Conway saddle

Conway saddle
The Conway saddle on the right between Sia Kangri and Baltoro Kangri
Compass direction	northwest	Southeast
Pass height	6044  m
region	Gilgit-Baltistan Special Territory ( Pakistan )	Union Territory of Ladakh ( India )
Watershed	Abruzzi Glacier	Kondus Glacier
Mountains	Baltoro Muztagh , Masherbrum Mountains
map
Coordinates	35 ° 38 '59 "  N , 76 ° 43' 20"  E Coordinates: 35 ° 38 '59 "  N , 76 ° 43' 20"  E

The Conway saddle is a 6044 meter high mountain pass in the Karakoram .

It lies between the mountains Baltoro Kangri in the west and Sia Kangri in the east and connects the chain of the Masherbrum Mountains , which belongs to the Lesser Karakoram, with the Karakoram main chain, which runs from Sia Kangri to the north and west as Baltoro Muztagh . The pass represents a theoretical transition from the valley of the Baltoro glacier to the valley of the Kondus glacier .

Surname

View from the Kondus Glacier to the Conway Saddle with Baltoro Kangri V (left) and Sia Kangri (right)

The Conway saddle was named after William Martin Conway , whose Karakoram expedition explored the Baltoro area as early as 1892.

First slope

The first ascent of the Conway Saddle was made by the Italian geologist Ardito Desio as part of the Baltoro expedition led by Aimone di Savoia-Aosta, the Duke of Spoleto . Desio and his companion Evaristo Croux reached the saddle on May 27, 1929.

Passage overruns

The Conway saddle is not a mountain pass in the strict sense of the word, because it is not used as a transition between two valleys, especially on the south side, due to its remoteness, glaciation and incline. It is not known to climb the pass from the Kondus valley. In 1979 a group of Japanese mountaineers crossed the Conway Saddle from the Baltoro Glacier to the Siachen Glacier . They crossed the south face of the Sia Kangri to Sia La , the pass on the south side of the Sia Kangri, between the Siachen Glacier and the Kondus Glacier. Before that, some of the expedition participants had climbed the Sia Kangri and / or the Baltoro Kangri.

While the Japanese expedition was supported by 116 porters, a year later the Americans Daniel Asay, Ned Gillette, Galen Rowell and Kim Schmitz made this crossing in the other direction as a four-man team as part of their ski crossing of the Karakoram via Siachen-, Baltoro -, Biafo and Hispar glaciers .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ardito Desio (1987): First Climb to the Conway Saddle. In: Himalayan Journal 45 , accessed November 11, 2012.
2. ↑ Ryuji Hayashibara: Sia Kangri and Baltoro Kangri III. In: American Alpine Journal 1980, p. 645 (AAJO) , accessed November 11, 2012.
3. ^ Galen A. Rowell: Skiing the Karakoram High Route. In: American Alpine Journal 1981, pp. 59-70 (AAJO) (PDF; 2.3 MB), accessed on November 11, 2012.