WHERE NEXT? 6000m FIRST ASCENT EXPEDITIONS
IMAGE ABOVE: IN RED, THE AREA OF FOCUS OF THE WORLD HIGH ALTITUDE CLIMBING INDUSTRY. IN GREEN, THE HIGH ALTITUDE AREAS OF FOCUS OF FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS
THE LAST TWO SEASONS HAS SEEN A PSEUDO-REVOLUTION IN HIMALAYAN CLIMBING, WITH A MODEST SURGE OF ATTEMPTS OF NON-MAINSTREAM 6000m PEAKS BY MODESTLY SUPPORTED COMMERCIAL TEAMS. SUMMIT SUCCESS IS MIDDLING – WHICH WE THINK IS FINE – AND THE HIGH ALTITUDE TABLOIDS ARE FINDING A RARE DISTRACTION FROM THE REALITY SHOWS THAT 8000m HAVE BECOME. THIS MOVEMENT HAS BEEN MOSTLY CONFINED TO THE CROWDED PARTS OF THE 8000m RANGES, WHERE A DWINDLING ARRAY OF +6000m PEAKS STILL EXIST THAT ARE MAPPED AND DOCUMENTED.
OF COURSE THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A MAINSTAY OF SERIOUS ALPINISM, WITH SERIOUS CLIMBERS SPENDING A LOT OF TIME ON 6000ers LEARNING THEIR TRADE. MUCH OF WHAT LEADS EVOLUTION AT 8000m HAS GROWN FROM 6000m EXPERIMENTS, INCLUDING PLAYING AROUND AT ACCLIMATION THRESHOLDS UPON WHICH BIG ALPINISM IS BASED. THE LIONS SHARE OF PIOLET D’ORS GO ON THIS ALTITUDE RANGE AS IT IS DOABLE ON SHORT TIMELINES, THE OBVIOUS EXAMPLES BEING MICK FOWLER AND PAUL RAMSDEN, WHERE FOR DECADES IT’S BEEN RARE FOR A YEAR TO PASS WITHOUT THEM PICKING UP ACCOLADES FOR THEIR HOLIDAYS FROM BRIEFCASE JOBS.
6000m PEAKS ARE ATTRACTIVE BECAUSE THEY HIT A SWEET SPOT IN CLIMBING, OF ALLOWING ASCENTS THAT CAN BE STREAMLINED, QUICK AND UNFETTERED BY LOGISTICS AND ADMINISTRATION. PERMITS ARE RELATIVELY CHEAP, CREW NEEDED ARE RELATIVELY FEW, AND IT STILL QUALIFIES AS ‘HIGH ALTITUDE’ ESPECIALLY ON THE STUFF NEARING 7000m. THIS STYLE OF CLIMBING NOW ATTRACTS COMMERCIAL INTEREST AND IN TURN THE ATTENTION OF INDUSTRY, WITH LOCAL COMPANIES EXTENDING SOME OF THE RESOURCES BLOWN ON 8000m TOURISM TOWARDS A MINOR BUT INFLUENTIAL BRANCH OF THE INDUSTRY.
ESTIMATES PUT THE NUMBER AT ABOUT 100 STILL LEFT UNCLIMBED, THOUGH MANY ATTEMPTED, WITH MOST AS PART OF MASSIFS OF GREATER PEAKS THAT ARE WELL KNOWN AND WELL TRAFFICKED. QUICKLY, THIS SCENE IS STARTING TO FEEL IT’S LIMITS, AS NEPALS FINITE NUMBER OF UNCLIMBED 6000ers GET THE INTEREST OF THE WORLD. AS USUAL, MEDIA IS THE DOUBLE EDGED SWORD OF AWARENESS AND EXPLOITATION, WITH ONE SIDE PREDICTABLY SHARPER AS DECADES OF THE HIMALAYAN CLIMBING INDUSTRY HAVE SHOWN. THE EQUATION IS SIMPLE, THAT INCREASING TEAMS WANTING NEW ASCENTS OF 6000m PEAKS WON’T TAKE LONG TO LEAVE NO UNATTEMPTED 6000m PEAKS LEFT IN NEPAL.
