some Trango Towers history
www.bigwallgear.com
WORK IN PROGRESS: This post in draft form, to be updated with additional recorded climbs in the area as research continues.
In the mid-1990s, I compiled all the climbing information on the Trango Towers I could gather for the American Alpine Journal, but it was incomplete. My fellow Great Trango climber, Masanori Hoshina recently provided me with his researched list of Trango Towers climbs and attempts, which significantly add to the story, and I have been collecting a few notes over the years since I was there.
Some of the attempts in the range are the greatest epics of climbing, and the tales of the big wall breakthroughs in each decade include a cast of the world’s most globally prolific climbers—first with the ascent of Nameless Tower in 1976 by Martin Boysen, Mo Anthoine, Joe Brown and Malcolm Howells, who proved that remote high altitude bigwalls were possible, soon followed by American teams including Dennis Hennek, Galen Rowell, John Roskelley, Kim Schmitz Bill Forrest, and Ron Kauk, who pushed the limits further on new bigwall routes in the area. In the 1980s it was Hans Christian Doseth, Franček Knez, Greg Child, Randy Leavitt, Michel Piola, Michel Fauquet (who descended by paraglider in 1987), Voytek Kurtyka, Erhard Loretan, Wolfgang Güllich, Kurt Albert, Bernd Arnold, Miguel Gallego, to name a few—all well-known climbing names, many with spectacular bigwall lines all over the world, as well as other great climbing achievements.
And in the 1990s Catherine Destivelle, Jeff Lowe, Takeyasu Minamiura, Masanori Hoshina, Satoshi Kimoto, Mark Wilford, Rob Slater, Todd Skinner, Young Chu, Jim Beyer, Jared Ogden, Brad Jarrett, Warren Hollinger, Wally Barker, Mark Synnott, Alex Lowe, Robert Caspersen, Paul Pritchard, Celia Bull, and Adam Wainwright—all tested their mettle in the Trangos with talented teams, as well as Xaver Bongard and myself when we teamed up for our 1992 route, The Grand Voyage on Great Trango Tower. And through these years there were many other notable ascents of summits on the same Karakoram ridge between the Trango and Dungee Glaciers, variously named Trango Monk, Little Trango, Trango Castle, Chateau, and Trango Pulpit, as well as the nearby Uli Biaho, Shipton Spire, and the Flame—all sites of international climbing efforts comprising of teams from Norway, Switzerland, France, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Japan, Korea, Canada, Britain and America—a very international climbing arena for the world’s best bigwall climbers.
In the 1990s, it was challenging to compile complete info from so many sources, but now it might be possible to gather more complete data on the climbing history of the range.
1990s Info
Back in the 1990s, information on international climbs was often only briefly told in English language journals, like the following report in the 1989 AAJ:
Or Greg Child’s chilling reports in the American Alpine Journal:
Sometimes we would come across bigwall info in European climbing magazines, often drooling over beautiful route topos crafted by Michel Piola.
Occasionally it was possible to find a copy of a rare international journal to glean some insight:
By tradition, the first reports were sent to the American Alpine Journal when requested by Ad Carter:
Early research
Below is the information I published in 1992, after my own trip there:
In 2000, I published in the American Alpine Journal an update (link here), below are the original notes (click to enlarge):
UPDATED INFO:
Thanks to MASANORI HOSHINA for compiling the first generation of this list—this post aims to be the most complete compilation of Trango climbs, but currently includes errors and missing ascents; spelling of names need checking as they have often been translated from many languages, please email deuce4@bigwalls.net with welcome edits and corrections, and I will update online here:
Chronicle of Trango Towers area climbs
1974
1974 P 19,958, Lower Baltoro Glacier. An expedition of the Groupe de Haute Montagne attempted to climb the granite tooth which lies between the Uli Biaho and Trango glaciers and between Payu Peak and and Trango Towers. It is given as 6083 meters (19,958 feet) on the map accompanying G.O. Dyhrenfurth’s Baltoro. We tried the south buttress. In the final assault we were stopped on July 16 by very bad weather after a second bivouac 130 feet from the top. We had fixed ropes in the access couloirs but climbed the buttress without any, alpine-style. Much of the route required direct aid. The team consisted of Michel Février, Jean François Porret, Raymond Coène, Pierre Beguin, Dominique Marquis and me.—Jean Fréhel, Groupe de Haute Montagne (AAJ 1975)
1975
1975 Nameless Tower British team (Mo Anthoine, Bill Barker, Martin Boysen, Joe Brown, Ian MacNaught Davis and Dave Potts) Defeated with 150m to the summit. Martin Boysen's knee got caught in the upper wall crack (Boysen Crack) and he spent 3 hours to escape. AAJ REPORT: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12197653203 AJ Report
