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Trip: Diobsud Buttes - Standard Trip Date: 04/16/2020 Trip Report: How has it been 8 months since I posed a TR??!! Can I blame COVID? You may think that I am now 300lbs, into gaming, and sitting on my basement couch. Oh no! I'm just the same old punter, a bit older and a bit slower, but definitely still in love with the alpine..... So, since the weather has turned and I've caught up on my image editing, I'll turn the clock back and start putting out some TRs over the next couple months. I know you all can't just live on powder and face shots...... April 2020. Public lands were shut for the most part, but dispersed recreation on USFS lands allowed as long as you don't use trails or trailheads. Not a problem in the Skagit! But, in order to be good citizens, @Trent and I agreed to meet at the trailhead rather than carpool. This will come back to haunt us later that day. We drove in tandem up the excellent Diobsud Creek Road to about 2200' were we were stopped by snow. Not a soul around. Perfect. We walked up the road for a bit until it was time to leave for the off-trail fun at about 2600'. Less perfect. Soon (in hindsight) the brush was left behind and we emerged into the glorious alpine to great views and a chance to use our snowshoes. You know you're in for a good time when you put those on. Steve didn't have a chance to use his sunglasses, however, as they were at home. D'oh! After a bit of clumping up the ridge we reached a false summit (previous highpoint for us a few years ago) and a view towards the Buttes. It looked steep, but at least the snow was quite soft at this point in the day: We couldn't bear the thought of failing a second time at the same spot, so we continued clumping. Down, down, down, then up, up, up. Did I mention that Steve didn't have sunglasses? It was bright for him, I'm sure. We got to the summit of the the SE Butte (5850') and it looked like an easy stroll over to the higher, NW Butte (5893') and so we headed that way without delay: But, uhhhhhhhh, this is as far as we got. Just in front of Steve is a really steep gash in the ridge with a huge cornice off to the right and a death gully to cliff on the left. It probably would have gone without a rope if we were desperate, but we weren't. And so we settled for some whiskey, chocolate, and a nap in the sun on the lower summit. Soon enough it was time to descend into the slush and shenanigans. But the Buttes weren't done with us! We got back to our vehicles in good time and sat there drinking beers, eating chips and generally enjoying being outside in good company after weeks of being locked down. We were in no rush. But the sun sank lower and we reluctantly got into our rigs for the drive down. Only to find the gate at the bottom of the road LOCKED! What??!! Were we in trouble??? We thought we had followed all the rules, but it was a pandemic so we couldn't be sure. @Trent and I moved the rigs back up from the gate (not the greatest neighborhood up there) and walked down to where I could barely get a call out to my wife. Needless to say, social distancing was the first casualty, since our kids are small and the whole family came up to rescue us (waaaaay past their bedtime). I was pretty sure I was going to be the next casualty. But, I survived, and so did @Trent. We got our vehicles out the next day, somewhat legally (story best told around the fire with whiskey). And, most importantly, nobody got COVID. The end. Maybe we'll be back for the higher Butte. Maybe. Gear Notes: Sigh....Snowshoes Approach Notes: Diobsud Creek Road to ~2600'. Leave road and head straight up ridge towards peak. Depending on snow depth, expect shenanigans. Spring is best after snow settles and a hard freeze.

Trip: Pakistan - K6 Central Trip Date: 10/09/2020 Trip Report: Dear CC friends, Sorry we haven't been on here much, but we've been working a lot on our blog. It's more of a diary for us since we don't care about hits or ad content. We really don't want to just post a link to our blog TR and leave it at that. We want to see CC thrive and grow! So we've copied our latest TR from Pakistan below. If you are interested in other TR's from our 2020 year of traveling and climbing, like our ascent of all Six of the Great Alps North Faces and Cerro Torre in Patagonia, check out our blog or Vimeo page. https://alpinevagabonds.com https://vimeo.com/user37304873 Stats Location: Masherbrum Range, Karakoram Mountains, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan K6 West, 7,140m, 3rd ascent, October 8, 2020 K6 Central, 7,155m, 1st ascent, October 9, 2020 Climbers: Jeff and Priti Wright Trip Report K6 Central Summit Selfie (7,155m) We climbed K6 West (third ascent 7,140m) and K6 Central (first ascent 7,155m) this October. We summited West on Oct 8th and Central on Oct 9th. We had been planning to climb K6 from the Nangmah valley side for over two years. When COVID struck, we held on to the hope of going but delayed our trip from the original June-August until late September-October when the country announced they were allowing tourists to enter with a valid COVID test. A week before we departed, Colin Haley decided to join our trip to climb various objectives solo. Colin has been a hero to us, and was a major inspiration for us to start Alpine Climbing over six years ago. In fact, we modeled our Sabbatical Year on a typical year in Colin’s life (Patagonia – Chamonix – Pakistan). It was a real treat for us to have him join us at Base Camp, and he provided us with a wealth of knowledge and advice in this new game (for us) of high altitude Alpinism. Jeff on K6 Central’s summit This was a difficult year for climbers, world-wide, due to COVID. Nearly all serious expeditions canceled their plans, so when we continued with our planned Karakoram