EXPEDITIONS AND NOTES

1. MOUNTAINEERING AND TREKKING IN BHUTAN
2. GUNNERS EXPEDITION TO LAMA ANGDEN
3. SHARTSE EXPEDITION, 1984
4. AUSTRALIAN ANNAPURNA II EXPEDITION, 1983
5. ANNAPURNA III
6. MANASLU WINTER EXPEDITION, 1983-1984
7. CHOBUJE EXPEDITION, 1983
8. CHUREN HIMAL (7371 m)
9. KANG GURU: TWO DAY ASCENT (WINTER)
10. ASCENT OF BIDHAN (6520 m)
11. NANDABHANAR 1983
12. FIVE TIMES OF GOOD LUCK
13. BHAGIRATHI III EXPEDITION, 1984
14. BHRIGUPANTH - AN EASY DAY FOR A LADY?
15. KAGBHUSUND TAL
16. ACROSS THE PIN-PARBATI PASS
17. PALPHU NORTHEAST
18. PHABRANG, 1984
19. PAKISTAN-BRITISH KARUN KOH EXPEDITION
20. FIRST ASCENT OF YUKSHIN GARDEN SAR (7530 m)
21. ASCENT OF THUI III
22. BINDU GUL ZOM II
23. 1983 POLISH TIRICH MIR EXPEDITION
24. HIMALAYAN RAILWAYS
25. F. KINGDON-WARD CENTENARY

 

 

DURING THE summer of 1984 I had the opportunity of visiting the beautiful country of Bhutan and trekking extensively. In the available mountaineering literature little is known of the high peaks of Bhutan. Most of the Himalayan peaks in Bhutan have approximate heights, some are even unnamed, and even those named are spelt differently in different publications. With the assistance of Bhutan Tourism Corporation I have attempted to work out a comprehensive list of mountain peaks with most acceptable spellings.

Unlike many other parts of the Himalaya, no detailed survey records of the Bhutan Himalaya are available except description of a few places visited by officers on political or military missions. According to old records a few political officers based in Sikkim notably Claude White, visited the Bhutan Himalaya towards the end of the last and beginning of the present century. However, with the exception of 7315 m high Jomolhari (Chomolhari), which was climbed by Spencer Chapman and Pasang Dawa Lama on 21 May 1937 and the Kula Kangri group (7554 m), which was seen at close quarters, none of the other high mountains was reconnoitred. Jomolhari was climbed for the second time in 1970 by a joint Royal Bhutan Army and Indian Army Expedition,

Jitchu Drake (6793 m), another peak in the Jomolhari group, was climbed by five members of the Himalayan Association of Japan on 20 May 1984.

Jomolhari is a sacred mountain to both Bhutanese and Tibetans and stands on the boundary as a sentinel. On the western slopes of Jomolhari lies the Chumbi valley which, through the easy Tang la (15,219 ft), provides the main route to Gyantse and Lhasa used by the Younghusband mission in 1903 and by the successive Everest expeditions between the two world wars.

The Bhutan Himalaya contain about 18 peaks over 7000 m and most of these are extremely difficult and dangerous to climb, and thus provide a great challenge to mountaineers. Each peak is likely to defy a few attempts before yielding.

After undertaking sample treks in various parts of Bhutan, I can say that Bhutan compares favourably with the best trekking areas in the Himalaya. It has not only the image, but, in fact, is 'the last Shangrila' where the Lamaist Buddhist traditions and culture have been faithfully preserved over the centuries. The landscape of Bhutan, the unique architecture still remains in forms evolved centuries ago, miles and miles of unhabited terrain—in sharp contrast to crowded trekking trails in the neighbouring countries, the impressive and colourful Dzongs, the beautiful people and their dresses—all blending in perfect harmony with each other. There are a number of local festivals throughout the year at different locations. These are not only very colourful and interesting but absolutely authentic and have not so far been affected by tourism. Bhutan is rich in flora and fauna especially flora. I have seen more rhododendrons and primulas in Bhutan than in any other Himalayan region. Having remained closed to the outside world for centuries till recently, Bhutan is regarded as a rare destination about which an average tourist, who has heard only a little about Bhutan, conjures up some mysterious notions.

The popular treks are Paro to Jomolhari, to Lingshi, Laya and Gasa, Lunana, Bumthang to Ygyenchoeling, Bumthang to Lunana to Rukubji, Bumthang to Hot Spring via Tang valley, Bumthang Lhuntse via Rudung la, Bumthang-Lhuntse via Khenpa Lung, Bumthang-Tashi Yangtsi via Paksan Lung, Bumthang to Tashi-gang trek, Tashigang-Merak-Sakteng, Tashigang-Sakteng-Tashi-gang.

As for mountaineering, the Royal Government of Bhutan opened their doors to foreign expeditions, strictly on commercial basis, from 1983. Prior to this only a handful of teams on very special considerations, notably Spencer Chapman's team in 1937 and an Indian Army team, led by Col N. Kumar in 1970 (jointly with the Royal Bhutan Army) were allowed. Both these teams attempted Jomolhari from the south and were successful.

The Bhutan Himalaya have never been surveyed thoroughly. The great Trignometrical Survey of the Himalaya during 1845-1868 did not cover Bhutan, Even the individual accounts of exploration are few and rare. One old account of early observations is that of F. Williamson, the Political Officer in Sikkim, in 1933. He travelled from Paro to Bumthang, and then ascended the Chamkhar Chu northwards, crossing Mon la and Kar Chung la (17,442 ft) from where he got close views of Kula Kangri (7554 m).

The Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, comprising the area around Manas river in southern Bhutan and northern Assam, is one of the most fascinating tiger reserves of the sub-continent. The Sanctuary is set amidst a scenery of superb magnificence, created by river Manas. The rain forests are rich in a rare species of apes, the golden langur, the one-horned rhinoceros, hogdeer, wild bears, tigers, elephants and wild buffaloes. For the ornithologist the sanctuary offers pelicans, peacocks, large cormorants, white capped red starts and the great pied hornbills. Manas, it was once remarked, is what the earth looked like before the arrival of man, a jewel encrusted on land reflecting nature's varied and brilliant hues.

In Bhutan, as in the rest of Himalaya, the geology is highly eventful and equally complex due to the intricately folded, faulted and tectonised nature of the rocks which have rendered the task of working out the precise stratigraphy and structure of the area extremely difficult. This has been further accentuated by the absence of fossils in a majority of rocks. Analysis of the various structural elements contained in them reveal that these rocks have been subjected to at least three cycles of folding and as many as five stupendous mountain building movements during different periods of earth's history. The rocks, from the foothill region in the south to the Greater Himalayan range in the north, lie in stacks arranged one over the other, generally dipping towards north. These rocks, which range in age from Pre-Cambrian (older than 600 million years) to recent, when described from south to north, form the tectonic succession of the area.

