“Six Norwegian climbers climbed two new routes on the westface of Nafees Cap in Pakistan’s Charakusa glacier area in September. Line ‘A’ was climbed over twenty days by Sigurd Felde, Odd Roar Wiik, Ole Ivar Lied and Henki Flatlandsmo. The climbing was of good quality on solid rock, twenty-two pitches and difficulties around A2/A3. This line had been tried earlier and some bolts and an old fixed line were found up to pitch nine. Line ‘B’ was climbed in six days by Sindre Saether and Jarle Kalland. The route is twenty pitches and graded at 5.11d, A2. This line lies between ‘A’ and the 2009 climb ‘Naughty Daddies’. The climb labeled ‘B’ had a fair amount of offwiths and chimneys, which made the climbing and hauling challenging.”-Henki Flatlandsmo [Photo] Henki Flatlandsmo
In September 2011, a six-man Norwegian team established two new routes on Nafees Cap, a 900-meter spire on the south side of K7 in Pakistan’s Hushe Region. Sigurd Felde, Ole Ivar Lied, Henki Flatlandsmo and Odd-Roar Wiik spent twenty days putting up a twenty-two pitch route (A2/A3) while Jarle Kalland and Sindre Saether created a twenty pitch route (5.11d, A2) in six days alongside their teammates.
Nafees Cap was first climbed by a Belgian-Polish team of Nicolas and Olivier Favresse, Adam Pustelnik and Sean Villanueva in 2007. Their route, Ledgeway to Heaven (5.12+, 1300m), is twenty-eight pitches long and follows the spire’s right side. The group christened the feature in honor of their Pakistani guide, Nafees.
Ole Ivar Lied on a pendulum halfway up the route marked “A” on the routelines photo. [Photo] Henki Flatlandsmo
The other route on Nafees Cap is Naughty Daddies (7b, 630m) created in August 2009 by Bruce Dowick Adrian Laing, Scott Staden and John Sedon.
This summer’s two new routes are to the left of Naughty Daddies and Ledgeway to Heaven. The route put up by Felde, Flandsmo, Lied and Wiik took twenty days base camp to base camp. The group spent four days hauling gear to establish their first camp. The route included all types of climbing, from “long stretches of peckers to leapfrogging with big bros,” reported Flatlandsmo. Weather was unstable for their entire climb and they topped out at midnight, in a snowstorm.
Saether and Kalland’s route is sandwiched between Naughty Daddies and Felde, Wiik, Lied and Flatlandsmo’s new route. The climb follows many offwidths and chimneys, which made hauling gear very difficult.
The group’s leader, Felde, had been to Pakistan twice before, but this was the first visit for the other five members. They were inspired by photos and articles that highlighted the area, and decided that Nafees Cap would be “an interesting project.”
Sindre Saether follows Jarle Kalland on the upper half of the route. The pair spent six days climbing the line marked “B” on the routelines photo and encountered difficulties of 5.11d, A2 on their twenty pitch route. [Photo] Jarle Kalland