The Karakoram

Steven Swenson

Subsequent conflicts and skirmishes between India and Pakistan within the Karakoram have established the highly militarized and politically sensitive Actual Ground Position Line and a portion of the Line of Control where the crest of the range creates a natural barrier. This has resulted in a cycle of reclosing and reopening areas within these mountains over the intervening decades. But these tall and ruggedly beautiful mountains are highly sought after by climbers and trekkers despite the political instability in the region.

The Karakoram mountain range lies within the disputed region of Kashmir and spans several countries. The eastern third of the range is administered by India, the western two thirds is administered by Pakistan, and the northern edge is administered by China. The range is bounded on the east and southeast by the Shyok river as it flows south and then makes a sharp turn to flow west to its confluence with the Indus. After the confluence with the Shyok, the Indus becomes the southern boundary as it flows west to the confluence with the Gilgit river. The southwest corner of the range follows the Gilgit river north to its confluence with the Hunza river, which together with the Kunjerab river forms the western boundary. For the most part, the northern edge of the range follows the Shaksgam river. Four of the world’s fourteen mountains higher than 8000 m are in the Pakistan administered part of the Karakoram including K2, the second highest peak after Mount Everest, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II. Prior to World War II and the subsequent partition of India, expeditions from all over the world had explored, mapped, and climbed in these mountains. The First Kashmir War in 1947 closed this region to climbing and trekking, but just a few years later and throughout most of the 1950s, Pakistan reopened much of the Karakoram that they controlled. During this decade, K2, the four other 8000 m peaks, and many significant 7000 m peaks were climbed for the first time.

But tensions in Kashmir between India and Pakistan and a border Gasherbrum IV dispute between India and China led to a reclosure of the Karakoram around 1961. For the next thirteen years, most of the Karakoram was off limits to climbers and trekkers. During this period mountaineering proliferated in other parts of the Himalaya and high mountain regions of the world. In 1974 Pakistan again reopened most of the Karakoram it administered, and a trove of mountains that had been locked away in a ‘political wilderness,’ most still unclimbed, were made available to a new generation of alpinists. Subsequent conflicts and skirmishes between India and Pakistan within the Karakoram have established the highly militarized and politically sensitive Actual Ground Position Line and a portion of the Line of Control where the crest of the range creates a natural barrier. This has resulted in a cycle of reclosing and reopening areas within these mountains over the intervening decades. But these tall and ruggedly beautiful mountains are highly sought after by climbers and trekkers despite the political instability in the region.

Early History

The history of western exploration in the Karakoram began in 1856 when British Lieutenant Thomas G. Montgomerie set up his theodolite on the summit of Mt. Haramukh (5143 m). Two hundred and forty kilometres away, across the Vale of Kashmir, a line of white peaks shone in the thin, bright air. A pair of sharp, tooth-like mountains looked taller than the rest. Montgomerie was leading an expedition for the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, charged with mapping the interior of Central Asia for the British government. Since the range was known as the Karakoram, he noted the summits in his survey book as K1, K2, etc. The surveyors later tried to replace the temporary designations with local names. K1 became Masherbrum. K4 became Gasherbrum II. But the highest one, K2, was hidden behind the other snowy giants, at the head of one of the world’s largest glacier systems and kept its original survey designation.

The heart of the Central Karakoram and access to K2 and the other 8000ers is up the Braldu rver and the Baltoro glacier. Colonel Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen was the first European to follow this route and sought to identify the Karakoram as the official boundary of the British Empire. From 1860 to 1861, his expedition ventured up to the southern side of K2. Since the mountain’s icefields drained into the Indus river, Godwin-Austen concluded that they must lie within British India. For many years, British geographers tried to name K2 after him. Instead, the glacier south of K2 became the Godwin-Austen.

Most of the British mapmakers focused on locating passes that might facilitate the movement of armies across Central Asia. But even maneuvering around the peaks required mountaineering skill. When Francis Younghusband’s expedition journeyed from Beijing to Kashmir in 1887, the men crossed over the Muztagh Pass (ca. 5400 m) in the Karakoram without any climbing experience or gear—not even the long ice axes or hobnailed boots of the era.

