Noshaq (24,580ft) – Highest Mountain in Afghanistan
Andreas on the summit July 26
July 6-31, 2019
Eric, Andreas, Pat, Marie, Ian, Ray, Luwig
July 6 Eric departs Seattle in evening
July 7 flight over northern Greenland connecting in Dubai
July 8 arrive Dushanbe, Tajikistan, buy supplies, 4×4 14hr taxi to Khorog
July 9 pick up Afghan visas, taxi to border, cross into Afghanistan, sleep in Ishkashim
July 10 get wakhan permit, drive to Qazi Deh, arrange porters, hike 14km to landmine camp 4000m
July 11 hike 17km to bc 4700m
July 12 carry load to 5000m, sleep at bc
July 13 carry load to c1 5500m
July 14 rest day at bc
July 15 move to c1
July 16 carry load to 6000m, sleep at c1
July 17 rest day at c1
July 18 move to c2 6200m
July 19 carry climbing gear to base of crux rock step at 6800m
July 20 rest at c2
July 21 summit attempt. I lead 5.6 m4 rock step, retreat at 7100m in storm, fix lines on crux
July 22 return to bc
July 23 rest day at bc
July 24 move to c2
July 25 move to c3 at 6700m
July 26 Eric Andreas Pat Marie summit. Eric Andreas hike down to bc
July 27 rest in bc
July 28 porters arrive, hike out to Qazi Deh
July 29 cross back to Tajikistan, taxi to khorog. Team splits up
July 30 Taxi to Dushanbe
July 31 Arrive Dushanbe 4am
The going rate for ransom for a US citizen caught by the taliban in Afghanistan is currently around 7 million dollars. Roadside bombs are common and landmines lie hidden in the countryside. Peace negotiations are starting between the US and the Taliban, but the country is still basically a war zone. Needless to say, Afghanistan is not a popular mountaineering destination these days.
I’m working on climbing the highest mountain in every country, and had set Afghanistan aside as a country better left alone until the security situation improves. However, I was surprised when Pat invited me on an expedition to climb Noshaq, the afghanistan highpoint, in summer 2019. After doing some research I learned Noshaq is in the relatively safe Wakhan corridor in northeast Afghanistan and a handful of western groups have ventured in to climb it in recent years.
Map of Noshaq in Northeastern Afghanistan
Noshaq used to be a popular 7000m peak for Europeans to climb in the 1960s and 70s. Reinhold Messner even climbed it in 1972. But between 1978-2003 the security situation was so dangerous it was not climbed at all, resulting from a coup detat in 1978 and a soviet invasion of afghanistan the following year. In 2000 the approach valley was landmined with over 600 mines and nobody dared go near. In 2003 an expedition led by Carlo Pinelli worked with the military officials who had actually planted the landmines and established a safe trail up to the previous base camp at 4700m. However the land to the sides of this route still has unexploded mines. (Source of this background information : AAJ 2011 article and outside online 2018 article).
Since 2003 a handful of expeditions have ventured in and climbed the standard West ridge route of Noshaq. In 2009 the first Afghans, Malang and Amruddin from the Wakhan area, made a successful ascent. In 2018 Hanifa Yousoufi, from Kabul, became the first Afghan woman to summit Noshaq.
These days Malang, one of the first Afghans to summit Noshaq, is trying to help mountaineers come in to make the
The approach route from the Afghanistan/Tajikistan border
climb. Malang lives in Qazi Deh, the village at the base of the approach, and operates a guest house. He and Hazim have started big and little pamir tours (http://www.wakhan-adventure.com/), with Hazim facilitating entry into Afghanistan and Malang helping with logistics for the mountain.
Pat took charge of coordinating with Hazim and Malang to get our team into Afghanistan. The logistics are a bit complicated, so if you want to climb this peak first email Hazim from the website linked above, then this is what you need to do:
0. Apply for single entry Tajikistan evisa with gbao permit online at evisa.tj (not possible to get multiple entry online, which makes matters difficult). Approval takes between 2 days and 2 weeks. Print paper copy and bring with you.
1 Fly to Dushanbe and buy fuel and supplies. Sporting good stores in town or green house hostel sell standard canister fuel ($7-$10 per canister). Megaphone sim card will allow you to get internet and coordinate with Hazim while on the road. You can even get tajik cell service from in Afghanistan.
2. Apply for second single entry tajik visa while you have internet in dushanbe. Have confirmation email sent to a friend and tell friend to forward it to Hazim when approved.
3. Take share taxi or private taxi to Khorog (13 hours on rough roads, around $40-$100 per person)
The West Ridge route
4. Apply for Afghanistan visa at Afghan embassy in khorog. Turnaround time is fast, about 1 hr. Visa is only good for the Wakhan corridor ($220 for us citizen). Don’t bother applying for Afghan visa in advance. Much cheaper and easier to do in khorog.
5. Take taxi to Ishkashim border, 2.5 hours. Border is open 9am to 5pm generally. Cross into Afghanistan and meet Hazim, who will help you get Wakhan specific permit at office in Ishkashim.
Now you are ready to start the climb!
Pat rounded up a team of 7 climbers from around the world: me and pat from USA, Ian from Canada, Marie from Estonia, Ludwig from Spain, Andreas from Denmark, and Ray from China. We all planned to converge in Dushanbe in the early morning July 8.
I had just gotten back from an expedition to northern Labrador to climb mt caubvick and mt diberville, finishing the Canada province territory highpoints for me. With a 3 day break in seattle I packed up for the next expedition, flying out on July 6.
The whole team reached Dushanbe by early July 8. Pat had arranged a taxi van, and the driver met us at the airport then took us to the supermarket to get food. I was leery of getting sick from tajik food on the mountain so came with 3 weeks of food already packed. I ended up eating at a restaurant in the store while everyone else bought food.
Next stop was for fuel. We drove to a sporting goods store in town that sold canister fuel for $10 a can. We conservatively bought 80 small cans. (In hindsight we only ended up using about 30). Ludwig had brought handheld radios but they got confiscated in the Dubai airport. So I found an electronics store nearby and bought two radios. (One later ended up not working so it was a waste of money in the end).
The team at Khorog Tajikistan. Photo by our driver
Finally by 11am we started the long drive to Khorog on the famous Pamir highway. The road started out paved, but eventually got very rough. We followed a narrow dirt route at the edge of a river marking the Afghan border, with huge 5000m peaks towering above us.
To pass the time we played a game of find the president. It seems like around every corner there’s another billboard with a picture of the tajik president, Emomali Rahmon. The first person to see a new president billboard got a point and we played to 10. It didn’t take long for someone to get to 10 and the game started over.
Our drive went into the night, being slowed down by a half dozen police checkpoints. It looked like our driver payed a small bribe at each one. After one flat tire at 11pm we finally made it to Khorog at 2am and stayed at Lal hostel, arranged by Ray. Our driver slept in the van.
