Priti

I'm not sure it was a sundog, it was just a rainbow I guess from ice crystals in the air! Pretty unreal! The next day there was another wild optical solar thing

Charakusa, Pakistan Summer 2023 First Bivouac under the couloir on the north face of K7 This summer, my husband and climbing partner Jeff Wright and I embarked on a mission to K7 to attempt to summit the unclimbed peak K7 Central, for a second time, with the generous help of a Caltopo Grant. I first started using Caltopo to plan my outdoor adventures in 2014, taking mountaineering classes in the PNW Cascades through the Boeing Alpine Club (BOEALPS). I’m delighted to continue to use Caltopo, but now in the Pakistani Karakoram range, charting new routes in the Charakusa. Priti's CalTopo Route planning, waypoints, and notes We have also appreciated the American Alpine Club on our climbing journey, reading their journal and trip reports avidly. In 2020 I received a Live Your Dream Grant to climb Cerro Torre via the Ragni route, which was a fantastic help and assisted in our year-long sabbatical and our first expedition to the Pakistani Karakoram. That year, Jeff and I made the successful first ascent of the unclimbed peak K6 Central (7,155m) where we got our first glimpse of K7 and were inspired to return to the region. K6 and K7 are next door neighbors in the Charakusa Valley and both have technical terrain on all sides which is why they get climbed very rarely. The southeastern face of the K7 massif as seen from the summit of K6 Central (7155m) in 2020. From left to right: K7 West (6615m), K7 Central (6858m) and K7 Main (6934m), with its east face visible. [Jeff Wright] Last summer in 2022, Jeff and I received two generous grants from the AAC, the McNeill-Nott Award and the Cutting Edge Grant for our second expedition to the Karakoram range, this time to the Charakusa Valley to chart a new route on the K7 massif and summit K7 Central. We read every trip report and account of K7 that we could find, especially in the American Alpine Journal library archives. Each narrative of an ascent, successful or not, gave us new insights into the mountain, as we pieced together the history of the area. After studying dozens of photos from unique perspectives and pouring over maps and Google Earth, we found an exciting and promising new line that inspired us. The inspiration came from a photo taken by Kate Ballard and given to us by Graham Zimmerman. The route followed weaknesses on the North and Northeast sides of the K7 Massif, a face of the mountain with no other known ascents or previous attempts. Furthermore, we have found no record of any other party crossing over the Kaberi Pass that divides the K7 Massif from Sulu Peak. The impressive K7 Central, a canine-toothed gendarme (~300m of prominence from the ridgeline) along K7’s summit crown (2022) Priti on K7 Central, 2022 On our first attempt to the 6,858m high peak, we nearly reached the summit, turning around 100m from the top due to difficult rock climbing without adequate gear (no rock shoes!). Since we were unsuccessful that year, and we made efforts to keep details of the trip quiet until we could return the next year for our second attempt. This summer 2023, we returned to attempt the project again, armed with more knowledge and a refined strategy. As in our previous trip to Pakistan, this expedition was conducted with strict Leave No Trace and Alpine Style ethics. Priti approaches the clean corner that reminded the couple of Yosemite. During this 2022 attempt, we were disappointed in their last-minute decision to leave our rock shoes in base camp. [Jeff Wright] Along our climb, we marked waypoints in the CalTopo app (offline) at every bivouac. We then exported our track and waypoints from CalTopo onto Google Earth. Google Earth screenshot using the CalTopo Exports In June 2022, we were surprised to arrive at base camp which had a foot of snow on the ground where we were expecting green meadows. Before departing the nearby town of Skardu (and our last source of Wifi) in July 2023, we wanted to find out what conditions to expect at base camp before we arrived. We used Caltopo’s Live Satellite imagery to preview the conditions of base camp before the hike in. Everything looked nice and dry for our journey into the Charakusa valley this year, and it turned out quite pleasant! Base Camp in the Charakusa Valley 2023 Expedition Team (left to right): Captain Ibtasam “Sam” Khan (Pakistani Military Liaison Officer), Idris Karim (Cook’s Assistant), Jeff Wright, Priti Wright, Ibrahim Jamali (Cook) We arrived at base camp in the Charakusa Valley on July 16th, in nearly record breaking time from Seattle. We left Seattle on July 9th, arriving after two flights on Turkish airlines, on July 11th and flying directly to Skardu. From Skardu we drove to the small mountain village of Hushe in 8 slightly bumpy hours on July 13th. After collecting our camp gear off the two jeeps and dividing gear amongst porters and donkeys, we hiked into the Charakusa base camp over three days. We set up base camp, joining Tad McCrea and Tom Livingstone, our Liaison Officer Captain Ibtasam “Sam” and our cooks Ibrahim and Idris who had been our cooks the previous year. Panorama from the summit of Sulu We were feeling well acclimatized and fit, so we took advantage of the spell of good weather and climbed the nearby 6070m peak Sulu to continue to acclimate. We reached the summit on July 19th after three days of climbing, only roping up because of cornices at the top and spending the night near the summit. We arrived back at base camp the next day as bad weather descended. Camping spot near the summit of Sulu (~6000m) We had weather updates from our forecaster and our friends, via our inReach device. The weather was supposed to be good for three days, stormy for two, and then a big weather window would open