There were two interesting recent expeditions to the Himalaya that the climbers didn’t make public till they returned home. Here are a few initial details about them.
The Barnaj peaks. Photo: Matt Glenn
New Route on Barnaj II East
Matt Glenn, Callum Johnson, and Tom Seccombe have returned from the Kishtwar Himalaya in India, where they climbed a new line on the north face of Barnaj II East (6,303m).
“We have been back from India for about two weeks now. It takes a little while for things to settle in my head after a trip, so I’ve not rushed to post anything,” Glenn wrote on social media. Their original objective was the main Barnaj II North (6,470m), but it remains unclimbed.
Icy pitches in the upper couloir, high on the face. Photo: Callum Johnson via Mountain Equipment
Seth Timpano and Sam Hennessey first climbed 6,370m Barnaj I in October 2017. Barnaj II (6,470m) has been attempted several times, and its south summit has already been climbed more than once.
This small sub-range of the Himalaya in India’s Kishtwar Himal has very steep 6,000m peaks. All require technical climbing, and most are world-class ice routes. Austrian climbers first visited the Kishtwar Himal in 1939.
Naisa Brakk. Photo: Rizwan Saddique
Naisa Brakk and other peaks in Charakusa, Pakistan
Yusuke Sato, Kenji Sakamoto, and Satoru Tanaka of Japan spent a productive summer in Pakistan’s Charakusa Valley. They climbed the spectacular 5,200m Naisa Brakk, the “arrowhead tower”, and several unnamed peaks in the region.
Peaks in Charakusa, Pakistan. Photo: Katsutaka Yokoyama
Another Japanese pair, Katsutaka Yokoyama and Genki Narumi, shared base camp with Sato’s team. Their climbs were published in the Bulletin of the Himalaya Association of Japan in Japanese. More details later.
The Japanese team in Charakusa, shared by Satoru Tanaka on the Akatsuki Climbing blog, via Hume.