July 9
Ray met us there and in the morning we walked over to the Afghan embassy at 9am. We filled out forms and went to a photo shop in town since we each needed 4 passport pics.
While waiting for the visas to process we all reapplied for another single entry tajik visa using the Wi-Fi at the hostel. For most of us this worked fine, but Andreas had issues (which would come up later) and pat had some weird type of passport that meant he couldn’t even apply online. Unfortunately those guys would suffer the consequences when trying to get back out of afghanistan.
By early afternoon we had our Afghan visas and loaded back into the taxi. A 2.5 hour drive finally brought us to the Afghan border at Ishkashim. There is no town on the tajik side, just a bridge leading to an island in the river.
We all got out and an SUV drove up with the tajik border agents. They drove our gear over the bridge to the island then started processing our passports. The one agent was very adamant that we had all applied for visas to reenter tajikistan, otherwise we would get stuck in afghanistan.
Packing up at Malangs house in Qazi deh
We finished on the tajik side, then hauled our bags through a gate to the Afghan side. It was 530 pm but they stayed open for us. Hazim was waiting and helped us through the process. At the same time a group of 5 European trekkers was leaving afghanistan after a week trekking in the Wakhan. They were confused why we had so much gear and I tried to explain that we were climbing a big mountain.
We all made it through and loaded up in two beat up old vans. We drove through the market and it really looked like the afghanistan I expected. Women wore the blue burkas with mesh over the face and men dressed differently than across the river in Tajikistan.
We drove to a guest house in town with a few French trekkers and met Malang there. After dropping off gear we all ate a traditional dinner of big afghan bread, chicken, rice, and soup. A guy from oman joined us, and he was part of a travel company planning to bring clients for trekking in the Wakhan.
From talking to Malang I learned around 400 tourists enter the Wakhan each summer, mostly for trekking. This represents a big chunk of the economy for the region. Prices for things like homestays seem high ($30 per night) but this is because the short summer season income needs to last the locals the rest of the year.
Malang giving us tips on the route.
It is surprising that the Wakhan corridor is so much safer than the rest of afghanistan. It is very isolated, and Malang said some families deep in the corridor didn’t even know about the war going on with the US in the rest of the country, even years after it started. The people of the Wakhan are culturally different than those in the rest of afghanistan and are not sympathetic to the Taliban. In fact, the Taliban has never made it into the Wakhan.
Because of his association with western tourists, though, Malang cannot travel to the rest of afghanistan. He says the Taliban would have his head.
We took a short walk around town that evening with Malang and Hazim then went to bed.
Guidebook description of the route
July 10
In the morning we ate boiled eggs and Afghan bread for breakfast then went with Hazim to the Ishkashim tourism office and picked up permits for the Wakhan. Some team members picked up some last minute food in the market, then we drove an hour east to Malangs house in Qazi Deh village.
Malang talked to the village chief, who rounded up a bunch of men to be porters. It sounded competitive since everyone wanted to make a bit of extra money.
The porter payment is $60 per 21kg load. In the past
the trail had been rough enough that only people could pass, but starting in 2018 they started taking donkeys.
According to Hazim how porter selection works is there are 150 families in the area and each family gets a turn to send a porter. If the family has a donkey the porter can use a donkey but otherwise needs to carry the gear.
It turned out we had 13 porter loads, and there were enough donkeys to take them all. There was a bit of debate when the chief insisted he join us on the hike and get paid. We’d heard last year Marie’s friends came and the porters stole their ropes. It seemed like maybe the chief would prevent this.
Starting the approach hike
But Malang figured out the chief just wanted money and was going to send someone else in his place, which didn’t make any sense. So we decided to ensure our gear didn’t get stolen we would pay $200 up front, then the remaining $580 to a trustworthy porter at base camp if all our gear made it.
We set out at 3pm hiking up a trail from the bridge justeast down the road from Malangs house, while the porters loaded the donkeys.
The trail was well maintained, going through grazing fields, then up the valley along the river below steep mountain slopes.
Merwise, the youngest porter, handling the donkey with my bag.
We passed some old structures, then after a few hours started looking for a campsite. We found a flat grassy spot 14km in next to a tributary just before a bridge.
The right side was forest with a few fire rings and short grass. The left side was untrampled field with high grass. The trail was very clearly marked with stones on the sides. I pitched my tent on the left side just next to the trail.
Soon after one of the porters caught up to us.
“Landmine, boom” he said, pointing to the left side of the trail and making an explosion gesture with his hands.
I pointed to the right side and asked “Ok here?”
“Ok yes” he replied.
The donkeys grazing dangerously at landmine camp
I carefully picked up the tent and moved it into the trees. That was why the left side was untrammeled and the right side had the fire rings. I told everyone else to stay on the right side of the trail.
Eventually the rest of the porters came and made a few fires to cook dinner. A few spoke some words of English and it turned out they had one tent for 9 of them and some had to sleep out under a blanket, which sounded cold. They asked if we had an extra tent, so I let then use mine.
I slept under the stars on a tarp pat lent me, but i was plenty warm in my -20f sleeping bag. The porters offered me some bringe (rice) that they cooked on the fire and ate with their hands with Afghan bread. It tasted pretty good.
Looking back down towards camp
July 11
In the morning we left with the porters and the trail got steeper. I started regretting using only one porter to help with my gear while most everyone else used two porters.
We continued up the valley until we reached a steep scree slope where the trail disappeared. The donkeys refused to continue and we had to dig out a narrow trail for them. At one point the donkey carrying my gear started to tip over down the slope, but luckily a porter was just below and pushed the donkey back into balance.
The steep scree slope the donkeys almost slipped off
By late afternoon Ludwig, Ian, and I finally reached basecamp with the porters after a tough 17km day. I’ve read most groups take 3 or 4 days to get to base camp to allow for better acclimation, but Ludwig was on kind of a tight schedule so we were expediting things.
Me and the porters at base camp (photo by ludwig)
We inspected the gear and it all seemed in order, so we gathered the porters around to pay them. Just then we heard an explosion and immediately ducked. I thought a landmine had gone off, but it turned out the porters had a fire going to make tea in one of the stone walls at camp and a leftover gas can from a previous expedition had gotten too close and exploded.
Base camp with Noshaq in the background
We regained our composure, then handed over the money. We also gave them each a $10 tip, and everyone was surprised and pleased.
The rest of the team made it up that evening and we set up tents near the good kitchen area next to the snowmelt stream that would be our water supply.
A closer view of Noshaq. Summit on the left. Our route ascended a snow gully to reach the skyline West ridge.
We finally got a view of Noshaq from base camp. It towered 10,000ft above us, with the summit guarded by cliffs leading to a huge glacier that flowed down to camp. Steep scree slopes and snow gullies led up to the more benign West ridge, which would be our ascent route.
July 12
Scouting a location to cache our gear at 5000m.
The next day was a planned rest day at base camp, but we wanted it to be a bit active to help with acclimation. So we decided to carry small loads up the base of the steep section below the west ridge.
