The plan for this expedition was to travel to Northern Pakistan to the Boesam Pass in the Karakorum, with the aim of attempting to summit unclimbed peaks below 6,500m in the region. The team of three were comprised of one College PhD student and two former College students, and they were travelling to an area that has rarely been visited by climbing parties. They arrived in the region in early June 2017 and remained until the end of the month.
The group initially journeyed to Shimshal via Islamabad and Gilgit, and by this time had been introduced to their guide and their cook. They were also assigned 30 porters and 3 donkeys to transport their equipment to their basecamp just south of the Boesam Pass, with the porters returning at the end of the expedition to transfer everything back to Shimshal. The weather was terrible whilst setting up the basecamp with very little visibility and with the tent almost getting blown away.
During their stay they endured heavy snow on some of the days, which prevented any climbing, whilst during some of the climbs the sky was crystal clear, with shooting stars observable during the nights. Although they experienced good weather for all their attempted ascents, the snow conditions were in general less favourable, with a hard crust over deep poorly consolidated snow underneath encountered on every route, which at times made for slow progress. At other times they were having to wade through chest high snow, and in other places encountered barely frozen snow.
In total the group judged that they made five first ascents, with heights and locations measured with a GPS. Two of the peaks that were summited were named after Imtiaz and Arman, the local guide and cook respectively, who were a huge asset to the expedition. The six peaks scaled were Unnamed Peak 1, (5,700m), on the East of Boesam Pass, grade PD; Imtiaz Sar, (5,930m) on the West of Boesam Pass, grade AD; Koh-e-Brobar, (6,008m) on the North of Boesam Pass, grade PD; Unnamed peak 2, (5,503m), grade AD; Arman Sar (5,970m), grade AD; Unnamed peak 3 (6,000m).
The agent used by the expedition were Active Tours Pakistan, who, in mid expedition, managed to hand deliver a letter to the basecamp from the student member’s supervisor. Once the team had arrived back in Shimshal they were able to spend a day exploring the Malenguti Glacier, and were also able to visit Imtiaz’s, (the guide) house for some home cooked food.