Indonesian Digital News Archive

New Zealand climbers Pat Deavoll and Maryrose Fowlie have made a first ascent in a remote region of Afghanistan. The duo traveled to the Wakhan Corridor in late July where they are believed to have become the first to climb a peak called Koh-e-Rant, located near the Upper Qala Panja Glacier.

While details are a bit thin, Pat shared the news with the Alpinist last week and they posted the story online yesterday. The original intention was for Pat and her usual climbing partner Paul Knott to climb a peak called Rohazon Zom, but at the last minute Paul had to pull out. Maryrose stepped in however, joining the team that also consisted of Bill Byrch.

The three climbers spent eight days on the Qala Panja icefall which required a lot of "hard work" according to Pat. Eventually they topped out on August 2nd and they judged the altitude of Koh-e-Rant to be between 5850 meters (19,193 ft) and 6050 meters (19,849 ft). GPS and altimeter readings varied greatly apparently. There doesn't appear to be any records of previous ascents and Pat says they are the first climbing team to visit this particular region since a French squad back in 1968.

The trip home wasn't without challenges either. A border dispute between Afghanistan and Tajikistan had the checkpoints closed down and it required a few extra days of patience and persistence to get across. When they left, the dispute still hadn't been resolved but the Kiwi ladies, along with a number of other travelers were able to convince officials to let them pass.

A little extra adventure never hurt anyone, right?

Mountain2Mountain is a non-proft dedicated to promoting the ability for women and girls to act as catalysts of change in developing countries across the world. The organization sees women as an underutilized resource in nations that refuse to grant them rights and privileges due to outdated views on gender roles. Founded in 2006, M2M first began working in Afghanistan, where the organization has already opened many opportunities for females that didn't exist even a decade ago.

Last year the organization inspired many with a powerful photo exhibit entitled Streets of Afghanistan. The images used in the exhibition were captured by 11 prominent Western and Afghan photographers, including Farzana Wahidy, the first female Afghani photog to work for international wire services such as the Associated Press. The exhibit displayed the life-sized photos in such a way to portray a street scene in Kabul and using kites, music and video, vewers became immersed in the culture of the place.

By all accounts the exhibition was a big success, helping to dispel stereotypes of modern Afghan life. Now, Mountain2Mountain are hoping to take the same exhibit home to the Afghani people and as such they've launched a Kickstarter program with the hope of raising funds to do just that. The group hopes to raise as much as $20,000 to help pay for the costs of moving the art exhibit to Afghanistan. Those costs will offset production, transportation and security in Kabul.

For more information on Streets of Afghanistan checkout the Kickstarter page, which also has some amazing sample images as well.