Trango Tower, southeast face, The Crux Zone. A Korean expedition comprising leader Kim Hyung-Il and members Jang Ki-heon, Jeon Yangjun, Kim Pal-bong, Wang Dae-shik, and I established base camp on July 12 at 4,150m alongside the Trango Glacier. Nine days later we had sited our high camp on the Shoulder at 5,600m.

Our goal was a new route above the Shoulder, up the face between the Slovenian route and Run for Cover. By August 7 we had completed 11 new pitches to a junction with the Slovenian route. After climbing several more pitches up the latter, we reached the summit—one group on August 11, another on the 13th. The hardest pitch was the seventh, which we graded A4. We named our route The Crux Zone after our main sponsor, the climbing gym in Anyang City near Seoul.

Won Dae-shik, Korea