With these attractions Bhutan will be a trekkers' and mountaineers' paradise in future.

A Tentative List of Principal Peaks in the Bhutan Himalaya

 

 

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The Peak

THE LAMA ANGDEN peak is situated approximately 50 km northwest of Gangtok in Sikkim. This magnificent peak is surrounded on all sides by glaciers, whose last 800 ft is a steep vertical wall and the top has got just 12-14" of space, which is constantly swept by winds of nearly 80 km per hour. Locals of Lachen call it Langyalpo which means 'King of the Village'.¹

It was the last week of April, we were ready to move. A separate road head party loaded in unit vehicles with the entire stores, left Gangtok on 25 April to establish camp at Lachen. We managed to find a porter who knew the location of camp and we started ferrying the stores till the base camp from 29 April onwards. The route between the road head and base camp was hazardous and the last 3 km of the route was made by hacking a way through the thick rhododendron bushes on a gradient of nearly 60 to 70 degrees. The base camp was stocked for 30 days by 4 May.

We were not certain where to establish Camp 1. After search, a flat piece of ground covered with fresh snow at a height of 14,200 ft was selected to be the Camp 1 and food stuff and clothing required was dumped there by a number of ferries over a period of three days. I moved with the climbing team on 7 May. 1 had planned to carry out reconnaissance for Camp 2 the same day but due to heavy snowfall and extremely bad weather, we could not make much headway and had to return to Camp 1. Further probing for Camp 2 started on 9 May. We were to negotiate a huge buttress which was a large number of overhanging rocks before establishing Camp 2. In spite of the best efforts and the risks taken we could not cross it because unless the whole rock was visible a suitable route to negotiate it could not be decided.

 

On 10 May the team led by Capt S. Kanal while negotiating the lower heights of the buttress from the north found a 'V shaped rock with frozen ice in it. Sixth sense dictated that there might be a route through the rock. It took him 2 hours to reach the 'V shaped ice with the help of rope and ladder and they managed to cut a hole through this icy rock and found on the other side a sheer icefall of approximately 100 ft. About 30 yards from that hole was an overhanging rock which gave excellent protection and it was decided to establish Camp 2 there. He advanced forward with his team for another 2 hours, climbing up and down, to reach the glacier behind the buttress.

The night had fallen and with restricted visibility it was impossible to negotiate the glacier full of crevasses and the team returned to Camp 2, fully frozen and soaked in snow. If they had the choice they would not have pitched the tents and gone to sleep in the gaps of rocks. The whole team managed to capture 2-3 hours rest before they set out again in the morning for searching the final route for the assault on the summit.

The Assault

After 5 hours of walking through snow they reached the general location of the base of Lama Angden in the middle of the glacier.

This was much to the north. From this place it was not possible to climb onto the saddle. From there we had initially planned to scale the peak, hence Kanal decided to negotiate the glacier and traverse left to find an easier route to the saddle. The assault team started traversing left on the glacier which had predominantly soft snow, at places even chest deep. It was a difficult walk due to many hidden crevasses which had to be located and then either by-passed or crossed with the help of rope bridge. It took nearly four hours to reach the saddle after traversing left on the glacier, and then climbing up steeply. The peak appeared to be close now, but it was not so. Due to the extremely bad visibility further progress by this party could not be made. Ultimately they had to return to Camp 2 at approximately 10 p.m. To their utter dismay they found no sign of Camp 2. It was completely buried by a snow-slide which had come in their absence. The food stuff had been swept away and the tents were badly torn. It took quite some time to retrieve the stuff and re-establish Camp 2 with aching muscles, empty stomachs and with bodies dehydrated.

On 12 May Kanal along with Naik Radhakrishnan, Naik Sukhdev and radio operator Mohan Pawar left Camp 2 at 3 a.m. for the summit. After five hours they reached the glacier and negotiated it without much difficulty since the weather was favourable and there was sufficient visibility. Now this team had to face the real problems before they could attempt the peak. The right shoulder of Lama Angden feature from a distance seemed an easy proposition but actually it had all the adversities for the acid test of a mountaineer. This was the time for avalanches, but for the team there was no turning back and they pressed their advance through an avalanche prone vertical nala covered with approximately 4 ft of soft snow. They had no choice but to go through with utmost caution. While they were negotiating the last nala the entire team came under an avalanche. Fortunately, it was of heaps of soft snow and the entire team nicely anchored themselves and the avalanche passed over their heads. It took quite some time for them to reorganise themselves for further advance. The peak was still far and before that was the vertical face of Lama Angden of approximately 300 ft. There were now only sixty feet left to the peak and still there was no sign of the weather opening up. With no hope of the weather clearing up the team reached the summit one by one, anchoringl themselves to the ropes tied with rock pitons. The altimeter carried read 5868 m on top of the summit,, as compared to the map which reads 5828 m.

 

 

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WE ARE THE members of K.A.G.A. (Korean Alpine Guide Association) which was established for the first time in Korea by the professional climbers in 1983. In 1983, we went on a winter expedition to the Tilicho Peak, which we could conquer successfully. Upon arriving home from the expedition, another plan of a spring expedition for Nuptse West and Shartse was waiting for us and we had to leave home again without taking enough rest.

It was a little late for spring climbing, but we started on 20 March, 1984. All the members who joined this expedition were the best trained climbers.

We hurried the caravan as we had wasted too many days in Kathmandu. Some of us were well acclimatised and could arrive at BC (5350 m) on 13 April through Namche Bazar, Pheriche, Chukung and rest of the members arrived on 15 April. On 17 April, at last we started climbing Shartse.

Passing under the walls of Lhotse Shar and Peak 38 without any difficulty we set up Camp 1 (5600 m) on 19 April.

From Camp 1 route is steep. We kept climbing zigzag to avoid the avalanches. Traversing to the Chopolu side we set up Camp 2 (6100 m) on 26 April. We had spent more days than we expected to get there. We had to hurry up as we did not have enough time left. We all worked hard and hard and two days later we, at last, could start attacking the blue ice-face which is almost vertical. Using fixed-rope of 300 m we climbed the vertical wall and set up Camp 3 (6450 m) on the main ridge of Shartse on 29 April. Camp 3 was not in good position as the severe wind from both sides hit together there and the camp was not set up safely on the knife-ridge. Next day we climbed up the ridge and set up Camp 4 (6600 m) on the rock-ridge that seemed rather flat.

