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DIR GOL ZOM IN HINDU KUSH,PAKISTAN(THE HIMALAYAN JOURNAL 2001) HIDEHIRO MINAMII THIS YEAR WE AIMED at a 6000 meter peak which seemed possible to be climbed by senior members.Five members of average 61years old challenged Dir GoI Zom(6778m)which lays at the top of the Upper Tirich Mir glacier adjacent to the main peak of Hindu Kush Himalaya in Pakistan and finally three of us reached the summit. Minamii and Ikeya visited Pakistan four years consecutively and Hirai visited three times.After a briefing at the Mountaineering Department of the Ministry of Tourism,registration at the Immigration office,meeting with the Liaison officer,contract with aviation company for emergency flight and so on,We left Islamabad by cars on 11 July for Uthur village spending one night in Dir and two nights in Chitral. As soon as we arrived at Uthur in the morning of14th,We left to cross Zanl-Pass and went up along the Tirich Mir valley to our base camp at about 4800meters high with 45 porters.During the 3 day march to Shakhniyak the narrow path was very comfortable to walk as it was used by local people for their daily life.But after 3days we were very exhausted as the path sometimes was on the s1ippery blue ice of the Lower Tirich Mir glacier and the Upper Tirich Mir glacier,or on the big rocks and debris in their moraines. 20 July,We Set up base camp at 4800meters on a moraine of the left bank of the Upper Tirich glacier. During the time it was snowing,We went up crossing numerous crevasses and tried to acclimatize to the high altitude by cultivating the way-up route On the Upper Tirich glacier which had several ice falls in the middle.Camp 1 at 5300meters and Camp 2 at 5800 meters were established on the glacier. After 2 days rest at Base Camp,We left to attack the summit spending one nigh at Camp 1 and Camp 2 respectively.We established Camp 3 at 6300 meters from which we set out next day on 4 August,to the summit. We went up on the Upper Tirich Glacier until a saddle and then traversed on the ridge toward the summit.A lot of time was needed to go up avoiding hidden crevasses.And on the ridge just under the summit,We spent a lot of time to deal with slippery ice and soft powder snow.At 3 pm Minamii,Ikeya and Yokochi reached Dir GoI Zom with 3 high porters. We could not see Noshq and Istor-0-Nal two giant peaks in the area as they were located behind the Western Tirich Mir range which lay just in front of us. But we could enjoy the endless mountain Scenery of Afghanistan from the summit. After a half hour,We began to descent. We joined Kinoshita who gave up scaling the summit only 100 meters below it and arrived at C3 at just before 8 pm helped by the light of the evening glow. It was an extremely long day for seniors. You may understand by reading the map,We could not see Dir GoI Zom itself until near Camp 2 as it is located at the end of the glacier which bends like a bow.The distance to the summit because very long because the way of the caravan to our base camp was extremely long and then the zig zag climbing on the Upper Tirich glacier to avoid numerous creases and ice-fall made it longer than we expected.Several times we had to go up and down to reconnoiter the route.It was very hard work requiring patience and exhausted us but this seemed consequently very effective for our acclimatization. Duration: 7 July to 21 August 2000 |