up. We optimistically packed up our bags and headed out to repeat our route from last year, up the North Ridge of K7 in the evening of July 25th. The North Ridge of K7 (sun-shade); North Face is on the sun side; Northeast Face (and Grand Couloir) on the shade side; K7 West is the prominent peak on the right (2022) On the first three days we hiked up and over Kaberi Pass and camped on a moraine below the North Face of K7 to wait out the storm. On July 30th we climbed up the 45-55° snow/ice couloir on the North Ridge of K7 to a good bivy spot that we dug into the ridge at the top. I led the approximately 250m couloir in one long simul pitch. Crossing the short ridge led to the next long couloir. Snow began falling in the afternoon as we dug the platform for our tent. Our first bivouac on the North Ridge after digging away a platform from its knife-edge ridgeline (2023) We began up the 600m grand couloir on the Northeast Face of K7 the next day which started under blue skies and perfect temps. The weather deteriorated in the afternoon, however, with snowfall and deep grey skies. The slopes were 45-65° snow and ice, with one steeper section that climbed at AI4. We continued climbing through the precipitation and bivied near the top of the couloir as night started to fall after burrowing out a large hole in a patch of soft snow for our tent. Climbing up the Grand Couloir on K7’s Northeast Face (and a cool arch feature) The next day we popped over the North Ridge at the top of the couloir and traversed around crevasses, climbing up deteriorating ice over a bergschrund to reach a flat balcony overlooking the North Face at 6140m. Unfortunately the snow came in as it did every afternoon and visibility dropped so we stopped to bivy again. The Priti Wright climbing on K7’s Upper North Face with Chogolisa’s recognizable twin-peak profile behind We finally reached the K7 Glacier at 6,400m on the ninth day away from base camp although we had only been technically climbing for four days. Snow continued to fall every afternoon, vanishing the peaks of K7 Central, Main and West in a shroud of clouds and mist. Arriving again, at the K7 Glacier with the peaks of K7 behind (left-to-right): K7 Main, K7 Central, unnamed gendarme, and K7 West (2023) We trudged our way through the snow to the base of the col between Main and Central as we had the previous year, and out of the mist the rocky tower of K7 Central appeared, blasted with ice and snow. Our Base Camp mates (Tad McCrea and Tom Livingstone) emerged unexpectedly in one of the most improbable places on Earth. During our 2022 expedition, we were likely the first people to ever reach the K7 Glacier, a high altitude desolate hanging glacier perched at 6,400m and guarded on all sides by steep, technical walls. Now we were again on this wide, deserted, improbable landscape, staring up at the final ice step to the Col between K7 Main and Central, that we had climbed last year. Climbing steep snow and ice to access the K7 Main-Central Col In an effort to salvage the trip and complete the route despite the terrible conditions, we quickly changed objectives and headed up a different slope to try to reach K7 Main instead. It would be a less noteworthy, but still valiant accomplishment to make the Main summit instead of the virgin summit of Central. However terrible snow and avalanche conditions turned us around on our bid for K7 Main and we retraced our steps up to the col below K7 Central. Our bivouac tent in 2022 at the K7 Central-Main Col with K7 Main behind (the highest peak of the K7 Massif) Jeff climbing steep 5.11 granite in 2022 under prime conditions Priti high on K7 Central in 2022 We descended 30m and camped in the bergschrund below the col, underneath the upper bivouac site that we used last year, now occupied by Tom and Tad. Minimal snow and ice fell on us during the night. We were tired from our efforts, and the Central tower was covered in unprotectable ice and snow where we were climbing beautiful cracks bare-handed the previous year. Climbing to K7 Main or K7 Central was too dangerous, time-consuming and risky in these conditions. The combination of all of the factors caused us to make the painful choice to bail and descend the Central Couloir on the south face of K7 the next day. Descending the complex snow and ice of K7’s Central Couloir in 2022 The descent down the Central Couloir went very smoothly. It seemed less dangerous than last year and we retreated quickly and easily leaving behind only a couple of slings when our V-Threads began to get too sticky in the warmer temperatures. We reached base camp on August 5th and started packing up to return home. Priti exhausted after a long, complicated 2,500m descent down K7’s Central Couloir; K7 Central is the prominent peak in the center of the frame (2023) We departed Islamabad on August 11th and returned to Seattle the same day. Thank you so much to Caltopo for supporting our exploration and for the Pro subscription to the Caltopo App, which was very useful during the whole trip, and I’d recommend it to everyone. Thank you to our sponsors for the previous trip, the American Alpine Club's Cutting Edge Grant and Grit&Rock. Post-climb Vibes While we didn't reach the summit, I personally have grown up a lot through this journey. We have added our own footprint to the history of this peak and area, while gaining a deeper understanding and respect for those who have come before us. We couldn't have done it without the incredible help from our heroes and mentors including Steve Swenson, Graham Zimmerman, Steve House, Colin Haley, Rolo Garibotti and my coach Martin Zhor, among so many others. I feel deep gratitude for the support of our climbing community, the people of the Hushe Valley and the inspiring peaks in the Karakoram. 🙏 Amazing Mountains Surround Base Camp, Nayser Brakk on the left

