P 6190 Attempt. An expedition of five U.S. climbers attempted a first ascent of this beautiful unnamed peak from the K7 Base Camp near the head of the Charakusa Glacier. We arrived at Base Camp on August 4. We decided on the striking northwest arete of P 6190 and began ferrying loads across the glacier to a small Advance Base at the foot of the ridge. Climbers David Lovejoy, James Erdman, William Cooper, Joe St. Onge and I switched roles leading pitches, fixing and moving lines and ferrying gear as we ascended the ridge. Climbing directly on the arête, we encountered many featureless gendarmes requiring pendulums or rappels to get around. The terrain was not conducive to an alpine ascent as anticipated, and our progress was slow. The good quality of rock and superb exposure lured us on, but unfortunately numerous spells of bad weather continued to hamper our progress. Ascending to our high point on August 27, James Erdman and David Lovejoy found the ropes severely worn. To this point, we had established 19 pitches up to 5.10 A2 and had ascended over 1900 feet from the base. Taxed by storms and the stresses of too much jüaring, we decided to abandon the arête. Joe, David and I spent the next day retrieving our ropes as another storm moved in. Snow continued the next two weeks and kept us from attempting an easier route on the peak. We left Base Camp on September 7, removing five porter loads of our own trash and two that I cleaned up from a past expedition. This area is relatively clean. Future expeditions into this valley should bring with them the responsibility to keep it that way.

Angela Hawse