Ultar

Ultar Sar, left, next to ( behind) the Bojohagur Duanasir; leftmost Hunza Peak and Bublimotin.

Ultar Sar, Ultar, Ultar II or Bojohagur Duanasir II is the most south-eastern main peak of the Batura Muztagh, a subrange of the Karakoram. It is located about 10 km northeast of Karimabad, a town on the Karakoram Highway in the Hunza Valley in the autonomous region of Gilgit- Baltistan in northern Pakistan. Although he is not among the highest peaks of the Karakoram, it appears very dominant with its towering walls and edges relative to the surrounding terrain. Its southern flank rises more than 5,300 m above the river Hunza.

Climbing history

The Ultar Sar moved into the 1990s, the attention to himself because he was regarded as the probably highest unclimbed independent peak in the world. However, this is incorrect with respect to the unclimbed Gangkhar Puensum in Bhutan, because it is higher and will remain unclimbed in the near future because of a ban. During the 1980s and 1990s, more than 15 expeditions attempted to reach the difficult -to-climb peaks, many were unsuccessful and several climbers were injured or died.

The first two attempts were made by two separate Japanese expeditions in July 1996; the first group (from the Tokai section of the Japanese Alpine Club ) was led by Akito Yamazaki, and the second by Ken Takahashi. The first rope team comprised Yamazaki and Kiyoshi Matsuoka. They reached the summit on the morning of the 11th of July from the southwest in alpine style; during their ascent they were traveling at night to avoid the danger of falling rocks or ice. On the descent they were caught in a violent storm, which forced them to bivouac for several days without food. Once in base camp died Akihito Yamazaki from altitude sickness and exhaustion ( Kiyoshi Matsuoka accident a year later at the nearby Bublimotin ).

The second rope team consisted of Takahashi and four others: Masayuki Ando, ​​Ryushi Hoshino, Wataru Saito and Nobuo Tsutsumi. They climbed the south ridge. Since 1996 there has been no successful ascents to the summit given more.

Neighboring peaks and glaciers

A western side of the summit Ultar Sar is the Bojohagur Duanasir ( 7,329 m), which was climbed in 1984 by a Japanese group. To the northwest lies the pyramidal Shispare ( 7,611 m) and located along the southwest ridge of the massif is still the Hunza Peak ( 6,270 m) and the pinnacle Bublimotin ( Ladyfinger Peak). The glaciers that drain the slopes of the massif, are clockwise starting from the north: the Ghulkin Glacier, Gulmit Glacier, Ahmad Abad glacier, the glacier of Ultar and Hasanabad Glacier ( some of which have several names. )

Swell

• Jerzy Wala, Orographical Sketch Map of the Karakoram, Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research, 1990.
• Jerzy Wala, Orographical Sketch Map of the Batura Muztagh, 1988.
• American Alpine Journal, 1997.
• Himalayan Index