GARHWAL
- KUMAUN
Gangotri
glacier area:
Shivling
(6543 m)
(A.) Expedition : French/Brazilian
Leader : Ratouis Emmanuel (3 members)
Period : April – May
This was an expedition consisting of climbing
guides from the French Alps. They climbed the west ridge of
Shivling in 20 hours from the base camp. All four climbers
reached the summit. The leader, Emmanuel made a ski-descent,
completing a wonderful climb and descent. The other summiteers
were; Marchand Severin and Razel Jean Claude.
(B) Expedition – Swedish
Leader : Krister Jonsson (3 members)
Period : May – June.
Though the expedition
suffered from bad weather, they managed to make an excellent
accent on the west ridge to summit of this difficult peak.
2 members reached the summit starting on the 3rd June and reaching the top on the 5th in a 3 day
push. Summiteers were Magnus Eriksson and Christian Edelstam.
Later, on 9th and 10th June, in 2 days,
the leader made a fast solo ascent to the summit. All the
ascents were made via the west ridge.
( C ) Expedition – German
Leader : Bogdan Brakus (11 members)
Period : May
This experienced team climbed
to the summit by the west ridge. They established advanced
base camp at 4850m, Camp I and 5100m and Camp II at 5850m
and from there all the climbs were made. According to the
expedition, the climb was very serious and they had to undertake
climbing on vertical seracs of 75 m. at height of above 6000m.
On 23rd May, 2 members
reached the summit, they were Beand Tritsches and Johann Hirschbichles.
On 24th May, the leader with Michael Schoff and
Karl Eisenberges reached the summit. While on 25th May, 2 members reached the top. They were Jorg Hanel and Christian
Mqurchqer. This was a quick climb by a very experienced team.
(D). Expedition : Korean
Leader : Yun Soo Cho (5 members)
A Korean team attempted the west ridge of Shivling.
They managed to reach 6400m. But had to give up due to lack
of time.
(E) Expedition –
Indian
Leader : Abhijit Burman (4 members)
Period : August – September
This expedition from Mumbai, established
the base camp in late August. They set up camps to attempt
the mountain via the normal route. However, they were faced
with sever rock falls, bad weather, injuries and sickness
to members. They had to give up the attempt due to lack of
time and continuing bad weather.
Meru
Central (6450 m)
Expedition : Russian
Leader : Valeri Babanov and Zdanovitch Igor (2 member
team)
Period : September
This strong team attempted Shark's
Fin on the north face of Meru Central. They made a base camp
at 4300m and advanced base camp at 4900m. This is a technically
difficult route and they faced several rock falls, avalanches
and continuous bad weather. Finally on 22nd September,
the leader reached the summit in a big push.
This was their
second attempt on the peak this year. Earlier, the same team
had attempted the same route in April-May. But had failed
to proceed beyond 5850m. Their dedication later in the year
paid dividends.
A jury, presided over by Sir Chris
Bonington, awarded GHM's Piolet d'Or award to this expedition
for the outstanding climb in 2001.
Meru
(6261 m)
Expedition : American
Leader : Peter Takeda (3 members)
Period : May-June
Expedition had
multiple aims in the Gangotri area. First they attempted Meru
which they failed to climb due to technical difficulties.
Two camps were made up to 6000m. As a consolation, later they
climbed Kedar Dome reaching the summit on 14th May. The summiteers were Charles Bird, Jonathan Degenhardt,
Mahesh Dixit (LO) and Arvind Bist (LO of nearby expedition).
Meru
North Peak (6450 m)
Expedition : Japanese
Leader : Manome Hiroyoshi (3 members)
Period : September-October
This small expedition from Japan was attempting the
northeast face and the north pillar route. They established
camps and reached 6050m. Several falling stones and objective
dangers were experienced. However, an avalanche destroyed
the cache of their equipment rolling down all the plastic
boots. The attempt had to be given up.
Meru
South (6660 m)
Expedition : Spanish
Leader : Jordi Coromings (6 members)
Period : September-October
The expedition
established various camps by 17th September. Advanced
base camp was at 4900m and the final Camp 3 was at 5900 m.
From this camp the first attempt was made between 30th September to 2nd October reaching up to 6100m,
while the second attempt on 6th & 7th October reached 6400m. They encountered serious danger from
falling stones and gave up the climb.
Bhagirathi
III (6454 m)
Expedition : German
Leader : Walter Holzler (3 members)
Period : April-May
The expedition had the intention of attempting the
southwest pillar. They made a base camp at 4450 m at Nandanvan
and Camp 1 at 5000 m. However, continuous bad weather and
snowfall made the peak rather dangerous and the route almost
impossible to attempt. They gave up the climb.
