Steve Kennedy, Andy Nisbet, and I traveled as far as the Nama Glacier as part of a larger group led by Martin Moran. While he, Michael Page, and Gordon Scott were ascending screes below Cheepaydang, prior to making its first ascent, we left camp on the Nama Glacier and began an ascent of a major northern tributary. We moved slowly to assist our acclimatization, placing two camps a few hours apart. Above our top camp (ca 5,300m) any further sites appeared to be potentially threatened by objective danger.

On October 4 we set out at first light for the col at the head of the glacier, hoping to climb a peak directly above it. We found a reasonably safe route to the col, and then Steve and I followed a fine, steep, and exposed snow arête to the southwest, crossing moderate rock to the summit of our peak. We had no altimeter, but estimated the height to be 5,850m; our route was AD in difficulty. The next peak along the ridge looked to be the same altitude, but we did not go any farther as the rock was extremely loose. We named our peak Concordia Parbat, as the many-tongued Nama cirque resembles the Concordias of the Alps and Karakoram. The northern tributary of the Nama we named Jasuli Glacier after a local woman who was famous for her charitable activities in the 18th or 19th century.

The Nama Glacier area is impressive, but future pioneers would benefit from careful study of our photos: Despite a large number of mountains, moderate or safe lines appeared quite limited.

-Des Rubens, U.K.