Trango Nameless Tower. On August 13, Cho Dukkyu, Cho Chonghwan, So Hoyoung and I completed the ascent of the Slovene route on the Nameless Tower. The other two members of our expedition were leader Sunwoo Choongok and Kim Cheol. After driving to Askole thanks to the new bridge, we walked to Base Camp at 4000 meters in three days. The porters made a sit-down strike rather than marching up the Trango Glacier. After several days of heavy rain, we carried to Advance Base at 5200 meters. The steep snow-filled gully made the carrying dicey. On July 29, climbing started in earnest. Because of the wet weather, there was much water and ice. In the next five days, we established Shoulder Camp at 5500 meters, having climbed 19 pitches despite occasional falling ice. On August 4, we moved rapidly on a summit attempt. In the upper section, we experienced icier conditions. On the 22nd pitch, only 200 meters from the summit, a nasty storm forced retreat to the shoulder. Four days later, low on food, we descended to Base Camp. Since the porters were coming back on the 13th, on August 11 we decided on a final summit blitz and climbed to the shoulder. The next day we got back to our high point. On the 24th pitch, icy conditions produced A2 to A4 difficulty. We feared we were without adequate gear, but five bolts were found in a side pocket; we used three on this pitch. On the 25th pitch, I was hit on the shoulder by a falling rock, ruining my down jacket. We retreated to bivouac without sleeping bags on the 24th pitch. On August 13, climbing went smoothly in the Grey Area. After climbing the ice-choked chimney on the 30th pitch, we reached the summit at 1:30 P.M.

Chu Young, Southern California Korean Alpine Club