Trango II, Base Camp Slabs, Mango Tango
Pakistan, Karakoram, Baltoro Muztagh
Chileans Nico Gutiérrez, Sebastián Rojas, Diego Saez, and Diego Señoret spent July at Trango Base Camp, the only expedition there at the time. They achieved their main goal, the first Chilean ascent of Eternal Flame on Trango Tower, and also climbed a probable new route on the Base Camp Slabs, the area of rock that lies directly behind the moraine lake and forms a lower feature of Trango II. Base Camp Slabs is a tapering face of generally excellent granite leading to the top of a tower christened Pinocchio. Several existing routes climb this face, and beyond, including the first, Oceano Trango (300m, 6a+, 2006), which has been repeated many times, and Piranski Zaliv (800m of climbing, 7a obl R, 2006). The face lies just right of Sadu Peak, climbed in 2003 by the French couple Antoine and Sandrine de Choudens.
The four Chileans spent three days equipping the first eight pitches of their line before acclimatizing for and then climbing Eternal Flame. Just prior to leaving the area, they added a further seven pitches to their Base Camp Slabs route to establish finish a route with 750m of climbing and difficulties up to 5.11b. They named it Mango Trango; it probably shares a little common ground with Piranski Zaliv in the upper section.
– Information provided by Diego Saez, Chile