On September 13, Yudai Suzuki, Genki Narumi, and Hiroki Yamamoto of Japan made the first ascent of the east face of 6,080m Hasho II in the Karakoram.
Hasho II is the highest summit in a remote and glaciated corner of Pakistan. It sits on the watershed dividing the Khane, Nangmah, and Lachit Valleys.
The ascent line and the bivy marked in red, and the descent line marked with green. Photo: Yudai Suzuki
Before the expedition, the Japanese trio had intended to climb Changi II, but when they scouted it, the rock looked so loose that they decided to seek an alternative. Suzuki, Narumi, and Yamamoto hiked through the Lachit Valley until they found a good objective in the unclimbed east face of Hasho II.
“This peak was the most attractive and logical to climb in terms of rock quality and objective dangers,” Suzuki told ExplorersWeb.
Yudai Suzuki begins the first pitch. Photo: Genki Narumi
The three men climbed from September 9 to 13. They established Advanced Base Camp at 5,090m and made two bivouacs, at 5,510m, and at 5,850m on the plateau.
“The bivy was only the width of my shoulders,” Suzuki recalls. “It was quite uncomfortable and cold, but a rich experience when I look back on it.”
They graded their new 880m route 5.10, A1, 50º, VI.
Bivy between freezing rocks. Photo: Yudai Suzuki
The first three pitches were a moderate 5.10, but featured a lot of sand and dirt. After excavating some dirt from the crack, they continued climbing. “It looks like perfect golden granite in the photo, but it was actually super wild alpine rock,” says Suzuki.
On the third day of the climb, they mounted the final blue ice section, then descended to their Advanced Base Camp before nightfall.
Many small crevasses
“It was really insanely crevassed terrain,” recalls Suzuki. “We fell about ten times into hidden crevasses, but luckily, every time, they were just leg deep.”
Information from the American Alpine Journal suggests that their first ascent of Hasho II’s east face is just the second overall ascent of the mountain. A Russian team led by Konstantin Markevich first summited it in the summer of 2019 via the west flank and south-southeast ridge.
More photos from the recent Japanese route on Hasho II. Photo: Yudai Suzuki, Genki Narumi, and Hiroki Yamamoto
