Kanjut Sar II. On July 29, we made the second ascent of Kanjut Sar II (6831 meters, 22,411 feet) by a new route, the south buttress. The peak had been climbed by Swiss in 1985 by the northwest side. We were Frank Schmidt, Franck van den Barselaer, Hendrik Freie, Pieter de Kam and I as leader. It took us ten days from Islamabad to reach Base Camp at 4600 meters on the Kani Basa Glacier. The first three weeks were spent acclimatizing and carrying loads to an intermediate camp at 5200 meters and to a camp at the base of the buttress at 5900 meters. After bad weather, we five started climbing on July 26, but unfortunately I had to turn back on the 28th with altitude problems. The weather remained good except for a mild snowstorm at Bivouac III. The 900-meter-high buttress was climbed alpine-style. It was mainly free and aid climbing on excellent red granite with three pitches of mixed and 200 meters of snow and ice to the top. Bivouacs were at 6300, 6450, 6600 meters and at 6500 meters on the descent. The descent took a day-and-a-half, first down the northwest side and then traversing the icy west face and finally down a gully in the southwest face in twelve rappels. This was to the left (west) of the ascent route.

Peter Kok, Koninklijke Nederlandse Alpen Vereniging