The Trango Towers () are a family of rock towers situated in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, in the northern part of Pakistan. The Towers have some of the world's largest cliffs and offer some of the most challenging big wall climbing opportunities. Each year, climbers from around the world embark on expeditions to the Karakoram region to climb these granite faces. The Trango Towers are situated to the north of the Baltoro Glacier and are part of the Baltoro Muztagh, which is a sub-range within the Karakoram mountain range. The highest point within the group is the summit of Great Trango Tower at , the east face of which features the world's greatest nearly vertical drop.
Structure of the group
All of the Trango Towers lie on a ridge, running northwest to southeast, with Trango Glacier to the west and the Dunge Glacier to the east. Great Trango itself is a large massif, with four identifiable summits: Main (), South or Southwest (), East (), and West (). It is a complex combination of steep snow/ice gullies, steeper rock faces, and vertical to overhanging headwalls, topped by a snowy ridge system.
Just northwest of Great Trango is the Trango Tower (), often called "Nameless Tower". This is a very large, pointed, rather symmetrical spire which juts out of the ridgeline. North of Trango Tower is a smaller rock spire known as "Trango Monk." To the north of this feature, the ridge becomes less rocky and loses the large granite walls that distinguish the Trango Towers group and make them so attractive to climbers; however, the summits do get higher. These summits are not usually considered part of the Trango Towers group, though they share the Trango name. Trango II () lies northwest of the Monk, and the highest summit on the ridge, Trango Ri (), lies northwest of Trango II.
Just southeast of Great Trango (really a part of its southeast ridge) is the Trango Pulpit (), whose walls present similar climbing challenges to those of Great Trango itself. Further, to the south is Trango Castle (), the last large peak along the ridge before the Baltoro Glacier.
Climbing history
Overall, the Trango Towers group has seen some of the most difficult and significant big wall climbs ever accomplished, due to the combination of altitude, total height of the routes, and the steepness of the rock. All of the routes are highly technical climbs.
Great Trango
Main summit
1977 South Face. Great Trango was first climbed in 1977 by Galen Rowell, John Roskelley, Kim Schmitz, Jim Morrissey, and Dennis Hennek by a route that started from the west side (Trango Glacier), and climbed a combination of ice ramps and gullies with rock faces, finishing on the upper South Face. 1984 Northwest Face. Another long alpine route on Great Trango is on the Northwest Face, and was climbed in 1984 by Andy Selters and Scott Woolums. This is a long technical alpine climb with extensive rock and ice climbing.
East face and summit
1984 East Face. The east face of the Great Trango was first climbed (to the East Summit) in 1984 by the Norwegians Hans Christian Doseth and Finn Dæhli, who both died on the descent. 1992 The Grand Voyage (VII 5.10 A4+ WI3), duration 18 days. The first successful climb of and return from the East Summit was in 1992, by Xaver Bongard and John Middendorf, via "The Grand Voyage", a route parallel to that of the ill-fated Norwegians, and the only route ever completed up the 1,340m east-southeast headwall. These two climbs have been called "perhaps the hardest big-wall climbs in the world." 1999 Parallel Worlds (VII 5.11 A4). Alex Lowe, Mark Synnott, Jared Ogden, duration 28 days
Trango (Nameless) Tower
Trango (Nameless) Tower was first climbed in 1976 by the British climber Joe Brown, along with Mo Anthoine, Martin Boysen, and Malcolm Howells. There are at least eight separate routes to the summit.
After several unsuccessful attempts, the second and third ascents were achieved in 1987, with the opening of two new routes: The Slovenian Route, better known as the Yugoslav Route, a pure, clean, logical crack route on the south-southeast face, by Slavko Cankar, and Bojan Šrot, and the Great Overhanging Dihedral Route, a spectacular and technical ascent on the western pillar, by Swiss/French team Michel "Tchouky" Fauquet, Patrick Delale, Michel Piola and Stephane Schaffter.
The first route that was freed (using fixed lines to return to a base each night), in 1988, was the Yugoslav Route by the German team Kurt Albert, Wolfgang Güllich, and Hartmut Münchenbach.