We followed an obvious trail out of camp up the
Our kitchen in base camp
moraine. It led much higher than the snow gully we were targeting, though. Malang had just showed us a guidebook that described routes on noshaq, and the recommended route to camp 1 went up 35 degree slopes on the glacier. Other routes went up a rock buttress or a snow couloir.
We decided the glacier route would be annoying since we’d have to rope up, all go at the same speed, and haul glacier gear up and down each time. Our preferred choice was to ascend the snow couloir.
From our stopping point I scouted out and cairned a route through the moraine to the base of the couloir. We all carried our gear over, made a cache at 5000m, then hiked back to camp.
July 13
Climbing up the snow couloir.
We left camp at 9am the next morning with bigger loads on our packs headed for camp 1 on a shoulder on the ridge at 5500m. Andreas and I ended up moving the fastest so got to the gully first.
We had seen a 2016 trip report of a team climbing up the left side of the gully so tried for that.
We started cramponing directly up the 35 degree snow gully until we reached the base of a large snow triangle. The snow was soft up to this point but turned to ice at the triangle. It appeared the top layer of the triangle had avalanched off in the previous weeks exposing the ice beneath.
Andreas breaking trail left of the snow triangle
It was too sketchy to climb the ice unroped since self arresting would be impossible so we instead scrambled the rocks to the left.
This route was loose and sometimes exposed 3rd class but was doable. Up high it turned to deep snow and was slow going. Andreas admirably took the lead through all the snow as I had taken a big load and was moving slowly.
Eventually we crested a ridge above and left of the
Setting up tents at camp 1.
snow triangle and reached a flat shoulder. This was camp 1 at 5500m.
We dropped our gear and piled rocks on top to deter the birds. After a half an hour we headed back down.
When we reached the snow triangle we saw pat leading the rest of the group in a traverse across the top. They had ascended the buttress right of the triangle before traversing across it. The top was lower angle snow so safe to cross.
We waited for them, then took their way back. They ended up caching gear below camp 1 in order to get back before dark.
Heading back to base camp in the valley below
The descent was lower angle snow and scree that was much easier than our route. Back at the couloir I took off crampons and had an amazing 1000ft boot glissade down. I cached my big baruntse boots and crampons at the base of the gully then made the short hike back to camp.
July 14
Trying to read a busted ereader in the tent
We finally had an official rest day the next day at base camp to help acclimate. I was excited to start reading on the ereader Katie had loaned me, but soon discovered that ⅓ of the screen was broken. She had warned me it was fragile and I thought I had been careful, but not careful enough.
I realized, though, that I could still mostly understand the text by reading the available words. I ended up reading “heart of the sea” that day and taking some long naps.
July 15
In the morning we packed up a week of food and the
Hiking back up to camp 1
rest of our gear and headed up around 10am. The late start was to allow the snow to soften in the couloir.
Andreas and I took the lead again, and this time followed a more direct route to the couloir that Ludwig had scouted and cairned.
I led up the couloir this time and was moving fast since my pack was lighter than the previous haul.
This time we went up the right side of the snow triangle following our tracks, then traversed across the top to camp.
I set up my two man nemo tenshi tent, anchored it
All the tents crammed on the little snow shoulder
well, and threw my gear inside. Next order of business was making the latrine. For a big group its important to do this as soon as possible before people start going everywhere. For some reason i ended up being the latrine maker at each camp.
A few hours later the rest of the crew arrived. I was alarmed that they took a different route up left of the buttress just below camp. Their route went over the glacier and they were unroped. It was less steep but definitely more dangerous than my route.
That evening I melted a bunch of snow and pat and I split my tent. We had brought enough tents to leave 7 person spaces in base camp and 7 on the upper mountain.
July 16
Hiking a load above camp 1
I packed up some fuel cans, glacier gear, and my rock rack in the morning and we prepared to haul a load up to camp 2. Andreas and I led the way again up from camp on increasingly steep snow slopes. For some reason Andreas and I were either the fittest or we acclimated best because we performed essentially all the trail breaking duties for the entire expedition (except the first summit bid day where Ian helped out admirably).
We eventually reached a rock pinnacle that I tried to skirt on the left. The slope was steep and composed of a thin layer of powder on top of ice, though. This was sketchy. Andreas found a fixed line going directly over the pinnacle. It required climbing some ice then steep rock while trusting body weight to the line. This also seemed dangerous to me. What if the line was cut near the top or not anchored well? We had no way of knowing.
I told the group to wait while I scouted the right side. It turned out the right side was an easy walk up with no danger. I soon rounded the pinnacle and saw the group at the rope.
Andreas had already climbed up but the rest of the
Approaching the first pinnacle
group had not. I yelled at them to follow my tracks and go around, that it was a safe walk up. I thought they understood me, so went to go to the bathroom.
I returned a few minutes later and half the group had started up the rope! I yelled again, and this time went to the top of the rope and yelled down.
Luckily Ian and Ray heeded my warning and took my route. But Ludwig, Marie, pat, and Andreas still decided to climb the rope. I don’t understand their decision and I don’t think they fully thought it through either. It was a no fall zone at the top, and it turned out the rope they were trusting their lives to was in fact partially cut at the anchor point. I hope my teammates will learn from this experience and not blindly trust ropes they find on a mountain.
I suspect they were used to climbing popular mountains where guides fix and maintain ropes for climbers each year. Noshaq is not such a mountain. There are no guides, there are no operators, there are hardly any climbers, and any ropes left on the mountain should be suspect.
Higher up on the ridge
After the pinnacle I led the way along the ridge to a smaller pinnacle, which we found a short easy 3rd class scramble route over. From here I broke trail across a knife edge snow ridge, then shortly up to a large shoulder.
Our altimeter measurements at first said 6100m which would have made that the camp 2 shoulder. Andreas and i ditched our gear, buried it under rocks, and waited for the rest of the team.
After an hour or two everyone else caught up and we all stashed our gear as it started to snow. We rechecked our altimeters and realized we were actually only at 6000m so not the usual camp 2. The weather was deteriorating though, so we decided to hike down. I reminded everyone to be careful not to destroy the up tracks (my mountaineering friends say “there’s a special place in hell for he who destroys the up tracks”).
Descending to camp
It only took an hour down and we were soon melting snow again in camp 1.
July 17
We took a rest and acclimation day the next day in camp 1. On a big mountain I kind of feel lazy taking so many rest days, but if I call them acclimation days it at least sounds better.
This time I read a mystery novel Katie had saved on the ereader and took some more naps.
Resting at camp 1
We began to notice a pattern with the weather on noshaq. Every morning the skies were clear, then starting around noon the upper mountain got socked in clouds and it eventually snowed. By late evening the weather then started clearing out.
We had read from Palo Draxler’s 2016 report and heard from Malang that the weather was generally clear every day. However I think they each climbed in August. It must be a bit wetter in July.