Only five years later, William Martin Conway led a more deliberate mountaineering expedition to the region. Conway had always relied on guides in the Alps. Now he hired Nepalese Gurkhas (the forerunners of the Everest Sherpas) as part of his mountaineering team. He was accompanied by Oscar Eckenstein who was a skilled mountaineer, rock climber, boulderer and inventor of the crampon bearing his name that was the standard for many alpinists for the next century. The expedition went up the Hispar glacier and down the Biafo, and differences between the two men forced Eckenstein to return home. Conway’s expedition spent the next two weeks marching up the Baltoro to a giant mountain amphitheater below Gasherbrum IV and Broad Peak. They were now closer than anyone had been to K2 in documented history at the time and he named this spot Concordia, after a similar place in the Alps. He took two more weeks—with multiple camps supplied by porters and with the Swiss guide Matthias Zurbriggen leading the way—to reach a sub-summit of the nearby ‘Golden Throne’ (aka Baltoro Kangri, 7300 m). ‘Pioneer Peak,’ as he referred to his highpoint appeared to be a new world altitude record at over 7000 m although it was found afterward to be only 6650 m. Queen Victoria knighted Conway for his adventures. But another story exists about Roberto Lerco, who wandered through the Karakoram two years before Conway, but who chose not to publish the details of this journey because of “excessive modesty” and refused the Royal Geographical Society’s invitations to speak.

In 1902, Eckenstein returned to the Karakoram with Aleister Crowley to attempt K2 as a guideless, international party of six. Apart from Eckenstein, none of them had any experience with the scale of the Karakoram. Rejecting Crowley’s proposal to try the southeast ridge, the team reached about 6525 m on the northeast ridge instead. The team all suffered psychologically and physically from the thin air and made a chaotic retreat characterized by dissension.

In 1899, Dr. Fanny Bullock-Workman with her husband William, explored the Biafo glacier. In 1902 the Workmans explored the Chogo Lungma glacier and returned to that area in 1903 and attempted to climb Spantik. In 1908, the Workmans explored the Hispar glacier and then the Siachen glacier in 1911 and 1912.

The British explorer, Dr. Tom Longstaff explored the Eastern Karakoram in 1909, and that same year an Italian nobleman the Duke of the Abruzzi led a large well-funded expedition to K2 that included more than 250 porter loads. His advance team ventured up the southeast ridge to more than 6000 m on what would later be called the Abruzzi Ridge—the line of the first ascent forty-five years afterward and the ‘normal route’ today. The Duke’s expedition did set a new altitude record of 7500 m during an attempt on Chogolisa (7668 m), and they created a detailed topographic map of the area. His photographer, Vittorio Sella, produced black and white images of the Central Karakoram in all its panoramic glory.

Sia Kangri was first climbed in 1934 by a Swiss-German expedition led by Günter Dyhrenfurth. The summit party included Hettie Dyhrenfurth, who set the women’s world altitude record for 20 years.

In 1937, British mountaineer Eric Shipton with his friend Bill Tilman organized an expedition to explore and map the north side of the Karakoram with a lightweight, self-reliant team. They assembled small British, Sherpa and Balti groups to fan out across the Central Karakoram and found a way over the Sarpo Laggo pass onto the glaciers that drained north to the Shaksgam river valley. From there, they wandered around uncharted ravines and passes, along this entire side of the mountain and up the North K2 glacier until they could connect their survey work with that of the Duke.

