Thursday 2 January 2014

Laila Peak, Central Karakoram National Park:



Laila Peak, Central Karakoram National Park


Laila Peak in Hushe Valley near Gondogoro Glacier is in Karakoram range and is 6,096 metres high. It has a distinctive spear-like shape. Its northwest face has a slope of 45 degrees in more than 1500 vertical metres.It has been climbed by Simon Yates, among others. According to the local people in Hushe, Laila peak has been climbed only twice, a total of only seven people have summited.It was climbed in winter for the first time by Spanish mountaineers Alex Txikon and José Fernandez, in February 2013.The height of the Laila peak in Hushe Valley is controversial. Some believe it to be 6200 metres whereas some mention it as 6614 metres. In a Japanese mountaineering map by Tsuneo Miyamori, the height of Laila Peak is mentioned as 6096 metres.In the summer of 2005, the first ever ski attempts on Laila Peak were made by Fredrik Ericsson and Jörgen Aamot from Scandinavian countries. Although they could not reach the summit, they skied down the North-West face of the peak. They described it as "one of the most amazing mountains they have ever seen, like a needle it points straight up in the sky".Frederik and Jörgen reached the base camp of Laila Peak on June 18, 2005, and they were at Camp1 on June 22. They made their first attempt to summit on Friday, June 24. They started climbing from 5000 metres at 2:30 am and after seven hours of climbing when they were only 100 metres from the summit, they realized that it was too icy to continue, and started skiing down on the North-West face of Laila Peak towards Gondogoro Glacier.The second group ever to attempt to ski the mountain was Paul Holding, Brendan O'Sullivan, Ed Blanchard Wrigglesworth and Luca Pandolfi. All were the first snowboarders on the mountain except for Ed Blanchard Wrigglesworth, who was on skis. They reached the col at 5,400m only to find that the whole left side of the face had avalanched down to rock while they were climbing from the south side, scuppering any attempts for that year. A full account of their story can be found here.

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