RAKAPOSHI HIstory the history of one of the most beautiful and difficult mountain on earth
The highest and most visible mountain, the MOTHER OF MISTS, is part of the imaginary of each person, wayfarer or inhabitant, that has ever set his eyes and foot onto the Hunza Valley [North Pakistan].
Unlike K2 and other mountains of the Karakoram, the powerful bulk of DUMANI has accompanied all the people who have lived or travelled along one of the crucial nodes of the ancient caravan routes that connected East and West, variants of the famous Silk Route.
The valley dominated by RAKAPOSHI is harmonious and powerful, and has cultural and environmental riches. The valley was the centre of the ancient kingdoms of Hunza and Nagar, and Rakaposhi with its SHINING WALL is an unrivalled buttress to the greatest road ever built: the Karakorum Highway.
But RAKAPOSHI itself is one of the most magnificent works that nature has produced. Rakaposhi is an extremely wide mountain, nearly 20 km from east to west, and is the only peak on Earth that drops directly, uninterrupted, for almost 6000 m from the top to the base.
Few people have climbed RAKAPOSHI.
Many people have dreamed of doing it.
First amongst these, was the British art critic William Martin Conway who went in 1896 in order to explore its southern slopes. He did not find any easy access route, but it was the first true mountaineering expedition in Karakoram.
In 1938 another enterprising British explorer, Campbell Secord tried to approach the great mountain from Jaglot, along the West face and tackling the longe NW Ridge up to 5800 m [Secord Peak].
In 1947 Secord returned with one of the patriarchs of world-wide exploration, Bill Tilman [one of the 20th century’s most important explorers, who disappeared in the waters of Antarctica in 1977], to find an alternative route to the same side on the mountain. After having made an attempt on SW Spur reaching quota 6200, Tilman again ascended NW Ridge reaching just over the 6000 m mark.
Many people have dreamed of doing it.
First amongst these, was the British art critic William Martin Conway who went in 1896 in order to explore its southern slopes. He did not find any easy access route, but it was the first true mountaineering expedition in Karakoram.
In 1938 another enterprising British explorer, Campbell Secord tried to approach the great mountain from Jaglot, along the West face and tackling the longe NW Ridge up to 5800 m [Secord Peak].
In 1947 Secord returned with one of the patriarchs of world-wide exploration, Bill Tilman [one of the 20th century’s most important explorers, who disappeared in the waters of Antarctica in 1977], to find an alternative route to the same side on the mountain. After having made an attempt on SW Spur reaching quota 6200, Tilman again ascended NW Ridge reaching just over the 6000 m mark.
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