(Back to: Afghanistan, Hindu Kush)
Qala-i-Hurst (valley), Koh-e-Hoppa, Koh-e-Baffa, and Koh-e-Forot Zorman.
By Marian Michielsen. Provided, with additional information, by Daniel Kuipers, The Netherlands.
The expansive upper Qala-i-Hurst Glacier basin. (A) Koh-e-Beefy. (B) Koh-e-Baffa. (C) Koh-e-Forot Zorman. (D) top of unnamed peak attempted by Dutch. (E) Koh-e-Yakhi. Low rocky ridge in right foreground is southern end of Pt. 5,200m, climbed in 2008. Bart Klein
Koh-e-Hoppa on the east side of Qala-i-Hurst Glacier, showing route of first ascent. The mountain was traversed from right to left. Bart Klein
Qala-i-Hurst. Named peaks and ascents, where known, are indicated. (1) Koh-e-Yakhi (a.k.a. Koh-e-Goldar 5,974m), (2) Sakh-e-Kucek (5,408m), (3) Sakh-e-Sangi (5,237m), (4) Koh-e-Awal (5,299m), (5) Koh-e-Forot Zorman (5,500m, Dutch 2010), (6) Koh-e-Baffa (5,300m, Dutch 2010), (7) Pt. 5,200m (Gorg Ali-Amruddin-Lucia Foppoli-Elisabetta Galli- Afiat Khan-Giorgio Mallucci-Angelo Quattrini, 2008), (8) Koh-e-Beefy (5,410m, Joe Fiddes-Chris Philipson, 2009), (9) Pt. 5,600m (Elisabetta Galli-Afiat Khan-Giorgio Mallucci, 2008), and (10) Koh-e-Hoppa (5,300m, Dutch 2010).
Koh-e-Baffa. The peak was traversed from right to left: up north ridge, and down southeast ridge and east flank. Bart Klein
Koh-e-Forot Zorman. From col camp on the frontier ridge, the west ridge was followed to the summit. Photograph taken from low on east face of unnamed peak, attempted by Dutch. Bart Klein
Koh-e-Forot Zorman. From col camp on the frontier ridge, the west ridge was followed to the summit. Photograph taken from low on east face of unnamed peak, attempted by Dutch. Bart Klein
Roeland Bom, Bart Klein, Daniel Kuipers (leader), and I wanted to travel to an adventurous part of the world, without many climbers, within our limited budget, and with mountains below 6,000m. Our gaze had already turned towards the “stan” countries of Central Asia, when we discovered the strange strip of land between Tajikistan and Pakistan, known as the Wakhan Corridor. After some internet research, we decided this would be our goal: an area untouched by the war in the rest of Afghanistan, with friendly people, and many beautiful, unclimbed mountains.
We arrived at the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border with 200kg of luggage. It felt strange to be entering voluntarily a country that makes the news headlines on a daily basis with stories of war and terrorism. Slightly nervous due to our satellite phone, a supply of strong medicines, and a video camera, we approached the check-point. Our worries turned out to be groundless. The Afghan border guards were happy and friendly, and only had a special interest in our stack of Netherlands candy.
After four days of increasingly remote travel, we arrived at Qala-i-Hurst, a village ca 150km into the Corridor, from which the glacial valley of the same name rises south to the border with Pakistan. We arranged 10 porters for the final trek to base camp at 4,800m, which we reached in two days. The glacier here is more than 10km wide, and rimmed by many imposing north faces. On our first day we made a acclimatization climb on a small mountain in the middle of the glacier, from which we had a good view of the surrounding peaks. Our preparation at home had consisted of looking at Google Earth maps and a few photos from a previous expedition, so it felt good to view the mountains for real. We decided to try four mountains that looked feasible, all previously unclimbed as far as we knew.
The first peak quickly gave us a lesson in estimating scale. We thought we would run up and down it in a morning, but we needed a full day to summit, panting because of the lack of oxygen. A rocky couloir followed by steep snow and a short ridge led us to the 5,300m top, which we named Koh-e-Hoppa, after the word most frequently used by our porters. The route was AD, and mostly snow to 70° with a chimney of UIAA III.
Our second objective lay at the head of the glacier and we first had to establish an advanced base. Heavily loaded, we certainly felt the altitude at 5,000m, and again underestimated the distance we needed to cover. After a night of little sleep, we were greeted the following morning by a beautiful, steep, snowy ridge rising to the summit. Deadmen and snowstakes proved most useful, and we named the 5,300m peak Koh-e-Baffa; the good mountain. We continued to traverse the mountain, descending an ice couloir. The ascent on the exposed ridge was AD+.
Three days later we were preparing for the most beautiful mountain so far. We established a camp in a col on the frontier ridge. To our knowledge this pass had not been crossed by humans, but at night were all had dreams of carpet-smuggling Taliban. The next day we awoke to a glorious morning, still on our own. We climbed a snowy ridge, then made a steep traverse around a rock tower, and finally followed another ridge onto the top. Superb! We called it Koh-e-Forot Zorman (5,500m), after Roeland’s newborn nephew. Our route was AD+ with snow to 60°, and one short mixed gully of 80°.
We spent another night at the border camp and then tackled our fourth peak. Again, we had problems estimating scale. A couloir led to a ridge. We thought the couloir looked rather difficult and delicate, but the ridge seemed to pose no problem. How wrong we were. Climbing the couloir on the east face was effortless, but the ridge developed into steep unconsolidated snow alongside equally steep rock. Two hundred meters below the top we were left with no choice but to retreat. As far as we got the grade was D-, with loose snow to 70° and rock to UIAA V. We were a little disappointed in this failure, but, overall, very satisfied with our journey through a wonderful country, and our three new peaks.