1975 Lobsang Spire and the U.S. team, including Dennis Hennek, Mike Covington, and Don Lauria summited the West Peak.AAJ: Lopsang Peak. Like most expeditions this year in the Baltoro Glacier area, we ran into problems. The sudden opening of the region brought a flood of expeditions, overtaxing the limited facilities. The porters took full advantage of the seller’s market. We therefore had troubles with the government, the local Balti people, our liaison officer and the poor weather. We passed the more exciting objectives as we moved up the Baltoro, namely the Uli Biaho Spire and the Trango group. The granitic formations deteriorated as we advanced but we made the best of what we had. The film crew caught up to us in Rawalpindi and they accompanied several members of the expedition to the summit of Karphogang (19,560 feet), a snow dome just west of the Mustagh La. On June 19 Yvon Chouinard, Dr. Joel Malta, George Lowe and Doug Tompkins reached the top. On June 18 Don Lauria, Mike Covington and I climbed Lopsang Peak (20,423 feet) via its southern couloir. Shortly after these climbs, four members left for Skardu. Lowe, Lauria and I made three attempts on P 18,700, located on the southeastern spur of Mount Biange. We reached 18,000 feet on the west arête before retreating in a storm. All the climbing was done alpine-style, which accounts for our lack of accomplishments.—Dennis Hennek
1975: Baltoro Cathedral aka Cascadia (Gran Catedral). The Belledo section of the Italian Alpine Club climbed two routes on the Baltoro Cathedral, the southwest ridge with camps and the southeast face alpine-style. Members were Giulio Fiocchi, leader, Dr. Alberto Sironi, Giuseppe Lafranconi, Ernesto and Sergio Panzeri, Gianluigi Lanfranchi, Carlo Duchini, Amabile Valsecchi, Daniele Chiappa, Pierino Maccarinelli, Benvenuto Laritti, Giacomo Stefani and Armando Colombari. They had hoped to climb the Trango Towers but the Pakistani government instead gave them permission for the Baltoro Cathedral or Thunmo (19,246 feet). From camp at Liliwa, they cut diagonally across the Baltoro Glacier to Base Camp at 12,800 feet at the confluence of the Dunghe Glacier with the Baltoro. After three days of reconnaissance they decided on the routes. On June 23 the siege of the southwest ridge began. They had UIAA V to V+ difficulties to climb the 2500 feet on often rotten granite to Camp I. To there they fixed 3300 feet of rope. Bad weather then delayed operations. On July 3 E. Panzeri, Lafranconi, Lanfranchi and Valsecchi returned to Camp I but Panzeri fell sick and was replaced by Laritti. Despite snow, cold, fatigue and insufficient food, they pressed on. The next section presented difficult mixed climbing, particularly around 16,000 feet. They had next two rope-lengths of overhanging rock, then dangerous loose snow and nearly vertical ice. Finally from Camp IV they reached the summit at 2:30 P.M. on July 10. The attack on the 5000-foot-high southeast face began on July 3. Chiappa, Maccarinelli, Stafani, Duchini and S. Panzeri climbed 1650 feet up a gully in the east face and traversed right on a shoulder. They climbed another 1650 feet the next day to the foot of the final buttress. To there they had had UIAA III to V difficulties. Bad weather drove them back to Base Camp. Two days later, July 6, they were back at their high point. Chiappa and Maccarinelli climbed two rope-lengths where they could not place a single piton. They bivouacked at 16,400 feet. On the 7th Stefani and S. Panzeri took the lead, climbing overhanging cracks on aid and then ice, and finally more difficult and rotten cracks before returning to the bivouac. On the 8th Chiappa, Duchini and Maccarinelli left first and above the former high point climbed rotten, snow-covered flakes. Panzeri and Stefani followed. Chiappa led a vertical dihedral to get to the top of the face followed by the rest. (UIAA V, V+, A2, A3). Easier mixed climbing took them to the top. They used 500 feet of fixed rope and 150 feet of metal ladder. A deep depression separates this high point from the summit of Thunmo.(AAJ 1976)
1976—Nameless Tower
**1976 Nameless Tower southwest face. British team (5 climbers including Joe Brown) First ascent by Martin Boysen and Mo Anthoine, followed the next day by Joe Brown and Malcolm Howells. AJ Report
1977—Great Trango Tower
First Ascent of Great Trango Tower
1979—Uli Biaho
**1979. Uli Biaho Tower U.S. team (John Roskelley, Kim Schmitz, Ron Kauk, and Bill Forrest) East Face (VII 5.8 A4) 10 days one-push-Yosemite style using portaledges. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198040500
1983
1983 Trango Tower Attempts. We were Ray Button, Geoff Gabites, Ian Jowett and I as leader. Our objective was the Nameless Trango Tower by the British route. We had two camps: Boulder Camp at 16,500 feet, established the day after reaching Base Camp in early July, and Snowpatch Camp at 18,000 feet, set up a couple of days later. A 15-day storm forced us to retreat. We began on the wall again on July 20 but heavily iced conditions made the going too slow and so, after a few rope-lengths, we changed our objective to the unclimbed west face of the Great Trango Tower. On the first day we climbed to bivouac at 18,000 feet. The next day we climbed quickly to 20,000 feet but were stopped by a dangerous windslab 650 feet from the top. GRAEME DINGLE, New Zealand Alpine Club (AAJ)
