Karakoram Archive - Adventure Mountain

18. June 202518. June 2025

New routes on the seven-thousanders Ultar Sar and Spantik in Pakistan

Ultar Sar (in the center of the picture, the Southeast Pillar) — Ultar Sar (in the center of the picture, the Southeast Pillar

Two alpine highlights at the start of the summer climbing season in the Karakoram in Pakistan: US-American Ethan Berman, Australian-Argentine climber Sebastian Pelletti and Dutch-born Maarten van Haeren opened a new route on the 7,388-meter-high Ultar Sar. The Frenchman Mathieu Maynadier and the Pakistani Mueez Ud din managed a first ascent on the 7,027-meter-high Spantik. Both teams were climbing in alpine style, i.e. they did without fixed ropes, fixed high camps, high altitude porters and bottled oxygen.

22. May 202522. May 2025

Mountaineering in Pakistan is getting more expensive – but not as much as initially planned

The eight-thousander Broad Peak (with the shadow of K2, photographed in 2004)

The uprising of the Pakistani tourism industry has been at least partially successful. The regional government of the Gilgit-Baltistan province has slightly reduced the higher prices for climbing permits for Pakistan’s highest mountains that were decided for this summer.

The Pakistan Association of Tour Operators (PATO) had filed a complaint against the original price increase. The PATO had argued that this was severely damaging mountain tourism in the country. The Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court initially put the decision on hold. The new revised price list is now available.

23. August 202423. August 2024

Balance of the season for commercial expeditions: Business as usual in the Karakoram

K2, the second highest mountain on earth (in 2004)

The commercial mountaineering season in the Karakoram in Pakistan is over. The expedition operators have long been beating the drum for their offers for the coming fall in Nepal and Tibet. As in previous years, the eight-thousander Manaslu in western Nepal is likely to be particularly busy.

This mountain summer in Pakistan, most of the commercial teams gathered once again at the 8,611-meter-high K2. The “King of Eight-thousanders” was long considered too dangerous and challenging for commercial expeditions and was therefore reserved for the world’s best mountaineers. This has now changed radically. In summer, the second highest mountain on earth shares the same fate that has befallen the highest of all mountains, Mount Everest, in spring for many years: Full base camp, fixed ropes up to the summit, rubbish on the normal route, traffic jams at key points.

22. August 202422. August 2024

Gasherbrum IV: Injured Russian climbers rescued, mourning for Sergey Nilov

Southeast Ridge of Gasherbrum IV (center)

Five days after the avalanche accident on the 7,932-meter-high Gasherbrum IV in the Karakoram, the two injured Russian mountaineers Sergei Mironov and Mikhail Mironov have been flown by rescue helicopter to a hospital in the northern Pakistani city of Skardu. “Their condition is satisfactory”, informed the Russian embassy in Pakistan, without giving details of the nature of their injuries. Initial reports had spoken of fractures.

According to the Russian mountaineering portal mountain.ru, the search for Sergey Nilov, who died in the avalanche, has been canceled. Too much fresh snow had fallen in the past few days, it said. The snowfall had also delayed the evacuation of the injured. Two days ago, a five-man rescue team had brought the two Russian climbers to a spot at an altitude of about 6,000 metres where a helicopter could land.

18. August 202421. August 2024

Avalanche drama on Gasherbrum IV – Nilov missing

Tragedy on the almost eight-thousander Gasherbrum IV in the Karakoram in Pakistan: Five Russian mountaineers who had set out to recover the body of their compatriot Dmitry Golovchenko, who died in an accident a year ago, were hit by an ice avalanche. “As the team ascended the mountain, an ice formation, possibly a serac, collapsed, unleashing a catastrophic event. The unforgiving nature of Gasherbrum IV, known for its hazardous terrain, turned their noble mission into a fight for survival,” wrote Karrar Haidri, President of the Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP), in a press release.

15. August 202415. August 2024

Livingstone and Cesen open new route on the nearly 8000er Gasherbrum III

Tom Livingstone (left) and Ales Cesen — Tom Livingstone (l.) and Ales Cesen

It’s climbs like this that keep the belief in true alpinism alive. At the beginning of August, 33-year-old Briton Tom Livingstone and 42-year-old Slovenian Ales Cesen mastered the West Ridge on the 7,952-meter-high Gasherbrum III in the Karakoram in Pakistan for the first time. They climbed in alpine style to the summit, i.e. without bottled oxygen, without fixed ropes, without fixed high camps, without high porters.

On the descent, they traversed to the eight-thousander Gasherbrum II and used the fixed ropes on the normal route of the commercial teams – “which changed our style a little, but made sense,” Livingstone wrote on Instagram. It was the much safer option for the return to base camp.

31. July 202431. July 2024

Search on K2 stopped: Mourning for Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima

The 8,611-meter-high K2 in the Karakoram (in 2004)

Even if it is difficult, it makes no sense to turn a blind eye: Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima paid for their adventure on K2, the second highest mountain on earth, with their lives. In consultation with the families of the two top Japanese climbers, the rescue operation on the second highest mountain on earth was halted yesterday – because the terrain where Hiraide and Nakajima had been located is too steep and too dangerous.

28. July 202430. July 2024

Great concern for Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima on K2

It was the project everyone whose heart beats for real alpinism was looking forward to this summer. The Japanese Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima, who are among the best mountaineers in the world, had set out to climb the extremely challenging West Face of the 8611-meter-high K2 in the Karakoram in Pakistan – on a new route, in alpine style, i.e. without bottled oxygen, without high porters, without fixed camps and without fixed ropes. According to reports from Pakistan, Hiraide and Nakajima fell from an altitude of around 7,500 meters. They had set off on their summit attempt four days ago.