Manda I (6511 m)
Expedition :Korean
Leader :Hyoung Duk Kim (2 members)
Period :September
The team climbed the west face on the north ridge on
way to the summit on 17th September. The leader
and porter Laxman attempted the summit. While Laxman stayed
below the summit, leader made a solo climb of the peak.
Bhrigu Parvat (6041 m)
Expedition :Indian
Leader :Dr. Anjan Chaudhary (9 members)
Period :September – October
The peak is situated near Manda group and was approached
from Kedar Kharak. The summit was reached on 2nd September by Arun Kanti Das and Tanmoy Chakraborty.
Bhrigupanth (6772 m)
Expedition : The Netherlands
Leader : Melvi Redukar (3 members)
Period : October
The expedition attempted the peak, approaching it from the
Gangotri temple. They made an advance base camp and reached
the col between Bhirgupanth and Thalay Sagar wishing to attempt
both the peaks. Bhrigupanth was climbed by the southeast ridge
and face on 10th October by all 4 members. Leader,
with Andreas Amons, Mike V. Berkel and Car J. D. Gevel reached
the summit. No attempt was made on Thalay Sagar.
Sudarshan Parvat (6507 m)
Expedition : Indian
Leader : Dipankar Ghosh (12 members)
Period : May
This expedition from Hooghly (West Bengal) successfully reached
the summit on 12th May via the east face. The
summiteers were Prosenjit Mukherjee and Joysingh Sahi.
Saife (6161 m)
Expedition : Indian
Leader : Jayanti Chaudhari (7 members)
Period : September
This team from Durgapur (West Bengal) climbed the peak Saife
(6167 m) on 18th September. This peak lies on
the ridge descending from the Sudarshan Parvat. Summiteers
were Achintya Roy and Kalisadhan Ghatak.
Chaturangi IV (6304 m)
Expedition : Indian
Leader : Stimit Srimany (10 members)
Period : June
This expedition from West Bengal climbed Chaturangi IV,
on 27th and 28th of June. On 27th,
the summiteers were Asis Mukherjee, Ashok Banerjee and Sanjay
Mukherjee. The summiteers on 28th June were Tarun
Mondal and Jayanta Chandra.
Manda II (6568 m)
Expedition : Indian
Leader : Prashanta Roy (8 members)
Period : June
The expedition approached this peak from Gangotri,
Gaumukh and beyond. Establishing 3 camps, the summit was reached
on 21st June via the east ridge. The summiteers
were Arnab Banerjee, Avijit Das, Arka Ghosh, R. K. Gamb-Isane
and Kaushik Pal.
Gangotri I (6672 m)
Expedition : Indian (IMF Ladies Expedition) (8 members)
Leader : Ms. Lata Joshi
Period : Sept. – Oct.
A ladies team, selected by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation,
climbed this high peak south of Gangotri temple. They set
up a base camp at 4420 m on 16 September at Rudugaira Kharak.
They set up three more camps till 5790 m. On 26th September in two teams of 8 and 4 climbers each the summit
was reached by the normal route. They faced poor weather and
the summit was reached in dense fog and cloudy weather. The
summit was climbed by; leader with Sushma Thakur, Asmita,
Manju Negi, Reena Kaushal, Vinita Verma, Deena Ramola and
Dr. Bhawana S. Jadhav with three high altitude supporters.
Central Garhwal
Tirsuli
West (7035m) and Shambu ka kila (6160m)
(A) Expedition : British
Leader : Colin R. Knowles (6 members)
Period : April – May
The 8 member team reached the
base camp via Malari and going up a subsidiary gully of Kunti
Bhannar. They then proceeded south along Shepherd Pass to
make a base camp at 3600m on the Siruanch glacier. After
observations of the route, Tirsuli West was not attempted
as they found excessive objective danger on the face from
a hanging glacier. So they turned their attention to peak
6160m, 5 km north of Tirsuli West. They followed the southwest
face and reached the summit on 16th May. The summiteers
along with leader were Ms. Benham Angela, Arnison Roland,
Drinkwater Christopher, Philips Andren and T. Kajannagh.
This peak was named as ‘Shambhu-ka-Killa’ (Fort of Lord Shiva).
This expedition also had problems with the new formed
Uttaranchal State Government despite the clearances obtained
from the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, they had difficulties
in approaching the mountain.
(B) Expedition : German
Leader : Ralf Messbacher (7 members)
Period : May
The expedition reached the base of this unclimbed peak
and traversed smaller peaks up to 6320m while trying to reach
the west ridge of Tirsuli West. However, the peak was not
attempted beyond this because of continuing bad weather, avalanche
and loose rock danger. The expedition generally suffered from
rather poor weather.
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