Shingu Charpa North Ridge, Karakoram. New route in a five-day round trip.

Via the North ridge by Ukrainian Alpinists Igor Chaplynskyy, Andriy Rodionstsev,Orest Verbytskyy

Located in the Nagma Valley of Pakistan’s Karakorum Mountains, Shingu Sharpa rises to the south of the more famous 8000 meter peaks. Seven thousand meter high K6 blocks the head of the valley, there are numerous mountains with 400 to 500 meter high faces along this valley, but Amin Brakk Peak (5900M) and Shingu Charpa (5800 M) with their 1 kilometer high vertical walls are the valley’s claim to fame.

Amin Brakk was not interesting to me, because the wall is absolutely smooth. It is a typical “smithy” climb, if able to hammer in bolts quickly one could climb it in jackboots. The north ridge of Shingu Charpa is absolutely different. A 1700 meter altitude gain means this route is not trivial it begins at 4050 meters and ascends to 5800 meters. The route is in principal free climbable, that was its irresistible appeal for me. There are difficult pitches, some up to 7a, to attempt this mountain I knew that one had been a good rock climber.

Base camp is located directly under the beginning of the route the site is surrounded by birch and willow treas. Greenery in the Karakorham depends on water, the mountains are high and dry and glacial streams nurture vegetation only along their water courses. Near by the villages have irrigation system and the small trails are often lined with tall elegantly swaying poplars. We walked in to BC from Kande, the closest village. In three hours we gained 1000 meter elevation. The porters took two days to cover the distance. Judging the route by photo, the north ridge of Singu Charpa does not look too steep, it appears to be divided into several steps, and there are a series of cliffs which form the step rise. It required five 5 days of work ascending and two days coming down to complete the route.. Initially we intended make the ascent dynamically in alpine style without the use of fixed ropes. The first day we ascended 17 or 18 pitches, at the beginning the ridge is very steep and smooth, and it was difficult to find a place to plug something in. We worked hard the whole day and arrived at camp that night absolutely exhausted. The second day we ascended the first cliff, ten pitches and not too difficult. Then came the second cliff, rather difficult climbing, with 10 pitches, and a third with another 10 pitches. The last cliff was invisible from below, that was about 10 pitches. 1500 meters of rope to the top. Previous expeditions has climbed about half that, using shorter ropes, we saw the loops they used for descent. The rock is monolithic, holds are reliable, but the mountain is pretty alive, often there was something falling down from above. There is a small glacier on the summit. I really liked the route, it’s a classic: some cracks, vertical climbing, cornices, good stony relief, long distance, and high altitude.

Ascending we used no expension bolts we placed three or four on the way down for belaying. The three man team carried three ropes and employed plenty of gear, not our traditional soviet titanium gear, but steel pegs of different shapes for cracks, nuts and friends. As we got higher, snow and ice appeared on the route, as well at typical high altitude formations, we encountered icy mushrooms about 500 meters below the summit.

The mushroom is the most dangerous and unpredictable construction at high altitude. It is difficult to decide what to do with it, since it is hard to climb and not easy to get around . . . and occasionally they fall. They grow on places the snow builds up and you never know when they will fall. Each of us had crampons and ice ax, and one ice rock axe for team. Everyone had boots and we had one pair of rock shoes for team. We hauled up a lot of stuff, a back pack weighed about 20 kg, and therefore the bivouac was reduced as much as possible: small tent, two sleeping bags per three of us, not down jacket and only polar fleece and gortex clothes. Moreover at the beginning we had to carry drinking water for ourselves. At the end of the second day we found some dirty ice, and then we could use ice in the cracks and melt snow. We had a food supply for seven days, every days food was carefully estimated.

We followed our tactical plan strictly, we tried to stop working at six pm to eat and rehydrate, by eight pm it was getting dark and we were falling asleep. We woke at four am in the false dawn and were moving by six am, sometimes a bit earlier. In the Karokorham our route on the north ridge was in the sun all day. We planned our ascent and that plan worked for us. Our team was very democratic, no leadership or personality pressures. My principal philosophy is as follows: if you want to climb first do it, and the team lets him, if second, climb second, no one had expectations of the others in that regard. Often our young friend Orest climbed first. As for me, probably for the first time in my life I climbed last every day, except for the first day. I enjoyed it it is rather different work to climb last on the team. Step by step ascending, fixed with a jumar, time to think about life. I have not done this so much before. Each of us were able to lead if necessary, we are equal and moved evenly in accordance with our plan. To some extent we were lucky with weather, at least the weather did not force any waste of time. It might have been possible to ascend the route faster, but one would have had to know the route functionally, where the places one can overnight, how to move most logically between these camps. In any case this will not be an easy ascent due to the amount of equipment and gear required. We could not anticipate what we would need and carried some extra gear.

Before attempting the climb we explored the route thoroughly. Of necessity we estimated our climbing abilities, our timing, the stages, our options for descent. More than ten days we walked around and overviewed the slopes, we took into account during this time that our chosen route was very challenging. We made a loop around the Mountain and realized that the south face is still unclimbed and to get down that way made no sense, the walls were terrible, really ragged. I doubt if anyone has climbed the mountain this way before.

We had good acclimatization, we were moving every day, no day was missed, and several nights were spent at 4500 meters. Eventually we came to an understanding with the mountain, and we loved her. It is necessary to feel the mountain, to understand how she breathes in order to avoid mistakes. When you watch a mountain, live beside it, you come to know it. Actually, we rambled around for a long time. The most problematic areas were the highest cliffs, because we could not get a good view of them. Generally it was clear that there is some surface relief, cracks, holds, some other ways, the walls were not mirrors. Of course we were prepared to do artificial style climbing we carried about twenty expension bolts, some special hooks but never used them. When it is possible to free climb us does it free?

Shingu Charpa is not an easy mountain and imagining a future, I would like to attempt its east wall. This is an outstanding big wall, with an altitude gain of almost 1400 meters, and most importantly it also has a surface that will allow free climbing. There were three or four lines of ascent on the east wall, independent routes, but the directissima is the most fabulous and attractive.

It is worth mentioning that the expedition was light weight, we had no satellite phone or computer. All arrangements were made through a local agency and we just paid for serviced. There were about forty porters who delivered our stuff to BC. The provided us with personal tents and a one team tent and meals three times a day, and our agency fulfilled its obligations to us. Before us there was a Spanish team in Base camp, we did not meet them, as they left before our arrival. Four Germans tried to climb the direct route up the east wall they worked there four days, made about seven pitches then stopped. As we were leaving two Americans arrived Kelly Cordes and Josh Warton, it was obvious they could hardly believe that some Ukrainian guys just finished climbing the ridge they had their eyes on.