Koz Sar Attempt. Our party consisted of Peter Williams, Declan MacMahan, Steve Richardson, Ivan Wolton and me as leader. We hoped to make the first ascent of Koz Sar (6677 meters, 21,875 feet) at the western end of the Karakoram. Being close to Afghanistan, the area was reopened in 1991 after 40 years as a closed zone. After two weeks of acclimatization, we established Base Camp at 3700 meters at the foot of the south ridge on June 6. We followed easy ground up a moraine to Advance Base at 4450 meters. On June 10, we placed Camp I in a snow hole at 5000 meters after climbing a safe route up a small glacier. From here, the main difficulties began with a 900-meter-high face between us and the crest of the south ridge. Despite bad weather, we fixed rope to 5800 meters and hoped to establish Camp II. However, the freezing level was rising and snow conditions were deteriorating. The team was becoming tired and on July 14, the last day of the permit, an attempt to establish Camp II turned into a gear-stripping session and a final withdrawal to Base Camp.

Andrew Creigh, Anglo-Irish Koz Sar Expedition