Mustagh Ata: First Ascent on the East Ridge








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Camped on the Grassy Knoll
East Ridge Mustagh Ata Amphitheater Camp - Wednesday, July 5, 2000

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Otto

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Yesterday, July 4th, Dan, Lakpa and I headed up the Kuksay Glacier, assuming the worst. We thought we would be walking up a broken moraine (ice with loose rocks on it) for 15 kilometers (9.5 miles). It turned out that there was a nice, grassy animal train on the right of the glacier, where the glacier butted up to the right mountain slopes. We made good time and around 6:30pm Walter spotted us from the other side of the glacier and ran across to meet us.

We are now camped at what we call the Amphitheater Camp, some four hours walk from the start of the climb. We have a campsite from heaven, on a grassy patch of land with great views of the route. Yesterday, Dan hiked all the way up the glacier with a solar panel strapped to the top of his pack, charging the laptop. We found this took about five hours to charge it 50 percent — not bad.

Today's activities will be to carry the rest of our 400-plus pounds of gear up to this camp. More later.

— Jon Otto, MountainZone.com Correspondent

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