Why like that? To tell the truth it's hard for me to explain where "Women and Chalk" came from. Not even my (already fervid) imagination could have imagined it. Before leaving I was convinced I could open a new route with my free spirit, but to open it "on sight"... no, I didn't expect that at all. I knew that on a wall so far away it was uncertain. It takes nothing to ruin it all: atmospheric conditions, acclimatization, stones breaking off from above... But probably, it's my style to bring out the best in myself for something I believe in.... Bubu             Women and chalk INTRODUCTION BY FABIO DANDRI   One thousand, five hundred metres. They were neither easy nor relaxing, not even for me who came along as a tourist, just to take some photos.   In the evenings we returned to our tent, or portaledges, tired and hungry. The most tired of all was Bubu. Stressed and tried by the intensity of the climb, he opened two lengths a day, often under hail and snow, "on sight" and using nuts and friends: every now and then a piton. And then he had to set up the belays: make a hole in the granite, so as to make the bolts go in, all by hand. Then he brought the gear up, the water, the portaledges, packets of dehydrated and tinned food, energy bars, sleeping bags, clothes... nearly three hundred kilos of stuff.   More than three weeks work, thirteen days of climbing with levels higher than 6c and some spectacular ones of 7c and 8a. 29 lengths of rope cutting the vertical of the wall up to the final crest where the route intersects with the "Ship of Fools".   "Women and Chalk": that's the name of this new, extreme route opened on the east face of the Shipton Spire (5850m), a granite cliff situated in the Trango Valley (Baltoro, Pakistan). The route was opened during an expedition which included - apart from Bubu - Mario Cortese, Bubu's companion in this adventure and myself, as a photographer and cameraman.   The idea of the expedition was born at the end of June. Our desire to take this new experience allowed us to organize it in only three weeks and, on the 15th of July, Bubu, Mario and I were already onboard a Pakistan international flight: destination, the Trango Valley.   Getting to the famous Towers isn't really as simple and immediate as it sounds. After getting the paper work done, we were faced with a 21-hour bus trip to Skardu, a small town which is the starting point of all treks in the Baltoro; the road was hellish, but we still hadn't driven the 7 hours in a jeep to Thongul amidst the dirt and bumps. It didn't do much good for the jeep's suspension, just think what good it did to our behinds! ...once we reached Thongul, we started walking. Two days on soil and sand until we reached the much-frequented village of Paiju and a day on the moraines up to camp at the base of the Shipton, a delightful triangle of green which manages to resist the nearby ice. From here, a few hours to the start of the cliff and on to the route!   "Women and Chalk" was completed on the 15th of August. A continuous sequence of extremely logical fissures and dihedrals, immersed in an impressive sea of vertical and sheer granite. A great achievement, given the altitude, which makes all the stress, fatigue and discomfort experienced worth it.				"Women and chalk" SHIPTON SPIRE 5850 metres (Baltistan, Pakistan) Drawing "Shipton 2001"  by Mauro Bole   "Women and chalk"  by Fabio Dandri Movie (4,08 Mb)
						Photos by Fabio Dandri