79. South-West Peak of Zamin Karor (Yaghnob Wall) via South-West Ridge, 4A category of complexity, fig. 41
From the base camp, traverse grassy and talus slopes under the north-west wall of the West Shoulder to reach the start of the route. Cross a stream bed and ascend a grassy ridge-cone that abuts the wall. The approach takes about an hour.
The route begins to the left of a black, washed-out chimney. The rocks are of medium difficulty, with an average steepness of up to 70°, and a length of 250 m.
The first wall leads to a large, gently sloping ledge with talus. Cross the ledge and ascend the second wall, which has more challenging sections than the first wall, to reach a second large ledge.
From the ledge, a distinctive split is visible in the right base of the triangular "mirror" slab. Ascend 40 m up a not-so-obvious buttress to a noticeable ledge below. From the ledge, it's 35 m to the split. This section is challenging. Traverse 5 m under the split to the left onto a narrow ledge.
Ascent to the split:
- Via the inner angle and chimney formed by the split and the main wall slab on the left.
Features:
- The rocks are smoothed.
- The height of the split is 12 m.
- The section is overhanging.
From the split, ascend 60 m up the "mirror" slab to a cornice, with a steepness of up to 65°. The cornice is located on the right. Under the overhanging cornice, ascend 40 m to a large boulder that forms a ledge on the cornice, with steepness increasing to 80°.
To the right of the forest, ascend via talus to under the south-west ridge, which has three characteristic step-like shoulders. The exit to the ridge is onto its first shoulder via a 120 m wall with roof-like rock formations. The protection is piton.
Along the ridge, ascend about 200 m via simple rocks to the next rise of the ridge. The ascent begins in the left part of the wall via the bottom of a wide chimney; then continue up the chimney and exit via its right wall onto a ledge to the right under the base of a tower. From the ledge, ascend a marble slab; then via a chimney with a slight overhang, traverse the ridge on the left onto a ledge. From the ledge, ascend 40 m of challenging climbing up steep rocks to the second shoulder of the ridge.
Then, ascend 40 m along the ridge to the third rise of the ridge. Under the wall, traverse 15 m to the right along the wall and ascend 30 m up via an inner angle to a small ledge. From the ledge, ascend 20 m to the left up challenging rocks onto a small ledge. Traverse 20 m to the right along the ledge, which is 20–30 cm wide, above the abyss of a canyon. Then, ascend 20 m up a sheer wall onto a shoulder. The exit is challenging.
The further ascent to the summit via slabs, easy rocks, and talus does not pose particular difficulties. Descend from the summit onto the talus under the West Shoulder. The further descent follows the path from the West Shoulder (route 76). The duration of the route is 1–2 days.
Fig. 41. Zamin Karor.