July 18
Climbing back up to camp 2
The snow from the previous day covered our tracks, so again Andreas and I set out taking turns breaking trail. The whole group planned to move to camp 2 and we’d all packed up that morning.
We skirted around the right side of the rock pinnacle then scrambled up and over the next one. It was sometimes possible to find our old tracks and save a bit of effort.
Andreas and I took a break at the 6000m cache and saw the rest of the group far below at the first pinnacle not moving.
We waited for a while and I sent an inreach text to Marie and Ian to ask what was going on. Eventually Marie and Ian started up while pat, Ray, and Ludwig set up tents.
This was very confusing. Finally when Marie and Ian arrived they explained Ludwig and Ray were having altitude issues and planned to camp there and pat would stay with them. Luckily they had sent up the other half of my tent from pats bag, but now all 3 inreach satellite texting devices were in our group and we had no way to communicate with the other 3 guys.
Andreas on the last steep part
We continued up, though, assuming they would catch up the next day. Now we loaded the cached gear into our packs with all the other gear to make a short but heavy single carry to the usual camp 2 shoulder.
Andreas and I had scouted out a good route left of the next pinnacle and I took over trail breaking duties. It was very tough work breaking trail with a heavy pack up steeper and steeper terrain above 6000m. Eventually the terrain got icy and I struggled to front point up a safe route. But after 1 hour I crested a small ridge and popped out at the usual 6200m camp 2 location.
Arriving at camp 2
It was a small saddle behind a rock pinnacle with a few good rock benches to sit on. I quickly claimed and stomped out the best location for my tent. I figured the trail breaker earned such a privilege. I then constructed a latrine and waited for the others to catch up.
We were soon all in camp 2 and with a bit of creativity managed to get three tents squeezed in. Because of the group split up the tents were somehow not as efficient and Ian and Andreas each got their own tent while Marie and I shared mine since it was the biggest.
July 19
The view from camp 2
Following our previous acclimation schedule we planned to hike a load up to camp 3 then return and camp at camp 2 again. We knew that the crux rock step of the route was just above camp 3 so decided to be strategic. We would carry up my rock rack, andreas’s 60m rope, and some glacier gear. We could then stash those at the base of the crux around 6900m or maybe even climb up the fixed lines if there were any there.
Marie was feeling the altitude and decided to rest in camp while Ian, Andreas, and I headed up. We started around 1030am, which in hindsight was much too late, but the rock step did look deceptively close to camp.
We generally followed the ridge, taking turns breaking trail between bands of rocks. As we got higher the rocks became continuous until we reached the small rocky camp 3 saddle at 6700m 3 hours later.
Approaching the rock step in deteriorating weather
Ian decided to turn around there (he had traveled light with no gear to deposit) but Andreas and I decided to push on and see if there were any fixed lines.
Unfortunately by this point in the early afternoon clouds were building and we were passing in and out of whiteout. Above us to the left I noticed the steep icefall of the glacier tumbling off the upper plateau. This then merged to the right with a cliff band that got taller and taller farther right. I suspected the route went somewhere up the middle or left of this rock band but it was hard to tell with the limited visibility. We certainly did not see any fixed lines from previous expeditions, though.
We pushed up higher, scrambling through rocks and
Retreating to camp 2
deep snow until Andreas proposed we stop. It was a smart choice since we couldn’t see where we were going anyways. We were at 6800m or 6900m and found a good boulder to stash the gear under. On the way up we had found a yellow 30m dynamic rope on the ground coiled up in good condition, so had brought that up and stashed it too.
We then retreated as we were caught in a full whiteout. Luckily the rock bands and Ian’s tracks allowed us to navigate back to camp where we followed the usual routine of melting snow and cooking dinner. It was at this camp I realized the true advantage of Ian’s msr reactor stove. My jetboil kept getting blown out by the wind but the reactor had no such problem.
It started snowing that evening and I went to bed with the sound of snowflakes hitting the tent.
July 20
Cramming more tents into the tiny area
We all took a full rest day in camp the next day. I made more progress on my mystery novel and more progress on taking naps. My appetite was still near full strength, which I took as a good sign that I was acclimating well.
As usual by early afternoon we were caught in a whiteout, which turned to a snowstorm by late afternoon. As we were cooking dinner we heard a sound from up on the pinnacle and Ray appeared out of the whiteout. He’d been feeling better so decided to hike up.
We quickly boiled him some water for his dinner and helped find him a tent site.
By 7pm I’d crawled in my tent but then heard more noise outside. Now pat and Ludwig had hiked up, so the whole team was reunited again.
Ian, Andreas and I all felt very well acclimated and made the decision to go for a summit bid the next day. We had never heard of anyone going for the summit from camp 2 – in fact most parties first move to camp 4 on the summit plateau before pushing for the summit. But we figured it was only 3 hours
The view of the rock step from camp before the weather came in.
up to camp 3, we could quickly jug up the fixed lines that should be on the rock step, and we were all quite well acclimated. Plus, we had a text from a friend that mountain forecast predicted dry weather all week for the summit.
After some debate we decided on a 2am departure. Ray wanted to join too. I was skeptical that he was acclimated enough for the 7500m summit, since he had only now first hit 6200m and never slept above 5700m. But if there were fixed lines I figured he could always bail and retreat solo if needed.
Ludwig also wanted to join because this was his last possible summit day before needing to return to dushanbe to catch a flight. I figured his bid was even more of a long shot, though, since he had had trouble acclimating to camp 1 and was coughing a lot at camp 2.
I think pat correctly assessed that he should spend more time acclimating before trying for the summit. Marie decided to stay at camp with pat.
The first hints of dawn
July 21
Everyone takes different times to get ready so I said each person get up at whatever time required to be moving by 2am. I personally like to get all my water ready the night before and eat a cold breakfast so I can be up and moving fast. Accordingly I set my alarm for 130am.
However, the other guys needed to melt snow and cook in the morning, so there was commotion starting around 1245am. I couldn’t get back to sleep, so just got up with everyone else.
Andreas and Ian at 6700m
Eventually by 215am we were moving. I insisted that we take a stove, pot, fuel as emergency gear in case we had to spend the night in a snow cave and make water. I thought this was standard procedure based on all my previous trips, but everyone else was surprised by the request. We split up the gear so Ian took the stove, I had the pot, and Ray the fuel.
Ludwig was taking a while to get ready so we just started moving. Ian, Andreas, and I took turns breaking trail with Ray in the back. Soon Ian and Ray started speaking Chinese and I picked up the word for bathroom. Then Ray stopped as we all continued.
At the usual camp 3 location
I was confused and insisted that everyone only speak English. Language complications have led to failures of big expeditions, notably contributing to the 2008 k2 disaster, and I didn’t want any additional confusion on our trip.
Ian agreed, and said Ray was having diareah but would catch up. We kept going, but Ray never showed up. I feared he had bailed, but he had the fuel and some climbing gear that was critical to our success. So I dropped my pack and hiked back down to catch him.