Trango Towers, South Face of the Château attempt (Also Lobsang, 1983)
1984-Great Trango Tower Norwegian Pillar
**1984. Great Trango Norwegian team (Hans Christian Doseth Finn Daelhi, with Stein Aasheim, Dag Kolsrud who descended ). Ascent of the Northeast Pillar with an elevation gain of 1500m (VII 5.10+ A4). Doseth and Daehli make the first ascent of east summit,but died while rappelling. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198531802 AJ: noted as, “the promising new generation of steep big wall climbs which are slowly materializing.” (Paul Nunn)
1984 Nameless Tower British team (Bolton Expedition: David Lampaard, Ian Lonsdale, Andrew Atkinson, Stuart Holmes, and Alan Scott) Attempted a new route to the left of the first British ascent in 1976, but lost due to bad weather at 6100 m. Completed by a Spanish team in 1989. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198429604 Also in 1985</> AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198531801
**1984 Great Trango: The U.S. team (Scott Wollums and Andy Selters) (After attempt on Uli Biaho) climb a new route on NW ridge Great Trango in 4 days in alpine style from Trango Glacier. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198532001
1984: American Expedition Underway in Karakoram The 1984 American Braldu River-Biafo Spires Karakoram Expedition is now underway in northwestern Pakistan. The group is attempting two feats never before accomplished-to successfully run the 60-mile Braldu River and climb the awesome Biafo Spires. The highly qualified team is being led by Dr.Andrew Embick and is being sponsored by National Geographic Magazine. The members include George Lowe, John Markel, Bob McDougal, Ron Peers, Graham Thompson, Rob Milne, Galen Rowell, Jim Bridwell, Roman Dial, George Schunk, Rob Lesser, Bo Shelby and Kathy Blau. From the heart of the Karakoram Range flows the giant Baltoro Glacier, draining the flanks of 28,250-foot K2 and the greatest concentration of high peaks in the world. From the Baltoro's icy terminus at 11,224 feet, flows the Braldu River. After 25 miles, the Braldu's volume is doubled by a torrent of melt water from the Biafo, another of the major Karakoram glaciers. The Biafo's rubble-covered snout juts almost into the river a few miles upstream from the village of Askole, the highest human habitation in this arid, remote val-ley. Downstream, the river, icy cold and brown with glacial silt, continues to drop at more than 60 feet per mile, and then enters the narrow Chokpo-Chongo Gorge. The tortured water of the Braldu, constricted by rock walls and obstructed by bould-ers, 60 miles from the Baltoro's snout, finally joins the gentler Shigar, which flows another 60 miles to join the mighty Indus at Skardu. The Braldu, because of its speed, altitude, length, flow, and temperature, presents one of the most formidable technical whitewater challenges in the world and has never been successfully run. The only serious kayaking attempt was made by a strong British team in 1978. The leader, Dr. Mike Jones, was killed when he attempted to rescue a team member in trouble, and the attempt was abandoned. (Summit, MayJune 1984)
1985
1985 Trango Towers, Château attempts
1986
1986 Nameless Tower Attempt (Kurtyka)
*1986 U.S.A. team (Greg Child, Randy Leavitt, Tom Hargis) After finishing Gasherbrum IV, the team moved to Nameless later in the season, and attempted (same?) new route on the southeast face of Nameless. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198728302
1986 Great Trango Italian contingent (Annaldo Pintel and 5 others) Climbed from slightly left of the Norwegian route on the Northeast Pillar and climbed the upper rock face to 5760m, but turned back. Suffered from a dust avalanche and frozen cracks from the middle snow field. <?>
1986 Germans Helmut Münchenbach, Christoph Krah and Peter Popal attempted a 5900-meter tower adjacent to the Great Trango Tower. They failed 300 meters from the top. Italians including Renzo Vettori, Oscar Piazza and Arnaldo Pinter tried to repeat the Norwegian route on the Great Trango Tower. All were beaten back by bad weather. (1987 AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198728102)
1987
1987b: West Pillar Trango Tower
Trango Towers, Château (1987)
1988
1988b: Kurtyka-Loretan on Trango Tower
1988 Nameless Tower. Japanese team (5 climbers including Masaharu Gandou) They attempted to open a new route between the Kurtyka-Loretan and Yugoslav Route on the East Face, but stalled due to bad weather after climbing 7 points to the top of the base, and retraced their steps on the Yugoslav Route, losing 150m before the summit. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198925003