This camp was not good enough also to attack the peak. We climbed up again and set up Camp 5 (6950 m) on 3 May. We thought Camp 5 would be the last camp. At that time two of us were in bad health and were left in Camp 4. In the evening of 3 May we eight members talked to each other and decided to attack next day though it seemed rather difficult to succeed. On 4 May we began. The slope was really steep. We worked hard. Unfortunately the woman climber was exhausted, she could hardly move a step by herself. Still worse another climber, Kwak's fall was big enough to force us to go back to Camp 5.

At Camp 5 we again talked over and decided to select only three climbers to attack the peak and the rest of the team to go down. Names of the three climbers were Dae Pyo Yoon, Hyo Kyun Kwak and a Sherpa Nima Wangchu. On 5 May, leaving three climbers in Camp 5, rest of the team went back to BC.

On 8 May three members did their very best and set up Camp 6 (7050 m). They were very tired but there was nothing to think about except success. Next day they bivouacked at 7250 m. On 8May they tried the last attempt for the top. At 11 a.m. they at last conquered Shartse. Wind was blowing severely and it was very foggy around. After a while they got back to Camp 5. On 8May we all could meet together at BC.

Note: Sharstse was first climbed in 1974 by The Aus trio-German Expedition led by Kurt Diemberger. See H.J. Vol. XXXIII, p. 207.—Ed.

 

 

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THE SOUTH FACE of Annapurna II can be seen from Pokhara in the foothills and is one of the most enticing routes in the Annapurna range. The summit pyramid rises high above the surrounding peaks; it's black rock holds no snow, and an elegant spur leads up towards the summit. The mountain's southern barriers are formidable, and there were four unsuccessful expeditions before the Australian attempt, all using the approach up the gorge of the Modi Khola.

The walk into base camp is short by Himalayan standards, but hard going (four days). Base camp was, also by Himalayan standards, very low, at 2600 m. Our plan was to carry all our food and equipment from this low base to advance base at 4700 m which in August was not far below the snowline. From base camp the route climbed very steep thickly vegetated walls by a circuitous route necessitating the use of about 250 m of fixed rope in five different places. Lower down our trail had to be cut through the thick growth. We had to have two intermediate camps between base and advance base and it was obvious that previous expeditions had also used them, judging by the rubbish left behind. We finally established advance base on 29 August. It was fringed on three sides by very active and spectacular icefalls, and nestled on a small fold on the steep grassy slopes of the upper gorge. It was the perfect place to have a climbing base, at least before the autumn snow came.

Alpine style climbs on big mountains can work very well but you have to be well acclimatized. Our route was long and we needed at least two camps before going for the summit. We thought that opening the route to our highest camp and stocking them with food and fuel would suffice to acclimatize us. Together with the help of a few storms, which kept us camp-bound, it did.

Above a small glacier the route from advance base climbed a three hundred metre cliff via ramps and gullies. It then followed the top of the cliff which sloped upwards to the east finally turning into the south spur of Annapurna II. A glacier emptied over the lower end of the cliff, but initially the route was clear of any icefall. The safety of the route was evident in the fact that the ropes from previous expeditions seemed to be all in place. At the foot of the south spur we placed Camp 1 which we nicknamed Hotel Annapurna because of the large ice-cave we built in an icy crevasse.

We had two options to get to the col on the south spur below the main summit pyramid, where we intended placing our next camp. The harder routes went straight up the icy crest of the spur. The easier but more avalanche-prone route was up the snow and icefields immediately to the east of the spur. In a total of four trips, we used both routes but opted for the easier route whenever the right conditions occurred. Getting on to the easier route involved a 50 m abseil down a cliff. It was here that our first accident occurred. Lincoln Hall pulled half a tonne of rock down on himself while descending a badly placed rope. He suffered a broken metatarsal and bad bruising, his helmet was cracked in half. We established Camp 2 (c. 6500 m) on the col on 16 Sep tember and when a particularly large storm seemed to have started, we retreated to advance base for a rest before the final alpine style push. We descended none too early. The snow was the heaviest any of us had seen and our route was very avalanche prone at times of heavy snowfall. Tim Macartney-Snape was caught in a slab avalanche but managed to escape it before it disintegrated and plunged over a 500 m cliff.

Lower down conditions had changed considerably. Massive movement had occurred in the glacier above the cliff and we now found that our route was heavily prone to major icefali. Ropes we had left in place had been swept away. We barely had enough rope to make the descent. Whilst Tim Macartney-Snape was selling up the descent, Lincoln Hall was hit on the thigh by a block of ice almost immobilizing it and causing him to need a lot of help to descend.

After a prolonged stay at advance base due to a five day storm, and the necessary time to allow the snow to settle, all seven of us ascended to the col again. At Hotel Annapurna we had to dig two feet to find the top of a tent that had been left pitched. The going was extremely arduous. From the col Lobsang Tenzing, Narayan Shresta and Mike Groom helped carry food and fuel for the other four to the end of the snow before the final rock pyramid at about 7000 m. From there they returned to base camp and left the other four to dig a snow-cave.

An attempt was made on the summit the next day, however, a retreat was made in the face of bad weather and the lack of any bivouac sites. After having got to about 7400 m, we found the rock to be atrocious for climbing. It was friable with downward sloping strata, having very few places for protection.

For the next five days strong and bitterly cold winds lashed the mountain. We feared the winter winds had come early but felt very lucky to have the shelter of the snow-cave which we enlarged.

After having made the decision to wait only one more day for the wind to stop, it died down overnight, and on 6 October with the lights of Pokhara twinkling far below, we set off at 6 a.m. The going was good until we were forced off snowy leads and on to the rock. We were carrying full bivouac gear and moving on the rotten rock was painfully slow. For seven hours we traversed upwards and across five pitches to a slanting chimney that led back on to the spur at the edge of the face. The last light of day saw us settling into two small ledges dug out of the snow-filled chimney just wide enough for two of us to sit side by side. On 7 October we had a late start and set about climbing the steep very loose crux of the climb, a 100 m corner. Greg Mortimer led the most difficult pitch, finishing it late in the day. It was still a fair distance to the summit so we retreated to the bivvy ledges for an other night. 150 km to the east Kathmandu glowed in the dark of a perfect but windy night. In the morning with the summit almost certainly in our grasp, we left early. Above the corner, rock gave way to soft snow which led to the summit. Everyone had reached the summit by 1.30 p.m. We saw the Korean expedition on the west ridge. We did not envy them traversing the very avalanche-prone slopes. The descent was fairly straightforward to start with. 400 m of abseiling and a further 500 m down climbing snow saw us back at our snow-cave. It was 9 p.m., lightning flashed around us, and our bodies buzzed with static.

