Asia, Western China, Cholpanlik Mustagh, Kun Lun

Publication Year: 1990.

Cholpanlik Mustagh, Kun Lun. Our expedition was composed of Koshi Sasaki, Eiichi Sato, Ichiro Yamagata, Hitoshi Goto, Hirofumi Oe, Toshiaki Yoshioka, Masami Hosaka, Takashi Ota and me as leader. We started from Kashgar with two jeeps and a truck on July 9 and drove to Aksaichin Lake at 4840 meters. We got to Base Camp at 5360 meters on July 19. Chopanlik was still 14 kilometers from Base Camp. We had a very long approach, first up the Valley of Wind and then up the Aksai Glacier, where we established Camps I, II and III at 5790,6010 and 6220 meters on July 26, 31 and August 6. We fixed 350 meters of rope beyond Camp III to gain the summit of P 6510. We placed Camp IV at 6460 meters on the ridge beyond on August 13. From there we followed the ridge crest over P 6480, P 6490 and P 6449 before dropping onto the West Cholpanlik Glacier. On August 14, Yamgata, Goto and Hosaka climbed to the south ridge and reached the summit of Cholpanlik (6524 meters, 21,404 feet). They bivouacked on the descent at 6220 meters.

Kazuo Sasaki, Sendai Ichiko Alpine Club, Japan