Nameless Tower, Trango Towers. Our five-person international climbing team was composed of Frenchwoman Catherine Destivelle, Swiss Lucien Abbé, and Americans Jeff Lowe, Jim Bridwell and me, with additional filming support from Paul Sharp, Veronique Choa, James Brundige and Kim Lowe. The expedition was co-led by Jeff Lowe and me. During our approach march in early August, we decided to change our objective from attempting the first free ascent of the Kurtyka-Loretan route to making the second free ascent of the 1987 Yugoslav route. The east-facing Kurtyka-Loretan route would be too cold and icy for 5.12+ free climbing. Through intermittent spells of warm weather and snow, Jeff and Catherine free-climbed and fixed ropes to within 1200 feet of the summit with the assistance of Bridwell, Abbé and me before descending to the Shoulder Camp. On September 4, in clear weather Jeff Lowe and Catherine Destivelle ascended fixed ropes and then free-climbed to the previous high point, while I filmed the ascent. We three bivouacked at that point. The following day was colder than usual with a stiff breeze, but Jeff and Catherine managed to complete the free-climb while I continued filming, jümaring. All three of us reached the summit at six P.M. in light snowfall. Descent to the bivouac ledge was by headlamp. The next day, we were in Base Camp.

David Breashears