Shispare ( ur, ) is one of the high mountain peaks of the
Batura Muztagh
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The Batura Muztagh () mountains are a sub-range of the Karakoram mountain range. They are located in between central hunza and upper hunza(Gojal valley) in the Hunza district of the Gilgit-Baltistan province in northern Pakistan.
They ...
, the westernmost subrange of the
Karakoram 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 ...
in the
Gilgit-Baltistan region of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
.
Alternate forms of the name of this peak include Shispare Sar and Shisparé Sari.
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Location
Shispare lies east of the
Batura
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The Batura Muztagh () mountains are a sub-range of the Karakoram mountain range. They are located in between central hunza and upper hunza( Gojal valley) in the Hunza district of the Gilgit-Baltistan province in northern Pakistan.
They a ...
Wall, which is the highest part of the
Batura Muztagh
__NOTOC__
The Batura Muztagh () mountains are a sub-range of the Karakoram mountain range. They are located in between central hunza and upper hunza(Gojal valley) in the Hunza district of the Gilgit-Baltistan province in northern Pakistan.
They ...
in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
.
The
Hunza River
Hunza River ( ur, ) is the principal river of Hunza in Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan It is formed by the confluence of the Chapursan and Khunjerab ''nalas'' (gorges) which are fed by glaciers. It is joined by the Gilgit River and the Naltar ...
curves around the southwest, west, and northwest sides of the Batura Muztagh, and Shispare towers above the western bank of the river.
In turn, the
Hunza Valley
The Hunza Valley ( bsk, , Wakhi: '; ur, ) is a mountainous valley in the northern part of the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, formed by the Hunza River, bordering Ishkoman to the northwest, Shigar to the southeast, Afghanistan's Wa ...
lies in the
Hunza District
The Hunza District ( ur, ) is one of the 14 districts of the Pakistani province of Gilgit-Baltistan. It was established in 2015 by the division of the Hunza–Nagar District in accordance with a government decision to establish more administrativ ...
of
Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.
Notable features
Shispare is notable for its tremendous rise above local terrain. For example, the nearby town of Karimabad, in the Hunza Valley,
has an elevation of , making for of relief, in only 13 km (8 mi) horizontal distance. Being near the end of the Batura
Muztagh, it commands large drops in three directions (north, east, and south).
In addition, Shispare has a strikingly large and steep Northeast Face.
History
Climbing began in the Batura Muztagh later than in other parts of the
Karakoram. Shispare was the first major peak in the range to be successfully climbed, in 1974, by the "Polish-German Academic Expedition" under the leadership of Janusz Kurczab. The ascent took 35 days, and during preparations for a second group to try for the summit, one member of the expedition (Heinz Borchers) was killed in an
avalanche
An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain.
Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and eart ...
.
The first ascent route followed the Pasu
Glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...
to the East Ridge, between the Pasu and Ghulkin Glacier.
(Note: this ridge goes southeast from the summit, turns northeast, and then turns roughly east, so it is called the
"southeast ridge" and the "northeast ridge" in different sources.)
Difficulties included a long ice ridge, and the access to the ridge required 1500m of
fixed rope
In mountaineering, a fixed rope or fixed line is the practice of fixing in place bolted ropes to assist climbers and walkers in exposed mountain locations. They are used widely on American and European climbing routes, where they may be called via ...
.
The next attempt was in 1989 by members of the Ryukoku University Alpine Club in Japan, led by Masato Okamoto. The group was on the mountain for almost two months, but was not able to summit; their high point was around .
In 1994, a group from the Komono Alpine Club in
Japan, led by Yukiteru Masui, achieved the second ascent of the peak. They reached Base Camp on June 18, and Masui, Kokubu, and Ozawa reached the summit on July 20. They followed the same route as the first ascent party and climbed in a similar style, with a similar amount of fixed rope.
Th
Himalayan Indexlists no other ascents or attempts of this peak.
Climbing
The first (and second) ascent route is described above. It is likely that any other ascent route would involve (at least) similar difficulties, making this a highly challenging peak.
See also
*
List of mountains in Pakistan
Pakistan is home to 108 peaks above 7,000 metres and 4555 above 6,000 m. There is no count of the peaks above 5,000 and 4,000 m. Five of the 14 highest independent peaks in the world (the eight-thousanders) are in Pakistan (four of which lie in ...
Books, pamphlets, and maps about Shispare
* ''High Asia: An Illustrated History of the 7000 Metre Peaks'' by Jill Neate,
* ''Batura Mustagh'' (sketch map and pamphlet) by Jerzy Wala, 1988.
* ''Orographical Sketch Map of the Karakoram'' by Jerzy Wala, 1990. Published by the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research.
Other references
* ''
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 M ...
'', 1975, pp. 215–216
* ''
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 M ...
'', 1990, pp. 294–295
* ''
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 M ...
'', 1995, pp. 295–296
External links
Himalayan IndexA clickable map of the Batura Muztagh(Corrected versions of SRTM data; Shispare is in the "Batura Sar" tile)
Aerial Photos of Shispare by Brian McMorrow
{{Pakistan-geo-stub
Seven-thousanders of the Karakoram
Mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan