Past Challenge

#6 American Gasherbrum IV

Participants: Steve Swenson, Steve House, Charley Mace and Andy DeKlerk

"It was not the time to embark on a journey that would require all the strength they could muster."

During the summer of 1999 Steve Swenson, Charley Mace, Steve House, (all from USA) and Andy DeKlerk (South Africa) attempted the unclimbed south west ridge of Gasherbrum IV (7,900 meters, or 26,000 feet). The intent of the expedition was to climb the route above 7000 meters alpine style without the use of fixed rope. In addition to our climbing objectives, we also installed several new toilets at popular campsites on the Baltoro Glacier. The purpose of these toilets was to reduce the human waste problem caused by large numbers of climbers, trekkers, and porters. In addition to installing the toilets, our expedition succeeded in collecting and carrying out over 500 pounds of trash from our basecamp that had been left behind by other groups.

Gasherbrum IV - Background

Climbing Gasherbrum IV by a new route is a very difficult undertaking and is therefore a mountaineering objective fraught with uncertainty. But the difficulty of this mountain also speaks to why our expedition wanted to go there. In an era where many of the 8000 meter peaks are made easier by the sheer numbers of climbers and prior fixed ropes and ladders, an ascent of Gasherbrum IV is still much the same difficult proposition it was when first climbed in 1958. Following that ascent by Walter Bonatti and Carlo Mauri, the mountain has only been climbed three times. A new route was completed in 1986 by an American/Australian team via the NW Ridge (this route was pioneered to 23,000 feet on an expedition led by Steve Swenson in 1983), a Korean team completed a new route via the west face in 1998, and another Korean team repeated the 1986 route last year.

There have been successes amongst our expedition members on other major peaks in the Himalayas and the Karakoram. These include ascents of K2, Everest without supplementary oxygen, and the first American ascent of Manaslu. To many, Everest, K2, and the other 8000 meter peaks climbed via their standard routes epitomize the ultimate in high altitude mountaineering. But although these climbs are wonderful and significant, they don't compare to the accomplishment of climbing a new route on Gasherbrum IV.

Environmental Concerns

Human Waste

There is a tremendous problem in the Baltoro Glacier area with disposal of human waste, so on our walk into Gasherbrum IV we constructed toilets in the most highly impacted glacial areas of the upper Baltoro Glacier. A project is underway, sponsored by the Central Asia Institute, the Pakistan Ministry of Tourism and the Alpine Club of Pakistan, to construct toilets on non-glacier sites in the lower Braldu River valley. We added to this program and constructed toilets on glacier sites at Concordia and Gasherbrum Basecamp.

The toilet construction aspect of our expedition had somewhat mixed results because effective management of the human waste problem required us to have a better understanding of certain local cultural and religious issues. When we designed this project, we understood the technical challenges of trying to build toilets in a high altitude glacier environment. We knew that these toilets would be on the ice where a traditional outhouse design would not work because an earthen pit that can infiltrate, treat and biodegrade the waste is not possible. We reviewed the designs for a number of solar and composting toilets, but they seemed too complicated to work for very long in the third world. So we opted for a very simple but effective design used by the National Park Service at the glacier camps on the popular West Buttress climbing route on Denali. This design is a simple wooden box that has a lid over a toilet seat on top, and is open on the bottom. The toilet is mounted on two wooden rails that can support the box when it is placed over a small crevasse. Although this is more of a disposal system than a treatment system, the toilet is simple enough that we felt it could be maintained. This design also accomplishes our main goal, which is prevention of the human health problems caused by the current indiscriminate disposal methods.

We contracted with a local carpenter in Skardu (the last major town before heading into the mountains) to build the toilets using a simple set of plans we had faxed ahead of time. We hired porters to carry the toilets for six days to where we set up the first one at the popular camping spot at Concordia. After we selected a site and set it up, the porters informed us that they wouldn't use it. We were dismayed to hear this since we knew most of the waste problem at Concordia is from the larger number of porters that come here to carry loads for a much smaller number of climbers and trekkers. We learned that the Pakistanis would not use the sit down toilet design because they are accustomed to a squat toilet. In fact, the traditional Pakistani clothing with long shirt tails in the front and back, is designed to allow a person to use a squat toilet with complete modesty. There was nothing we could do except hope that the climbers and trekkers would use it. Two days later we arrived at the Gasherbrum basecamp where we set up the other toilet. At this location a sit down toilet was appropriate since climbers and trekkers were the primary users.

