Charakusa

The Charakusa valley offers plenty of scope for new routes, and this team arrived in the area armed with a tick list. To acclimatise, they climbed the ‘British Route’ on Nayser Brakk (5200m) and then the NW Ridge of Sulu (6050m), this being a possible first ascent. They then soloed the 1000m Diaper Couloir to the summit of Beatrice Peak (c.5800m) before turning their attention to the very complex North Face of the unclimbed Link Sar (7050m) on which a combination of bottomless snow and the arrival of bad weather forced a retreat while still 1000m below the summit. Their final route was on the South side of Fathi Brakk (c5600m) where a 1000m loose gully and some good rock pitches landed them on a very airy summit.