He was far behind but still hiking up. I politely asked for the gear, then quickly caught back up to Ian and Andreas.
From there we continued mostly up rocks, reaching camp 3 around 420am as a brilliant sunrise illuminated the surrounding peaks.
Reaching the saddle below the rock step
We took a short break but my toes would not warm up so I started leading the way up again. I found our old tracks vaguely visible and soon reached our gear cache.
Andreas and I distributed the gear, then I continued breaking trail up the steep rocky slope. I think it could be considered 4th class in a few places.
I soon crested a small saddle with a cornice on the side and stopped to catch my breath. I carefully looked over the cliff above me but did not see any fixed lines. This was surprising and disappointing. I thought for sure if there was an unnecessary fixed line above camp 1 there must be a very good fixed line on the actual crux. But nope.
The crux rock step
Luckily I did see a few possible lines I would be ok leading, and I had my rock rack with me. Andreas and Ian soon caught up, and I led the way along the knife edge ridge to the base of the cliff. Ian and Andreas affirmed that would be happy to give me a belay and take the following duties if I would lead.
I racked up, slung a horn for an anchor, and gave them some extra weight. In hindsight I should have given my whole pack to Ian or Andreas to reduce the risk of me falling off, but I didn’t think of this.
Interestingly we found a coiled 40m static line at the base of the route. Andreas packed this up for use fixing the route on our descent.
Andreas and Ian on the second pitch
I put on my big down jacket since it was very cold, took out my ice ax, and started up directly up the wall from the knife edge ridge. I soon clipped a rusty old piton, then continued up rocky snowy slopes. I got a red cam in a bit higher up, and luckily the rock was much more solid than down at camp 2.
I went up and left up a ledge, then cut right to sling ahorn beneath a steep wall. Here I started belaying Ian up. The plan was for him to trail the yellow rope and after he got up
Me belaying the second pitch. Photo by Ian
we would belay Andreas up on that.
Ian soon reached the anchor but as Andreas started climbing Ray appeared at the base of the cliff. I was sure he’d turned around but he had made it. Andreas yelled up to ask what to do.
This was a dilemma. If we had been on some short warm day trip at sea level i would have felt fine telling Ray to tie in and join the party. But this was at 7000m in extreme cold before dawn on a mixed route that I didn’t even know would go. I looked up and estimated two more pitches, with the third being quite difficult.
Me leading the crux 3rd pitch. Photo by Ian
Complicating matters was I had no idea of Rays climbing ability.
I thought through what would happen if Ray clipped in. If he was not an experienced climber he might fall on easy terrain. In a group of 4 on one rope this would pull other climbers down.
What if we all somehow made it past the crux to the plateau? I was concerned Ray was not acclimated – he had really only been to 5700m – and he would need to turn back early. But there were no fixed lines, so he could not bail solo. Thus if he bailed we would all have to bail to set rappel lines for him. However, I wasn’t even sure he knew how to rappel.
Andreas and Ian climbing the third pitch
If there had been fixed lines as expected we could have all made it up but we did not see any fixed lines.
I’m sure pat knew the experience levels of all team members. But pat wasn’t there and I needed to make a decision with the information I had. Thus in the interest of both safety and of getting people to the summit I insisted Ray turn around.
It was a confusing situation since we were a ropelength apart and yelling to be heard, and Ray actually started soloing up. But eventually he turned around. We saw Ludwig making his way up also, but for the same reasons decided he should not clip onto the rope.
Finally Andreas made it up and handed me my gear. I had him coil up the yellow rope and instead tie in 10ft apart from Ian. This way I could lead full 60m pitches.
For the next pitch I traversed left then directly up the snowy rock face. Gear was sparse but I finally got a purple nut in, the a little higher a small yellow cam.
Cresting the summit plateau
From here I traversed hard left until I found a big boulder to sit on and sling. I was happy to be wearing my big down jacket because it was very cold.
The other guys soon made it up and I noticed a half buried fixed line not far to the left. It would be tricky to traverse to and of questionable quality anyways. I saw a feasible route up to the edge of the plateau, though, and decided to lead up that. That would end up being the crux pitch of the route.
Andreas belayed me as I traversed left on thin downsloping snowcovered ledges. I found an icy crack which I chiseled open with my ice axe and managed to get a purple cam in. I knew it would be important to get as many pieces in as possible on this traverse to protect Ian and Andreas.
The view of the summit ridge with summit on the left. Deceptively far away.
The terrain got sketchier and I used my ice ax to hook sketchy thin snow on rocks. I wished I’d brought two ice tools instead. After a few delicate moves I reached another good stance and excavated out another crack to stick a green cam.
From there I quit traversing and started climbing up to a notch on the ridge. Unfortunately there were no more protection options so I was very careful and deliberate, testing each foot and handhold before trusting it.
Andreas creating the ridge onto the glacier
With a final thrust of the ice ax I pulled myself over the edge, then laid down to pant like a dog. The air was thin and the final moves had taken a lot of exertion.
I’ve read that the rock step is grade 5.6 m4 and that sounds about right to me.
I got a little red cam in a crack, then looked up and noticed two pitons in the wall. I quickly clipped in and used these as an anchor. Perhaps my route was indeed the standard way up.
I belayed the other guys up and we were soon all at the edge of the summit plateau. I sent Ian up on belay to find a less precarious spot, then we followed. Unfortunately the spot was not much less exposed in my mind so I led out to the flat middle of the plateau and belayed the others there.
The summit looked tantalizingly and deceptively close. There was a long rocky ridge from right to left on the other edge of the plateau with the summit on the left end. It was 1030am, sunny, and seemed like we had a good shot.
Ian breaking trail on the plateau
We ditched the rock gear, static line, and the 60m green rope and swietched to using the 40m yellow rope as our glacier rope. We suited up with pickets and Prussiks and headed out.
Ian took the lead breaking trail making a beeline for the ridge. The snow was deep, though, and the trail breaking tough. Soon the terrain got very steep close to the ridge and our progress slowed.
We took a break and I took over the lead heading right to gain some rocks at the base of the ridge. But it was immediately clear that I was not as acclimated as I’d hoped. At best I could take one step, then pause 10 seconds before the next. This was still too fast and Andreas and Ian requested I go slower. I understood the other guys were, like me, also not super well acclimated.
We reached the rocks by 1145am and ditched the glacier gear. By then the sunny skies had disappeared and we were passing in and out of whiteout. There was talk if turning back but I insisted we carry on.
I broke trail through the rocks another 45 minutes but again Ian and Andreas suggested we turn around. By now the whiteout was nearly continuous. We were at 7100m and still moving very slowly.
Bailing in the whiteout
It appeared our rate of progress meant we might get to the summit before sunset but it would be in a whiteout and maybe a snowstorm. We could probably then follow our footprints and GPS track back to the plateau. But there was only buried fixed line of dubious quality to get us down. We would likely have to fix our own lines. That would be tough at night in a snowstorm.