Western and Central Karakoram

After World War II, Partition, and the First Kashmir War, the newly formed country of Pakistan reopened much of the Karakoram to climbing that it controlled. After the first ascent of Everest in 1953, the mountaineering world turned its attention to K2 the second highest. Americans had made several attempts on K2 in the 1930’s via the Abruzzi Ridge and another tragic attempt in 1953 when Art Gilkey perished. A year later, Italian explorer Ardito Desio led an Italian expedition with more than 500 porters to carry food and equipment to base camp for eleven climbers, a cameraman, five scientists, a doctor, liaison officer and eight high-altitude porters. By 21 June, they’d already fixed ropes to camp IV at 6550 m. On 30 July, Compagnoni and Lacedelli, as the chosen summit team, left camp VIII (ca. 7740 m) to establish camp IX (ca. 8100 m; elevations disputed). Walter Bonatti and the high-altitude porter Mahdi were assigned to bring oxygen bottles up to Compagnoni and Lacedelli at camp IX. The success of the climb, Bonatti thought, depended on getting the oxygen to the summit pair and they left the bottles near the camp where the summit pair could retrieve them the next day. It was too late to descend to the camp below so Bonatti and Mahdi were forced to on a small snow ledge without a tent or sleeping bags at around 8000 m. A blizzard nearly buried them. When the storm ended and the sun rose, they were, somehow, still alive. The next morning, Lacedelli and Compagnoni retrieved the oxygen bottles Bonatti and Mahdi had left, and they set off toward the top. By the time they reached the summit, both men were hallucinating. It was nearly 6:00 pm. They descended the snow-filled Bottleneck and staggered into camp VIII after dark. Despite the misery of the open bivy, both Bonatti and Mahdi remained at camp VIII in support of the summit pair. As they continued down, Bonatti massaged Lacedelli’s frostbite injuries. Mahdi eventually lost most of his fingers and toes. Back home, the Italian public celebrated the first ascent as a great patriotic victory.

The 1950’s are considered by many as the Golden Age of Himalayan and Karakoram climbing when all the 8000 m peaks and many 7000 m peaks were first climbed. After the first ascent of K2, the other 8000 m peaks in the Western and Central Karakoram first climbed during this period were:

• Gasherbrum II (8035 m) in 1956 by Austrians Sepp Larch, Fritz Moravec and Hans Willenpart.
• Broad Peak (8047 m) in 1957 by Austrians, Kurt Diemberger, Hermann Buhl, Markus Schmock and Fritz Wintersteller (Herman Buhl made the first ascent of Nanga Parbat solo in 1953, but this mountain is on the other side of the Indus river, so it isn’t part of the Karakoram).
• Gasherbrum I (8068 m) in 1958 by Americans Pete Schoening and Andy Kauffman.

Several significant and notable 7000 m peaks were also climbed in this period such as:

• Muztagh Tower (7284 m) in 1956 via the SE ridge by a French team via the NW Ridge by a British team the same year.
• Gasherbrum IV (7925 m) in 1958 by an Italian expedition and was the most technically difficult mountain to be ascended in the Karakoram in this period.
• Masherbrum (7821 m) in 1960 by Americans.
• Rakaposhi (7788 m) by the British in 1958.

Other significant ascents of lesser known 7000 m peaks were also made in this decade including:

• Spantik (7027 m) in 1955 by a German expedition following the same route attempted by the Bullock Workman party in 1906.
• Skil Brum (7419 m) in 1957 by Austrians.
• Haramosh Peak (7397 m) in 1958 by Austrians.
• Chogolisa II (Bride Peak 7668 m) in 1958 by a Japanese party.
• Kanjut Sar I (7790 m) was summited in 1959 by the lone Italian Camillo Pellissier.
• Trivor Sar (7577 m) was climbed in 1960 by the British.
• Distaghil Sar (7885 m) was climbed in 1960 by Austrians.
• Baltoro Kangri I, (Golden Throne 7312 m) was ascended in 1963 by Japanese.

But tensions in Kashmir between India and Pakistan and a border dispute between India and China led to reclosure of the Karakoram in 1961. Although it wasn’t uniform throughout the Karakoram, Pakistan stopped issuing climbing permits in the early 1960’s to foreigners for over ten years. Some expeditions still managed to obtain permits from Pakistan during this period and ascents were made of the following 7000 m peaks:

• Momhil Sar (7343 m) in 1964 by Austrians
• Diran (7266 m) in 1968 by Austrians
• K6 (Baltistan Peak 7282 m) in 1970 by Austrians
• Khunyang Chhish (7823 m) in 1971 by a Polish team
• Malubiting (7458 m) in 1971 by a party from Austria

For the next thirteen years, conflicts and skirmishes along the LOC and the AGPL in the intervening decades resulted in a cycle of reclosing and reopening many of these mountains. During this period, the following 7000 m peaks were climbed:

