Srinagar, Oct 5: At dawn on September 18, deep in the wilderness of Kulgam in South Kashmir, two Kashmiri alpinists clipped into their ropes and stared up at a sheer wall of hard rock. Rising 230 metres vertical rock wall, the feature was known locally as the Cathedral Dome, the crux of Brahma Sakli Peak, a 4,730-metre tower that had defied climbers for generations.

By 1:43 p.m., against whipping winds and shifting clouds, Inayat Ullah Bhat of Srinagar and his climbing partner, Laway Mudasir from Pahalgam, stood on the summit. For the first time in Kashmir’s climbing history, Brahma Sakli had been climbed through a full multi-pitch alpine rock route.

“This mountain was always considered unclimbable,” Inayat recalled, speaking after his return. “The final pitches demanded pure technical

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