Asia, Pakistan, Great Trango Tower and Nameless Tower

Publication Year: 1991.

Great Trango Tower and Nameless Tower. Our expedition was made up of Masanori Hoshina, Satoshi Kimoto, Masahiro Kosaka, Takaaki Sasakura, Yoshitaro Arisaka and me as leader. We stayed at our Base Camp or above from the end of June until the middle of September. Hoshina, Kimoto, Kosaka and Sasakura hoped to climb capsule-style a variation of the Norwegian route on the northeast buttress of the Great Trango Tower. They climbed eleven pitches of up to 5.12, A2 difficulty to the right of the original line on the lower wall. They continued up the Norwegian route. On August 17, after 25 days of climbing, they nearly completed the climb a few pitches from the summit. They reached the summit ridge but could not stand on the very top because it was getting dark. My project was to climb solo a new route on the east face of the Nameless Tower to the right of the Kurtyka-Loretan route and to descend by paraglider. On August 24, I started the final attack after paving the way. I climbed 27 pitches and rate it VIII, 5.10, A4. At last on September 9,I reached the summit. I tried to descend by paraglider but hung up 80 meters below the top. I radioed down, but I had to live alone for six days with no food or drink. Kimoto and Hoshino headed up on a rescue. They climbed the 1976 British route alpine-style in four days and rappelled to the ledge where I was stranded. We three descended the Yugoslav route and were back in Base Camp on September 18.

Takeyasu Minamiura, Japan Trango Climbing Team