I figured most likely if we continued we would summit but be forced to spend the night in a snow cave on the plateau. That actually sounded kind of fun to me. We did have the stove to melt snow. However, I was concerned about my toes. They had been numb all morning and were still numb. I think my feet swelled more at elevation than I’m used to and circulation got constricted.
Setting up the fixed line anchors and ropes
Id read too many stories of mountaineers having unplanned bivies up above 7000m and losing toes or fingers to frostbite. This made me less excited about a night in a snow cave.
Reluctantly I agreed with Ian and Andreas that we should turn around and focus on fixing lines so the rest of the team could safely make it up later.
We easily retraced our tracks in the limited visibility and recovered our stashed gear. We made it back to the pitons and found the fixed line anchor shortly down the ridge.
Andreas rapping down
The anchor was solid, with two slings around a rock horn, but the purple fixed rope had been cut to the core on a sharp edge. I’m glad we hadn’t tried to climb that rope!
Ian took charge of fixing lines and I was happy to take a break from making critical decisions. He used a micro traction device to grip and pull up the rope. We then cut the bad part and tied it to our white static line.
We tied the static line to the anchor, backed it up on another horn, then lowered both ropes down.
Ian then rapped down, passed the knot, and excavated the purple rope from the snow all the way to its end at a slung boulder.
Traversing back to the corniced ridge
The whiteout had turned into a nasty snowstorm with strong wind by then and I was happy to finally get off the plateau.
We backed up the slung boulder with a piton and a slung horn, then tied on the green rope on a single strand and Ian rapped down a steep snow slope.
He then slung a horn, traversed to the end of the rope, tied on another 30m grey rope we found, and climbed over to a big rock back on the corniced ridge we had started our climb from that morning. Andreas and I rapped down in a whiteout. The route was now fixed and suitable for the rest of the team to use to access the summit ridge.
Our ascent route (red) and descent route (yellow)
We followed our barely visible up tracks back down from the ridge and staggered into camp around 7pm just before dark. It had been a tough 17 hour day.
It was still snowing, windy, and whiteout. I cooked some mountain house chili Mac with beef in my vestibule and we recounted our experience to pat, Marie, and Ray. Ludwig had already descended back to base camp, having turned around at the same place Ray had.
July 22
The day dawned sunny as usual. With 6 of us remaining we needed to decide on a plan of attack. I was somehow still feeling good, and wanted to move up to camp 3 then mount another summit bid the next day. I reasoned starting higher and earlier with fixed lines in place gave a good shot for success.
However Andreas and Ian were in need of rest and advocated going down to base camp to recover. I really didn’t want to go all the way back down when
Descending to camp
I was feeling fine. I figured i could always solo the mountain, but it would be risky crossing the glacier solo. I really needed a partner.
Pat and Marie seemed interested in my plan if we added in one rest day. I had 3 days of food so sounded like it would work.
However, now Ian and Andreas said they could do that plan. Problem was they each only had two days of food left. Ray wanted to join too, but he had zero food.
Hiking back down
It was revealed that Ludwig had left some food and Marie had some stashed at camp 1, but probably not enough for everyone that needed food.
I proposed that we didn’t all have to summit together, so those with food and energy could summit now and the others later. This wasn’t a popular sentiment.
In the end, through lack of enough food and the desire that we all summit together nobody was willing to join me and we all had to descend.
The plan was for pat and Marie to just descend to camp 1 where Marie’s food stash was and the rest of the team to go to base camp. I wasnt super excited
Descending to camp 1
about this, but I would later come to realize that dropping down to base camp like this really does allow the body to acclimate and recover more quickly than staying up high.
By noon I led the way down, easily plunge stepping down to camp 1 in an hour. We passed a team of three polish guys moving up to camp 1. It turns out they had attempted noshaq in 2013 but failed so were returning to try again.
I boot skied down the snow couloir and was back at camp after a little over 2 hours. I had left almost everything up at camp, only bringing down my sleeping bag and pad.
Cooking up a feast of sausage and pasta
Andreas and Ian soon joined and we cooked a fancy dinner of sausage and spaghetti and enjoyed the thick air. Later we were surprised to see pat, Marie and Ray all hike back into camp. They said the birds had eaten all their food stashed at camp 1 so they were forced to descend to base camp.
Ray was having a lot of trouble with his knees, even falling just outside camp, and I wondered if he would go up again.
July 23
The view out the tent door
We took a full rest day in base camp, spent reading and napping as usual. Amazingly that day and the previous day were the only days of the entire expedition where the summit was clear morning and afternoon!
It was unfortunate to have missed such a perfect summit opportunity. From then on I asked Katie and Matthew to text me weather forecasts for the summit to see if we could capitalize on a good window.
July 24
Hiking up past camp 1
We planned to start moving back up, but it was clear Ian and Andreas were sick. They were both coughing a lot and Ian was feeling crappy. I think the 17 hour summit attempt had taken its toll, though somehow I seemed unaffected.
Ian proposed everyone rest another day but I resisted. I was the only one with a flight already booked out of dushanbe and more delays might cut things too close for me. I was also feeling fine and ready for the summit. I said if the team wants to delay more then I’ll climb solo.
Somehow this convinced everyone to move up. Andreas and I packed up and headed up first. He was coughing pretty badly and considered turning back, but needed to recover his gear at camp two so powered on.
The couloir was melting out and the snow triangle was very icy after two days of sun. The traverse seemed way too sketchy so this time after climbing the couloir we went up the left side of the snow triangle. It was early enough that the scree on the edge was frozen together from the meltwater which made an easy staircase to ascend.
We were soon at camp 1 and continued up. The whole route was now icier and more melted out than we remembered. Still, we made it up in 5 hours, having carried up a bit more food for the next summit bid.
Back at camp 2 with the polish team
The polish team had also moved up and were camped nearby. We chatted with them and discovered one of them, Martin, had actually climbed all the snow leopard peaks (the five 7000m peaks of the former Soviet union)! That team was certainly very experienced and I felt safer to have them on the mountain.
We waited a long time, even crawling into our sleeping bags, but finally pat, Marie, and Ian arrived just before sunset. This pace sounded to me like a problem with acclimation or something else and I thought didn’t bode well for their summit chances.
I was surprised Ray had come up and was camping at camp 1. I could only hope he could walk back down on his own.
July 25
Hiking up to camp 3 with Andreas
In the morning I got favorable forecasts from Matthew and Katie. July 26 was supposed to be clear in the morning and cloudy in the afternoon with almost no wind. The next two days would be worse.
We made a plan then for the whole team to move up to camp 3 that day. We knew the most reliable clear weather was between midnight and noon, so we would start at midnight that night and hopefully get down before the afternoon whiteout and snow that always seemed to happen.
