In late spring, after the monsoon concludes the Himalayan season, but before teams head to Pakistan’s 8,000ers, conditions on many of Pakistan’s lower peaks remain good enough for some climbing and skiing. Yannick Boissenot and Julien Herry made the best of both options by bagging a first ascent of an unnamed 5,050-metre peak in Gilgit-Baltistan and skiing down from the summit.
The duo took advantage of a short weather window in an area just north of 7,800 meters Rakaposhi. They targeted a moderately sized triangular peak “at the bottom of Rakaposhi’s massive north face,” Herry wrote in a report on his Instagram page.
Not optimistic
“We were really not optimistic about the snowpack the day before we left,” Boissenot wrote. “[It was] quite scary…but we were super motivated to try.”
Despite the unstable snow at the base of the summit, they found good, firm conditions on the face itself. They planned to conquer a ridge, but the terrain along the way seemed too avalanche-prone. Instead, they continued to climb the summit’s central couloir, which had already been compressed by previous avalanches.
“Unfortunately, this couloir ended 80 meters below the summit and we had to take a [way] over that last steep slope,” Herry wrote. “A long horizontal traverse to the right only led to deeper, unstable snow. Eventually, Yannick found a straighter line with less accumulated snow to the short, final ridge. I caught up with him just before I reached the top together at half past seven.”
“The atmosphere is just amazing here in the middle of the north side of Rakaposhi, intimidating and fascinating at the same time, surrounded by a world of spines and seracs,” Herry said. “Despite already being above 5,000 metres, the main peak of [Rakaposhi] still towers almost 3,000 meters above us!”
They skied down through excellent powder conditions.
After the climb, the team discussed a suitable name with the locals. Ultimately, they chose Chota Dumani, which means ‘Little Rakaposhi’.
The post First ascent and ski descent of ‘Little Rakaposhi’ appeared first on Explorersweb.