NO DOUBT THE JUGGERNAUT OF INDUSTRIAL MOUNTAINEERING WILL TURN ITS SIGHTS EVER-ONWARD WHEN ITS CURRENT NICHE IS SATURATED, FORMATTING ITS LOGISTICS AND MARKETING TO COMMERCIALIZE THEN INDUSTRIALIZE SOMETHING ONCE AUTHENTIC AND EVEN DIGNIFIED. HARD PEAKS WILL BE SEIGED UNDER THE DISTORTED TERMINOLOGY OF ‘ALPINISM’, EXPECT THE TIME TO BE SOON WHEN THE SORT OF STUFF SEEN ON ISLAND PEAK IS THE BLUEPRINT FOR EVERYTHING FROM THE BORDER OF SIKKIM TO SHIMSHAL. HISTORY SHOWS THIS IS A ONE-WAY PROCESS, A MERGING OF AFFLUENT DEMAND AND DEVELOPING ECONOMICS, THAT PAYS LIP SERVICE TO THE LIKES OF SHIPTON, MACINTOSH AND HIRAIDE BUT IS CLOSER TO DISNEY, BARNUM AND BAILEY.
THIS IS WHERE WE COME IN.
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FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS INTERJECTS HERE TO PUT ALL THIS INTO PERSPECTIVE, IN COMPARISON WITH THE POSSIBILITIES FOR +6000m NEW ASCENTS IN THE RANGES OF TIBET AND XINJIANG. HERE, EVEN BY THE STRICTEST DEFINITION OF A PEAK, THE NUMBER IN THIS ALTITUDE RANGE ARE UNKNOWN, WITH CONSERVATIVE GUESSES SOMEWHERE OVER 1000, THE MAJORITY UNNAMED. EACH OF THESE REPRESENTS IT’S OWN EXPEDITION TO PLACES UNHEARD OF BY THE COMMON WORLD, DESPITE SOME +6000M PEAKS SITTING WITH A DAY OF ROADS.
UNLIKE THE OPTIONS ELSEWHERE THAT OFTEN CLUSTER AROUND FAMOUS PEAKS (SEE THE IMAGE AT TOP), MOST UNCLIMBED 6000mers IN CHINA ARE IN RANGES BARELY RECOGNIZED AND IN INDEPENDENT MASSIFS. SOME ARE CURRENTLY OFF-LIMITS BUT THE MAJORITY AREN’T, THE FACT IS VERY FEW ARE EVER ASKED ABOUT, CONSIDERED TOO OBSCURE OR USUALLY – NOT CONSIDERED AT ALL.
OUR SUGGESTION IS AS ALWAYS; SEE FOR YOURSELF. GET ONTO GOOGLE EARTH WITH A CUP OF COFFEE AND A FEW HOURS FREE, AND JUST SEE WHAT IS OUT THERE IN THE RANGES OF THE WESTERN HALF OF CHINA. AS A GENERAL HINT THE FURTHER WEST YOU GO THE LESS HAS BEEN CLIMBED, AS MUCH AS PRODUCT OF TOPOGRAPHY AS ONE OF ATTENTION. DON’T JUST LOOK AT THE PLETHORA OF PEAKS, BUT LOOK TOO AT THE ACCESS INCLUDING PROXIMITY TO HIGHWAYS, LARGE TOWNS AND CITIES WITH AIRPORTS, SOME EVEN INTERNATIONAL
OBVIOUS PLACES TO START ARE THE NORTH KARAKORAM AROUND K2, BROAD PEAK AND THE GASHERBRUMS, WHICH THOUGH OBVIOUSLY IN CLOSE TO PROXIMITY TO MAJOR PEAKS GO MANY YEARS WITHOUT BEING VISITED. THE CHANCE TO CLIMB NEW +6500M STUFF IN THE K2 OR GASHERBRUM MASSIF WITHOUT SEEING ANOTHER TEAM IS A GIVEN, AND FROM HERE THINGS ONLY GET MORE UNTRAMMELED AS YOU HEAD AWAY FROM THE BIG NAMES.
ANOTHER AREA GROANING UNDER THE WEIGHT OF UNCLIMBED 6000mers IS THE TIEN SHAN, WHERE ASIDE FROM THE FEW MAJOR NAMES LIKE KHAN TENGRI, OBJECTIVES EXIST IN ROWS, AS ENTIRE GLACIER SYSTEMS AND SUB RANGES. FOR THE REALLY EXOTIC STUFF YOU NEED TO LOOK AT THE KUNLUN, A RANGE MORE ASSOCIATED WITH KUNG FU MYTHOLOGY THAN CLIMBING, THAT IS A 6000m PARADISE SO EXPANSIVE IT’S PARAMETERS ARE STILL UNDEFINED. THE REMOTEST HIGH ALTITUDE PEAKS ON EARTH ARE IN THE KUNLUN, INCLUDING AN UNKNOWN NUMBER NEVER PHOTOGRAPHED, AND OF COURSE TIBET IS COVERED IN 6000m FIRST ASCENTS WAITING TO HAPPEN, ACROSS AN UNINTERRUPTED PLATEAU THE SIZE OF WESTERN EUROPE, BRIDGING FOUR PROVINCES.
