Trango Château (1987)
Trango History series by John Middendorf
Trango History Series so far:
Trango 1988a—Geology of the region
Trango 1988b—Kurtyka-Loretan
Trango 1988 sidebar—meeting Erhard Loretan
Trango 1987a: —The ‘Yugoslav Route’
What’s in a name?—Trango—history of Trango Towers naming and mapping
Trango Towers chronology of climbs (rough draft)
Trango Château (Castle) —this post
Author’s note: It’s with sadness sometimes as I research the origins of a specific region, it becomes apparent there is no record of the original myths and legends of features that would have certainly been named and recognized. There is no first-hand record of the Baltoro as there was little written form of the language by the Baltis and others who traveled through and over the Karakoram. The early European explorers, more intent on mapping the valleys and peaks, often missed the landmarks in-between. Having lived with the Hopi in the wilderness for weeks, I was always amazed at how a story indelibly marked the landscape in my mind forever. The names are only for reference to the story; it is the story that marks the place. As a pathway over the Karakoram, the lower Baltoro must have been well-storied. Sad to reflect how the ethereal indigenous stories of the first majestic northern features upon entering the Baltoro, recorded by early European mapmakers as the Three Castles (or Three Cathedrals depending on who you ask), are lost to time and can only be imagined.
Trango Château
As one climbs the mouth of the Baltoro Glacier and travels along its length, on the left, northern side, very distinct towers of rock come into view, lower in elevation than the higher peaks all around, but stunning in their sheerness and scale. These towers are the remaining granite spires at the junction of the Baltoro’s side glaciers, which have been grinding down the Baltoro batholith for millions of years (geology here). The chain of rocky spires along the Baltoro extends from Paiju to Lobsang, and from various angles, the headwater towers of the northern tributaries of the Baltoro can be imagined as giant engineered structures, such as a castle or a cathedral. And three that often stood out and were sometimes named as a group by early mapmakers were the Uli Biaho, Trango, and Biale massifs.
Informally named the “Three Castles” or “Three Cathedrals” by early European explorers (perhaps depending on one’s military or religious outlook), the center one became the Castle, while the elegant spire east of the Dunge Glacier became the Cathedral (and Thunmo). Indeed, from directly across the Baltoro, the center peak between the Trango and Dunge Glaciers could most easily be imagined as an imposing castle, while, Thunmo, with its clean steeple feature, aptly could be called a grand cathedral, as Vittorio Sella’s 1909 images captured so well.
The first big rock climbs attempted and climbed in the lower Baltoro were on these headwater cathedrals and castles. In 1974, a Groupe de Haute Montagne team attempted to climb Uli Biaho’s southern buttress (footnote). In 1975 a team from Italy climbed two routes on Thunmo (‘Gran Catedral’), while a team of Yosemite hardmen made bold forays on the summits in the Lobsang Spires. Trango Tower was climbed in 1976, but attempts on the center castle were passed by, as Great Trango Tower became the more compelling objective, climbed in 1977 by an American team. By 1979, Uli Biaho Tower was climbed by its most sheer wall, and the south pillar of Lobsang Spire became the dream bigwall climb with its “cracks and dihedrals leading up through 2000-foot-high blank walls of solid red granite.” (Doug Scott—stories of these climbs in other chapters).
Footnote: Uli Biaho Tower was then identified as “the granite tooth which lies between the Uli Biaho and Trango glaciers and between Payu Peak and Trango Towers. It is given as 6083 meters (19,958 feet) on the map accompanying G.O. Dyhrenfurth’s Baltoro.” The 1974 team consisted of Michel Février, Jean François Porret, Raymond Coène, Pierre Beguin, Dominique Marquis and Jean Fréhel.
First climbs on Trango Château (Castle)
The Trango Château was the last of the castles and cathedrals rising directly above the Baltoro to be climbed. Of the many potential routes to the summit of this formidable mass of stone, Erik Decamp, Robert Wainer, and Patrick Cordier chose a steep route directly up the southern wall, and in 1983 climbed 1200m (50 pitches) of mostly hard rock climbing alpine-style over four days with three bivouacs on natural ledges, weaving their way up to one of the formation’s summits (5200m) which they called Le Château. The Château was referenced as ‘the easternmost of the Trango Towers’, and for a short time was also known as the ‘first Trango Tower’ (but not to be confused with Trango I identified the highest peak deep in the Trango Massif). After the 1983 climb, the French ‘Château’ replaced the English ‘Castle’ in many journals. The highest point had not yet been reached, but the opportunity for long alpine rock routes on the formation became clear, and the name began to stick.
1n 1985, two expeditions from Japan attempted the peak. In June, members of the Hosei University Mountaineering Club, Yoshimitu Takatori, Satosi Sidou and Masaru Aoki, climbed a long route to another sub-summit (5400m) via the southwest buttress. Later in the season, Hiroshi Aota and Toshiyuki Kikuchi made another attempt and climbed forty pitches in two days, but without crampons or ice axes, snow and ice from a September storm resulted in a miserable bivouac and a forced retreat.
In 1987, Reiki and Yukiko Nonaka, Toshikazu Fujita, Takao Sasaki, and Masahiro Ito spent two weeks (August 24-September 8) climbing the huge eastern slab on the east face, then continued on the southeast buttress, to the base of a final 300m headwall guarding its summit. After climbing the final eight vertical bigwall pitches, the summit was reached, noted as “surprisingly flat and wide.” They named their route Seiryo (Star Ridge, 59 pitches). A decade after climbers reached the summit of the two major towers of the Trango Group (Trango and Great Trango), the summit of the third major tower, the Trango Château (5753m), also received a visit by an effective climbing team of five.
Next: continuing with 1987 climbs, more story on the third ascent of Nameless Tower:
Appendix:
Naming note: Use of Château rather than Castle for the easternmost Trango Tower seems appropriate as that is what Patrick Cordier, Erik Decamp, Robert Wainer apparently named it during their bold foray in 1983.