Srinagar, Sept. 14 -- By Saqib Shafi

The weather had already forced four young Kashmiri climbers to abandon their first plan when they decided to try something harder.

At 4,060 metres, beside Kohenoor Lake in Kishtwar's Marwah valley, hail had turned to snow and then to a whiteout.

Muzakir Khan, Yasir Khan, Faik Aijaz Pattoo and Saqib Shafi had planned to establish an advanced camp on the Sheeshnag glacier. Instead, they crouched beneath a rock with a tarp over themselves and their gear, waiting for the mountain to clear.

It did not.

The climbers descended about 400 metres to a shepherd's hut, or doka, roughly 200 metres below the lake.

At 3,860 metres, the hut became their base camp. Their revised plan was simple: leave the heavy e...