• Shispare (7611 m) in 1974 by a Polish/German expedition
• Urdok Kangri I (7250 m) in 1975 by an Austrian team
• Chogolisa I (7668 m) in 1975, by an Austrian expedition
• Skyang Kangri (Staircase Peak 7544 m) in 1976 by a Japanese team
• Batura Sar (7795 m) in 1976 by a German team
• Baintha Brakk / The Ogre I (7285 m) in 1977 by the British
• Latok II (7108 m) in 1977 by an Italian expedition
• Passu Peak (7500 m) in 1978 by a Japanese/Pakistani expedition
• Pumari Chhish (7492 m) in 1979 by a Japanese team
• Kunyang Chhish North (7108 m) in 1979 by a party from Japan
• Lupghar Sar (7201 m) in 1979 by an Austrian party
• Latok I (7145 m) in 1979 by a Japanese expedition
• Mount Hardinge (Sia Kangri II, 7075 m) in 1979 by a Japanese expedition
• Yutmaru Sar (7283 m) in 1980 by a Japanese expedition
• Hachindar Chhish (7163 m) in 1982 by a Japanese party
• Batura IV (7594 m) in 1983 by a Polish/German team
• Yazghil Dome (7365 m) in 1983 by a Polish expedition
• Yukshin Gardan Sar (7469 m) in 1984 by a party from Austria
• Bojohagur Dunasir (7329 m) in 1984 by a party from Japan
• Malangutti Sar (7140 m) in 1985 by a Japanese/Nepali expedition
• Pamri Sar I7016 m) in 1986 by a party from Italy
• Gasherbrum III (7946 m) in 1987 by a Polish team
• Karpogo Sar I (7038 m) in 1989 by a Czech/German expedition
• Bularung Sar (7134 m) in 1990 by a Swiss expedition
• The Crown (Crown Peak, 7295 m) in 1993 by a Japanese expedition
• Passu Sar (7476 m) in 1994 by a German expedition
• Chongtar (7313 m) in 1994 by a party from Australia/New Zealand
• Ultar (7388 m) in 1996 by a Japanese expedition
• Pumari Chhish Southeast (7297 m) in 2007 by a French/Dutch team
• Batura II (7762 m) in 2008 by a Korean team
• Kunyang Chhish East (7400 m) in 2013 by a Swiss/Austrian
• K6 West (7040 m) in 2013 by a Canadian team
• Gasherbrum V (7150 m) in 2014 by a Korean team
• Praqpa Ri South (7046 m) in 2017 by an expedition from Chile
• Link Sar (7041 m) in 2019 by an American team
• Sherpi Kangri II (7100 m) in 2019 by an American expedition

Eastern Karakoram

In the Simla Agreement signed between India and Pakistan in 1972 that followed the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, Pakistan accepted a delineation of the Line of Control (LOC) in disputed Kashmir. But in the agreement, the north end of the LOC ended at a coordinate point called NJ9842 that was more than fifty miles south of the Chinese border. Soon afterwards, a US map of mysterious origin showed a boundary that had been plotted from point NJ9842 northeast to the Karakoram Pass with most of the Eastern Karakoram on the Pakistan side of that line. Pakistan interpreted this line an extension of the LOC up to the Chinese border, but India did not. This prompted a dispute because it was unclear which country was entitled to about two thousand square miles of mostly ice and rock. Pakistan had long been issuing climbing permits for expeditions to access peaks in the Eastern Karakoram by allowing them to cross over the Bilafond La or the Sia La into the Siachen Glacier side of the divide. But in the 1970s, Pakistan further staked its claim to this area by interpreting the US map in its favour. 7000 m peaks in the Eastern Karakoram first climbed from Pakistan include:

