Chinese Karakoram
Three years had passed since my last big mountain
trip when I was invited by John Climaco to the Shaksgam valley on
the Chinese side of the Karakoram range. After Alaska I had returned
to University and was just finishing my BA degree at the University
of Calgary when the invite came in - the timing could not have been
better.
I had previously been to the Pakstani side of the
Karakoram, but here was a special and rare opportunity to explore
the quiet and very remote Chinese side. John had assembled a very
interesting team, fuelled by the funding of the upstart web company
quokka.com. The cornerstone of the trip was a Cholatse mini-reunion
of John, Chris Breemer and myself. We then brainstormed over many
phone sessions on who should fill the remaining positions. John
felt he needed to include some celebrity fire-power, and this led
to invitations to Kurt Diemberger, Dan Mazur and Greg Child. Carlos
Buhler turned the trip down due to his involvement in a Menlungtse
expedition. That is another story.
The trip was a major undertaking, especially with
the web-media involved. We had such complicated and specialized
satellite and web gear that we needed a technician to come with
us. This position was filled by Quokka employee Mark Dwyer, a very
strong and capable Aussie. Also included were Paula Quenemoen, a
Colorado climber and speaker of Chinese, and three Nepalis, Kaji,
Phurba and Krishna, there to help us with our work in the Shaksgam
Valley.
After a briefing with most of the team at Quokka
headquarters in San Francisco, we headed to Beijing. From there
we traversed China by vehicle, all the way to Mazar near the Pakistani
border, some 5,000 km from Beijing. After a 100km approach on foot,
supported by camel train, and crossing the Aghil pass en route,
we established a base camp near the snout of the North Gasherbrum
Glacier. The initial goal of the expedition was a scoping of and
a faint hope at an attempt on one of the unclimbed East faces of
Gasherbrum I or II (both 8000m+ peaks). I eventually grabbed a picture
of these mega faces (viewable in the thumbnails on this page) during
the first ascent of a 6250m mountain made by Dan Mazur and myself,
located about 40km up the Shaksgam from our North Gasherbrum Glacier
base camp. The team had decided against any attempts on the big
peaks, exploration of the area being more to people's liking. Therefore
we split into three sub-groups: Kurt, Greg, Mark, Paula, Kaji and
Phurba went to explore the upper Shaksgam; Chris, John and Krishna
set off to explore uncharted passes and peaks; and finally Dan and
myself went to the small group of peaks between the Gasherbrums
and the Siachen group. The ascent of what we called Lao Ding Shan
was certainly the highlight of the trip for me, and I think for
Dan too. We were able to experience some beautiful and some tough
conditions, which made summiting incredibly rewarding. For the remainder
of the expedition other ambitions were thwarted by bad weather,
although Dan and I did manage to scope the East side of Skyang Kangri
(7500m) from directly under the impressive and virgin East Ridge.
Kurt et al traversed the Singhi Glacier, another great moment of
many for him. John and Chris were stumped on their pass, but did
make the first ascent of a 5,700m peak along the Urdok Glacier which
they named Mt. Desio. In all we managed some moderate successes
and in general were pleased. There were certainly some low points
on this trip as well, but it must always be remembered how stressful
things can be in such isolated and cramped quarters. I for one have
left my bad feelings behind, and hope that everyone else has too
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