Asia, Pakistan, Peaks above Barpu Glacier, West Karakoram

Publication Year: 1990.

Peaks Above Barpu Glacier, West Karakoram. In mid August Ralph Atkinson, Ged Campion, Mick Curtin, John Keska, Stewart Muir and I visited the Barpu Glacier. We approached by jeep from Hunza to Hoppar, where we hired cooperative local porters for the three-day walk to Base Camp at Girgindil. The variable weather was good enough for the three small peaks we climbed. Girgindil Peak (5296 meters, 17,475 feet), an easy snow plod above Base Camp, had been climbed frequently before. We climbed the northeast, northwest ridges and two routes on the north face. Girgindil Pyramid is the symmetrical mountain to the left of Girgindil Peak, as seen from Girgindil, really the summit of a ridge running southwest from the Chukutans group. We estimate its height as 5800 meters (19,029 feet). There was no record of a previous ascent. Campion, Keska and I climbed it by the west ridge. There was awkward access to the small glacier to its north, then easy snow to the ridge. The ridge was easy at first, then awkward on loose schist and finally precarious snow crests. Yengutz I is the highest of the Yengutz group, which we estimate at 5999 meters (19,682 feet). We believe it was a first ascent. Muir and I climbed via the Yengutz Col, west ridge and southwest face, all snow and ice with a detour right to turn the rock band on the face.

David Wilkinson, Wolverhampton Mountaineering Club, England