The next day we could only descend to the col, the need to eat and drink and sleep overcoming our desire to get down. That night a blizzard set in. Below us was a 2000 m descent over 3 km of avalanche-prone slopes. We had little fuel and food and felt an urgent need to descend. We struggled for three days to reach a deserted advance base camp with little, then no, food and liquid. The snow was frustratingly deep. Almost every step was done with the dreaded expectancy of setting off an avalanche, but we made it.

We successfully cleared from the mountain most of our equipment and left advance base as free of rubbish as possible. A one-metre snowfall made it hard to find everything that may have been left around camp. Our porters had arrived on time whilst we were sitting out the wind in the snow-cave, so our Sherpas had wisely evacuated most of the gear down to the valley. We had a memorable reunion with our Sherpas half way down the steep vegetated slopes of the gorge. They gave us roasted corn and mail from home including a telex saying that we had been reported as missing by the press. Down in the jungle settlement of Hoggar we spent a day in Paradise being looked after with incredible hospitality Local people had believed us dead and on meeting us, thanked us profusely for having climbed the mountain. We found it interesting that the mountain was in better condition during August and early September than later, at least below 7000 m. Higher up it looked to be the case as well. Because of the nature of the approach, attempting the route in spring could be very dangerous. Rain, mud and leeches are infintely preferable to avalanches.

Members : L. Hall, A. Henderson, Tim Macartney-Snape, G. Mortimer and M. Groom.

 

 

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Preparation: 22-28 August

THE TEAM arrived in Kathmandu on the afternoon of 22 August after a long flight from London via Dhaka.

During the following days the formalities required by the Ministry of Tourism were completed. At the same time food and equipment was purchased. Local food was required to supplement that brought from Britain and equipment to replace a sac missing by the airline.

The Walk-in: 29 August-5 September

On 29 August the team travelled with all its equipment in a truck loaned from 'Encounter Overland' to Pokhara, 200 km to the east of Kathmandu. From here the walk-in started. This took 7 days over difficult terrain, dense forest and rocky alpine pastures. The last day involved climbing over a 4100 m pass which gave access to the upper Seti Khola valley in which base camp was established. Base camp (BC) was at an altitude of 3200 m.

Monsoon conditions continued throughout the walk-in making progress difficult for both the climbers and porters.

Advance Base Camp: 6-26 September

The advance base camp (ABC) was established on 8 September. This camp was situated on a plateau just beneath the SE Pillar of the mountain at an altitude of 4200 m.

Up until 11 September the climbers carried loads up to ABC. It was anticipated that once ABC was stocked acclimatization on the east ridge could commence, however the monsoon conditions still persisted and so had to be curtailed until the end on the 26th,

Acclimatization: 27 September-1 October

This took the form of climbing on the east ridge. At an altitude of 6100 m a snow-hole was dug on the ridge (29th) after climbing easy snow slopes. The next day the climbers continued along the ridge, negotiating a rock step and corniced aretes.

After a few hours of this climbing it was decided to descend to ABC; first leaving a dump of food and equipment.

A second acclimatization climb was then planned with the intention of continuing on the steep section of the east ridge, With the prospect of assessing the descent route.

Second Acclimatization Climb, and Attempt on the Summit via the East Ridge: 5-24 October

On the 6th the team returned to the dump of equipment on the ridge and continued to where the ridge steepens and merges into a 1000 m face. A second snow-hole was dug here.

Trevor Pilling and Robert Uttley decided to make an attempt to climb the mountain via the east ridge route, while Jon Tinker and Nick Kekus would return to ABC in order to prepare an attempt on the SE Pillar proper.

Tinker and Kekus descended on the 8th while Pilling and Uttley continued onto the steep face.

That evening the weather turned for the worse, Pilling and Uttley established themselves on a small bivouac ledge at approximately 6300 m. It started snowing very heavily and strong winds picked up, these conditions continued without relenting for 5 days.

In the meantime Tinker and Kekus descended to base camp calling off any attempt on the SE Pillar. On the morning of the 10th the pair on the east ridge attempted to descend. They managed to descend 100 m finding a natural ice-cave in which to shelter from the appalling conditions.

It was visibly obvious to Pilling that Uttley was not well, he had chest pains and a bad cough. Uttley's condition quickly deteriorated and so on the morning of the 12th Pilling tried in vain to prepare Uttley for descent, he was too weak and at times delirious.

Again on the 13th he tried to no avail.

Pilling realised the only way to get Rob down was with the help of more people. He descended to ABC in very dangerous snow conditions and had to spend a further night, out on the glacier before Tinker and Kekus met him on the glacier. He was tired both physically and mentally.

Rescue and Evacuation: 14-20 October

Trevor Pilling was too fatigued to help in any possible rescue and so went to base camp to recuperate. Tinker and Kekus prepared for a rescue attempt, however in view of the dangerous conditions on the east ridge at that time it was decided to climb via a direct line to Uttley. This was a dangerous route but meant Uttley could be lowered down more easily.

The weather conditions continued poor and many avalanches swept the proposed line of ascent.

On the 18th the situation proved hopeless and the team abandoned for base camp.

Due to heavy snowfall on the walk-out porters couldn't/ wouldn't come to base camp. Loads had to be carried for 6 days, ferrying equipment to below the snow line.

The team reached Pokhara on the 25th and travelled to Kath-mandu on the 26th notifying the authorities the same day.

The team flew into London on the 31st.

 

 

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THE EXPEDITION arrived at the 13,500 ft high base camp on 19 December, 1983, after two weeks of walking up the beautiful Buri Gandaki gorge. Base camp commanded a spectacular position on the south-facing slope overlooking the Manaslu glacier. Tents had to be sited on platforms dug into the hillside, but the most important structure was an old stone yak herders' shelter which we converted into an insulated meeting and eating place complete with fireplace.

The route crossed beneath the glacier snout and up snow-covered moraine to a place we termed 'equipment dump* at 16,000 ft. The route to Naiki Col and our Camp 1 at 18,300 ft was a straightforward glacier made somewhat arduous by two feet of recently fallen snow. By 25 November we had dug an ice-cave at Camp 1 and were ready to begin the real climbing by the start of the winter season on 1 December.

From this point we worked in two teams; one resting while the other pushed the route out. Alan and Adrian Burgess worked with three Sherpas while Trevor Jones and Gordon Smith worked with the other three Sherpas.

