Nan Darkis, Lizzy Scully and Cecilia Buil arrived in Pakistan in the end of June.  Their objectives were to do a third ascent of Inshallah (5’12 A2) on Shipton Spire and to attempt a new route on one of the unclimbed summits of the Cat’s Ear Spires.

When we left Islamabad on June 26th, the aire was as hot and humid as steam coming off a boiling pot of cabbage.  Our rented mini-van had air conditioning and so the three-day trip on the Karakoram Highway (KKH), a road that extends into China, was not unpleasant. We stopped often at local tea houses where we feasted on a variety of curried dishes and drank hot chai.

On the third day of our drive we entered the Baltistani territory, leaving the KKH. We crossed the Indus River on a swaying bridge and my head reeled from the expanse of gray, churning water far below. The giant boulders on the banks of the river looked like miniature pebbles in a fish tank. The bus clattered slowly over the wooden slats of the bridge and around a sharp corner before the driver picked up the speed and snaked through the countryside.

Upon arrival in Skardu we rented a couple lime-green and purple jeeps and spent seven hours driving over horribly rutted dirt roads, through villages and vast valleys of nothing but brown rock and dirt. Our destination, Askole, is the main starting-off point for climbers and trekkers traveling into the Baltoro Region of the Karakoram Range.  From Askole we began our three-day hiking trek into base camp, which was approximately one and a half hours past the Trango Towers base camp. Forty Balti porters carried about 1000 kilograms of food and climbing equipment.

The people from Baltistan are ethnically Tibetan and Mongolian. They have skin that is lighter than the skin of many Pakistanis and many have blue eyes. Our guide Muzafar told us that in 321 B.C. Alexander the Great and his men passed through the area, leaving many blue-eyed children behind. The men are beautiful, but as they age their backs bend from their hard lives and their lined faces look older than their years.  The women also are beautiful, but it is rare to see them because they turn their backs or cover their faces whenever a stranger approaches.

The day we arrived to our 14,000-foot base camp the high altitude sun blazed in a sky that was as blue as Lapis Lazuli. Tall, pointed spires, Hainabrak, Shipton, the Cat’s Ears and Uli Biaho, cut into the sky like jagged tears. I’ve never seen a more striking arrangement of peaks in my life. The porters sat in small groups in the lush, green ‘sar shika’ grass tucking magenta wildflowers behind their ears. One porter, wearing a gray, striped scarf handed me a wild rose and smiled with brilliant, white teeth. For five weeks this glacial oasis was to be our base camp.

Nan and I spent a number of days fixing ropes about 1100 feet up the wall. We stayed a few nights at the base of Shipton and one rainy night at Camp One, which is on the top of pitch six. We had some team decision-making problems and for the first three weeks we did a lot of wallowing around in base camp. Cecilia disagreed with us on how we should approach the climb.  She was worried about rock fall because of the story of the death of the Japanese man who tried to solo the wall. Finally Nan and I decided to go for it. Cecilia opted to come along and it took six days to climb the route.

Things went OK the first two days, but on the third day Cecilia became dizzy and sick and two of her leads took all day to ascend. This put us behind and so Nan

On the last half a dozen pitches of the route we didn’t find the mixed rock and ice that the topo identified, instead we found chimney waterfalls, which Nan led quickly and without complaint. I have a photo of her with water cascading off her helmet. Because of her 10-hour push through the day, she unfortunately got altitude sickness and was dry-heaving as we began to rappel. Cecilia also could not help with the rappels.  Thus, that night became the worst night of my life.  We ended up descending through the wee hours and most of the next day.  Nan was able to help after we descended about 1000 feet and for the final rappels, when I was weak and exhausted, she took charge.  We reached base camp after dark on the 6^th day.

Unfortunately, after we climbed Shipton a storm came in and it rained, sleeted and snowed for eight straight days. Cecilia decided to go home early, though Nan and I were considering extending our plane tickets and staying to try the Cat’s Ear Spires. However, one morning after a particularly heavy snow we found that all the formations were covered in snow, much like frosted mini wheats. Thus, we decided to leave. Sadly, on the day that we left not a cloud broke the perfect expanse of blue sky. We later found out that an Austrian team attempted the Cat’s Ear Spires soon after we left, but failed in their attempt because bad weather returned.

It was the only all-woman ascent of Shipton or of any formation in the Trango area and fewer than 20 people have climbed Shipton Spire. Last year Mike Pennings and Johnny Copp climbed Inshallah, so ours was the third ascent.

Inshallah was put up in 1998 by the Americans Kennan Harvey, Steph Davis and Seth Shaw. It's a beautiful line of mostly steep, clean crack climbing. We only had to aid six pitches. I freed or most of my pitches of 5'9 to 5'11, but after 18,000 I began to French-free more often- because of the lack of air and my tired body. The formation tops out at just under 20,000 feet.

Nan Darkis is 32 and has been climbing for over 10 years. She's put up first ascents in Canada and has led 5'12 cracks. She's done scads of long free routes and big walls all over the United States. She also has extensive experience ski mountaineering, ice climbing and mixed climbing.  She currently runs the outdoor program for the high school in Telluride, Colorado. She is also a published photographer.

Cecilia Buil is an accomplished aid climber and has gained notoriety in Spain for putting up first ascents in Mexico and Spain. She is a professional rock climber. Though she doesn't climb traditional routes often, she is a strong sport climber and has been climbing for 10 years.

*After talking to Johnny Copp I figured out that we were further from the summit than we originally thought. There was one false summit, before reaching a short pitch to the highest point. We think we were maybe 50 meters from the highest point. We’ll never really know though.