matt
Mar 1, 2003, 11:18 PM
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Registered: Jan 4, 2001
Posts: 1703
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K7(22,750'), in the eastern Karakoram mountains of Pakistan, is the ultimate alpine fortress. Golden granite buttresses form inaccessible turrets and walls that protect the peak's snow-covered summit pyramid. The mountain has only been climbed once, in 1984, by a Japanese expedition that used 450 pitons and bolts and 21,000 feet of rope in a two-month siege of the southwest ridge. Numerous attempts by other parties have all come up short.
Conrad Anker first saw K7 on a 1998 climbing expedition to Pakistan's Charakusa Valley. The following summer, Brady Robinson and I had an opportunity to scope the awesome granite flanks during a trip to the same area. We scanned the areas between light and shadow looking for a weakness in its armor. In the evening light, K7 burned in alpenglow. There are certain peaks that call to you, lure your imagination. K7 had left an impression on all of us.
The mountain's proximity to the Line of Control and the ongoing war between Pakistan and India kept it off limits to climbers for nearly ten years. During my 1999 expedition to the Charakusa, our team listened to the distant murmur of falling shells. A permit for K7 seemed unlikely.
-full story can be found at alpinist.com
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K7
