Page 12 - 2021 AMA Summer

GUESTWRITER
But what does climbing mean? It’s a relatively pointless activity, particularly when you venture into the mountains. Yet the style in which you climb matters - ask a mountaineer what they’d think if someone took a helicopter ride to top, and then declared themselves ‘the best.’ Luka, Ales and I were shocked to be awarded the 2019 Piolet d’Or award (the Golden Ice Axe) for our route on Latok 1. I appreciate when friends say ‘nice one!’ and recognise the years of training and dedication which stands behind such a climb, but it felt strange to have someone rank our ascent above others.
In September 2019, I was back in Pakistan - this time with four British mates. We’d talked about how cool it’d be to share a Base Camp with a big group, to explore a quiet area of the mountains, and to share the collective energy towards an objective. Thankfully, Will Sim put our shit-talking into action and ‘re-discovered’ the Hindu Raj range. This long-forgot- ten and wild area is an extension of the Karakoram, which is itself an extension of the Himalayas. A few teams had climbed on a mountain called Koyo Zom (6872m) in the 1960s (even a British group!) but otherwise, these peaks of golden granite and curving ridge-lines had been left to the remote shepherds and famers of the Yakhun Valley. Since this was the far north of the country, on one side of the valley lay Pakistan; the other Afghanistan, with Tajikistan and China close by.
As I progressed through British trad grades over the years, and transferred this ability into ice, mixed and alpine climbing, I knew several things. Firstly,
I’m partly motivated by difficulty - I don’t want to slog up snow slopes, I want to climb! My psyche is for big, high and inspiring mountains, the harder the better. I also realised a while ago that in order to meet my expectations, I needed a decent standard of technical rock climbing in order to create a solid foundation, which I could then take to impressive mountains and high altitude.
Where better to become a solid trad climber than the UK? Our island is famous for fish and chips, rainy weather, and amazing trad climbing. Thanks to our diverse rock types, which are often fractured and not as bountiful as European limestone, we protect our little cliffs and fiddle in wires into their cracks. I was ‘based’ in North Wales for around five years, which gave me time to progress through the grades, both onsighting and headpointing classic climbs above the sea or in the mountains.
Gogarth, on the north-western tip of Wales, is one of the best trad sea cliffs in the world. It’s a pumpy, atmospheric and physical place, all crashing waves and unlikely climbs. For many years, as I ticked my way through classic routes between alpine expeditions, I wondered if I could take the difficulty of Gogarth
to high altitude. Could I combine the technical challenge of E6s and E7s with the big mountains? Would that be too audacious, or too hard?
In Pakistan, our team of five watched the north-west face of Koyo Zom as it set on fire in the evening light. From the bergschrund, an icefield shot into an enormous headwall of granite, reminiscent of Gogarth’s Main Cliff - only five times as large and at 6500 metres above sea level. We imagined threading our way through sections of ice and rock, before - somehow - breaking through the headwall and onto the summit slopes. It looked improbable, hard and pretty outrageous... but exactly what I wanted (and feared!) most. We had to try.
As with all expeditions, the journey from concept, months beforehand, to acclima- tised and ready to launch for a route is very uncertain. As it turned out, Ally and I were psyched for the north-west face of Koyo Zom, whilst Uisdean, John and Will went for the north-east ridge. We waved goodbye after acclimatising and hoped to meet on the summit again.
On our third day, Ally and I craned our necks up from the belay. The enormous
Looking down at Ally Swinton on one of the crux pitches of The Great Game, Day 3, 6300m, Koyo Zom, Pakistan 2019 trip Photo credit: Tom Livingstone
Looking down the second pitch of Dinosaur (E5 6a) at Gogarth Main Cliff, North Wales. Photo credit: Nadir Khan
12 / ARMY MOUNTAINEER