In mid-September, Mick Fowler and Vic Saunders, two famous British mountaineers, reached the summit of Yawash Sar, 6258 m. in Pakistan, a hitherto virgin peak with the mouth of a sharp Matterhorn. A new first for a team who, 37 years ago, opened the Golden Pillar on the almost neighbouring Spantik. Not surprisingly, Mick Fowler is 68, having survived cancer in 2017, and his companion Victor Saunders is…74. A good age for a fine alpine style, in a remote corner of the Karakoram: a lesson in mountaineering, and above all, a lesson in life.
Over there in Pakistan, in the magnificent Hunza valley, from the heights of Karimabad, it’s impossible to take your eyes off a luminous pillar, which rises to 7028 m on the summit of Spantik. This golden marble pillar, the Golden Pillar, was climbed in 1987 by Mick Fowler and Victor (Vic!) Saunders. Their ascent, which