Peaks in Noshaq Group and Kohe Zebak. Roger Everett, Lindsay Griffin, David Lund, Julia Yeomans and I spent 27 days in September and early October making alpine-type ascents in the Noshaq group and then on the south side of the Kalan wall of the Kohe Zebak range. Base Camp was at 13,125 feet at the snout of the Qadzi Deh Glacier. In the Noshaq group Everett and I made the first ascent of the north face of Kakh-e-Kuchek (17,202 feet), with a bivouac at the top of the face. It was a mixed route up 45° ice and a rock rib. This was probably the second ascent of the peak. Everett, Lund and Yeomans did the normal route on Korpusht-e-Yakhi (18,695 feet), while Griffin soloed a hard mixed route, making the first ascent of the northeast ridge. Our attempt on Noshaq failed at 22,650 feet. In the Kohe Zebak range Everett, Griffin and I made the first ascent of the east- southeast ridge of Kohe Sakht (Wala Peak 57; 18,964 feet), descended the northeast ridge and traversed over Wala Peak 56 to the col between the latter and Wala Peak 55. This superb traverse was mixed, though mainly rock, with pitches of UIAA IV+ on excellent granite. It was the second ascent of Peak 57, the French having made the first ascent from the north during the summer of 1977. Everett, Lund, Yeomans and I made the first ascent of the southeast ridge of Kohe Zard (Wala Peak 16; 19,062 feet), also IV+. This was the second ascent of the mountain, which had been climbed by a Polish expedition in 1971.

Steven Venables, Oxford University Mountaineering Club