A Mugs Stump Award Trip Report of Louis-Philippe Ménard and Maxime Turgeon's expedition to the unclimbed North Face of K6, Charakusa, Pakistan. August 20 — October 4, 2007.

"Chaque pas que l’on fait efface le précédent. La vie ne serait-elle qu'une série de gestes dont le prochain sera la négation de celui que l'on vient de poser?" English translation: "Each step which one takes erases the precedent. Would the life be only one series of gestures whose next one will be the negation of that one has just posed?" — Crystal Pite, Lost Action

All five toes look like small carrots growing out of my inflatable doll-like right foot. This footstep (I should say footmiss…) I will remember. The one that ‘denied’ all the previous ones and drastically put an end to my expedition and any chances to be able to finally climb K6. 

K6. K6 is such a little name for this huge peak in the Charakusa valley of northern Pakistan that still remains unclimbed. It's north face is almost 3000 meters long, a vertical cocktail of rock, ice, snow and serac. For the second year in a row Maxime Turgeonme and I applied for a permit to attempt an alpine style ascent of this face.

It is still very unclear to me how climbing permits are granted, but I’m starting to think there’s some sort of Poker game implied into the process… For 20 years the valley had been closed to climbing and tourism, but in 2000 it fortunately has been reopened to climbers. However, to get a permit for K6 and K7, the biggest mountains of the region, is still quite a challenge. In 2006 we were not able to get a permit for the Charakusa, so we headed to the Choktoi for a try on Latok I. While we failed on Latok I, we climbed on a few nearby peaks and learned much about climbing in the Karakoram Range. So, this year, again we applied for K6, but not without putting pressure on the ministry of tourism on our way into Islamabad.