New 2,700-metre Alpine Line on Karakorum’s Shispare

Shispare is a 7,611-metre peak located in the Western Karakorum in an area with countless unclimbed alpine lines to the tops of often unclimbed summits.

The first ascent of Shispare was in 1974 by a Polish-German team led by Janusz Kurczab up the lower angle glaciated slopes.

This August, Japanese climbers Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima spent four day on the northeast face and established a new 2,700-metre climb (that’s almost three El Caps) up to M6 WI5. It was the third recorded ascent of the mountain.

Shispare is part of the Butora Muztagh range, which was in the spotlight in 2008 after Simone Moro and Hervé Barmasse made the first ascent of Beka Brakai Chhok.