I first caught sight of Karim Sar (6180m) in 2007. My friend Lydia and I were on top of a small, previously unclimbed peak between the Baltar and Toltar Glaciers in the Northern Areas of Pakistan, with our new Italian…
Author: patd
2009: Tecnology is on my side!
I had the first inkling something was wrong about seven years ago. My knees and ankles started to hurt walking down the hard ice of the Hooker glacier, and I didn?t want to jump crevasses, preferring to sit on my…
2008: Bekka Brakai Chhok update- Alpinist Newswire
By Lindsay Griffin; August 11. Italians Herve Barmasse and Simone Moro have made the first ascent of Beka Brakai Chhok (6940m), a high and imposing snow and ice peak in the Karakoram’s Batura Group. The ascent and descent were completed…
2008:Beka Brakai Chhok- second time round
Trying to justify expedition climbing in the Greater Ranges to a non climber is sometimes hard, but to justify travelling half the way around the world to fail for the second time on a chosen peak can be particularly torrid.…
2007: First ascent of Miandi Peak(6400m); attempt on the east ridge of Kharchakund, Gangotri region, Uttaranchal, India.
Account of the expedition for the New Zealand Climber magazine On October 5th Bruce Norman from Scotland and Pat Deavoll made what may be a first ascent of a 6400m peak in the Garwhal region of the Indian Himalayas. Pat…
2004: First ascent(unsuccessful) of Jankuth, Uttaranchal, Gangotri Glacier, India.
Trip Log 13th ? 14th September By the 13th Sept 2004 all expedition members had arrived in Dehli, where we stayed at the YWCA. A representative of our agent ?Himalayan Run and Trek? (HR&T) met us on the 13th September,…
2007: First ascent of Beka Brakkai Chokk (unsuccessful) and first ascent of Wahine,Baltar Glacier, Karakoram Ranges, Northern Pakistan.
? Pakistan – Islamic republic, hotchpotch of federally administered states and tribal areas, land of vast physical contrast. Its an intriguing? place to visit post 9/11. My friend Lydia ?and I discovered this on a trip in July 2007, the…
2006: First ascent of Haizi Shan, Western Sichuan, China
It was deja vu: the same stream galloping by the main street, the same houses stacked one-on-one up the rocky hillside, the same visiting monks in their burgundy robes. The town of Kanding, gateway to Tibet, had changed little over…
2005: First ascent of Xiashe, Western Sichuan, China
I. Finding Paradise With hundreds of unclimbed mountains awaiting ascent and countless valleys to be walked up, China can be viewed as an explorer?s and climber?s paradise. Access to these areas has been approved only since 1980, when Deng Xiao-Ping…
Review of Black Diamond ‘Venom’ tool
A long snow route with a few pitches of ice like, for instance, the east ridge of Cook, is the hardest type of climbing to choose an appropriate tool for. You can either have a good ice tool that?s hopeless…
Black Diamond First Light Tent Review
This compact two-person, four season tent weighs 1.5 kilograms and must be one of the lightest on the market?.. and is a real gem! I?ve used it on three overseas mountaineering expeditions, each with different weather conditions, and its stood…