Pakistan 2018 - By Jess Roskelley

I’ve been hearing stories of climbing in the Karakorum range of Pakistan since I was a kid. My dad, John Roskelley, along with an assortment of well-known climbers, did the first ascents of Great Trango Tower and Uli Biaho, and the third ascent of K2, so I became familiar with the potential of future climbs early on.

After spending years alpine climbing in Alaska and Patagonia, my attention turned to a newly opened area in Pakistan. I teamed up with Kurt Ross, who received a Cutting Edge Award from the American Alpine Club, and a Belgium climber, Nelson Neirink, to explore the area along the India border south of K6 and attempt several 6,000 meter peaks.
From Islamabad, we traveled for two days to Skardu along the Karako-ram Highway, and then set off a day later for the Kondus valley for thirty days of climbing. The hike to base camp at 14,500 feet took two days. From there we explored a nearby valley while acclimatizing and select-ing several unclimbed objectives. There were an unlimited number of granite towers to select from, most above 6,000 meters.

From our advanced base camp in our valley, we climbed a smaller 19,500-foot granite tower with a steep ice face and several entertaining mixed ice and rock pitches to the summit. We named it Baba Hussein, after our 65 year-old singing and dancing cook-helper at base camp.

After a few days of rest, we set off to climb the tallest peak in our small valley. We crossed a broken glacier littered with seracs before the sun hit the slopes above us and sloughs of snow began to slide down our intended route. The solution was simple – put up our tent and wait for the soft snow to freeze through the night. By early morning, the snow and ice were stable and firm. Using headlamps in the early hours, we climbed a long, calf-burning ice face that finally ended on a serrated ridge. Again, the heat of the day had thwarted our plans to continue, so we sat until night waiting for a long ice pitch that was running with water to freeze. Close to dark, we left the majority of our gear and climbed steep ice to a col which led to a summit ridge. After a few hours of struggle, mostly with the altitude, we finally stood on the summit of Chota Bai (6300M), which means “little brother” in Urdu.
Our next objective was what the local villagers called Changi Tower 2, not to be confused with the taller Changi Tower not far from our valley. Changi 2 seemed to have the technical mixed climbing we had been looking for.

Kurt, Nelson and I started up Changi 2 at one in the morning, each of us soloing for hours up a steep couloir. At first light, we reached a tech-nical mixed climbing section up a near-vertical headwall of Yosemite-like granite cracks, but with small corners of brittle ice. At dark. we reached a col below another rising headwall. I laid out my bivouac sack and burrowed in as thunder and lightning moved in our direction –luckily, it dissipated among the peaks. Early the next morning, we trav-ersed into another calf-burning ice couloir, which took us to a ridge just short of the summit. We cached our camp gear and raced up another large ice face to the summit of Changi Tower 2, a 40-foot granite block shaped in an arch that overhung the Northwest face, a prize not only for climbers, but for any future base jumper.
We rappelled into the dark, unsure of the best way down. Midway through the night, one of our rappel ropes we were retrieving cut loose a large granite block. We hugged the wall and dodged the missile, but one rope was damaged beyond use and the other had to be shortened. At the first light of day, we finished the remainder of the rappels with the one short rope. Late in the day, we reached our tent on the glacier, where we packed up and headed for basecamp.

Our expedition took place between July 15th and August 15th, 2018.

Pakistan will positively be the location of a yearly pilgrimage for me, and I plan to visit the Kondus Valley again in hopes of knocking-off as many objectives as I can in this granite playground.

- By Jess Roskelley

* PHOTO CREDITS: All photos by Kurt Ross