The route to Camp 2 at 21,500 ft had to wind its way through small icefalls and across one quite dangerous 100 yard gully where large ice-blocks were a reminder not to linger. The position of this camp was reached on 7 December and three days later an ice-cave had been dug and stocked with some food and propane gas for cooking. On 12 December, Alan and Adrians team carried fixed rope and climbing gear up to 22,500 ft. We had decided not to place a camp hereabouts because the wind had eroded away any possibility of digging a cave and a tent would have had a limited life in the exposed position. Rather, we opted for one final camp at 24,500 ft which could be placed at the time of the summit attempt. On 16 December, Gordon and Trevor had reached the high point but no farther. Winds hampered their progress and so they descended unexpectedly to base camp. Immediately, Alan and Adrian set back up the mountain and after a four day storm at Camp 2 once more made an attempt to reach Camp 3. After two hours they reached the high point but the three Sherpas were complaining of freezing feet. The temperature was below - 30 °C and the winds were gusting to well over 100 mph sometimes lifting the lighter Sherpas off their feet. They returned to Camp 2 while the Twins continued to scout out a route above, At 23,300 ft they too decided that not much could be done in those conditions and it would need a calmer day to establish Camp 3. Back at the Camp 2 ice-cave they conferred over the radio with the other three members who were at base camp. Tales of sickness and fatigue assured the Twins that no replacement climbers were forthcoming. After a lot of debating as to the possibility of success with no other westerners participating, the expedition was abandoned on 22 December, 1983.

Some Considerations on Himalayan Winter Climbing

1. The strongest winds generally come from the west and south, therefore route selection and aspect is worth considering because jet-stream winds can stop movement on the mountain altogether.
2. The height of the mountain is more critical in winter because the winds are worst above 21,000 ft and a disproportionately higher success rate can be found on mountains of around this height.
3. Routes passing nearby or through cols are much more windy and can funnel winds around onto slopes which normally would be considered to be in the lee of the mountains.
4. When the wind direction changes from SW to the north there is often one day of good, calm weather but the northerly winds never seem to last for many days.
5. Although occasional snowstorms can occur in early December they are rarely very heavy and the first 3 weeks of December are normally the best for climbing. However, if there is an early snowstorm it can hinder (i.e. put up the price) of getting to base camp.
6. November weather is normally sunny and dry and the Nepa-lese government does not seem to mind expeditions preparing a Camp 1 (the higher the better) before 1 December providing no-one occupies it—and even this may depend upon the liaison officer who may be looking forward to the New Year in Kathmandu.
7. When requiring porters to take the expedition to base camp beware of the Tihar Festival around the beginning of November (changing a little each year). It is like trying to coax a westerner to work at Christmas,
8. Because expeditions are better completed before 24 December
   there is not a lot of time to acclimatize while on the mountain and previous acclimatization is advisable; possibly on a near* by trekking peak.
9. When getting porters for the return journey, consider that a heavy snowfall might trap the expedition if a high pass has to be crossed, e.g. returning from Makalu.
10. Ice-caves are best used when making camps on the mountain. Only very strong tents will resist the winds above 21,000 ft and living in them can be worse than miserable.
11. One-piece down suits are the best form of outer clothing in very windy conditions.
12. The short, cold days of winter seem to make the climbing much more tiring than at other times of the year.
13. Chistmas is a time when most people like to be with their families and so climbers have to be very highly motivated.
14. Climbing Sherpas find it more difficult to rationalize extreme winds and for this reason are better when climbing below the windy zones than actually climbing in them. Combined with the fact that for them frostbite is more likely to lead; to amputation, they are hesitant to commit themselves to long days in the wind.

 

 

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SEVERAL THINGS have changed since I first visited Nepal in 1974. Tourists crowd into Kathmandu from where they visit other parts of the country. Five different expedition groups may now go through a small village in one day whereas many years ago people would have been lucky to see one expedition per year. But the people have stayed the same with the happy smile just as they were many years ago and of course nothing has changed in the beauty of landscape. Also the troubles with the officials have remained the same. It takes about a week just to get but of Kathmandu. It was not any easier now than five years ago when I took part in the expedition to Annapurna I. It is one of the most rewarding moments for the leader of an expedition when the group finally move out of Kathmandu towards the mountains. All worries and troubles with the organization and luggage ,and. customs are now over.

Our aim for this year was Chobuje. The Sherpas call it 'Kangare' which means in English 'the hatchet'.

Even back in Austria we have spent many hours looking over cards and pictures of this mountain considering from which side we should climb this beautiful peak. Finally we decided to cross this mountain from the south to the north. We want to climb this beautiful mountain as we were dreaming of a great alpinistic deed. Some of us are old experienced mountaineers, some young climbers. It should be a good mixture for this enterprise.

It takes us six unforgettable days to cross through the deep valleys of Nepal. Following Bhote Kosi up to Chimigaun we finally reached the first village, in Rolwaling. Every moment is with new exciting impressions, new adventures. We have enough time to get into contact with the people of this country and one thing that always fascinates me is their joyful and carefree attitude. Even after a full day carrying heavy loads the Sherpas suddenly start to dance and dance sometimes to the early hours of the morning. They are happy then.

From Na, last village of the Sherpas, (4200 m), it was only a short two hours for BC which we erected at 4500 m directly south of Chobuje.

There we placed our tents. We, that is Pfeifer Karl, Pletschko Oswald, Gritzner Karl, Gritzner Ernst, Dr Alf Paul, Ehrengruber Manfred, Varch Siegfried and Udo Ertl. We have been seeing this very impressive south wall of Chobuje already for the last three days of our trip. This mountain deserves its name 'hatchet'. It is steep from all parts. We are very anxious and thirst for action to climb this mountain. We spend two days to find the right routes for climbing and descending this mountain. Our final decision is to start from the north side. We build our first camp in the middle of the Ripimoschar glacier. We are only a few kilometres away from the forbidden Tibetan border. All around us is a wonderful scenery of peaks, most of them more than 6000 m high. During our first days there finally arrives the luggage which should have been there already, 80 kg of bread from the company Legat, some 30 kg of Carinthian bacon, both from our home-country, both things have been proven very successful in many of our expeditions. It takes the eight of us two days to carry food and supplies into Camp 1. It is enough luggage we have to carry. We all want to climb the peak. The approach is burdensome. First we go along meadows that reach up to nearly 5000 m in this area, then we follow the moraines of the glacier to our Camp 1. Ahead of us is the north part of Chobuje.

Two enormous ice-blocks block our route. On the left side to get into easier terrain would be possible but this route is under steady gunfire. We decide to try to approach this mountain from the right side. Ossi, Chico and Siegi start for the way to Camp 2. The rest of the group will be busy carrying the supplies.

