Overview
The North Face
This route starts from Kami hut after Shipton camp.If you are planning to get to the top, you have to take 6 to 7 days, including 2 days climbing. When you are doing North Face, you have to overnight at Firmin tower, either putting a tent or bivac outside. You don’t need crampons, unless you want to traverse the gate of mist to Nelion.
Below are the details of the North face Route –
The North face standard route starts from Shiptons Camp or from Kami Hut at 0330 hrs – 2 hrs hike to the base of climbing. The start is Grade IV+. The first two pitches are easy for scrambling, Another Grade III then Grade 11 and a Grade IV to get to the amphitheater. From there an easy donkey walk to the base of Firming Tower. Two routes emerge here. One up the Tower quite tricky about Grade V in a small gully not enough to fit in. The other is around the tower, easier but longer. After that you come to the knife edge you do a Grade IV+ pitch and another Grade IV pitch before you come to a traverse that leads you to the Shiptons notch. At the Shiptons notch rocks are quite lose and need to be handled with care. After finishing Shiptons notch, then reach Batian 5,199m. After reaching carefully the top, then abseil down; you do a lot of down climbing. This is the longest climb. It’s 23 pitches.