We started down the west face, mostly scrambling and down-climbing over loose rock. We had thought we could possibly make it down the whole way to the valley floor this way, but we would be many miles away from camp. So instead we chose a different path that turned out to be somewhat epic. After down-climbing and scrambling for hundreds of meters we found ourselves in a large rock gully on the west face. The gully was full of huge loose boulders ready to give at any time and had huge drop-offs that seemed to arise without any notice as the darkness set in. At one point I had stepped on a large boulder that gave way under my feet. The huge boulder and I both went flying towards Camilo as he leapt out of the way, grabbing me in the process. We were soon exhausted and contemplating an open bivy, as the valley floor seemed farther and farther away. 

We knew we had to get off the wall even if it was only to make it onto the moraine. At least we had the company of a full moon, and even though it did not help much inside the gully, it still was nice to know it was out there. We did 7-8 terrifying rappels off loose blocks, down-climbing over sketchy terrain before exiting the gully in one piece. We were exhausted beyond hallucination. We finished our decent down the steep moraine, crossed back over the icy river and down the huge boulders to our base camp where we arrived sometime after midnight. We named our route the Long Life Ridge, 5.9, (1,400m) on what we named Peak 5,800 (5,820m). 

The days following our climb brought more bad weather. The Italian forecasting, which seemed to be right on most of the time, was not in our favor. With all the other teams retreating from their high camps to wait out the week-long predicted storm, we decided we should wrap it up and get out of the valley before the conditions worsened. After spending close to a month in the valley, we were ready to head back to Manali and enjoy the comforts of tandoori chicken and garlic naan. Tucshand called for the horses, we said our goodbyes to our new friends and headed out happy with our success. 

We would like to thank every one who supports and follows our adventures 

Camilo Lopez would like to thank his sponsors:

• Petzl - www.petzl.com
• Nemo - www.nemoequipment.com
• Boreal - www.e-boreal.com 

Anna Pfaff would like to thank her sponsors:

• Yates - www.yatesgear.com
• BlueWater - www.bluewaterropes.com
• Mad Rock - www.madrockclimbing.com 

Camilo Lopez of Colombia and Anna Pfaff of Ohio have been living in Lyons, Colorado for the last few years and hope to make many more trips to the Himalaya. To see more photos from their trip visit: www.photobucket.com/miyarvalley