We divied up group gear under this plan. Andreas and I were ready quickly, and we always ended up breaking trail for the team anyways, so we started up first. We decided since we had already hauled a bunch of group gear for line fixing up before, it would be fair for the other team members who had not yet carried group gear to bring up the glacier ropes and pickets. We would be breaking trail for them up to camp 3 anyways.
I led the way. Our old tracks were snowed over so I had to break fresh ones, but I was used to this. The route was familiar now, and by noon we made it to the camp 3 saddle. I leveled out a spot and pitched my tent as Andreas followed a bit behind. We threw our gear inside, then I leveled out two more platforms for the rest of the team.
Camp 3 set up at 6700m
I then went and practiced my masonry skills to make an awesome latrine.
By 330pm I got a text from Ian that the team was too tired and was stopping to camp at 6500m. I worried about their chances of summitting.
[Note: not having instant communication with radios definitely exacerbated this communication problem and I undoubtedly did not fully understand my teammates intentions given our limited communication over inteach.]
More troubling, though, was they had a glacier rope and picket Andreas and I needed. I figured pat was in good shape so asked if he could bring the gear up and camp with us. But he didn’t want to. I also proposed the team leave at 1030pm and meet us at camp 3 at midnight as planned and we’d go up together. But no, they said they wanted to sleep in til 2am. That would be too late to avoid the bad weather, though, I thought.
Setting out at midnight
I definitely said some words then that shouldn’t be repeated after that exchange .
Andreas and I formulated a plan of attack. We would cut the bottom 30m section of fixed rope and use this as our glacier rope. The rest of the team had ropes and pickets so they could easily belay that short traverse section themselves. Unfortunately we only had one picket so the person in the back, least likely to fall in, would use that on the glacier.The rest of the team were short on pickets too. For some reason Ian and I were the only ones who brought pickets to the mountain.The rest of the team would just have to work with the two pickets they had.
With our plan formulated we cooked dinner and crawled into the tent at 6pm as it was snowing lightly.
July 26
At 1130pm we poked our noses out the tent door and were greeted by clear undercast sky with no wind. It was Showtime.I quickly scarfed down some granola and got suited up. I wore all my layers including down jacket since it was quite cold.By midnight we were off, with Andreas leading the way setting the pace. We could vaguely follow our old tracks in the snow and I soon took up trail breaking to the ridge.
Topping out at the top of the fixed lines at 3am.
There I clipped on to the fixed line and traversed the steep snow slope. I stopped to build a new anchor at a rock horn then jugged up to the piton anchor.Andreas then started over. When he got to the end of the grey rope he clipped into the green rope and cut off the grey one, putting it in his backpack. This would be our glacier rope. Cutting it preserved the big knot on the end of the green rope, which would catch anyone sliding off.
When he finished I jugged up the static line to the edge of the summit plateau. I was worried about the line getting cut on a sharp edge like the previous one had. So I redirected it, then cut up a sock and duct taped it around the rope for extra padding. I liberally added more tape until I was satisfied the rope wouldn’t get cut, then yelled for Andreas to come up.
Andreas breaking trail up the glacier
It was 245am by the time we were both up and I could just make out other lights far below our camp. It seemed the rest of the team were just getting started. I wondered how they thought they could beat the afternoon whiteout starting so late, but then remembered they would not be breaking trail like we had to, so might move faster.I was more experienced at crevasses rescue so I went second and Andreas first. We roped up and headed across the glacier in the dark.
Approaching the summit ridge
This time we stayed farther right to avoid the steep slopes of last time. The predawn snow was easier to travel on and we didn’t sink down as much as before. Andreas did an excellent job breaking trail and by 430am we reached the rocks. We ditched glacier gear then and turned our headlamps off.In hindsight we should have tried to gain
Andreas hiking up above the glacier
the ridgecrest right there on the right side but we decided to make an ascending traverse towards the summit. We took turns leading, and I was in the front when I saw a possible route up to the ridge. It was not going to be easy, but it was probably possible.I climbed up steep snow, then scrambled up sketchy snow covered 4th class rock and gained a wide snow ledge. From there I followed the ledge up and right and found myself on the summit ridge.This was officially the border with
On the Pakistan Afghanistan border ridge
Pakistan. Tirich Mir mountain, another 7000er loomed across a deep glacier filled valley. I think k2 might have even been visible in the distance.Andreas caught up and we took a short break to eat, drink, and put on sunscreen. I then started breaking trail along the ridge. It was an amazing ridge walk with rocks on the left on the afghanistan side and rolling glacier on the right Pakistan side.
Me with the summit in the background
The ridge rolled up and down, at one point we got stuck in a whiteout that luckily soon ended. We crested one small bump and then finally saw the true summit of noshaq. It looked like a small gentle rocky hill across a short flat plateau.I quit taking breaks then and just powered forward. Andreas started falling behind but then he started pressure breathing like I taught him and caught back up.
Me on the summit (photo by Andreas)
By 7am I’d reached the summit, the first climber there in 2019.There was another bump just farther on the ridge of similar elevation, but I verified with multiple maps on my GPS that it was shorter and was definitely in Pakistan. Without a doubt we were on the highest land in Afghanistan.
Summit panorama
The summit dropped a thousand feet down on the north but was a gentle slope on the south. We got hero shots of ourselves on the summit and I collected summit rocks. The weather held out as expected, with beautiful undercast to the west towards camp.
Carefully downclimbing the sketchy mixed 4th class section
We hung out til 8am and I was reluctant to leave, but knew we still needed to beat the coming whiteout. I led the way back, and we tried to descend a different way. The guidebook says to use one of the “easy snow gullies” to access the ridge, so we tried down climbing the first obvious gully. However, it was so icy it required front pointing and would have been impossible to self arrest on.
Instead we climbed back up and retraced our ascent route. We very carefully downclimbed the mixed 4th class section and bumped into pat and Marie at the bottom.They said Ian turned around feeling too sick, and I later heard Ray turned around at the fixed lines.It was 915am and I felt they were
Rapping down our fixed ropes
likely going to get stuck in a whiteout. We explained the route to them and how long it took us. They were in good spirits and we wished them good luck on the summit.We soon got back to the glacier gear and roped up. Andreas led back and we easily rapped the fixed lines. We made it back to camp 3 by 1115am, before the noon whiteout just as planned.By noon we were packed up and headingdown. A whiteout started then almost like clockwork and we hoped pat and Marie would make it down safely.We easily navigated the whiteout down, passing Marie’s tent, and made it to camp 2. There we chatted with the poles, who congratulated us on the summit. I was able to give them some extra food and fuel before packing up and continuing down. Our plan was to make it all the way to basecamp.
Hiking back down to camp 3 just before the whiteout
My pack was now extremely heavy and unfortunately the route was more melted out and icier. There was very little easy plunge stepping down the slope and I in fact front pointed down climbing for long stretches. Just above camp 1 we saw a large hole in the snow and learned Ian had fallen in a crevasse there! He had descended in the morning and followed our old boot track which had wandered just away from the ridge onto the glacier.Luckily his pack had caught on the lip as his legs dangled above 30m of air. He was able to use his ice axe to pull himself out since he was unroped.I steered well clear of his hole and took a break at the very melted out camp 1. The poles were descending just ahead of us for a Russian rest down at base camp. With so much ice and melting we skipped the snow traverse and went down the rock and scree buttress climbers left of the triangle. It was loose and sketchy but worked.
