From August 20 to September 20 Martin Jakobsson and I, both originally Swedish, visited the Hispar Glacier, establishing base camp at its junction with the Khani Basa Glacier. Our goal was 6,651m Tahu Rutum by a new route, the northwest ridge [thi...

In July and August 2010 a Joint Japanese-Pakistani expedition visited the Bara Khun Valley, north of the Karakoram Highway. The team was led by Japanese cartographer Tsuneo Miyamori, and both he and Shizuo Akai carried out considerable GPS survey ...

Within a year Pakistan Youth Outreach has organized three expeditions and a training camp for youngsters in the peaks of the Shimshal region. Its purpose is to educate young people in mountaineering and the outdoors, to promote women’s adventure, ...

Rising west from Gulmit village on the Karakoram Highway is the Bulkish Yaz Glacier, dominated at its head by an outstanding peak named Gulmit Tower, one of several summits toward the end of the long ridge running east from Ultar. The village is ...

I first caught sight of Karim Sar in 2007 from the top of a small, previously unclimbed peak between the Baltar and Toltar glaciers. Lorenzo Corona identified the lovely ice-capped mountain to the south as the one his friend Ivo Ferrari was attemp...

Giri-Giri boys Fumitaka Ichimura and Yusuke Sato made the best attempt to date on the magnificent southeast pillar of Ultar. On their alpine-style push they left 4,300m base camp on September 6, ascended the glacier, and climbed to a col below a g...

The story begins with an awkward mistake many years ago: In 1997 my friends and I climbed a beautiful 6,132m peak in the Rupal Valley, close to Nanga Parbat, and claimed the first ascent in the 1998 AAJ, calling it Laila Peak. In April 2009 an ema...

After a year of research, we agreed on a plan to attempt the virgin northwest buttress of Nanga Parbat (8,125m). Our group of close friends included Austrians Günther Unterberger, Hans Goger, and Sepp Bachmair, along with the two of us. We joined ...

During our 2009 climb of Schlagintweit Peak (5,979m, AAJ 2010), I spotted an impressive summit in the neighboring Chiche Valley. Back home I did some research. I found a sketch map, on which it was named Chiche Peak. Later, I was told that the fam...

The original goal of our seven-member expedition, supported by the University of Ljubljana, was to climb Nanga Parbat by the Kinshofer Route. Although we planned to climb in classic siege style, we wanted to use no supplementary oxygen and no high...

Raghshur (Lagh Shar) is an unclimbed mountain east of the Istor-o-Nal group. Theodoros Christopoulos, Ioannis Kovanidis, and I established base camp beside the Raghshur Glacier (4,430m), north of the peak, in early August.On August 6, after mov...

Ideally, climbing partners should do many short routes together before attempting a long and serious climb, especially in the alpine environment. But that’s not always possible. Sometimes climbers hook up for a big climb without tying in even once...

In August and September, two teams from Keio University Alpine Club climbed three possibly new peaks from the Shuangqiao Valley; they also did one second ascent and completed the fourth ascent of Eagle Rock via a new route.The first team, Yusuke K...

Prior to our ascent of Gujon Ri, above the source of the Mekong River, Josito Fernandez, M'Paz Garrido, Dani Martin, and I explored the mountains of northwest Sichuan, basing our activities around the villages of Ganzi and Manigango on the Sichuan...

In 2012 Chinese Chen Hui and Pan Xiaobing made a late-November ascent of Pomiu via a partial new line. On the 17th, using horses to carry equipment, they reached base camp southwest of the mountain at 4,100m. Next day they climbed through scree an...

A Chinese party including Li Yuan and Zhang Xaiohui climbed the north-northeast face of Nyainbo Yuze (5,396m) in the summer of 2011. This was their second attempt, the previous in 2009. Approaching from the tourist center, via the Ximen lake and v...

The Mekong River, the 10th longest in the world, rises in the historically Tibetan province of Kham and flows ca 4,350km to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. It's hard to believe that its source was not reached until 1994, but it lies hidden in a remot...

In June, Tadeo Shintani and I traveled to Zadoi with the aim of exploring unknown peaks and glaciers around the headwaters of the Mekong River. We were able to reach Hongse (4,700m, 33°24.887' N, 94°36.433' E) to the west of the mountains, but Jun...

For nine years I had toyed with the idea of climbing in Qinghai, which has many virgin summits. The relatively few peaks climbed to date have mostly been ascended by Chinese Army units. With only two weeks to spare, I focused on a small glaciated ...

Due to the terrorist attack in Pakistan, we had to change our summer expedition plans. After a couple of weeks’ research we decided on the Chinese side of the Western Kokshaal-too. We couldn't find much info, but the little we gained led us to bel...