Lagh Shar Attempt. The members of the Pinerola Section’s expedition to Lagh Shar (19,971 feet) were Giorgio Griva, Michele Ghirardi, Paolo Strani, Paolo Ghersi, Piero Dassano, Ercole Cassale, Luigi Vig- netta, Eraldo Quero, Giuseppe Morero and I as leader. We traveled by jeep from Chitral to Drasan on August 6 and on August 7 to 9 crossed the Zani An and went through Shagrom and up the Udren Gol to place Base Camp at 10,300 feet. On the 10th we set up Camp I at 14,600 feet on the moraine of the glacier which descends from the north side of Lagh Shar. On the 11th Ghirardi and Quero climbed P 5420 (17,782 feet), which lies west of Lagh Shar, by its easy east-northeast ridge. On August 12 we nearly reached the Lagh Shar col, fixing 350 feet of rope on the steep final 1000-foot slope. In the next two days another 650 feet of rope were fixed and the col reached, where Camp II was installed at 17,725 feet. On August 15 Griva and Vignetta set out to climb the final west ridge. At 18,375 feet they found a 400-foot nearly vertical step of friable limestone, which would have involved direct aid; a traverse left would have brought them to 650 feet of 70° ice. They turned back. The next day Ghirardi and Morero attacked the final ridge and the first rock tower but they gave up the climb because it would have required many more days than we had. On August 17 Dassano, Quero and Moreno climbed P 5420 by a new route, the north-northeast ridge, a more beautiful route than that climbed by Ghirardi and Quero on the 11th and soloed by me on the 14th. We evacuated Base Camp on August 19.

Edoardo Genero, Club Alpino Italiano