ASIAN ALPINE E-NEWSIssue No. 53 August 2019

ContentsRakaposhi New Route 2019, Hiraide-Nakajima pair

Page 2 ~ 19

Nakamura’s profile on Chinese OUTDOOR June 2019

Page 20 ~ 28

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Rakaposhi Expedition – New Route 2019
Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima
Translated, supplemented and compiled by Tamotsu (Tom) Nakamura

Rakaposhi (Urdu: ‫ )راکاپوشی‬is a mountain in the
Karakoram mountain range in the GilgitBaltistan region of Pakistan. It is situated in the
middle of the Nagar and Bagrote valleys anddanyor , approximately 100 km (62 mi) north ofthe capital city Gilgit of the semi-autonomous
Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan. Rakaposhimeans "snow covered" in the local language.
Rakaposhi is also known as Dumani ("Mother ofMist" or "Mother of Clouds"). It is ranked 27th
highest in the world.
The first successful recorded ascent by non-natives was in 1958 by Mike Banks and Tom Patey,
members of a British-Pakistani expedition, via the Southwest Spur/Ridge route.[3][4] Both ofthem suffered minor frostbite during the ascent to the summit on June 25. Another climberslipped and fell on the descent and died during the night. The people of Nagar have dedicatedthe Rakaposhi range mountain area as a community park. The Minister for Northern Areas
inaugurated the park. The Rakaposhi mountain range is the home of endangered species such
as Marco Polo sheep, snow leopard, brown bear, and wolves.
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Notable features
Rakaposhi is notable for its exceptional rise over local terrain. On the north, it rises 5,900
metres (19,357 ft) in only an 11.2 km (7 mi) horizontal distance from the Hunza-Nagar River.
There are views of Rakaposhi from the Karakoram Highway on the route through Nagar. Atourist spot in the town of Ghulmat (located in the Nagar Valley) called "Zero Point ofRakaposhi" is the closest view point of the mountain. Rakaposhi is the only mountain in theworld which rises straight from beautifully cultivated fields to the height of 25,550 feet. From
many places this wonderful spectacle can be viewed right from the base to the top.[6]Previous Climbing Routes••••Southwest Spur/Ridge (first ascent route). Long, but not exceedingly technical. Some tricky
gendarmes (rock pinnacles). Has been repeated.
From the east side, it is short route to climb
Northwest Ridge. Long, and more technically difficult than the Southwest Spur/Ridge. Has been
repeated.
North Spur (a.k.a. North Ridge). Shorter than the above two routes, but much more technicallydifficult. Has been repeated, including a semi-alpine style (capsule style) ascent.

Attempts have also been made from the east side (Bagrote Glacier), the East Ridge, and theNorth Face.
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Itinerary of Expedition
June 3 Japan~Islamabad (Air China), June 6 Islamabad~Gilgit 1,500m by road
June 7-9 Reconnaissance of Rakaposhi south side, June 16 setting-up of BC 3,660m
June 17-19 acclimatization and reconnaissance, June 20-26 staying in BC
June 27 BC~C1 5,200m, June 28 C1~C2 6,200m, June 29 C2~C3 6,800m
June 30, July1 staying in C3, July 2 C3~top of Rakaposhi 7,788m~C3, July 3 C3~BC
July 5 arriving at Gilgit, July 7 arriving at Islamabad by air
July 9 leaving Islamabad (Air China), July 10 return to Japan

Foreword
Our first objective was Tirich Mir Main 7,708m. However, we waited climbing permit at Chitral,but they did not grant the permit this year. Then we sought an alternative and changed ourcourse to the south side of Rakaposhi, which is reputed as beautiful peak seen from Hunza.
Hunza is as if a second home place for Hiraide because of his frequent visits and it is one oflifeworks for him to climb the peaks seen from Hunza. Among them Rakaposhj was mostoutstanding and attractive. Which is the most challenging unclimbed route? The south side
remained untouched. The south side was reconnoitered in the past, but nobody could findfeasible route.