**1988 Nameless Tower German expediton: East German Bernd Arnold and West Germans Kurt Albert, Wolfgang Güllich, Wolfgang Kraus, Thomas Lipinski, Martin Leinauer, Dr. Jörg Schneider, Martin Schwiersch, Jörg Wilz. Kraus, Lipinski, Schneider and Wilz climbed Nameless via initial pitches of Kurtyka-Loretan then traversed to the Yugoslav Route to summit. Arnold, Leinauer, and Schwiersch repeated the route after their attempt on Great Trango, and were followed by Kurt Albert, Wolfgang Gullich and Hartmut Münchenbach who made the first free ascent of Nameless Tower (26 pitches, 5.12). AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198925004
*1988 Great Trango Norwegian Buttress attempt: Münchenbach,Albert, Arnold, Güllich, Leinauer climbed 25 pitches of the Norwegian Pillar to the snowledge in 14 days, but then retreated due to bad conditions, later writing, “This must be one of the most difficult Karakoram routes”. During the attempts, one of the climbers fell 25 meters into a crevasse and broke his arm, requiring 14 hours to rescue him.<?>
1988 Great Trango. Canadian team (Eric Sambo and Doug Dean) Dean attempted a solo ascent of the Northwest Face of the U.S. Route from Bivouac at 5330m, but was blocked by a dangerous snow cover just below the summit and had to descend. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198925201
*1988 Great Trango. Italian team (Maurizio Giordani, Maurizio Venzo, and Kurt Walde) After climbing the Uli Biaho Tower, Giordani soloed the Northwest Face America Route in 9 hours from the start, followed by a third ascent two days later by Maurizio Venzo and Kurt Walde.AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198925202
1988 Uli Biaho. French team (guided by Yves Astier) Uli Biaho Tower Two routes on the south face of the East Tower. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198925202
AJ on 1988 (Paul Nunn): W Kurtyka and E Loretan made the first ascent of the E face of the Trango Tower (wrongly called 'nameless' ever since Galen Rowell). Two attempts on this very steep wall were stopped after their initial beginning on 24 June. Eventually they succeeded on 13 July, after eight days of effective climbing. The route is 29 rope-lengths, 1100m ED plus, with six A3 pitches and much other artificial climbing, though mostly using nuts and friends. They fixed 600m of rope, but completed another of the Tower's great test-pieces. Later in the summer 10 German climbers led by Hartmut Miinchenbach followed their route for 220m, then traversed to the south on the big snow-ledge to the Yugoslav route and finished up that. On 3 September Wolfgang Kraus, Jorg Wilz, Thomas Lipinski and Jorg Schneider reached the top. On 6 September Kurt Albert, Bernt Arnold, Wolfgang Giillich, Martin Leinauer, Hartmut Miinchenbach and Martin Schwiersch succeeded. Giillich and Albert made a free ascent, grading the route UIAA VIII or VIII+. Subsequently Arnold sustained pelvic and rib fractures after falling into a crevasse and had to be helicoptered out, an unfortunate culmination of a rare trip for the East German sandstone ace. Nearby on Vii Biaho (6290m) an Italian party did a new route on the S pillar, and made the second ascent of this steep tower. Rosana Manfrini, Maurizio Giordani and Kurt Wald completed the climb in five days between 17 and 21 June, grading the climb VII A3. Two routes were also done on El Castillo (5 844m). These climb a face to a lower summit (5 300m) with sections of 6B, and were done between 19 and 28 May. The main summit remains virgin. After the Vii Biaho route Giordani soloed the Great Tower of Trango from the north side in nine hours, a 2000m route repeated by his friends afterwards.
1989
*1989 Nameless Tower. Greg Child and Mark Wilford attempt a new line to the right of Kurtyka-Loretan on the northeast face in alpine style, but lost at 5850m (5.10 A4) after being trapped in a storm for seven days in a portaledge which eventually failed due to frozen ice.
**1989 Nameless Tower. Spanish team (Miguel Ángel Gallego Chiri Ros, Jose Luis Clavel, Jose Seigeur) new route between west buttress and southwest. From the final snow field to the summit, they joined the 1987 Swiss-French route (AJ: close to the unfininished Dai Lampard 1984 attempt) from the line where the British team had lost at 6100m in 1984. It took 19 bivouacs for a total of 36 pitches using fixed ropes. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199028501
**1989 Nameless Tower. German team (Wolfgang Güllich, Kurt Albert, Milan Sykora, Christoph Stiegler) First ascent of Eternal Flame (35p 5.12c A2), including 11 pitches 5.11 and two of 5.12 in Rotpunkt style, the hardest rock route yet done in the Himalaya or the Karakoram, according to Albert. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199028700
1989 Great Trango <?> Jim Brennan and Greg Foweraker tried the Northeast Face but lost, then climbed the Nameless Hugo route 9P and gave up. Pat McNerthney and Greg Collum attempted the Southwest Buttress on the Southwest Peak but gave up after a few pitches because it was too huge. Matt Kearns and Dan Cauthorn attempted the first ascent of the Southwest Buttress after climbing a sub-6000m peak on the Uli Biaho side, but gave up due to heavy snow after a storm. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199028502
«?Austrian-American team climbed the Kurtyka-Loretan?»