At the end of our expedition we set the toilet at our basecamp aside so others could use it the next season. We asked others who had traveled through Concordia about how our toilet was working there. We discovered that porters had cut it up to use for firewood. So we learned that the toilet needs to be configured for the majority group that will use it. We also learned that any toilet installation needs to have a caretaker who keeps it from getting vandalized as well as encourages the locals to use it.

Trash Removal

In addition to constructing the toilets, our expedition collected and carried out over 500 pounds of trash from the Gasherbrum basecamp. It is still surprising to us that climbers from many countries still are not informed as to how they should manage garbage at their basecamps. It should now be standard practice for every expedition to separate their trash into the three following categories; burnable trash, biodegradable trash, and non-burnable or non-biodegradable items such as metal and glass. Throughout the expedition, burnable trash must be kept dry and burned periodically. Biodegradable trash is preferably carried out and either composted or buried at an environmentally non-sensitive location. But biodegradable trash is often disposed of in a crevasse which is probably OK. Non-burnable or non-biodegradable items such as metal and glass must always be carried out. We witnessed many expeditions who paid no attention to what their local cooks or kitchen staff did with their trash. It was common to see all three types of trash getting mixed in a single pile near their cook tent. In these cases the burnable trash got wet so it would not burn. At the end of the trip it was difficult for these groups to separate their garbage so the entire pile was usually doused in kerosene, lit on fire, and then left behind. In this situation, the wet trash would not burn completely, and the metal and glass in the pile would not burn at all. Where there were problems, we tried to educate and inform those expeditions about proper ways to manage their trash. But in some cases language barriers and an unwillingness of some expeditions to spend any resources on keeping the area clean resulted in hundreds of pounds of garbage being left behind. We were the last of 18 expeditions to leave the Gasherbrum basecamp in 1999 and we removed much of what had been left behind by others who were there with us. The unfortunate lesson is that the resources we had for garbage cleanup were not expended on cleaning up old trash left behind years ago, it was spent on cleaning up what had been left behind that year. There is a great need for informational brochures on waste management to be printed in several languages that can be distributed by the Pakistani Ministry of Tourism that issues the climbing permits. Government regulations that require expeditions to clean up their sites are ineffective, and the liaison officers assigned to each expedition also need better information and training so they can enforce these rules. The Pakistani Ministry of Tourism, or an international organization (such as the UIAA) needs to implement a process where violations, by climbing or trekking expeditions, of generally accepted environmental rules can be reported. The Pakistani government can take enforcement action directly, or reports can then be communicated back to the national alpine club of the alleged expedition's country of origin for investigation.

The Team

The climbing team was made up of Steve Swenson, Charley Mace, Steve House, and Andy DeKlerk. Highlights of each members climbing resume is as follows:

Steve Swenson, age 45, Seattle, Washington. He has made numerous ascents of alpine routes in the United States including Alaska, Canada, South America, Europe and Asia. In 1989 he climbed a difficult new route on Kwangde Nup in the Solu Khumbu Everest region of Nepal. In 1990 he was successful in reaching the summit of K2 via the north ridge. In 1994 he attempted a route on the Kangshung (east) Face of Mount Everest that failed just short of the south col due to avalanche danger but afterwards he was successful via the north ridge in reaching the summit alone and without the use of supplementary oxygen.

Charley Mace, age 41, Golden, Colorado. Charley has climbed extensively in the western United States, Alaska, Canada, South America, and Asia. In 1988 he made an early alpine style ascent of the south face of Aconcagua. In 1992, Charley summited K2 with the first American team to climb the Abruzzi Ridge. He has been on 7 Himalayan expeditions, summitting three 8000 meter peaks including the first American ascent of Manaslu in 1997.

Steve House, age 29, Mazama, Washington. Steve has established three new routes on Mount McKinley in recent years. In the winter of 1998 he succeeded on a difficult first-ascent on Alaska's Mt. Bradley, and last year made the first ascent of the 7,000-foot SW face of King Peak in the Canadian Yukon. In addition to 23 expeditions to Alaska, he attempted Nanga Parbat (26,650') in 1990, and attempted an alpine-style ascent of Thalay Sagar in India in 1994.

Andy DeKlerk, age 32, Cape Town, South Africa. Andy has made first ascents of more than 600 new rock routes up to 5.13 in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. He has rock climbed at a high standard throughout the world in Europe, USA and Canada, Africa and South America. He has also made numerous ascents of alpine routes in Europe including solo ascents of the north face of the Eiger, north face of Grandes Jorasses via the Walker spur and Shroud, and the Peuterey Ridge integrale. In South America and Alaska he has climbed alpine routes including Cerro Torre, Aconcagua, and the Moonflower Buttress on Mount Hunter. He attempted the north ridge of Latok I (7240m) in the Karakoram, and has also climbed several trekking peaks in Nepal.