CLIMATE IN MOST OF THESE REGIONS IS COLDER AND DRIER THAN WHAT’S SEEN SOUTH IN THE CENTRAL HIMALAYA, WHICH TRANSLATES TO GREATER STABILITY. MOST OF THESE AREAS ARE FREE OF THE SUBCONTINENTAL MONSOONS REACH, AND ARE CLIMBABLE YEAR ROUND BAR THE EXTREME CONDITIONS OF LATE WINTER (THOUGH WE ARE WORKING ON IT).
TRIPS TO THESE PLACES CAN BE NOTHING OTHER THAN TRUE EXPEDITIONS, WITH EVEN ‘ROADSIDE 6000ers’ STILL REQUIRING ALL THE PLANNING OF TRIPS INTO THE UNKNOWN. THESE ARE PLACES WHERE LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT LOCAL CONDITIONS AND WHAT’S ON THE GROUND, WITH NO HANDY BUBBLE OF COMMERCIAL COMPANIES TO ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS BEFORE WE ARRIVE.
WE RESPECT ANY ATTEMPTS BECAUSE WE RESPECT THE PROCESS THAT GOES WITH IT, FROM PICKING OBJECTIVES TO PREPARING, WITH THE INTENT OF TRYING SOMETHING NEW. WE SEE THIS AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF SERIOUS CLIMBING AND WHAT REALLY DEFINES A REAL CLIMBER – TO APPLY ALL YOU KNOW TO ASCENDING UNKNOWN TERRAIN.
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DOING IT
THE NATURE OF THESE EXPEDITIONS MEANS WE RUN THINGS WITH A HIGH LEVEL OF LOCAL INPUT, EMBEDDING US DEEP INTO LOCAL CULTURE USING THINGS LIKE CAMELS, HORSES AND ALWAYS LOCAL LOGISTICS. THESE AREAS HAVE NO HISTORY OF GUIDES, COMMERCIAL GROUPS OR EVEN ANY CONCEPTION OF CLIMBING, SO WE ENGAGE AS TRAVELLERS, WITH LEAN AND LIGHT FOOTPRINTS AND ARE ALWAYS SUBJECT TO STRONG TRADITIONS OF HOSPITALITY.
THIS ENTIRE WEBSITE IS THE TOOL KIT FOR EXPLORATORY +6000m ASCENTS AWAY FROM THE COMMON AREAS IT GOES ON, BUT HERE IN A NUTSHELL WE WILL MENTION THE BASICS;
- VISAS ARE EASY, THE BEST WE HAVE KNOWN THEM IN OVER 25 YEARS
- CURRENT PERMITS MAKE THE LARGEST NUMBER OF HIGH ALTITUDE PEAKS IN CHINA OPEN EVER IN HISTORY
- LOGISTICS ARE UNMATCHED GETTING TEAMS INTO HIGH ALTITUDE WILDERNESS ASTOUNDINGLY SMOOTHLEY
- ADMINISTRATION & AUTHORITIES ARE SURMOUNTABLE WHEN YOU KNOW HOW
- FOOD, CULTURE AND PEOPLE ARE WELCOMING DESPITE LITTLE TO NO CONTACT WITH FOREIGNERS
- WEATHER IS COOL, CLEAR AND DRY, THE MAJOR INFLUENCE BEING THE TARIM BASIN
- TIMELINES OF 2 WEEKS CAN BE ENOUGH FOR SOME FIRST ASCENTS, BUT MOST TAKE 3-4 DEPENDING ON LOCATION AND SEASON
- TRIPS RUN YEAR ROUND, THE BEST TIMES BEING MAY/JUNE/JULY AND OCTOBER/NOVEMBER/DECEMBER
- THE ONLY STYLE IS ALPINE STYLE, UNIQUE EXPEDITIONS TO OBSCURE PLACES UNTOUCHED BY INDUSTRY
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