Something I learned very young was that anything worth anything is worth working for. From Base camp, Chris and I still couldn't even see the mountain we hoped to climb, nor did we have any real knowledge about how to get to the base of the South Face. Our first task was to use every day the weather allowed to work out the approach, one step at a time.
With variable afternoon weather most days, we tried to use the time we had wisely. There were sections of the approach (about 6 miles and more than 6000' of altitude gain) toward the base of the mountain that were fairly straight forward. Other sections required more care and took more time.
The glaciers were mostly "dry" with all cracks open and easily negotiated. By weaving our way around, across and over the broken ground, we managed to stay in running shoes for most of it, without the need for a rope.
we slowly gained ground. Setting up an advanced base camp around 15,500' gave us a spot to rest on the way to the South Face. After two weeks of "finding the way", and an additional two FULL days of hiking and climbing we made it to the hanging glacier that would finally give us our first "in person" view of the mighty Brammah II.
We couldn't resist turning around and glassing some of the other objectives in the area. This massive wall, although falling apart in the warm temps, was captivating and possibly the best excuse to come back to this impressive part of the Kashmir Himalaya
We found one "cruxy" spot where we had to climb with some serious haste because it was necessary to be exposed to towers of teetering secracs (towers of ice). For the several minutes that we were in the "line of fire", it felt as though we were looking up the barrel of a cannon. Then.....up slabs and talus and closer to where the rock turned to ice
When we finally crested onto the hanging glacier, the South Face of Brammah II presented, for the first time, views of what we would try to climb. We needed to "listen" to the mountain and find a line up the face that seemed reasonable relative to rock and ice fall
On the first ascent of the South Face of Brammah II via a route we called “Pneuma” (VI AI4, M5, 1300m)
© 2026 KAVU
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