Brits Griffith and Houseman Summit Link Sar

Jon Griffith and Andy Houseman have made the first ascent of the 6,938-metre west summit of Link Sar in Pakistan.

The Chamonix climbers named their northwest face route Fever Pitch. Link Sar is a 7,041-metre unclimbed mountain in the Charakusa Valley between K6 and K7.

For Griffith, Link Sar has been a four-year project and this was Houseman’s second attempt.

After their climb, Griffith wrote, “Just over a week ago, myself and Andy Houseman stood on top of the West Summit of Link Sar after climbing its northwest face. A seven-day round trip mission that we called Fever Pitch. We walked in in bad weather and walked out in bad weather.

“After a really tough 17-hour day on the north face, Andy breaks through to the top and finally takes the weight off his calves. That was a day to remember for all the wrong reasons. The view wasn’t too bad over K6 in the background though.”

After leaving base camp on July 12, they reached a bivy at 6,100 metres and rested the following day. By July 15, they had climbed to the summit ridge, but Griffith had a fever and they opted to bivy at 6,800 metres to recover.

On July 17, they crossed the upper ridge and reached the West Summit. They spent another night waiting for cool temperatures for a safe descent and early on July 18, they descended down the south face.