Early in the morning we got the contact. The first group starts with the work to secure our back. Pfeifer Karl also goes into Camp 1 to aid the first group. This first group works its way through deep snow up until a rock. The ascent is very difficult. The rock is fully plastered with ice. The securities will be anchored into the ice with special drills, and wooden wedges. This technique has first been tried on the Fang and has proven to be very successful. The wooden wedges freeze into the ice and they will not come loose as it is often the case with aluminium screws. 6 p.m. we have contact again by wireless radio. Udo now moves from Camp 1 back to BC. It is dark already and he hasn't reached the base camp. We hasten to meet him. We find him half way 'between the base camp and Camp 1. He had forgotten his torch and it is difficult for him to see in the darkness now. In the dark we move back to the base camp and I really have to admire the sureness with which our Sherpa finds his way through the rocks.

The next day we still missed some of our supplies. So Karli and 1 carry our personal supplies and, the rest of the food up to Camp 1. Today Siegi, Ossi and Chico have chosen a place for Camp 2 and they erect their tent there. They have fixed about 400 m of ropes enroute to shorten the time between Camp 1 and 2. They have been climbing for more than nine hours that day and they had to fight the way through deep snow up to Camp 2. That rock was specially difficult to climb. Full of ice and covered with snow. The monsoon has lasted longer this year than in last years. Therefore knee deep snow is on the steep slopes that have to be crossed to reach Camp 2.

9 October 1983

Karli, Pauli, Udo and I are all now in Camp 1. We all watch how our advance group tries to reach the peak. They try three different ways. Each time the deep snow makes an advance impossible. They finally reach an altitude of about 6150 m, but then they return to Camp 1 and move on to the base for some rest and recovery. The next day we go to Camp 2 to look for different way to the peak. Ossi has told me that most of the difficulties should be behind us and that all eight could make the attack on the peak together. For hours and hours we fight our way through the snow to the camp. We carry heavy loads that could not be brought up there without ropes. We, that is Karli with Karl, Udo and I. Nothing can be seen from the tracks of our friends, from the .previous day. Late in the evening we reach Camp 2 and erect another tent into the flank directly under a rock spur. A rock spur that finally leads all the way up to the peak. There isn't much room in Camp 2; actually there is very little left besides the room that we need for the tents. We are all very excited. Now we got everything we need into Camp 2—bacon and bread, soup and Mountain House, the food that can be carried so easily. The next day starts with bad weather. Kaiii has kidney-ache and he wants to go down to the base camp. We agreed that in this rather dangerous area nobody should ever do anything on his own. After some debate the task to go down with him is given to me. In the early morning we say good bye to our camp comrades. We are planning to go down and come back the day after with Ossi, Siegi and Chico. Then we want to carry on. Our descent now begins. We do not find the tracks any more that we had made while coming up. We got lost. About 500 m above our Camp 1 we suddenly find ourselves in front of a wall—a wall which stops our way. We do not have any hooks with us and we suddenly are in real trouble. I fire a rocket because I supposed that the others have already advanced from the base camp into Camp 1. No answer. Obviously our comrades are not in Camp 1 yet. We must go back. The snow is now so high that we sink into it right to our bellies. Just before the last light disappears we find the securities and thus get out of the wall. We are more than happy but it's a very short happiness. We cannot find Camp 1 anymore. Now we have to go back to the base camp. But that would mean climbing during the night in the moraine and that is not easy at all. We spend about three hours under a large stone but the wetness and the cold make us move on. We are lucky again. Finally we reach the meadows and some cover that has been made by the Sherpas. We build a small fire and about seven in the morning we finally reach the base camp.

In the meanwhile the first group was just getting ready to climb up to Camp 1. The time that we have considered necessary to climb this mountain has vanished. We must extend our stay another two days and these two days try our last attack at this mountain.

Weather has changed, it's beautiful again and we are full of high hopes. On 13 October my brother and I go up to Camp 1 again. While we go up we can see Ossi and his friends moving towards Camp 2. They advance slowly. There must be a lot of snow-up there. At 5 p.m. we get wireless contact with Ossi. They have reached Camp 2. It has been disturbed by an avalanche and the two friends that we have left in Camp 2 are dead. Tears fill our eyes. We have paid the highest price which an expedition can pay. We have paid with the death of our friends. Ossi, Siegi and Chico descend. We wait for them in Camp 1, It is already dark when I see lamps on their helmets moving, towards me. We all stay together and cannot understand why fate has been so rough to us. During the night Siegi, Karli and I go down to the base camp and tell the liaison officer this sad news.

Next day Paul! and Siegi climb again into Camp 2 to prepare an honourable grave for our dead friends. When we return to Camp 1 the rest of the crew gets together again. One sad long look to the peak and then we turn back. We turn back from a mountain which we wanted to climb so much and which had met us with a flat refusal.

After we had prepared the memorial for our dead friends in base camp we left it on 17 October.

There remain two tombs and the prayer-flags which were blowing in the wind during our stay to make the gods gracious. They were not to be so.

But I am sure that a young crew will continue this way for which Udo and Karl have died. And this young crew will reach the peak.

 

 

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THE OBJECT of the expedition was to scale Churen Himal by the previously unclimbed southwest face which is some 3000 m in vertical height. The route chosen was a spur on the right hand side of the face leading to the south ridge at approx 7000 m. The south ridge would then be followed to the top.

At the) start of the expedition we believed this route to be unattempted as well as unclimbed. However we discovered that the October 1933 German expedition had switched their attentions from, their planned south ridge (because of steep, rotten rock) to the SW face. They had chosen a different route on the first half of the spur (5000f m-6300 m), but thereafter the two routes coincided. Unfortunately, the German expedition ended tragically. After reaching a high point of 6900 m they were forced by bad weather to return to their Camp 3 at approx. 6300 m. Here they were struck by avalanche, two members were killed and four of the remainder later evacuated by helicopter from base camp.

We too were unsuccessful, though thankfully without injury. After reaching a high point of 6600 m we were forced back by stonefall and bad conditions. Bad weather prevented further attempts.

The route from Pokhara proceeded from Naudanda to the ridge-top village of Karkinetta from where we got a fine early morning view of the Himalaya from Dhaulagiri to Everest. After that, it was down into the Kali Gandaki from Kusma to Beni. Here we branched off up the Mayangdi river and, after Darbang, started gaining height rapidly. A high col, around 3500 m, brought us into the Dhola river valley and the village of Gurjakhani, the last before base camp, still three days away.

