Czech Start Canadian Pinish, Pakistan, September 2007

By: Lilla Molnar and Jen Olson

It was Jen’s idea to go to Pakistan and to apply for the John Lauchlan Award. When she asked if I would join her, I said yes thinking we would never get it. I was wrong!

A month later, while driving home from a road trip Marc asked if they had announced the winners of the John Lauchlan Award yet. I hadn’t heard but started thinking, what if? Later that evening while we were unpacking at home, the door bell rang and there was Jen, a 2L bottle of red wine in hand, ready to celebrate. We were going to Pakistan!

Nearly a year later we arrived in Islamabad. We were wrapped in headscarves and our passports were stamped after an hour in the “women and children” line up. Then, Ghulam, owner of Blue Sky Tours greeted us with a warm welcome and delivered us to our hotel. The next day we traveled to Karimabad with our adept, good humoured guide/cook Imran. First by plane to Gilgit, followed by a 5-hour nausea inducing mini bus ride along the infamous Karakorum Highway. Our good fortune with this weather dependent flight saved us from an additional 19 gripping hours on the KKH, and provided grand views of Nanga Parbat and the rest of this remarkable mountain range.

The Ladyfinger, a granite spire topping out at just over 6000m and perched above the town of Karimabad, had been our original objective. We hiked up from town to our proposed high camp and had a good look at the glacier beneath the spire. We abandoned the objective after deciding the approach up the glacier posed too much potential rock fall hazard for our liking. We had heard of another potential approach from the opposite side of the mountain, but Imran informed us that an earlier expedition had been unsuccessful due to similar hazards.

After deciding against climbing the Ladyfinger we set our sights on the Nangmah Valley. We backtracked to Gilgit then traveled east along the raging Indus river by mini bus to Skardu. From here we squeezed tightly into a Land Rover, knees scrunched around our ears, bouncing and rattling up the Hushe Valley. We stopped in the village of Khane, where much to our surprise Imran hosted us in his home. We were greeted eagerly by his large family and treated to wonderful meals and tours of the village with amazing views of Masherbrum. Here in Khane, we really experienced the warm generosity of the Balti people.

We ventured into the Nangmah Valley with little information, hoping to find inviting unclimbed lines. We had Imran’s local knowledge, 20 minutes of Internet research and some hand drawn topos left behind by climbers at the K6 “hotel”. Our time in the Nangmah Valley was short, as we managed to squeeze in our climb just in time for winter to set in. We were successful in doing a new route on the peak known as Brakk Zang, which we called, Czech Start Canadian Pinish TD- 5.10 A2, 450m. It was climbed in 11 pitches over two days and we topped out in heavy snowfall on what was to be the last day of the climbing season. A team of Czechs had started the climb earlier this year and we climbed 8 pitches above their high point to pinish the route (pinish is our favourite Pakistani influenced English word).

We had apprehensions about our trip given the political instability in Pakistan and our safety traveling as two North American women. But, we are grateful to Imran and Ghulam for helping us with what proved to be a safe and successful trip in an amazing and beautiful country.

“Trust in Allah but tie up your camel” – (written on a hand lettered sign at the entrance of the Skardu airbase) An amusing quote from Greg Mortenson’s book Three Cups of Tea.

We would like to thank Arc'teryx, Integral Designs, Yamnuska, Explore Magazine, MEC, Alison and Bruce Millar from Lake O’Hara Lodge, Gillean and Tony Daffern. These companies and individuals are the financial backbone of the John Lauchlan Award, which has helped many Canadian climbers achieve great objectives around the world. Thank you to Arcteryx, Petzl, Mountain Hardware, Integral Designs and MEC for their additional gear donations. As well, many thanks to Lane Faison, Bob Thrasher and Gabrielle Savard for their financial assistance.

Last but certainly not least, thank you to the small group of scotch drinking hard men and women, who take the time once a year, to decide who will be the next recipients of this important award.