1989 Uli Biaho east face attempt (Stefan Stuflesser), AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199028803
1989 Uli Biaho SE face attempt, using the same approach gully as Roskelley’s party in 1978. Nick Craddock, Paul Rogers, Murray Judge, Guy Cotter. Craddock, Rogers. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199127301
1989 Uli Biaho south buttress (June 1989) Nick Craddock, Paul Rogers, Guy Cotter New Zealand via south buttress 1988 Italian route (5.10, A3, four-day ascent, two-day descent). “Rock boots never came out of the pack” due to heavy snow.
1989 Thunmo climb covered here: Trango Towers, Château
1990
1990: Takeyasu Minamiura: Solo of "Steppenwolf" on Trango Tower
**1990 Great Trango. Japan Team. Masanori Hoshina, Satoshi Kimoto, Takaaki Sasakura, and Masahiro Kosaka made the second ascent of the Norwegian route (VII 5.12 A4), including a var on the northeast pillar and lower rock face, after 25 days, but could not climb the summit of the northeast peak due to lack of time. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199127201
1990 Trango Tower. A Swiss expedition led by Philippe Scherrer succeeded. A Spanish group climbing on Trango Great Tower and Uli Biaho is reported to have failed.(AJ).
**1990 Nameless Tower. USA-France (Jeff Lowe and Catherine Destivelle including TV crew) The team attempted to free climb the Kurtyka-Loretan route, but due to ice on the route, they switched to the Yugoslav route for the second free ascent. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199127002
1990 Great Trango Tower Attempt. Under the leadership of Antonio Perezgrueso of Spanish Television, Fernando Cobo, Jon Lazcano, Guillermo Banales and Máximo Murcia attempted a line on the southwest buttress of the Great Trango Tower. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199127202. (The full SW ridge climbed by Josh Wharton and Kelly Cordes in 2004)
“Cragging in the Karakoram”: AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199103300
1991
1991 Great Trango Tower Norwegian Buttress (Japan variant to rim): Miguel Berasaluce, Adolfo Madinabeitia and Antonio Miranda. Desnivel, N° 68, December, 1991. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199224701
1992—The Grand Voyage & Run for Cover
**1992 Great Trango. Swiss-American team (Xaver Bongard and John Middendorf) Climbed the overhanging east face with an independent line, then joined the Norway route for 3½P above the snowledge, and then onto an independent line on the north side of the top pillar, spending 15 days climbing "Grand Voyage" (VII 5.10 A4+ WI3) to complete the second ascent of the northeast peak from the east side. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199326000
**1992 Nameless Tower. American team (Greg Child and Mark Wilford) First ascent of "Run For Cover" (VI 5.11 A3+) to the right of the Slovenian route. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199303500
*1992 Nameless Tower Spanish Attempts. José Chaverri, Lorenzo Ortiz and Santiago Palacios fixed 750 meters of rope on the lower part of the Kurtyka-Loretan route for seven days. On July 7, they made their final attempt, which ended ten meters below the summit because of perpendicular unconsolidated snow. Chaverri then joined Basques Kike de Pablos and Jon Lazkano on the Slovene Route, where they had already fixed half the route. On July 19, Chaverri and de Pablos were overtaken by nightfall when they were not far from the summit, but they gave up and rappelled off in the dark. (AAJ)
1992 Cho Dukkyu, Cho Chonghwan, So Hoyoung, and Korean-American Chu Young repeat Yugoslav route. (AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199325803). Also: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199425501
*1992 Great Trango. Australian team climb and BASE jump from below east summit (story tk). Glenn writes, “In 1992 Vlad Moroz, Geoff Gabites, Nic Feteris and I climbed much of Andy Selters 1984 route (as marked with green line above) except that we traversed left (east) to the E/NE summit above the col. Lindsay Griffin calls this the NW Ridge route. After we went to the summit, Nic and I traversed and probed the edge of the serac line to the NW until we found a ledge to jump off. That was the scariest part of the expedition. We had a look at the top of the Norwegian route but it was not vertical enough to jump at the top. When we tried to look further down the N pillar, we found dodgy nests of pitons that someone (?Norwegians) must have repelled off but didn’t fancy our chances on these. (Later) some Flemish mountain guides repeated our climb and jump and then climbed and jumped Nameless. Great athletes. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199326300
*1992 First Shipton Spire attempt (Gregory Collum, Andy Selters, Chuck Boyd, Mark Bebie). AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199326601 Andy writes: In 1992, I met the BASE jumpers, they came up to our Shipton basecamp with Greg Child because Greg knew I had done the route (to the summit of Great Trango in 1984). I reassured them that our route was very reasonable and if they had a nose for terrain they could find it. If there is a reasonable amount of new snow or early in the season avalanche danger would be a concern, and I heard of at least one subsequent team struggled with that. Crevasse hazard was modest to minimal. I have no doubt that Scott and I stumbled into the easiest and safest route on the peak. The best published thing on our climb was my article in Mountain Magazine.