Gasherbrum IV - The Expedition

On June 19th our expedition arrived in Islamabad. A fatwah had been declared on Americans after the United States had sent a cruise missile into Afghanistan in 1998, and so for security reasons we did not want to spend too much time wandering in the big City. We had little work to do there except attend our briefing at the Ministry of Tourism since our agent in Islamabad had already purchased all the local supplies we needed. At our briefing we were assigned our Pakistani Liaison Officer Captain Ishtiaq Ahmed. The planes to Skardu were not flying on the days we wanted to go, so we hired a small bus to drive us to Skardu. We spent the night in Besham on the way because we had been told that, beyond this town, bandits had been robbing vehicles along this section of the Karakoram Highway at night. We arrived in Skardu the next day on June 22. In Skardu we spent a day organizing our loads and purchasing a few more supplies before we drove to Askole on June 24th. On the morning of June 25th we assigned loads to all our porters, and by the time all the loads were gone, we had hired just over 100 porters. Because the trek to our basecamp is seven days past the last village we needed to carry food to feed this number of porters for a week. The food for the porters amounts to approximately 40 of the 100 porters that we hired.

The weather had been perfect and we were optimistic that this would be a continuing pattern this summer. After spending the night at Jola, we continued the next day to Paiyu. The porters took a rest day at Paiyu to cook their chapattis and while we were there Alex Lowe came down from Trango basecamp to visit us. Alex, Jared Ogden, and Mark Synnott were working on a new route on Great Trango. We arrived at Urdukas on June 28th. From there we spent the next night at Gore, and on the 30th we had lunch at Concordia. Concordia is a popular trekking destination and we installed one of our toilets there to help alieve the human waste problem. That afternoon we went on to Shaling where we spent the night. The next day we arrived at Gasherbrum basecamp. We were restricted by the Pakistani Army from placing our basecamp too far up the medial moraine where everyone was camped. They did not want to be able to see our tents from their outpost across the glacier and up on Conway's Saddle. This area is along the cease fire line in Kashmir where Pakistan and India's dispute over this entire territory has heated up into a localized skirmish known as the Siachen conflict. We spent a day setting up our basecamp and organizing loads that needed to be carried up the glacier to our Camp I below Gasherbrum IV. Initially the route we followed up the glacier from basecamp was the same as for Gasherbrums I and II. On July 3 we carried light loads to acclimatize, and we only went as far as the Gasherbrum II Camp I. From this point we would eventually ski another two miles further up the glacier to where our Camp I would be located. By July 7 we had established our Camp I at around 6,000 meters and all four expedition members spent the night there. On July 8 Steve House and Steve Swenson skied above Camp I to the bottom of where the technical climbing begins on Gasherbrum IV. Andy and Charley moved the rest of the gear from our cache at the Gasherbrum II camp to our Camp I. All expedition members returned to basecamp later that day to rest. A storm kept us at basecamp for five days so we didn't return to our Camp I until July 14th. On July 15 all 4 members skied up to the base of the face. Steve House led across the berschrund and climbed 700 feet up the lower snow face to where he fixed the end of a 7mm rope. The previous winter had been relatively dry, and the previous six weeks had seen mostly stable weather, so we had reasonably good snow conditions on slopes we felt were safe. On July 16 Andy and Charley fixed more rope, and on July 17th Andy and Steve House fixed more rope while Charley and Steve Swenson returned to basecamp because Steve had developed sinus problems that weren't getting better at this altitude. On July 18th Andy and Steve House fixed more rope up difficult mixed climbing on very rotten rock. In many locations, the only good anchors were webbing wrapped around any kind of rock formation large enough to be stable. On July 19th Andy and Steve House returned to basecamp in a storm.

Up to this point the weather had been relatively stable, and we had made great progress in the two weeks since we had been at basecamp. But as we would discover, the storm on July 19th was the beginning of a period of very unstable weather that lasted until we left basecamp on September 2. The storm on July 19th lasted until July 26th so that it wasn't until the 27th that we were able to return to our Camp I. On July 28 Andy and Steve House continued to fix rope up mixed climbing with rotten rock and came to within 200 feet of the crest of the south west ridge. Steve house led their final pitch of the day which was nearly 200 feet of thin unconsolidated snow over loose rock with no gear. That same day Charley and Steve Swenson carried loads to the end of the fixed lines and cached much of the gear that would be needed to establish our Camp II. After resting on July 29 at Camp I, we skied up to the base of the fixed lines on July 30th. The weather had changed for the worse again, so after only three days of fairly good weather, we returned to basecamp in a storm. The storm kept us in basecamp from July 31 to August 4.