expedition to K6, we were quite alone in the whole range. Certainly no one expected us to make a first ascent of K6 Central, a 7,000m peak, in late season. K6 has three major summits along its summit ridge: West (7,140m), Central (7,155m), and Main (7,281m). K6 Main was first climbed by an Austrian Expedition in 1970 led by Eduard Koblmueller. Before the expedition, we were lucky enough to get in contact with one of the original expedition members of the young Austrian team, Fred Pressl, who graciously shared pictures and stories from his 1970 expedition. In 2013, Ian Welsted and Raphael Slawinski became the first ascensionists of K6 West via a highly technical route from the North (Charakusa) side (for which they won a Piolet d’Or). Then in 2015, Graham Zimmerman and Scott Bennett became the second ascensionists of K6 West from the South (Nangmah) side. But an impending storm forced them to retreat without continuing the traverse to K6 Central, and it remained unclimbed. Priti with K6 West on the left, Main in the middle and Central on the right The first hurdle to overcome was getting to Pakistan. We kept in contact with Ali Saltoro, our expedition tour operator, who kept us informed on the COVID status there. We delayed our trip a month and a half, but when he told us that tourism had opened up in Pakistan, we dusted off our Visas from December 2019, bought plane tickets and got the fresh COVID tests required for entry. We had heard of no expeditions traveling this season, and we didn’t know what to expect. We arrived in Islamabad on August 23rd, Ali met us at the airport, and hours later we flew to Skardu, without even leaving the airport. We arrived smoothly and safely at basecamp in the Nangmah valley on Aug 26th, with zero hassle. Advanced Base Camp, with the South Face of K6 behind Once we got to basecamp, we started acclimatizing on nearby Kapura Peak and had a full view of K6’s SW Ridge and West Face from what’s called Alam’s Col (a route first climbed by Portugese Daniela Teixeira and Paulo Roxo in 2013). From this vantage point, we could see that there were several options for climbing the West Face. After acclimatizing on Kapura Peak (no summit attempt) located on the West Nangmah Glacier, we moved over to the East Nangmah Glacier and made an Advanced Base Camp. We continued acclimatizing, exploring two of the three alternative lines that would bypass nearly all of the technical mixed climbing found by Graham and Steve. We climbed up to 6200m and slept above 5700m for 5 nights, before determining that Graham and Scott’s descent line would be the ideal line of ascent as well. Bivy high on K6, with the East and West Nangmah Glaciers below We descended back to Base Camp (4,400m), upon learning that Colin had fallen ill. Colin ended his trip and returned to France, but we made plans for a summit attempt when we received a promising weather forecast. We were well acclimatized, and poised for attack, despite the dropping temperatures and rapidly shortening days. Paragliding near base camp, Shingu Charpa behind On October 2nd, we headed back up to ABC at 5,150m. From there, the route starts on a major ramp on the southwest flank of the peak, following up to 60 degrees ice/snow to the SW ridge for about 600m to the southwest ridge. We then traversed for 300m across the West Face, across the bergschrund, then straight up the icy 900m West Face. When Graham and Scott descended by this line in 2015, they made 19 Abolokov’s to get below the bergschrund. The 900m ascent of the West Face was a strenuous, calf-burning, 12hr day to reach 6,600m on the southwest ridge. The West Face consisted primarily of a few inches of névé over solid, very hard ice (~70deg for 900m), which we simul-climbed. The West Face of K6 The upper slopes consisted of deep snow, and we wallowed the last 400m to the summit ridge at 7,000m. Our weather forecaster warned us that we would encounter the jet stream above 6,500m with sustained winds of at least 45km/hr and a morning low of -21C; he was correct. This late season ascent meant climbing in cold, clear, windy weather, and especially short days and cold, long nights. We climbed new terrain along the traverse from K6 West to K6 Central. The West Face of K6 Central was up to 80 deg ice/snow including a bergschrund and a tenuous cornice to overcome. Final slopes to K6 Central The North side of the sharp, rocky summit ridge of K6 Central precipitously dropped dead vertically into the Charakusa Valley. When we finally reached the highest point of the fan-shaped crest of K6 Central’s summit, we sat on the knife-edge ridge with one leg over the Lachit Valley and one leg over the Charakusa Valley. Strangely, climbing an unclimbed peak did not feel any different from climbing any other peak. However the clear weather gave us great views of the enormous 7,000 and 8,000 meter peaks that spread out around us in a vast panorama in all directions, and we felt exuberant and humbled. But our elation was short-lived because we had a long way to descend. Priti’s foot dangling from the summit of K6 Central, over the Charakusa glacier We owe many thanks to Steve Swenson, Graham Zimmerman, and Ian Welsted for their helpful beta, to Colin Haley for his great advice and wonderful company, to the rest of our base camp crew, Ishaq our basecamp manager, Azhar our cook, Captain Zohaib our liaison officer, and of course Ali Saltoro, our expedition tour operator. We couldn’t have done it without them! Our basecamp crew: Jeff, Priti, Colin, Azhar, Ali, Captain Zohaib, Ishaq Gear Notes: 6 Ice Screws, 6 Alpine Draws, 60m Beal Opera, 60m tag line, two tools each, dual points. Gear brought but not used (bummer!): 5 cams, extra Alpine Draws, small rack of nuts Approach Notes: Approach via East Nangmah Glacier

They have great drugs these days.