Newsflash: The following newsflash is a preliminary report posted as a service to our readers. Alpinist has not confirmed the veracity of its contents but will post a story in detail when more information becomes available.–Ed.
Though their travels in Pakistan were rerouted after the terrorist attack on Nanga Parbat, Rafael Slawinski and Ian Welsted continued on to climb K6 West. The 7100m peak in the Charakusa Valley had never seen an ascent despite the efforts of alpinists Maxime Turgeon and Louis Phillipe Menard; Steve House, Vince Anderson and Marko Prezelj, among others. Slawinski and Welsted reportedly reached the summit by the northwest face on July 28.
While you wait for our follow-up report, read some of K6 West’s history, when “Superalpinists converged on a superalpine playground.”