Almost back to camp 3
We then glissaded what was left of the snow couloir and made it safely to base camp by 5pm. Ray and Ian were already there waiting.I got a text that pat and Marie had summitted at 1pm as a whiteout started and made it back to their camp before sunset.Ian was very sick and stayed in his tent while Andreas, Ray, and I feasted on fried sausage that pat generously let us eat.July 27
Waiting around in base camp
The next morning Ray headed down as the rest of us lounged in camp. Ian texted Malang and Hazim to send up the porters but we weren’t certain if they got the message.After dinner pat and Marie made it to camp and I was relieved everyone was off the dangerous part of the mountain.July 28
Loading up donkeys and porters in the snowstorm
Hazim had in fact gotten our message and four porters and two donkeys arrived at camp at 5am. We scrambled to get ready and pack up gear.I ended up giving myself a very heavy pack, with extra room in my duffle to store gear from other team members. I eventually also ended up carrying half of Rays gear on my back so we could get down to 7 bags for the porters instead of the 8 loads that started out.Unfortunately there had been some miscommunication and not enough donkeys or porters had been sent. For future reference, tell Hazim the number of 21kg bags you have and he will then send the appropriate number of donkeys and porters.
Hiking down
The porters ended up having to carry bags too and overload the donkeys. I think the porters were happy since they would make more money than expected, but the donkeys were probably not happy.We left camp as a heavy snowstorm started, but it soon eased up lower down. The hike out was not too difficult, and we took frequent rests with the porters to drink tea and eat Afghan bread.Near the trailhead we passed a dead calf near the trail and one of the porters said “mine, boom”. This was a reminder that it’s still important to stay on the trail and listen to the porters on the approach.By sunset we reached the trailhead and were greeted by Hazim and friends. Everyone was very happy, especially one of the donkeys, who let out a squeel and sprinted the last 100ft to the road.
Hiking down the final stretch
We walked a short distance along the road until we reached Malangs house, where we were treated to a dinner of Afghan bread, rice, and Kabul chicken.That evening after dinner Hazim went to a special location near the window to pick up an internet signal from Tajikistan. He then made a mobile hotspot that I connected to. I accessed my email, found the approved tajik visa, and forwarded it to him. Ian and Marie did the same, and he planned to print them in the morning at a shop in Ishkashim.Unfortunately pat and Andreas still had unresolved visa issues.
Walking back to malangs house
July 29
We loaded up cars in the morning and headed toward Ishkashim. On the way Hazim had an idea. There was an air strip outside of town and an NGO flight on a small 6 seater plane from Kabul that morning. If pat and Andreas could fly to Kabul, they could buy another flight to a visa free location like Dubai and not have to worry about the tajik visa.The plane came and they talked to the pilot for at least an hour, but could not get permission to fly to Kabul.
We loaded back up and drove to the border. Pat, Andreas and Hazim talked to the tajik officials but were not allowed to cross.The rest of us crossed no problem and we loaded up into a taxi waiting on the tajik side at noon. It was unclear what Andreas and pat would do but at least Hazim could help them out.
After 3 hours Ian, Ray, Marie and I made it to khorog and checked in at the Lal hostel. We ate well that evening at two restaurants in town.July 30Ian and Marie decided to stay in khorog another day but Ray and I needed to get to dushanbe. So we took a taxi to the share taxi lot and waited around for a dushanbe-bound vehicle to fill up.Finally by 10am we had 12 people in an SUV and paid $40 each for the ride. The trip was tough as before but at least we stopped at restaurants for lunch and dinner. At one point on the Afghan border we heard what sounded like gunshots coming at us. The driver slammed on the brakes and went in reverse, but then we realized it was an Afghan road crew on the other side of the river blasting out some rocks.
Plot of elevation attained and elevation slept at over time (thank to Ian for the idea for this plot)
By 10pm, just an hour outside of dushanbe, I heard another small explosion and then the car broke down.The driver tried for three hours to fix it, but by 1am gave up. The other passengers had friends pick them up but Ray and I were stuck. The driver put all our gear in the seats and motioned to follow him as he coasted back down a hill. I was tired and confused why we had to walk behind the car and couldn’t sit in it. After a few km we caught up to it, then helped push it to a gas station by 2am. Somehow he found another driver to take us to town, but Ray haggled over the price so much that the driver left. Then we got another driver with an ancient Russian car with a gerry rigged can on the side that the driver could dump water in while driving to cool the engine. They wanted $5 and I paid it immediately to avoid any haggling.
By 330am they dropped Ray off at a bus station and I stayed in the car.I wanted to go to the greenhouse hostel since it was cheap but figured nobody would be awake at that hour. On maps.me I found the atlas hotel just two blocks away, which sounded fancy enough to have 24hr service. The drivers dropped me off there and luckily they had a room for $65. I was asleep by 430am
July 31
I slept in til 10am, ate breakfast, then walked over to the green house hostel. I booked two nights, for only $7 per night, and lugged my bags over.For some reason I’d gotten stuck with the 47 extra fuel cans we were trying to get rid of. We’d paid $10 per can for them but I thought maybe I could sell them to the hostel, since they sell fuel. The cans were full but banged up.
The owners complained that guests had used that brand at 2000m altitude and had problems. I assured them I had just verified the fuel worked fine up to 7000m. Because the cans were banged up they offered me $2 per can and I accepted. I was happy to be rid of those. I got $94 which almost exactly matched the group gear expenditures I’d sunk into fixed line anchors and the faulty radios. I eventually heard Andreas and pat made it out of afghanistan after an extra day or so delay. I ended up spending a few rest days in dushanbe before flying out to southeast Asia to bag some more country highpoints.
[Note: I later learned the polish team did not reach the summit so it appears our team was the only one to summit this year.]
Recommendations for future trips:
– Do a shakedown trip beforehand so all team members can practice together. It’s tough for the first trip together to be the big trip.
-use radios. This would have helped with a lot of communication issues. I undoubtedly misinterpreted my teammates plans in many instances since we couldn’t easily communicate. Ludwig did try to bring radios as carry on but they were confiscated in Dubai (not allowed in carry on in Dubai, but allowed in checked luggage). And the ones I bought in dushanbe didn’t work.
-Higher a meteorologist. I’ve done this for other expeditions and it could have persuaded us to delay our first summit bid by a day to hit the perfect weather window we missed.
Thanks to pat for all his hard work organizing this expedition!
Email me for more beta and gps tracks of our route. More pics to come when I find a better internet connection.
© 2019 – 2023, egilbert@alum.mit.edu. All rights reserved.
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