Gulmit Tower Expedition

Gulmit is a village on the Karakoram Highway in Gojal in the upper Hunza valley. Rising west from Gulmit village is the Bulkish Yaz glacier, dominated at its head by a peak named Gulmit Tower. The peak is one of several summits on a long ridge running southeast from Ultar. Gulmit Tower has a prominence of 200m and is some distance from higher peaks. It can be seen from the Karakoram Highway and there have been five unsuccessful attempts on the peak.
Gulmit Tower was first attempted in September 1988. Frenchmen Gerard Decorps and Emmanuel Schmutz approached from the Bulkish Yaz glacier and climbed the couloir left of the peak on the east face to reach its south col at 5400m. Bad weather prevented further progress. A second attempt was made in July 1994. Julian Freeman-Attwood and Ed Webster, approaching up the Skardu Glacier to the southwest, climbed a south-facing couloir to the west col (5500m). The rock on the 300m headwall of the west ridge above proved to be loose, and the pair retreated.
In September 2006 two Poles, Tadeusz Mazeno Dziegielewski and Jakub Hornowski, made the third attempt, following the route tried by the French. They climbed up the southeast ridge above the south col to the main headwall at 5650m but then retreated. Dziegielewski returned in July 2007 with Rafel Zarebski and two colleagues, but continuous bad weather and high avalanche risk prevented them climbing the couloir. In 2008 Klaudiusz Duda and Slawomir Kawecki made the fifth attempt, from the Balkish Yaz valley. Wet snow avalanches were coming down the east couloir climbed so they climbed a line to the left to reach the south col. They retreated from 5650m at the headwall. Abseiling down the east couloir rather than their line of ascent they were hit by an avalanche but they escaped with minor injuries.