1993
1994
1994 Nameless Tower Korean team (4 members including Wang Kisu/Ki Soo Hwang) They entered the Trango Glacier to open a new route on the south face, but gave up after two climbers were injured by falling rocks on the glacier.Korean-Americans Cho Kukkya, Cho Chonghwan, So Hoyoung, Chu Young, Slovene route. (1992?)
1994 Great Trango. Japanese team (Keio Univ. / Tomoyuki Watanabe and 5 others) After returning to the BC, they found that their passports had been stolen and had to report the theft, which delayed their climbing activities. After climbing 6 pitches on the lower face (right of Norwegian Pillar) to 5300m gave up. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199528903
*1994 Trango Pulpit. Australian team (Stefan Eberhard, Julie Styles). The two completed "Trango Dreaming" (VI 5.10a A3+) a new 600m big wall up the lower face. After fixing the initial pitches, the rest of the route went capsule style using five ropes. In eight days in August they climbed 13 pitches, the first nine free and the rest on aid. Bolts were placed at each belay (Trango Dreaming VI Australian 19 A3+).
1995
**1995 Nameless Tower. First ascent of the north face of Nameless Tower by U.S. Team (Eric Brand, Willie Benegas, Jared Ogden, Kevin Starr) Book of Shadows (5.10b A4 WI4 1150m). AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199609500 and http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199629401
From Alpinist11: "The players for the first route on the north face, in 1995, were Argentine-born Willy Benegas and Americans Eric Brand, Jared Ogden and Kevin Starr. They took the great corner, which they named the Book of Shadows. With an approach gully raked by slush avalanches and aerial bombardment, and pitches characterized by A4 aid and often loose and verglassed rock, it ranks as one of the more objectively hazardous and technically difficult routes on Trango. Given the perpetual cold of the north face, it's also as masochistic an undertaking as anything done on the Tower. The team used six ropes on their capsule-style climb, camped in portaledges, and made the summit on August 4 after a final eighteen-day push."
**1995 Nameless Tower. U.S. team (Todd Skinner, Mike Lilygren, Jeff Bechtel, and Bobby Model) First team-free ascent of "Carboy Direct" (5.13a), variation of the Kurtyka-Loretan route. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199629701. Michael Westmacott Alpine Club Valedictory Address, 1995: “Many of us recently heard Paul Pritchard talking about his alpine-style ascent of the Slovene route on Trango Tower, while there was an American team on a neighbouring route, painstakingly bolting or otherwise equipping it, sometimes from above, with the object of climbing it from the ground later on. They spent sixty days in this activity - an extraordinary thing to do, in my opinion, and remarkably boring to any but the participants. But perhaps we should not be too scathing. After all, we spent over fifty days getting up and down the yak route on Everest.”
**1995 Nameless Tower NW face. Spanish Basque team (Mikel Zabalza, Fermín Izco, Antonio Aquerreta) First ascent of "Insumisioa" 5.11 A3+ 915m) on the North Face. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199629402
**1995 Nameless Tower. Paul Pritchard and Adam Wainwright climbed the Slovene Route. Having initially climbed to the shoulder from the Dungee Glacier (Andy Cave and Wainwright) before retreating in a storm, then later using Cowboy Direct fixed ropes back to the shoulder and climbing in a further three days from the shoulder to the top and back. On the same day they topped out (13th Aug) was the day of the storm that killed Alison Hargreaves and the rest of the team on K2. Celia Bull, Kate Phillips and Donna Claridge attempted the Slovene. From the Dungee glacier, Noel Craine and Paul Pritchard went up the gulley that leads directly to the north face later retreating from storm, and Crane fell down a crevasse and broke a couple of ribs.
More attempts and reports: AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199629403 and http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199629601 and http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199629602 (AJ: http://www.alpinejournal.org.uk/Contents/Contents_1996_files/AJ%201996%20285-292%20MEF%20Reports.pdf#search=%22trango%22
1996
*1996 Shipton Spire, East Face. Charles Boyd, Greg Child, Greg Collum, Greg Foweraker: 36 pitches, 5.11-A4 to “about 30 or 40 feet below the top”. Full alpine wall rack including ledges. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199732005 Naming: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199938902
1996 Nameless Tower: Tatsu Shinohara, Toshi Kikuchi and Takeshi Nagano repeat Yugoslav route. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199732004
1997
**1997 Nameless Tower. U.S. team (John Rzeczycki, Brad Jarrett, Warren Hollinger, and Wally Barker) First ascent of Wall Fiction (5.10 A4 WI3), the right line of the Book of Shadows on the North Face. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199832301
1997 Great Trango. A four-member Korean team climbed a 12-pitch variation to the Norwegian Buttress route, which they then followed to the East Summit, including Youn-Jung Shin, the first female to summit Great Trango; Choi Seung-Chul also became the first to paraglide from one of Great Trango’s summits. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199832201 and http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200033403
*1997 Shipton Spire, Ship of Fools. Mark Synnott and Jared Ogden established a new route on the east face of Shipton Spire (5852m) called Ship of Fools (VII 5.11 A2+ WI6), spending 20 nights on the wall and summitting on August 6. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199802100
1997 Nameless Tower, Yugoslav Route: Stenstrom and Nilsson. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199832202
*1997 Hainablak. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199832102
1998
*1998 Shipton Spire. Free as Can Be. Inshallah (VII 5.12 A1, 4,300 feet) on the southeast face of Shipton Spire (a.k.a. Hainablak Central Tower, 19,700 feet), July 13-27, Steph Davis, Kennan Harvey, Seth Shaw. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199908000
Overlooked Jewels: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199909000
1999
*1999 Nameless Tower Spanish Route (Ascensionists, Gabriel Besson, Claude-Alain Gaillan, David Maret, Frederic Roux) First ascent of the new route "Moonlight" Claire de Lune (VI 5.10d A3, 1230m) on the left of the 1989 Spanish route.
