyed a perfect 1,300m ski descent.
The one route opened on Pumari Chhish, by Graziani and Tromsdoff in 2007. Photo: 4sport.ua
A French team of Jerome Sullivan, Victor Saucede, Jeremy Stagnetto, and Martin Elias plan to attempt the first ascent of K13/Dansam Peak (6,666m), a little-known mountain on the border with Indian Kashmir.
To the Gasherbrums
Skiers Boris Langensteina and Tiphaine Duperier of France are also back in the Greater Ranges this season. After an incomplete ski descent of Nanga Parbat in 2019, they are now eyeing the Gasherbrums, together with Aurelia Lanoe and Guillaume Pierrel. En route to Base Camp, the team has carved a number of lines in the Chitral area.
Gasherbrum I from the summit of Gasherbrum II. Photo: The Altitude Team
Serge Hardy of France will attempt a Broad Peak, GI, and GII triple-header, according to Montagnes magazine.
In a rather Gallic stunt, Philippe Genin, the so-called Summit Pianist, will assemble a small piano and play on top of GII. The artist has previously played atop several peaks in the Alps, the summit of Ama Dablam, and Camp 2 on Cho Oyu. He wants to “spread the energy of love and well-being throughout the Earth.” All right, then.
Italian mountain guide Marco Confortola will attempt Gasherbrum I (Hidden Peak), and a five-man team from the Catalonia region of Spain, led by Lluis Cortadellas, checked in from Islamabad today on their way to GI and GII.
“We managed to buy a last-minute plane ticket and here we are,” they wrote happily. The young climbers are fresh from training in Chamonix.
Catalonia’s Altitude Team in Islamabad today.
K2 and Broad Peak
Samina Baig and her all-Pakistani K2 team checked in from Skardu yesterday. Mirza Ali introduced five of his Shimshali Boys, in charge of fixing the ropes on K2 and already on their way to Base Camp. Jordi Tosas will lead them, assuming that he manages to board a plane to Pakistan on Monday. ”
My flights have been postponed twice so I am already running late,” he told ExplorersWeb. “We need to start fixing K2 asap, and I am afraid I will get to Base Camp rather short of acclimatization.” Tosas lives in Spain’s Pyrenees and trains every day, but the highest peak in that range, Mt. Aneto, is only 3,404m.
The rope-fixing team known as the Shimshali Boys, ready to tie up K2. From left, Saeed Karim, Ahmed Baig, Waqar Ali, Ishaq Ali, and Rizwan Dad. Photo: Mirza Ali
Meanwhile, two new names are confirmed for K2: Anne Bialek and Victor Sans.
On Broad Peak, Don Bowie and Lotta Hintsa are still in BC waiting out bad weather. Last week, they managed to set up Camp 1 on the best possible spot (there is not much room) while there was no one else on the mountain. At the time, they reported very good conditions. By now, other climbers should be joining them in Base Camp, including Pakistan’s Saeed Almemari.
