Bindu Gul Zorn II. We traveled by jeep through Chitral and reached Zum-gramgran in the Tirich valley on July 21. We pitched Base Camp on July 24 on the Lower Tirich Glacier below the Bindu Gul Zom peaks. A long ridge descends eastward from Tirich Mir, separating the Lower Tirich Glacier from the Barum Glacier. On this ridge lie Bindu Gul Zom I and II, Lono Zom and Kono Zom. From Bindu Gul Zom II a long ridge with four sub-summits stretches north as far as the junction of the Lower Tirich and Upper Tirich Glaciers, where the ridge ends in a vertical wall. Our goal was to have been the west-northwest face of Bindu Gul Zom II but it was soon revealed too dangerous because of rockfall. We then turned to a new route along the whole north ridge, much more difficult and complex but safer objectively. By July 29 we had climbed and fixed rope on the wall to reach the ridge crest, overcoming the hardest technical difficulties of the whole ascent. On July 31 Lino Castiglia, Ugo Manera, Claudio Sant’Unione and I set out from Base Camp and that night bivouacked on the lower peak of the second sub-summit. On August 1 we climbed on the eastern side to avoid various rock needles on the ridge connecting the second and third sub-summits. We bivouacked on a snow col and made a third bivouac in the col between the fourth sub-summit and the main peak. On August 3 we reached the summit of Bindu Gul Zom II (6212 meters, 20,380 feet). We descended the unknown east face, bivouacking about 300 meters below the top. By the end of August 4 we were back at Base Camp, having made 40 rappels in the descent of 2000 meters down the wild east wall.

Franco Ribetti, Club Alpino Accademico Italiano