5Reconnaissance
During waiting for the permit, we entered the south side for reconnaissance. Danyore valley isclose to Gilgit, only 40 minutes to the point where a jeep is assessible. During summer many
villagers come for pasturing goats, cows and yaks. It is easy to walk on the pasture. There isless than 20km way from the pasture to the end (as low as 3,660m) of the right bank of Sulgin
Glacier. It is likely to be polo ground. Woods are abundant and there is a water stream. We setup BC here as loads ferry by animals become difficult from this point. Projected climbing routecan be looked up from the BC, but to draw climbing route on the south side is not encouraging
as there are many treacherous seracs in the upper part of the south side and accordingly viable
route extremely limited. We observed four lines for candidates, only one possible routeremained. We tentatively returned to Gilgit,
Meanwhile we waited for news on the permit to Tirch Mir for two nights, but there was noprogress and to our regret our agent told us that there was an announcement of the authorities
that the permit would not be granted this year. We resigned the first objective and headed toRakaposhi. We called back our guides who were in stand-by in Chitral. With necessary supplies
we returned to Rakaposhi on June 16. We lost ten days.

Climbing
The weather was rather stable while we were waiting in Gilgit. Three days after, rain and snow
continued for a week. For not losing a chance, we ascended for acclimatization andreconnoitered for three days. Though the icefall was likely to be a labyrinth, it was not
unpassable, sometimes jumping. But it was not comfortable. We stayed at 4,500m, 5,900m for
one night respectively and returned from 6,100m to the BC. We could confirm a route, butacclimatization was not enough yet. We prayed for the good weather.
From the day when we returned to the BC, rain and sleet continued for six days. The next day
was fine but the wall glued with snow and avalanches very often sounded here and there. The
weather forecast told us that 2~3 days would be cloudy, then bad weather and again it would
be fine. We should have passed through the lower part apt to danger of avalanches and availed
ourselves of a narrow chance to reach the summit in fine weather.
After one day rest to wait good weather, we departed in cloudy weather. Though gears for rocks
were left but we carried foods and fuels for seven days. They were very heavy on our shoulders.
The icefall after one week was full of traces of avalanches and collapse of seracs. We passed
through a labyrinth of the glacier, detoured rock wall from the right then reached snow ridge.
Cutting out a ridge at a col after following a knife edge we pitched a tent of C1 at 5,200m. As it
was the same route for acclimatization, we could move very fast. We gained 1,500m of verticaldifference.
On June 28 we passed through side of seracs to snow ridge and snow wall. The previous traces
were swept out. We struggled with fresh snow, sometimes with no loads. We managed to gain
1,000m and pitched C2 at 6,200m.
On June 29 we at last reached the south-east ridge. We ascended belaying with ice screws on
ice wall just beneath the southeast ridge. A panorama of the northeast side suddenly came into
sight when we stood on the southeast ridge. Diran and Kunyan Chhis were viewed. The summit
was as if just in front of our eyes. But altimeter was honest. Snow on the ridge was not crusted
but loose contrary to expectation. We had to struggle with soft snow on the southeast ridge too.
We ascended 600m. We dug snow and pitched a tent of C3 on the ridge. It snowed on June 30
and July 1. We stayed in the camp.
6As we felt that the good weather would not continue for two days, we decided C3 to be the final
camp for the last 1,000m to the summit.
At 04:00am on July 2, we departed under a skyful of stars. There were no difficult pushes tothe summit ridge. We silently struggled with snow. We climbed a break of cornices to the ridge.
We proceeded wide snow beneath detouring rocks from west side. Snow conditions were good
because of the winds blowing from the west. We intently progressed. Suddenly Hunza came into
sight below sheer-drops of the ridge.
We stood atop at 12:00 just noon. We were overwhelmed by a 360°panorama. Shispare thatwe climbed in the previous year attracted our attention. Magnificent K2 was seen in fardistance. We descended the same route of ascent. We stayed overnight at C3 and returned toBC in the following day. There were no much technical difficulty, but vertical height from theBC to the summit was over 4,000m and the weather was unstable.

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Nanga Parbat 8125m
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Haramosh 7397m

Shispare 7611m
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(front) left-Diran 7266m, centre-Spantik 7027m(behind) centre left-K2 8611m, right end 7821m

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OUTDOOR magazine June 2019 Introduction on Tamotsu (Tom) Nakamura’s profile

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