Rock Climbing In Pakistan

The CONTINENTAL COLLISION of the three mighty mountain ranges of the world the Himalayas, the Karakorams & the Hindukush in the North of Pakistan has given birth to the thickest cluster of the Highest Peaks and Largest Glaciers on Earth. The statistics are simply baffling. 05 of the world’s 14 peaks above 8000 meters are in Pakistan. 101 peaks are above 7000 meters whereas, peaks from 6999 to 3000 meters are countless. All peaks up to 6500 M may be climbed without paying any permit fees. 50 of the world’s 100 highest peaks are in Pakistan. K-2 8626 M is the second highest on Earth. 

Alone in Baltistan & Hunza, there are more than 100 peaks above 18,000 ft. Literally, most of their base  camps are higher than the Summits of all the peaks in Europe. Pakistan’s glaciated region covers 12,000 Sq/Kms. The 06 longest valley glaciers of the world, are also in Pakistan & their total length exceed 350 Km. The Biafo-Hispar glacial corridor of 116 Km is the longest on Earth. No mention of over 300 small glaciers & their tributaries ranging from 1 to 50 Kms. 

Pakistan happens to be the only country in the world which offers the highest number of Big Walls, Rock Towers, Spires and Pinnacles of excellent quality. The vertical faces of Trango Towers are the world’s tallest cliffs and there are many other big walls like Uli Biaho, Shipton Spire, Cat Ears Spires, Susbun Spires, Bakhordas, Cathedral ..etc 

THE GREAT TRANGO TOWER 

The Trango Towers are a group of dramatic granite spires located on the north side of the Baltoro Glacier, in Baltistan, a district of the Northern Areas of Pakistan. They are part of the Baltoro Muztagh, a subrange of the Karakoram range. The Towers offer some of the largest cliffs and most challenging rock climbing in the world. The highest point in the group is the summit of Great Trango Tower, 6,286 m (20,608 ft). 

Structure of the Group 

All of the Trango Towers lie on a ridge, trending northwest-southeast, between the Trango Glacier on the west and the Dunge Glacier on the east. Great Trango itself is a large massif, with four identifiable summits: Main (6,286 m), South or Southwest (circa 6,250 m), East (6,231 m), and West (6,223 m). It is a complex combination of steep snow/ice gullies, steeper rock faces, and vertical to overhanging headwalls, topped by a snowy ridge system.  

Just northwest of Great Trango is the Trango Tower (6,239 m), often called “Nameless Tower“. This is a very large, pointed, rather symmetrical spire which juts 1000 m out of the ridgeline. North of Trango Tower is a smaller rock spire known as Trango Monk. To the north of this feature, the ridge becomes less rocky and loses the large granite walls that distinguish the Trango Towers group and make them so attractive to climbers; however the summits do get higher.  

These summits are not usually considered part of the Trango Towers group, though they share the Trango name. Trango II (6,327 m) lies northwest of the Monk, and the highest summit on the ridge, Trango Ri (6,363 m), lies northwest of Trango II.  

Just southeast of Great Trango (really a part of its southeast ridge) is the Trango Pulpit (6,050m), whose walls present similar climbing challenges to those of Great Trango itself. Further to the south is Trango Castle (5,753 m), the last large peak along the ridge before the Baltoro Glacier. 

SHIPTON SPIRE 

Big, gnarly and unclimbed, the seldom seen north face of Shipton Spire (5854 meters 19,199 feet) was attempted this past summer by two Slovakians, Gabo Câmárik and Jozef “Dodo” Kopold, via mixed terrain right of the hanging serac. Illness forced them to turn around less than halfway up the line. The pair would later go on to establish a new route up neighboring Uli Biaho (21,053 feet). 

THE  KNOTTY  CAT  EARS  SPIRE 

Micah Dash and Eric DeCaria made the second ascent of Cat’s Ear Spire (17,585 feet) in the Trango area of Pakistan, climbing a 12-pitch variation to the original route on the stunning rock needle. 

The two Americans climbed the 3,500-foot line, Super Cat (VI 5.11 R A1), in alpine style, enduring three bivouacs with no sleeping bags. They placed no pins or bolts on the route. Cat’s Ear Spire was pioneered in 2000 by Americans Jonny Copp and Mike Pennings. Dash said in an email from Pakistan that the climb was “much more serious and complicated than the Eternal Flame on Nameless Tower,” a route that he and partners speed-climbed to the summit ridge last year. “The route consisted of pitch after pitch of mandatory run-out 5.11 off width, squeeze chimney, and face climbing,” Dash said. Both men led & down climbed the summit block to tag the top.