Mountain of the Week - Muztagh Tower

This is considered one of the most difficult climbs in the world. Just looking at it gives me chills. My eyes wander up that glacier and imagine how long it would take to get to a high camp. Then I start to think about the final section and how the heck you would even approach that!

This Week: Muztagh Tower (23,860 ft - 7,273m)

From Wikipedia:

The Muztagh Tower (also: Mustagh Tower; Muztagh: ice tower), is a mountain of the Karakoram range in the Himalaya in Northern Areas of Pakistan^[1]. It is often said to be one of the most difficult mountains in the world to climb. The Muztagh Tower stands 7,273 metres high between the basins of the Baltoro and Sarpo Laggo glaciers, and also possesses a second summit, on the northeast ridge, that is 7,180 m high.

Long considered unclimbable, it was first summited in 1956 by a British expedition, consisting of John Hartog, Joe Brown, Tom Patey and Ian McNaught Davis, that came from the west side. The group barely managed to beat a French party attempting to climb the mountain from the east, reaching the top on July 6, 1956, five days before the French. The lower summit was first climbed in 1984 by the northeast ridge.

Add comment May 22nd, 2007