2023: Japanese Team Climbs the Mighty Terichmir

Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima from Japan summited Tirich Mir on 23 July 2023 at 9:35am. At 7,708m, Tirich Mir is the highest peak in the Hindu Kush.

The Japanese pair opened a new route on its north face. The climbers’ sponsor, Ishii Sports, confirmed that after summiting, they stopped for the night at their highest camp. They then made it down to base camp, exhausted but healthy. Nakajima mentioned they were “blessed with the weather.”

The peak was climbed for the first time from its south side by a Norwegian-UK team in 1950. Previously, no one has attempted or even explored the north face, because of its complicated and unknown topography. It was the perfect goal for three-time Piolet d’Or winner Kazuya Hiraide. He has devoted his career to exploring those “blank spaces” in the world’s great mountain ranges.

Kenro Nakajima, 38, and Kazuya Hiraide, 44, both photographers by profession, told Dawn newspaper on Sunday that after their failed attempt in 2019 to scale the peak, they had committed to accomplishing the feat at any cost, and they finally did it. The duo were given warm welcome in Mulkhow, Booni and Chitral town by civil society members and adventure enthusiasts.

The two Japanese had scaled Raka Poshi peak in 2019, Shispar in 2017 and KarunKho in 2022 situated in Gilgit-Baltistan. The climbers expressed their intention of coming back to Pakistan in future to surmount the peaks of Istoronal and Naushaq having altitudes of more than 7,600 meters, also situated near the Terich Mir.

Terichmir was last time climbed by a French team in 2016.