Here we had the unpleasant surprise of discovering the trekking map we had been using 'Jomosom to Jumla and Surkhet' in the Mandala series, was badly out in that it showed the river system from the Churen Himal, Putha Hiunchuli valley draining to the east, the direction of our approach. In actual fact, it drains to the west and we had a 4000 m ridge to cross before reaching it, Frustratingly enough, we found on our return to Kathmandu that an alternative map in the same series 'Pokhara to Dhorpatan^ Tansen Circuit' is accurate.

However, notwithstanding these difficulties we established base camp on the 18 April, at 4100 m, on the true left bank of the Kaphe Khola, directly below the SW face of Churen Himal.

Throughout the walk-in the weather had been very mixed, with frequent afternoon thunderstorms. These continued, and in the period 20-28 April it snowed every day to a greater or lesser extent. On the 21st we had to abandon a carry up to the site of our advance base camp and on the 22nd, 24th and 25th were confined to base camp.

During this period though we managed to establish an advance base camp on glacial moraines at 5000 m, at the foot of the spur we were to attempt, about 3 to 4 hours walk up a stone covered glacier from BC.

Despite the continuing unsettled weather we moved up to ABC on the 26th and after one further very heavy snowfall that night the weather improved, and was generally good for the next nine days—27 April-5 May.

From ABC we were to follow a line up the highest point of the initial rock buttress running from 5000 m-6000 m. This was the only section that was not threatened by seracs on the edge of the upper snowfield, although it contained about double the height of difficult rock climbing compared with other possible routes. The German route had followed a smaller rock buttress to our left and then threaded a way through the glacier to the snow-field.

Between 27 April and 1 May we established a route through the buttress. The climbing was too difficult for us to consider alpine style on this section, so we fixed ropes on the hard pitches and ferried our gear onto the upper snowfield. In all we climbed about twenty difficult pitches, mostly on mixed ground as a result of the recent snowfalls. The rock was nowhere good, but sufficiently solid to find belays with difficulty.

At 6000 m, on the edge of the upper snowfield we established a camp from which we hope to make an alpine style ascent on the summit.

On 3 May we climbed the rock buttress carrying our personal gear, brought up most of our ropes, and occupied this camp. The weather remained fair but the strong sun had an adverse effect on both the snowfield and the upper spur. The snowfield was soft and sugary, with an insufficient crust to bear one's weight. The icefield forming the first half of the upper spur was bare and glistening, promising hard climbing. Nights were characterized by very strong winds that made sleep difficult, was taking its toll on the tents, and made movement outside hazardous.

On the 4th we set off at first light for the upper spur, carrying climbing gear and loads of food and ropes. Our intention was to climb the icefield and fix the ropes on the upper rock, thus facilitating our climb to the ridge the following day. However, the intervening snowfield proved to be a veritable maze of both hidden and uncrossable crevasses, and completely of that unconsolidated snow in which we sank up to our calves. Despite being a short distance directly, our enforced deviations to avoid seracs and crevasses made progress very slow, and it was not until afternoon that we reached the bottom of the icefield at about 6300 m.

Just below this we had discovered the grisly remains of the German Camp 3, precariously sited between two large crevasses and beneath a serac. The two bodies were amid the tattered shreds of their tents and equipment and were a sobering sight.

We continued onto the icefield but quickly realized that conditions were atrocious. The ice was bare and brittle, shattering off in, large crystalline sheets at the slightest touch, with often a stream of melt water running behind the outer layer.

The sun hits the upper face at 10.00 a.m and soon after the stonefall starts. The whole of the icefield is threatened, the base ice being peppered with stones. We had one direct hit, luckily not serious, and several near misses. We climbed leftwards towards the rocky crest of the spur in the hope of encountering better and safer conditions, but on reaching it, at 6600 m it proved to offer no such alternative. It too was under threat from stone fall and there seemed no possibility of shelter. It was easy angled, perhaps 45°/50°, but extremely loose and would present slow and awkward climbing. The icefield offered the best of the two alternatives and it was too unjustifiably dangerous in its present condition.

We returned to our camp leaving ropes in place up the icefield, and at particularly difficult crevasse and serac crossings in the snowfield.

That night gale force winds made sleep impossible and damaged one of the tents. The storm lasted until about 8.00 a.m., ruling out an early start, and we decided progress that day was impossible. We discussed the practicalities of continuing the attempt, in the end we decided that given the present condition of the upper face, it was too dangerous to justify continuing. We reckoned it needed good consolidated snow to render it safe, and if caught above the icefield by bad weather we would have had great difficulty in retreating across what would be avalanche prone slopes. The sobering reminder of the German camp and the sheer scale of the mountain^ were further factors that no doubt influenced our decision, and the added threat of bad weather building up in the west swung the balance.

We returned down the rock buttress, a slow process requiring much care as the retreating snows had left much loose rock in evidence. Eventually though, we reached our advance base and next morning, base camp. By then our good weather was at an end, and after a violent thunderstorm on the afternoon of 6 May it snowed heavily for three days. Brief partings in the clouds showed a face plastered with new snow. By then we had no doubts that we had made the right decision.

Members : Dawson Stelfox (leader), Phillip Holmes, Martin Manson and Malcolm McNaught.

Ascents of Chwen Himal

Besides several attempts during the last two decades there were the following ascents:

1st Ascent: Japanese expedition in the post-monsoon 1971—a team of 6 members climbed the Central and West summits via the 3 flank (6 high camps, 900 m fixed ropes).

AAJ 1972, H.J, Vol. XXXI p. 174.

2nd Ascent: Japanese expedition in the pre-monsoon season 1975—a team of 10 members climbed the west summit via the west ridge with 4 high camps.

AAJ 1976.

3rd Ascent: This was the second ascent of the west ridge, done by a Japanese expedition in the post-monsoon season 1975, 6 members, 4 high camps. AAJ 1976.

For attempts see H.J. Vol. XXIV, p. 166, Vol. XXXIV, p. 152.

 

 

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I LEFT BC at 7 a.m. on 17 December 1983 in the extremely cold weather. I walked to Camp 1 on the track and through the moraine, and reached there at 10.30 a.m. Putting climbing irons, I started for Camp 2 with food and fuel for two days. I kept three pictures of the leader's late climbing mate in the pocket of the feather clothes. On the way, to gain time I pass through the stone walls, though they were not familiar to me.

Soon the weather became worse quickly, a little snow began falling and at last it changed into wind and snow, when I went up the last steep snow-wall. At 1.40 p.m. I arrived at Camp 2 where I took a rest over tea. I decided to remain there till it would stop snowing, but at 3.00 p.m. I could not wait any longer. I climbed the ice-wall, cleared the horizontal wall and reached the moraine. Then it stopped snowing. I moved from the ridge to the snowfield leading to the south wall of Kang Guru. It was terribly silent there.

