Liushen Tag

An attempt on the unclimbed Liushen Tag (6595m) in the Kun Lun mountains in Xinjiang province, by its southern flank. The approach was by air via Urumchi to Hotan, and thence by road to Keria, Pulu, and Subashi. Base camp was established at 4959m, and they began to explore possible approaches to the upper part of the South Spur of the mountain. The first 5km of the route proved good going, and a camp was placed below a prominent feature named the Tower, at the highest source of running water at 5400m. Meanwhile the first ascent of a peak of 6004m south of base camp was made to gain a view of the ridge beyond the Tower. This revealed a feature called the Castle, a 150m fin of rock which might be climbed direct on rock, or passed to the west on snow. A high point of 5,900m on the left flank of the Tower was reached by Jensen and Jachmich (and later by Durrani), but they were forced to retire because of illness. By this time the unavailability of water had become a problem, time was running out, so they retreated. Another 400m of the South Spur remained to be climbed, and from there a corniced ridge led to a subsidiary peak, and then on to the South Summit (c6500m), which blocked the view of the main summit.