Pumari Chhish (), is a group of peaks in the

Shimshal Valley Shimshal (), previously known as Shingshal, is a village located in the Gojal tehsil of the Hunza District in the Gilgit–Baltistan region of northern Pakistan. It lies at an altitude of above sea level and is the highest settlement in the d ...

, in the

Karakoram The Karakoram () is a mountain range in the Kashmir region spanning the border of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwestern extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range is withi ...

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

Gilgit-Baltistan Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative units of Pakistan, administrative territory and consists of the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has b ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. The central peak, (or Pumarikish, Peak 11) rises to 7,492m. It lies about 4 km east of

Khunyang Chhish Kunyang Chhish is the second-highest mountain in the Hispar Muztagh, a subrange in the Karakoram mountains in Pakistan. Alternative variations of the name are Kunyang Kish and Khinyang Chhish. Its height, also sometimes given as , is ranked 21s ...

, in the heart of the Hispar, north of the

Hispar Glacier Hispar Glacier (; ) is a 49-km (30-mile) long glacier situated in the Karakoram Mountains of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan. It converges with the Biafo Glacier, which extends for 67 kilometers (42 miles), at the Hispar La (Pass), reaching an al ...

. Other peaks in the group include Pumari Chhish South and Pumari Chhish East. Pumari Chhish South lies about to the southeast of the main summit of Pumari Chhish and reaches .Jerzy Wala, ''Orographical Sketch Map of the Karakoram'' (1:250,000), Sheet 1, Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research, 1990. Pumari Chhish East reaches 6,850 m high and is located off the Hispar Glacier.

Climbing History

Pumari Chhish

Pumari Chhish was first attempted by an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n group in 1974, who failed to climb or bypass the Yazghil Glacier on the north side of the peak. In 1979, a

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese group from the Hokkaido Alpine Association and an officer of the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

from 29 Signal (a unit of the army's

Corps of Signals A signal corps is a military branch, responsible for military communications (''signals''). Many countries maintain a signal corps, which is typically subordinate to a country's army. Military communication usually consists of radio, telephone, a ...

) succeeded in climbing the mountain via a long route starting from the Khunyang Glacier, well to the west of the peak. They first had to cross a significant

col A col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks; a mountain pass or saddle. COL, CoL or col may also refer to: Computers * Caldera OpenLinux, a defunct Linux distribution * , an HTML element specifying a column * A collision sig ...

to access the upper Yazghil Glacier; they then ascended the north ridge of Pumari Chhish. According to the Himalayan Index,Himalayan Index
/ref> there have been no other successful ascents of Pumari Chhish.

Pumari Chhish South

After two unsuccessful attempts on this peak in 1999 and 2000 by Julie-Ann Clyma and Roger Payne,''American Alpine Journal'', 2008, pp. 16-23. it was first climbed on June 12, 2007, by Yannick Graziani and Christian Trommsdorff. Among first ascents of peaks over 7000 metres, their climb was highly technical (they rate it ABO 5.10 M6 A1). They made the ascent in pure

alpine style Alpine climbing () is a type of mountaineering that uses any of a broad range of advanced climbing skills, including rock climbing, ice climbing, and/or mixed climbing, to summit typically large climbing route, routes (e.g. multi-pitch climbing, ...

over six days. Their achievement earned them the lead article in the 2008 ''

American Alpine Journal The ''American Alpine Journal'' is an annual magazine published by the American Alpine Club. Its mission is "to document and communicate mountain exploration." The headquarters is in Golden, Colorado. Subtitled as a compilation of "The World's ...

''.

Pumari Chhish East

The first successful ascent of Pumari Chhish East was via the south face on 29 June 2022. The ascent was made by Christophe Ogier, Victor Saucede and Jérôme Sullivan via a direct route they named ''The Crystal Ship'' and graded M7, 6b, A2, 1600m. The successful climb was awarded one of the 2023

Piolets d'Or The Piolets d'Or (, "Golden Ice Axe") is an annual mountaineering and alpine climbing award organized by the (GHM), and previously with co-founder ''Montagnes Magazine'', since its founding in 1992. Golden ice axes are presented to the annual w ...

. Before the successful ascent, there had only been three previous attempts to climb this peak.

References

Seven-thousanders of the Karakoram Mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan {{Pakistan-geo-stub