**1999 Great Trango. Quokka live broadcast w/U.S. team (Alex Lowe, Mark Synnott, and Jared Ogden) First ascent of a new route, Parallel Worlds (VII 5.11 A4), on the Northwest Face from the Trango Glacier in 28 days. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200010000 and http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200033501
**1999 Great Trango. The Russian Way (VII 5.11 A4, 2675m) on the “prow” of the northwest face of Great Trango Tower, July 15-August 10, 1999, Alexander Odintsov, Ivan Samoilenko, Igor Potankin, Yuri Koshelenko. Yuri writes: “Apparently our team made the first ascent of Trango West. I have great respect for the guys from the TNF team, but they didn’t reach the top for a couple of pitches then. They started from the platforms light and did not take crampons. Alex then fell on the thin ice below the top, and after that the guys went down to the platform and then went down along the ascent way. We took the Bibler tent with us and traversed the entire Trango Western ridge and descended the snow-ice slope. I subsequently climbed the section where Alex fell, there really was about 20 meters of very bad ice, on an inclined slab of 60/70 degrees, there was no belay there. By the way, on Trango I used the frame of a platform made of titanium, which Ivan Samoilenko once made with you for the A5.”
AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200010800 and http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200033502
**1999 Trango Pulpit: Michalem Drasšar, Tomáš Rinn, Pavlem Weisser, Ivo Wondráček and the sole Slovak, Jaro Dutka, fixed 700 meters of rope on the Pulpit’s Southeast Ridge, climbed to the summit of the Pulpit, then traversed to the 1977 route and onto the Main Summit in a 53-pitch effort they called More Czech, Less Slovak. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200033600
**1999 Trango Pulpit: Norwegian Trango Pulpit Direct (VII A4 5.11, ca. 2200m) on the northeast and north faces of the Trango Pulpit (6050m), June 28-August 4, 1999 (plus two days of fixing), Robert Caspersen, Gunnar Karlsen, Per Ludvig Skjerven, Einar Wold. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200009100 and http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200033801
Video here: documentary on climbing the Pulpit Direct on Trango Towers.
*1999 Great Trango. Lost Butterfly. German team of Thomas Tivadar, Gavor Berecz and Oskar Nadasdi arrived with the intention of establishing a new route up the NW face from the Trango Glacier, only to find the obvious lines occupied. They climbed 35 independent pitches to the left of Parallel Worlds before joining that route. Some 39 days and 44 pitches into it, however, they were forced to retreat short of the summit after a storm had imprisoned them in their portaledges for three days. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200033503
2000’s (incomplete)
2000: For Better or for Worse (VII 5.12a WI3, 3,500') on Hainabrakk East Tower (ca. 19,024'), June 25-July 27, Heather Baer, Roxanna Brock, Brian McCray, and Steve Schneider. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200102300
2000: Jonathan Copp, Mike Pennings Ascents: Freebird (VI 5.11d A1, 3,500') on Cat’s Ears Spire (ca. 18,800'), July 15-17, first ascent of the peak; Tague it to the Top (VI 5.11 C2, 3,700') on the east face of Hainabrakk East Tower (ca. 19,024'), July 26-28, new route, and second ascent of the peak; Inshallah (VII 5.12 A1, 4,300') on Shipton Spire (a.k.a. Hainabrakk Central Tower, 19,700'), August 4-6, second ascent of the route. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200101400
2001 (Lindsay Griffin, AJ): Four parties visited the Trango group aiming to climb high standard rock routes on the famous granite walls. Trango Tower (6245m) was attempted by two expeditions. Waldemar Niclevicz's Brazilian team repeated the 'standard' Slovenian Route on the SE Face. Japanese climbers led by Shogo Kada intended to scale a new route on the E Face, but only reached 51OOm. Two very different expeditions attempted Great Trango (6286m). Twid Turner led a UK. team hoping to climb a new route on the 1400m E Face to the left ofthe Norwegian Pillar above the Dunge glacier. However poor weather forced them to retreat from a high point of 5700m. Glenn Singleman led an Australian team intending to film a base jump from close to the summit of Great Trango. Two members of the group reached the summit via the NW Ridge route on 13 June before progress was stopped by a storm and the climbers retreated to base camp. The whole team then travelled to Australia before returning to Pakistan to mount a second summit bid. On 2 September six members of the group reached the summit but conditions were not thought to be ideal and plans to jump from the top were abandoned.
