Great Trango Tower, new Ukrainian - Russian route in the Karakorum

From 22 July to 29 August 2011 Marina Kopteva and Anna Yasinskaya from the Ukraine and Galina Chibitok from Russia forged an immense new route up the Great Trango Tower (6286m) in the Baltoro region of the Karakorum.

The 2580m outing is called "Parallel world" and takes a line to the right of Ukranian route established by Alexander Lavrinenko, Vladimir Mogila, Vitaly Yarechevsky and Alexey Zhilin in 2003. Graded VI+, A1/7b, 6B, it required 9 interim camps in a portaledge and the trio endured a total of 38 days on the wall, many of which in very poor conditions indeed. They took turns leading and resting and while they used aid on all the harder pitches, they estimate it may go free at around 7b. The final pitches are shared with the Ukranian route and they topped out at 9.00pm on 25 August before returning safely to base camp three days later.

At the start of December this ascent unsurprisingly netted the trio the Piolet D'Or Russia 2011 and in doing so they have become the first women to receive this award, and deservedly so!

For further details and an interview check out russianclimb.com


Great Trango Tower
The main summit of Great Trango Tower was first reached in 1977 by the Americans Galen Rowell, John Roskelley, Kim Schmitz, Jim Morrissey and Dennis Hennek. The new route, Parallel world, is not to be confused with the nearby Parallel Worlds (VII 5.11 A4) established by Alex Lowe, Mark Synnott and Jared Ogden in 1999.