©Victor Saucède
The first ascent of Pumari Chhish East, Hispar Muztagh, via The Crystal Ship (1,600m, 6b A2 M7) on the south face and upper west ridge, from June 25-29. The route was rappelled.
Since 2007, Pumari Chhish East, the lowest and probably the most technically difficult of the Pumari Chhish group, north of the Hispar Glacier, had received five attempts from the south. For the sixth known attempt, Christophe Ogier, Victor Saucède, and Jérôme Sullivan from France opted for the middle-left of the four large rock pillars, a line envisaged in 2009 by three Canadians, who climbed the initial snowfield before retreating due to illness.
The three French climbers chose to go early, making the approach in May with a view to attempting the face in June, when the alpine terrain would still be well-frozen. However, it snowed on 26 days of their 27-day wait at base camp, though during this period they acclimatized by spending a night on nearby Rasool Sar (5,980m). They then received a forecast for a seven-day weather window, and after allowing one day for the face to shrug off recent snow, set off, climbing the initial 700m snowfield at night.
On the 700m pillar above they employed big wall techniques, with the leader hauling while the two seconds jumared. Aid was often used to surmount overhangs or to remove large snow formations plastered onto the cracks, but generally they climbed as free as possible under the conditions. The first three bivouacs were poor, exposed, and uncomfortable, but the fourth day took them through the remaining difficulties, which included two vertical 6b rock pitches at 6,600m (led in rock shoes), to a relatively spacious shoulder. Next day they climbed through the summit mushroom and were on top at 10 a.m. Waiting at their last bivouac until mid-afternoon, when the sun disappeared from the face, the three began rappelling the route, reaching the snowfield at nightfall and advanced base around midnight.
The jury felt this to be an elegant line, a line of strength that was full of uncertainty, on one of Pakistan’s big unsolved problems. It is not the easiest option on the mountain, but the steepness and sustained high level of difficulty made it one of the safest, rising almost directly to the summit. The ascent was very much a collective effort, displaying great team spirit in line with the Piolets d’Or Charter.
Christophe Ogier
- FR
Christophe is both a mountain guide and scientist from Haute-Savoie. He is preparing a thesis in glaciology at the ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) in Zurich, and for several years has been studying the evolution of alpine glaciers in the face of climate fluctuations and current warming. Prior to Pumari Chhish East, Christophe had climbed in Patagonia. During the austral summer of 2020, together with Slovenian Gašper Pintar, he completed the fifth ascent of the "W" traverse of the three Paine Towers, starting with the Monzino on Torre Norte and finishing up the Aste on Torre Sur. During the same season, he was also one of the French team who climbed the Ragni Route on Cerro Torre with Fabian Buhl, enabling Buhl to make the first paragliding descent after having climbed a route to the summit.
Victor Saucède
- FR
Originally from the Pyrenees, Victor started climbing indoors before discovering the mountains with the French Alpine Club. He went on to join the departmental teams, then the regional teams, and finally the National Men's Mountaineering Team of the French Mountaineering and Climbing Federation. It was during this period that he developed a desire to introduce others to the mountains, realising on each outing that the enthusiasm and wonder of the participants at the beauty of the landscape gave him even greater pleasure. "When I was very young, I already had a strong idea in my head: to make a living out of it, without realising what it would involve. Now I've moved to the Mont Blanc Massif, where I'm lucky enough to be able to accompany groups from one summit to the next, discovering some exceptional terrain.” In June 2021, with Jérôme Sullivan and two other companions, Victor discovered the mountains of Pakistan. Visiting the remote Kondus valley, he made an alpine style first ascent of Harvest Moon (1,600m, WI6 M6) on Dansam Peak West (or K13, 6,600m)
Jérôme Sullivan
- FR
Jérôme divides his life between his job as a mountain guide and his “hobby” of climbing. In recent years these have taken him to many of the mountaineering and climbing playgrounds, but “the boundary is thin and often gets lost". His signature can be found in the Alps (In 2012, the first free ascent of the southwest pillar of the Dru since its collapse, and the first ascent of Mad Max on the east face of the Grandes Jorasses), in Morocco (first ascents of major trad routes at Taghia), in Patagonia (first ascents of El pillar del sol Naciente - 1,000m 7b, A1, M6, WI6 - on Cerro Murallon in 2012, Hasta las webas – 1,000m, ED – on Cerro Riso Patron in 2015, and La Milagrosa, - 1,200m, 6a A3 M7 - on the east face of Cerro San Lorenzo in 2018), in the Revelation Mountains of Alaska (first ascent of Pyramid Peak via Odyssey – 1,100m, 6b A1 M7 6b 90° - in 2014), and South Greenland (first ascent of Metrophobia – 1,700m, 7a A2+ 120° ice – on Apostelen Tommelfinger, with a 340km approach and return by kayak in total autonomy). "Curiosity is the word that defines me, curiosity to discover mountains and the humans who love them."