*2002: The Flame AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200310600 and http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200336001
*2004: Southwest ridge of Great Trango Tower to (south)west summit, Azeem Ridge (7,400’ vertical, 54 pitches, 5.11R/X A2 M6). Kelly Cordes and Josh Wharton. July 24-28, 2004. (Kelly also reports: 2005 Slovakian team: new route to the right of Azeem Ridge route, joining their route close to summit). AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200501400 Alpine Journal.
*2004: Trango Monk (5.10 A2), Tomaz Jakofčič and Miha Valič.
2005 Pulpit: Yann Mimet, Jean-Yves Fredriksen, Martial Dumas, Sam Beaugey. Azazel 22/06/05 to 10/07/05 AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200636200
September 8th, 2006
Karakoram, Nameless Trango Tower
(6239 m): Eternal Flame, 7a, A2, M5, 1200 m,
24-hour round trip (first one-day ascent),
Andrej Grmovšek and Silvo Karo
2007: Great Trango Tower, northwest face, completion of Ukrainian route (2003) and new variation to Azeem Ridge, AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200833400
*2008 The Great Trango Norwegian team first full repeat of the 1984 Norwegian Buttress. A four-man Norwegian team— the second complete ascent of the Norwegian Buttress (VII 5.10+ A4) on Great Trango Tower in Pakistan. Rolf Bae, Bjarte Bø, Sigurd Felde, and Stein Ivar Gravdal climbed the 4,500-foot northeast pillar of Great Trango and then continued to the 20,443-foot eastern summit. The ascent required 27 days, followed by three days to descend.
2009 Nameless Tower German team (Alex Huber and Thomas Huber brothers) Succeeded in freeing all pitches of the Eternal Flame. After free climbing to avoid the pendulum traverse, they waited several days in bad weather. Waiting for better weather, they resumed climbing, free climbing all 24 pitches up to the hardest grade, 5.13a, in 4 days and summited. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201212942
2011 Nameless Tower Russian team (Viktor Volodin, Dmitry Golovchenko, Sergey Nilov, Alexander Yurkin) First ascent of "No Fear" (6b+, A3) on the Northwest Face in 10 days. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201212935
2011 Marina Kopteva, Anna Yasinskay and Galina Chibitok (Ukraine/Russia) established "Parallel world" (2580m, VI+, A1/7b, 6B), a new route up the NW Face of Great Trango Tower, Karakorum, Pakistan. 22 July to 29 August 2011 AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201212936
*2013. Great Trango. Polish team (Marcin Tomaszewski and Marek Raganowicz) Pioneered BUSHIDO (46-pitch A4 VII+) on the Northwest Face. 19 days of climbing and 2 days of descent. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201212833
2013 Uli Biaho south pillar: Matteo Della Bordella and Luca Schiera, and Swiss Silvan Schupbach (Italy) AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201212835
2013 Uli Biaho east face alpine style new route (after Slovene route in 1.5 days): Eugeny Bashkirtsov and Denis Veretenin AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201212836
2017 Great Trango. Russian team (Yegor Suzdaltsev, Ivan Temelev, Anton Kashevnik). Pioneered "Inshallah" on the Southwest Face. AAJ: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201214705 Also: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201214707
2022 Nameless Tower Catalan team (Edu Marin, his brother Alex, and his father Francisco) Second free ascent of Eternal Flame. Edu Marin stayed on portaledge and successfully led the entire pitch free with one push.
2022 Nameless Tower. Austrian team (Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher) They free climbed the Eternal Flame in 6 days, each with no fall and one push.
2000s Alpine Journal Reports (year of publication)
2000 2001 2002 2002b 2003 2004 2005 2006 2006b 2007 2008 2009 2009b 2010 2011 2012 2012b 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
2000s AAJ reports (year of publication)
2000 2001 2001b 2001c 2002 2003 2004 2004b 2004c 2004d 2005 2005b 2005c 2005d 2005e 2006 2006b 2006c 2006d 2006e 2007 2007b 2007c 2007d 2007e 2007f 2007g 2007h 2007i 2008 2008b 2008c 2008d 2008e 2009 2009b 2010 2011 2012 2013 2013b 2014 2015 2015b 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2023b
Note: I have gathered additional information and will further scour the journals so I will update soon, but please email deuce4@bigwalls.net with welcome edits and corrections in the meantime.
ADDITIONAL SOURCES
Jakob Schweighofer Photos:
(used with permission, copyright Jakob Schweighofer)
https://erichroepke.pixieset.com/initialtrangotowerdronephotos-erichroepke/
Here are some more photos
Excellent history thus far! Thanks John!