Huge new route on Great Trango Tower done in 4.5 days

From the AAC Newsletter:

American Alpine Journal Assistant Editor Kelly Cordes and Josh Wharton have made a bold, alpine-style first ascent of the enormous southwest ridge of Great Trango Tower (20,617 feet) in Pakistan. The mostly rock ridge rises more than 7,000 feet to the west summit of Great Trango. Cordes and Wharton started the climb with a single 28-pound pack, two ropes, and no bolt kit, and they succeeded in four and a half days, the last two without water. They descended via the peak’s north glacier just before a storm hit.

The southwest ridge of Great Trango was attempted in 1990 by a Spanish team using fixed ropes and high camps. In 2000, Americans Tim O’Neill and Miles Smart made an alpine-style attempt, reaching a point about 500 vertical feet below the west summit after five days of climbing. Beyond the previous high points, Cordes and Wharton found 17 more pitches of difficult ridge climbing, including the route’s crux.

The route is called the Azeem Ridge, VII 5.11 R/X A2 M6.