Wow, the rock fall from the other climbers sounds horrific! It was awesome to meet you out there! Mega congrats, it wasn't an easy year for everyone else at least Jeff and I saw Serge and Marie out there this year again (no luck for them again). Thanks for the tip on Chris Tomer, we used his weather again this year, although he couldn't magically create good weather. Liason officer Zishan was a boss, cool dude! Hope to see you around the PNW!

Nice Eric!! Thanks for the detailed write up!

Here’s some photos from when Andreea, Nick and I climbed Steppenwolfe. Should have climbed the pillar but didn’t for various reasons, including uncertainty on the stability of the ice.

Climbed Icy BC and Deeping Wall on Sunday, both pretty picked out but all there. Dale's Route was pretty good and not picked out too. Icy BC in Standard conditions Deeping Wall Deeping wall Dales Route Rambles Center Rambles Left and Center were in as well. I've heard that Loose Lady is in, but thin and/or delaminating at the top (report from Friday)

On Friday Feb 17th, 2023, Tom Beirne and I skinned out to Snow Lake in snowy weather. Andreea Gabor was supposed to be with us, but unfortunately she was sick, otherwise she would have been with us! I started from the car at 5:45 AM and reached the Slot Machine base around 8:20 am. We saw two other skiers out there, enjoying the fresh snow, taking the N Slopes of Chair Peak. The line we were looking at starts to climbers right of the Slot Machine, climbing two pitches to a snow ledge that can be connected to the base of the ice climbing on Slot Machine. Tom had made an attempt on the line a couple weeks ago, in worse conditions, and he knew the first pitch had a good screw belay, albeit a hanging one. The base of the ice climbing is up a steep snowy couloir, which we skinned up as far as we could to avoid wallowing in chest deep snow. It was snowing pretty heavily. Tom offered me any pitch but I asked Tom to lead both the first pitch and the second pitch. The second pitch was the hard mixed crux, and I didn’t want to sit a double belay on a hanging ice anchor and get cold. Instead we would both belay shorter time periods to keep moving. Tom dug a trench up the snow to the base of the ice, traversing far left to avoid the randkluft/rimaye/moat that was about 2 feet under the snow, and pretty darn deep. When he got to the ice, he cruised up, finding solid placements in the ice under the snow. Typical PNW, the ice was kind of funky and harder than it looked. He build a belay with three bomber screws under the roof and brought me up. I raced up as fast as I could, knowing we were already running low in time, despite our 3:30 AM departure from Seattle. I didn’t even bother taking off my belay puffy or belay gloves. I was making tons of moves I’ve never do on lead, trusting the snicey sticks, but it was effective, I guess. Tom took over again for the next pitch, that started with a couple inch-thick ice smear exiting the roof on the right. It looked like the next belay would be fairly close at a big tree. Tom made some mixed moves, finding the ice that was solid, but the feet kept disappearing as they fell off with the snow. As always, it was steeper and trickier that it appeared. An apparently thick spot of ice provided bottomed-out stubby protection, and then some mixed climbing to the tree. The tree was directly to the right, but appeared to have died in all of the places that were reachable. It had the effect of a bunch of downward sloping fragile spikes barring access and preventing upward movement, instead of providing any protection. Tom hammered in an angle, and wished we had brought the lost arrows that we discarded in the car. Then he placed a .5 and and a pink tricam followed by a magnificent knife blade piton that I was unable to retrieve (so it’s still there!). There was another mini roof to pull around, after getting some dirt sticks and weaving through the tree roots. Luckily there was a nice bit of ice pouring around to the left, and it make it possible to pull around and protect with a very tight .75. As I was belaying in the protected roof alcove, bunches of snow, ice and dirt kept pouring down. We had radios, so I buckled down when I heard the tree was not a belay option. Then needles, twigs and branches started raining down. I was very glad I didn’t lead that pitch, despite the fact that it looked like it