• Depak (7150 m) in 1960 by a German/Austrian expedition
• Ghent Kangri I (7401 m) in 1961 by the lone Austrian Wolfgang Axt
• Saltoro Kangri I (K35, 7742 m) 1962 by a Japanese/Pakistani team, following the route taken by Sir John Hunt on an attempt in 1935
• Apsarasas Kangri I (7245 m) in 1965 by a Japanese party
• K12 (7428 m) in 1974 by a Japanese expedition
• Teram Kangri I (7462 m) and Teram Kangri II (7385 m) in 1975 by a Japanese expedition
• Sherpi Kangri I (7380 m) in 1976 by a party from Japan
• Apsarasas Kangri II (7241 m) in 1976 by an expedition from Japan
• Singhi Kangri (7202 m) in 1976 by a Japanese team
• Ghent Kangri II (7342 m) in 1977 by an Austrian party
• Teram Kangri III (7382 m) in 1979 by a Japanese expedition

A motorable road was built in 1976 over the Khardung La across the Ladakh range north of the town of Leh in India that connected the rest of the country to the Shyok river valley and the Nubra river that drains the Siachen Glacier. India knew that climbers were accessing the Siachen Glacier from Pakistan to climb peaks in this area that they claimed. This new road enabled them to approach the Eastern Karakoram from the south. Even before this road was constructed, Indian military expeditions had explored the Eastern Karakoram including the first ascent of Saser Kangri I. Indian military expeditions used this new road to explore the Siachen Glacier in 1978 to make the second ascent of Teram Kangri II, and in 1981 to make the second ascent of Saltoro Kangri I and probably the fourth ascent of Sia Kangri I (7422 m). In 1984 India launched Operation Meghdoot and used special helicopters to land Indian Army units at the nearly 20,000-foot passes along the Saltoro ridge just west of the Siachen Glacier. In response, Pakistan rushed its troops up to these heights, only to find the Indian soldiers already entrenched along the high ground. The two sides engaged in World War I–type trench warfare, in a rugged, cold, extreme altitude mountain environment that established a new extension of the LOC from point Nj9842 to the Chinese border along a new front called the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL). After 1984, access from Pakistan to the Siachen Glacier was now closed and any future climbs to this part of the Eastern Karakoram were made from India including the following 7000 m peaks:

• Saser Kangri I (7672 m) in 1973 by an Indian expedition from the east
• Mamostong Kangri I (7516 m) in 1984 by a Japanese/Indian expedition
• Rimo IV (7169 m) in 1984 by an Indian expedition
• Rimo III (7233 m) in 1985 by a British expedition
• Saser Kangri III (7495 m) in 1986 by an Indian expedition
• Rimo I (7385 m) in 1988 by a Japanese/Indian expedition
• Rimo II (7373 m) in 1989 by a British expedition
• Chong Kumdan I (7071 m) in 1991 by an Indian expedition
• Mamostong Kangri II (7016 m) in 1993 by a Japanese/Indian team
• Padmanabh (Terong Tower 7038 m) in 2002 by a Japanese/Indian team
• Saser Kangri II (7513 m) in 2011 by an American/Indian expedition
• Plateau Peak (7287 m) in 2013 by an Indian expedition

The Future

The majority of the Eastern Karakoram surrounds the Siachen Glacier and because of the conflict, this area is currently closed by India to climbers. Many of the eastern parts of the Central Karakoram in Pakistan near the AGPL are also closed to climbers by Pakistan for the same reason. The well-known Indian mountaineer Harish Kapadia has proposed the creation of a Trans-boundary Peace Park along the AGPL dedicated to the cleanup and preservation of the environment. Hopefully the leaders of both countries can have the political will to implement this proposal as a first step towards de-escalation that could lead to a larger settlement of the Kashmir Conflict between India and Pakistan through diplomatic negotiations.

Summary

Steven Swenson discusses the history of exploration in the Karakoram beginning with the mid-19th century British expeditions to map the region, the Golden Age of climbing in the Karakoram in the 1950s and periods of closure due to political tensions and conflicts. However, despite the political instability in the region, the Karakoram remains a sought-after destination for climbers and trekkers.

Author Steve Swenson splits his time between Seattle and Canmore with his wife Ann. He has been climbing for over a half century, including ascents of K2 and Everest without supplementary oxygen. Together with his partners, he made the first ascents of Saser Kangri II and Link Sar for which he won Piolet d’Or awards in 2012 and 2020. His book, Karakoram, Climbing Through the Kashmir Conflict won the Kekoo Naoroji Book Award for Himalayan Literature in 2019

 

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