On August 5 we returned to Camp I. On August 6, Charley and Steve Swenson went to the top of the fixed rope and Steve Swenson led the final 200 feet to the ridge crest. This pitch was again thin unconsolidated snow over loose rock with little in the way of gear. Andy and Steve House followed soon behind to where Camp II was placed by all four members on very small platforms in a notch in the ridge at 7,000 meters. All four of us spent the night there where we had spectacular views off to the west. We could look down onto Concordia and down the Baltoro Glacier to where we had views of Masherbrum, the Trango Towers and Paiyu Peak. The small bivy tent occupied by the two Steves hung over the outside edge of their platform by a foot. But in the other tent, Charley and Andy had a bad night since only half the width of their tent fit on their platform. In the morning the weather was beginning to change again so early on August 7 Charley and Andy descended to Camp I.

Above Camp II we planned to climb alpine style with no fixed ropes. On the morning of August 7, both Steves climbed a few hundred feet to the first rock band on the ridge at about 7,200 meters. Their intent was to try and find a better location for Camp II. The ridge crest consisted of more unconsolidated snow over bad rock, and a better campsite could not be found. Later that same day both Steves then descended to Camp I. The next day the entire team left for basecamp in another storm.

August 9 through 15th was another period of bad weather, but on August 16th it cleared so all four of us returned to Camp I. At Camp I it was clear, but above 7,000 meters it was extremely windy. We watched plumes of snow blowing off the ridge crests, and we could hear the constant roar of the wind above. At Camp I Steve House came down with a gastro-intestinal problem that prevented him from climbing on August 17th and 18th. But those days were too windy to move higher, so we waited at Camp I until he got better and the wind seemed to abate. On August 19th Steve House, Andy and Steve Swenson head for CII. Steve Swenson now caught the same bug that Steve House had and he got sick part way up the fixed ropes and headed back down. Andy saw Steve Swenson turn back so he descended from part way to CII to help. Steve House made it to CII but he came back to Camp I later that day and reported that it was relatively calm at Camp II but very windy higher up the ridge.

On August 20th all members returned to basecamp with overcast conditions and light snow. The weather was not terribly bad, but not good enough to launch an alpine style attempt on the ridge above Camp II. This section of the ridge looked to be difficult rock climbing and we thought it might take as long as three days to reach the summit from our Camp II and another day to descend. Based on reports of the rock at this altitude on Gasherbrum IV, we anticipated a very compact marble with few cracks to place gear. This entire section of the climb would be belayed climbing that we would have to rappel on the way down. We did not feel safe launching into this type of difficult alpine climbing for several days at altitudes up to 7,925 meters (26,000 feet) unless there was some indication that a more stable weather pattern had been established.

At basecamp we continued to experience unsettled weather that we felt was not suitable for climbing above Camp II. We waited at basecamp from August 21 to August 24. We were running out of time, so we returned to Camp I on August 25th to wait for a break in the weather. The next day a new storm hit the mountains and dropped two feet of new snow at our Camp I. The storm continued until midday on August 28th. On the 29th Andy and the two Steves climbed to Camp II. Andy decided to descend and the two Steves spent the night there hoping to continue upwards the next day.

That night at Camp II both Steves still did not feel well after their bout of gastro-intestinal disorders the previous week.. On the morning of August 30, they packed up everything they needed to make a summit attempt. Their packs were heavy with a full rack of rock and ice gear, two ropes, tent, stove, food, fuel, one sleeping bag to share, and clothing. They desperately wanted to continue up the ridge. But they had to admit that in their weakened condition it was not the time to embark on a journey that would require all the strength they could muster when they were healthy. They decided to retreat to Camp I and bring down all the gear from CII. On August 31 all the remaining gear was carried down from Camp I to basecamp to where the porters were waiting for us to leave. We were the last expedition to leave Gasherbrum basecamp after spending over 60 days here. On September 1 the expedition left basecamp for Ali Camp. That day the weather closed in again and it snowed heavily that afternoon. It was somewhat of a comfort to know that even if the two Steves had continued above Camp II on August 30th, they would have had to retreat two days later in very difficult conditions. On September 2 we crossed over the Ghandoghoro La in bad weather and no visibility. Two days later we are at the roadhead village of Husche. By September 4 we were in Skardu, and Islamabad on the 6th. Our flight home left Pakistan on September 9th.