HINDU KUSH EXPEDITION OF THE MOUNTAINEERING TOURIST GROUP GRAZ, 1968

[Translated by K. K. Guha from Mitteilungen des Osteir. Alpenvereins Akademische Sect. Graz, Vol 17, June 1969, by kind permission of the author].

HEINZ BADURA

After months of preparation we left in a VW Kombi car (manufactured in 1958) on 2 July 1968. We drove day and night with occasional halts and our car was damaged several times negotiating roads strewn with boulders. We halted at Istanbul, Ankara, Erzurum, Tabris and Teheran. We went across the northern part of the Shahrud desert. We covered 900 km. over the sands to reach Meshed. The roads of Afghanistan are much better than those of East Iran. We drove past Herat, Kandahar and Kabul. At Kabul the car was sent for servicing and we enjoyed a comfortable rest for a day and a half because of the many Austrian families living there, particularly the Zide family.

We were pleasantly suprised by the Pakistani Customs officers who did not even look inside the car! We reached sultry Peshawar and proceeded towards Saidu Shariff (Mingara) in Swat. Here we bought food, atta, cigarettes, tea and salt. The last post office is Khawaza Khela. From here we turned towards Gilgit. The people of Swat are very cordial. The country is a plateau through which flows the Swat River. The land is very fertile producing a bumper wheat crop. We found some new school buildings and even a new township. The last part of the route to Kalam and Gabral is made of stones, but well maintained

In Gabral it is very difficult to get porters. The local people in Kalam did not help us. But the English-speaking teachers helped us with men and mules.

On 18 July we started marching from Kalam with eight men and seven mules. We passed through wheat and potato fields at first. Afterwards we found only nut-trees. The landscape reminded me of my home—beautiful firs, cedars and pines. We marched for two days through forests of mainly birch trees. At 3,000 metres we found long grass and many flowers of my homeland.

Near a village, 3,200 m. on a moraine in Gabral Valley, we turned east and entered Dingi Valley. Gradually the valley widened and looked like a basin. The northern side of this Dingi Valley is known as Medan Valley.

The terrain is now more difficult. We must leave the ponies now, they cannot go further. Porters, however, are easily available here and we need more of them now. Arndt took some medical precautions before we were on the track again with 20 porters.

On our right hand (SE) is the Muri Range, on the left (NW) is the Pias Range. On the fifth day of our march we crossed the Muri Range over the Muri Pass (4,600 m.) and reached Ushu Valley (c. 3,700 m.) where we saw many small lakes. Next day we crossed the Khachikhani Pass (4,650 m.). It was very cold and our porters were freezing, although they put pieces of goatskin to wrap around their feet. Finally, after eight days' hard slogging we established our Base Camp at the Bashkargolo Lake. ^This lake, some kilometres square and 3,650 metres high, is situated in the Bashkar Valley, surrounded by 6,000 and 5,000 metre high peaks.

Harambot Zom (5,800 m.) is situated near the confluence of the Manali and the Thalo valleys. We started at 7 o'clock in the morning of 27 July at the south end of the Bashkargolo Chhat where there is still a shadow of a path. When we entered the Manali Valley even this comfort was lost. Like in Wadi the valley gets wider as it goes up. At noon two of the high-altitude porters would go no further. Strike! with a couple of extra rupees and the threat to take back the clothing they had just received from us, we could persuade them to continue.

On the orographic left side of the valley we climbed over grass and rock slopes to establish high Manali Camp I (4,150 m.). From here we had a terrific view of the Pias Range and the Manali glacier. On the following day we established Camp II on the upper basin of the Haram glacier at 4,900 metres. The front view of Harambit (c. 6,000 m.) comprises a very wild descent of ice and rock moraine to the glacier basin. To the north the east ridge of Harambot Zom looks as if it would go. Tomorrow we will try it.

In the night it freezes so that the flat glacier and the snow couloir on the east ridge give us little trouble. The rock is easy, but very brittle. Again and again it breaks away beneath us. Further up it is rather disagreeable and we exert more as we sink hip high in snow, but we sense the closeness of the summit. Under the top wall we roped up because we had to cross a rather slippery snow slope. We were very happy that we could score a first ascent of this beautiful mountain. The weather was good, but thick clouds blocked our view; we could occasionally see some beautiful summits in the south and the two six-thousanders to the north of the Thalo Valley. We marked the date of our ascent on a stone.

