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The American Alpine Journal, 2009
Climbs and Expeditions: AFGHANISTAN
Page: 254-255

Afghanistan
HIGH HINDU KUSH – WAKHAN CORRIDOR

Koh-e-Uparisina (6,260m), northwest pillar. For the second stage of our three-part DEVOLDTriple North Walls expedition, Jan Doudlebsky and I visited the Hindu Kush. We were inspiredby an old book of photos from the 1965 Czechoslovak Uparisina expedition; as a boy I went tothis book, dreaming of adventures. The dream came true in September. We rented a car withdriver in Kabul and drove for three days to Ishmurch, showing our Ministry of Tourism permitat three police and military checkpoints en route. (The permit was arranged by three friendswho work for an aid organization building schools and wells and who accompanied us to themountains.) In Ishmurch we hired porters and after two days walk reached base camp near thehead of the Ishmurch Valley.

Our plan was a new route on the north face of Koh-e-Uparisina, which dominates thevalley. Our chosen line began with a steep ice gully and featured a serac barrier at one-thirdheight. It appeared we could turn this barrier on the left via a rock pillar splitting the face. In itsupper section this pillar became a sharp snow arête leading to the summit ridge. On the 11thwe erected our tent atop a giant boulder and awaited a spell of good weather. On the 13th weclimbed the initial 40m of vertical ice into the gully, moving fast to minimize the icefall riskfrom seracs that threaten the entire lower wall. But the ice was brittle and our progress not asfast as we would like. The terrain was 70°, with several steeper sections. In the evening wereached the rock pillar and dug out a ledge for our bivouac sack. That night ice avalanches fellpast the ledge, cutting off retreat. The only sensible escape became upward.

September 14: We continued up the pillar on thin, brittle ice and before dusk erected ourbivouac sack on another small platform. The next day we climbed to the end of the rock andstarted up the exposed snow arête. The face steepened, and at midday we tunneled through thecornice to reach the summit ridge. Following the crest for 120m, passing one awkward step, we arrived at the main summit. We followed the endless west ridge down. At 6,000m we cut a plat-form in the snow for the night. It was cold, but there were superb views over China, Pakistan,Tajikistan, and many Afghan mountains farther west. The next day we descended to the end ofthe ridge, then rappelled 250m down a rocky pillar to reach the glacier. That night we regainedour tent, completing the round trip in 82 hours of alpine-style climbing, and the next dayarrived at base camp. We called our route on the northwest pillar Sweet '65 (1,600m, WI 5, 70°),as a tribute to our brave countrymen who first summited the peak. MAREK HOLECEK, Czech Republic

The ca 1,600m north face of Koh-e-Uparisina (6,260m). On the left is the 1977 Polish route up the north face andtheir descent of the northeast ridge. The 2008 Czech route on the northwest pillar has been named Sweet 65. Onthe right is the route of the first ascent in 1965 via the north spur of Uparisina West (6,050m), and the connectingwest ridge. This was the route used in descent by the 2008 duo. Marek Holecek

Close to the summit of Koh-e-Uparisina (6,260m), after making the first ascent of the northwest pillar. Marek Holecek

Editors note: The 1965 Czechoslovakian expedition was led by Vladimir Sedivy. On August 10Vilem Hekel, Radovan Kuchar, Miles Matras, and Josef Psotka made the first ascent of 6,050mUparisina West by the north spur. On the 28th Kuchar, Matras, and Psotka climbed to this summitand continued east along the connecting ridge to make the first ascent of the higher Uparisina East.A Polish team climbed the main summit again in 1977. From this 11-member Krakow expeditionled by Janusz Mascka, R. Bieniek, B. Strzelski, and R. Urbanik made an alpine-style ascent of thenorth face, left of the northwest pillar, and descended the unclimbed northeast ridge. This was con-sidered one of the outstanding ascents that year in the then-popular Afghan mountains and wasremarkable for the era. The new Czech route is arguably the most significant climbed inAfghanistan since the Soviet invasion of 1979.

[Napsal: Marek Holeček, 2009-12-31]

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