Last month, Colin Haley from the United States, along with Americ Clouet and Damien Tomasi, traveled to Pakistan to attempt the 6,934-metre (22,500 ft) K7 in the Charakusa Valley.
Mount K7 is a 6,934-metre (22,500 ft) peak in the Karakoram Mountains in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan. It is located in the Masherbrum Range, south of Mount Link Sar.
Unsurprisingly, climbers have faced tough climbing conditions this summer, typical of all the peaks in western Pakistan. They returned empty-handed, having experienced, like many others this season, all the difficulties of mountaineering in the era of global warming.
“The last two or three winters in the Karakoram have been particularly dry, and this summer has been particularly hot. As a result, at altitudes above 5,000 meters, mosquitoes were biting us like crazy, and the snow melted incredibly slowly,” Haley wrote.
Increased danger
As he explained, the problem is not so much the high temperatures, but their effect on the mountain conditions: “Terrain that historically was covered by ice 99% of the time becomes extremely dangerous when all that ice melts. The slopes and couloirs that look white in any photograph were in fact just loose piles of rock, with an incredibly high risk of rockfall.”
In the last days of the expedition, the climbers heard falling rocks about every 15 minutes, day and night.
As with Charles Dubouloz and Simon Welfringer’s failed attempt on Gasherbrum IV, Haley admits that they did not get very far and that the failures came one after another. Dubouloz, Americ Clouet and two other partners unsuccessfully attempted K7 in 2023. Again, the weather. In 2024, a Spanish team also failed to climb K7. This year, Clouet attempted K7 again, while Dubouloz headed to Gasherbrum IV.
Bad timing for climbers
“I love climbing hard mountains and have no regrets about the path I’ve chosen, but I have to admit that a lot of what’s happened in the last decade has made me feel like the 21st century is a bad time for climbers,” Haley wrote.
And yet, the team of three climbers returned unharmed and, despite the unsuccessful ascent, the partners remain in high spirits.
Regular rockfalls in the mountains of Pakistan this year pose a serious danger, which last week took the life of a young climber Laura Dahlmeier during an ascent of Laila Peak.
Colin Haley is a professional mountain guide and climber who advocates alpine style. He has established routes all over the world, but is perhaps best known for his ascents in Patagonia.
Source: alp.org.ua