After a long rest we took the same route back and slept that night at Manali Camp II. In the afternoon of 30 July we reached our Base Camp where Hill cooked an extraordinary meal for us pancake with strawberry jam, plum sauce, stuffed paprika, tuna fish and bean salad. We sat long into the night around the camp- fire with our two porters, dreaming and listening to the strange melodies which came over the transistor radio.

The peaks of Isporili glacier

In order to reach the Isporili Valley we had to cross the river just at the outlet of the lake (Bashkargolo). To wade through the strong currents of this river would be suicidal. The only thing possible was to build a sling lift but how to fasten it on the other bank? Hill solved the problem with a raft built out of timber in which he rowed across the lake. We now had our bridge and we started a ferry. Our lift was built out of a mountaineers belt, a sling loop and a karabiner. All loads and the two high-altitude porters were transported over and the way to the Isporili Valley was clear.

On 3 August we established Isporili Camp I (4,100 m.) at the lower end of the glacier. First across the moraine and then over pure ice, then over the left side moraine we reached a point at 4,800 metres where we established Isporili Camp II. Both the high altitude porters returned to Camp I. On the rock slopes above grew a surprising number of flowers. In the late afternoon Hill and I recceed the route further up. After two hours we reached a 5,400-metre high peak at the upper end of the Isporili glacier. We named it Bashkargolo Zom. A real ski mountain; we were sorry that we could only glissade down this time. The route to Ghochhar Sar was clear now.

Early in the morning we crossed the upper glacier floor slopes (c. 5,100 m.) and reached the side flank winch leads to the saddle between Ghochhar Sar and Isporili Zom. The weather became worse, and we fought this up a 50° slope—it began to snow. We erected our tent (c. 5,750 m.) on an ice terrace just short of the saddle. It was snowing heavily but we slept very well. In the morning the weather was a bit better but soon it became cloudy, we had to get back to Camp II which we reached at noon.

On 9 August the weather is at last clear. It is 3.30 a.m. It is wonderful to be marching over the glacier by moonlight. It is still dawn but soon Tirich Mir (7,706 m.) is colouring a light pink. This time we got past the steep flank very quickly. It is 7.30 a.m. and we are eating breakfast at Isporili Camp III. At 8.30 a.m. with small loads we start our climb up the Ghochhar Sar west ridge. The snow is crisp, so we can easily overcome the first steep bit. We turn a rock barrier by traversing the northern slopes. The ridge becomes narrower. Exactly at noon we shake hands on the highest point, on the rocky summit, 6,249 metres high. Clouds again cover most of the view but we can recognize two high mountains probably higher than 6,000 metres south of Harambot Zom. Here also we leave the ascent date marked on a stone.

Following our tracks back we quickly reached camp III. Here we had a relative good night. In the early morning of 10 August we start up for Shachiokun Zom (6,214 m.). After a short climb on the south ridge of Isporili Zom we enter the wide east ridge of the Shachiokun Zom. We had a magnificent view of the Hindu Kush main range and beyond to the south.

The snow ridge and seracs were easy at first; then the conditions became more troublesome as we slowly rose higher. Already it is 9.30 a.m. as we reach the overhanging snow summit. Again thick clouds block our view and it was not hard for us to say good-bye to the peak.

Arndt and Hill still wanted to visit Isporili Zom (c. 5,900 m.). I watched them from below in the hope that they would not break off the whole peak; so brittle is the rock! We climbed straight down Camp III to the Isporili glacier. Here the high-altitude porters were already waiting for us. We left Camp II and in the later afternoon we reached Camp I. The weather now became worse and in the rain we reached our Base Camp the following day.

 

The return march

After some days in Base Camp during which we surveyed and collected plants we started our return march. Ten porters were organized from Sor Laspur. At the lake we met two members of the North Kohistan Expedition from Cambridge. Back again in the Thalo Valley we crossed the Thalo Pass (4,200 m.) into the upper Izgologh Valley. We had to trust our porters because we had no maps. Near the village Kasangot (2,750 m.) we entered the Bogium Valley. Over the Bandi Pass (4,400 m.) and the Pias Range, we reached the Joti Valley which joins the Gabral Valley at Gabral. Five more days of marching and we reached our starting-point on 23 August.

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