would be simple and icy at first glance. Past the tree was about 15m of deep, steep snow wallowing to the next tree belay. We were both slightly concerned about the slope stability, and wallow factor when we analyzed it from the ground, but on inspection of a side view of the slope, it looked climbable, while we also determined it is not accessible from the top, or by climbing around. Tom finally burrowed through the snow slope to the top and I was so cold by that point, I said I might have to turn around. He also was soaked and cold at this point, so instead of wallowing across to Slot Machine (where we would have to rappel the adjacent couloir and then wallow back up to our gear cache) we decided to rappel. We rappelled from the tree, leaving cord and a biner, and then made a naked V-Thread under the roof, making sure to pull it quickly so the rope didn’t get frozen in the wet ice. Back on the ground, the sun poked out a teased us for the first time all day. But knowing that we were running out of time and didn’t want to ski down in the dark, we abandoned the idea of climbing my project, the ice pillar next to Steppenwolfe. Slot Machine would have been cool to climb, although it is probably spicier than it looks. Fantastic day out there, thanks for the full on adventure out there, in worse weather than I ever go out in. Your stoke kept us going, if not keeping us warm. We have discussed the rating, and it is hard to rate things in WA because things are never in good conditions and probably this will not be in as good condition again. Steepness does not indicate the level of scrappy-ness or commitment you need. We gave Gambler’s Fallacy a WI4+ M6+ (protects well) Steep snow (X, no pro, would whip the whole pitch), 65 meters, 2 pitches. Gear: Note: Lost Arrow should replace small angle, making much better placement (not pictured: the knifeblade I left in place. I tried to take it out, but a mini rock roof prevented hitting it up and down. Please re-hammer it to ensure it is secure before using)

Megaladon Ridge provided as much hiking and scrambling as one could dream of, interspersed with 4-8 pitches of roped climbing, with some dubious rock quality. I’d give it a rating of 5.9, Loose-3/5, 2.5/5 stars. I noticed the rock was more loose but blocky on the climber's left of the ridge, and more solid but steep on the right. Staying on the ridge generally led to a decent downclimb, not a cliff, so that was the best option. Most of the big blocky-tower gendarmes were easy to skirt. The round trip is over 40 miles, and as much as I wanted to do it in three days, getting a permit had us at the trailhead at 10:30 on Saturday. It was a joy to get bored of the hundreds of meters of scrambling and easy free soloing.The area is so gorgeous and the perfect weather lured us into spending more than an hour by the river, enjoying the peace and let time expand and relaxing into the sounds of the burbling river and singing birds. I def didn't want to bring the stove, but I guess it was reassuring if we actually got terribly cold or HAD to melt snow. The warm meals were nice, and coffee in the morning. The Petzl Altitude harness was esp nice b/c it sits well under the pack straps, and I have gear loops on my pack, so the lack of them on the harness is fine! We brought the Beal Escaper, and debated between a 50m and 60m rope. The first rappel down the descent would have not made it with only a doubled over 50m rope. Careful about pulling rocks down on yourself at that rappel!

Such a great outing in an beautiful area with the best partner! Amazing write up!!

This is so true! The rock varied from place to place. Some spots were compact with little pro (getting on to ridge proper) some were loose (tower 1/2) some were solid but covered in lichen and gritty disintegrating rock (tower3) and some was good and blocky but still questionable in places! Definitely need to have experience with Rock Quality to be a good judge. I think if there was a rating for looseness this would get a L3/4 out of L5

Thanks y'all!

It was a little nerve-wracking to catch the drone again on the tiny ledges! Hadn't done it before, but successfully didn't drop it off the cliff.

We are stuck in Chamonix until July, at least. At least the views are great, while we practice our French and home cooking! Can't believe this is "Best of CC" already! Thanks!

Previous Fitz Roy trip report: