Our small French team—Eric Lantz, Didier Rognon, Arnaud Simard, and I, all from the BUC Alpin mountain club—spent July 22 to August 11 in the Dasbar Valley, south of Koyo Zom (6,871m). We explored the area and made three ascents.

Eric and Didier reached the summit of a 5,200m peak above the main valley via the northeast ridge. The climb followed an ice couloir with sections of 70° and ended with a snow ridge; they reached the summit after 800m of ascent. We named the peak Nashran, a combination of the names of our three Pakistani helpers. Nashran is a secondary summit of the beautiful Kachqiant (ca 6,000m), still unclimbed. The same pair later reached the summit of a small rock peak (4,400m) via a 700m face route of 19 pitches up to 5.10. They called the peak Pois Chhish and the route Lady Chatterley.

Didier and I also climbed the south pillar of a peak we called Chotar Zom (“small mountain,” as it is far from the biggest in the area). We recorded an altitude of 6,058m on the summit by GPS. Subsequent investigation indicates this peak might be Dasbar Zom, climbed in 1968 by Austrians from the other side. Our climb began at a camp at 4,800m. The technical part consisted of two successive couloirs through loose rock bands, with ice to 55° and mixed rock at 5.4. These led to the upper snow slopes and a long, tiring plod to the top, which we reached at 4:30 p.m. To the north rose Koyo Zom, and all around we saw countless beautiful and technical climbs. Much of the descent took place during the night, with ice up to 70°, and we regained our bivouac at 11 p.m., having been on the go for 22 hours. We graded our route alpine D.

We went on this expedition, a first for all of us, to explore a seldom-visited area and to test our capacities on reasonable mountains while meeting great people. The mountains were not reasonable, but the adventure was great.

Florian Tolle, France

Click here to download a map of the Dasbar Valley, photos of unclimbed peaks, and other information.