'How long have I walked ?', I said to myself. 'I do not feel tired at air. At that time, 'Ah!' I uttered a soundless cry. Suddenly my body fell into the dark world, and I did not know what happened. I felt I was falling for a fairly long time, but I was not seized with fear of death. I fell two metres into the crevasse. If I had fallen badly, I would have been confined in the ice-world. It struck terror into my heart. I was beside myself. Anyway, when I climbed out of the crevasse, 'I have come to life', I said to myself. Breathing violently, I was moved to tears and they iced up on the cheek.

At 7.15 p.m. I found a good site for bivouac. I sat on the shelf of the ice-wall.

At 5.30 a.m., 18 December, light came from the east and the long hard bivouac was over. As my body had become stiff, it was 7 a.m. when I began walking for the summit. Soon I reached the ridge coming from the west ridge. I went there very carefully to the south wall. The ridge was the wall of blue ice which was harder than I had imagined. It's inclination was sharp and partly horizontal up to the west ridge. I had to clear the south wall in order to advance.

I went on the ridge against the strong wind, dragging my weary feet. I was disappointed sometimes to find that I had taken the steep ridge for the summit. But the time came when I found the summit of Kang Guru in the hazy distance on the left. I was excited.. Relaxing myself, I went up and down the sharp ridge and at last I found the gentle ice-wall leading to the summit.

'I have carried it out!' I cried in my heart. I stood on the white summit, 7010 m, at 2.30 p.m. I took pictures and tied a flag on a tripod. I carefully put into the snow the pictures of the leader's late climbing mate.

Summary: Kang Guru (7010 m): First Winter ascent, by Japan Den Den Himalaya expedition, 1983. 5 December: BC established. 11-15 December: Camp 1-Camp 2 established. 17-19 December: Summit climbed. 22 December: Leave BC.

Members: K. Kato (leader), H. Baba (climbing leader), T. Umezaki and M. Kasugai.

 

 

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THE TEAM started on 5 May 1984 travelling via Joshimath to our roadhead at Malari (3021 m). After a night halt at Malari, they walked along a good mule track on the true right of Dhauli Ganga, They ferried the loads due to high porter rates and camped at Raul Bagad. On, 12th they further proceeded to Bumpa. They started for a recce further up. Within a few steps, they saw Gamsali, which was not occupied yet. They had a first view of Bankund valley and of Deoban glacier to NW. Kagbhusund (5952 m) was located to the true right of the glacier. Bidhan looked very tiny in the extreme right.

They climbed further in the valley passing through huge boulders and along a few alps to the true left of the river. After one hour's climb the slope eased and they had a view of Patthar Udiyar at the base of Kagbhusund. It looked far away for heavily laden men. While returning they had a nice view of Bumpa peak.

On 13th they camped at Paytan Sain and established base camp at Patthar Udiyar (4100 m) on 14th.

From the top of a boulder they had a good view of Bankund glacier. Both the sides rose steeply. The true right was dominated by Rataban (6166 m), while on true left Kagbhusund (5952 m), a peculiar pinnacle was guarding the entry of Deoban glacier. A minor glacier was seen to the right of Kagbhusund and the steep icefall in it was recognised. Further right a ridge was coming ■down sharply which terminated into a cliff to meet Bankund glacier. Just near the top of the cliff an alp was located which had an earthen dam-like structure. A gorge was seen still on the right, made by Deoban nala. It was possible to approach the gorge climbing a moraine gully.

Towards Gamsali, the valley had a dry look, but Kunti Bhannar was dominating the scene. They traversed the snow-tongues and reached the base of a steep moraine gully, 100 m in height. It was rather tiring to climb the gully. They dumped the loads on the top and returned to base camp.

All started with loads on 15th. After the moraine gully they entered the gorge. A rock-gully was climbed and they had a view of Bankund glacier. Towards Deoban glacier a huge icefall 400 m in height was looking magnificent. They further climbed a ridge and reached the alp. They returned to base camp in snowfall. On 16 May Camp 1 (4500 rn) was established on the alp (4 hours).

The morning of 17th was charming. The fresh white snow and blue icefall made a deep impression. They woke up at 0400 hours but could not start till 0300 hours for a recce of Camp 2. They climbed a slope leading in the direction of Kagbhusund. Due to steepness all gained height very slowly and cautiously. After traversing two rock spurs covered with mud and moss they went straight up and reached a peculiar notch on the ridge. Keeping icefall of Kak glacier on the left while that of Deoban glacier on the right; they climbed further and reached a snow plateau.

The flat snowfleld was leading to an inverted 'LP shaped cor¬ridor. It was bound, by steep rocky ridges on both the sides. They dumped the loads in the middle of the corridor and descended to Camp 1 very tired. On 18th due to a late start, they took 5 hours of climbing for establishing Camp 2 in the snow-corridor. The altitude wast 5100 m and they faced severe cold during the night.

On 20th they wound up the camp. Ravi led upto the top of the corridor. All roped up. After an hour of plodding they had to climb up a little to go near the rocky ridge. There was a wide crevasse to be crossed to reach a notch on the ridge. Nandu fixed the rope and all went on the ridge comfortably with the use of rope. The route ahead was looking tiring and difficult. It was decided to camp there at 5500 m (Camp 3).

It was out of question to cross the snowfield and to climb very close to the glacier due to crevasses. The traverse further up was rather tricky. At few places ice-patches were open. All went over the fixed rope safely. The ropes were taken up. They further went in a slight depression and were amused to see a 100 m overhanging rock wall ahead. All were tired and it was an obvious site for a camp below the overhanging wall free from the snow-showers at regular intervals.

Next day crampons made it easy to climb the steep slopes ad¬jacent to the rock wall. The crevasses to the right had their jaws open. They traversed the rock wall and had a breather.

As they reached the vast expanse of the Deoban glacier, two high peaks were seen at the head of the glacier. On left was Deoban (6851 m), looking very steep but was situated out of the glacier basin. Bidhan 6520 m was rising to the right of Deoban, slightly dome shaped and its west ridge (left) was looking very steep and rocky. This ridge was continuing down to form a rim of glacier basin following the peaks 6123 m, 6021 m on the true right. The right or northeast ridge of Bidhan was of easy gradient, joining a rocky ridge after a wide col. At the base of this rocky ridge another glacier Sem was just visible.

The south face of Bidhan had ice-overhanging walls with aval¬anche debris at the base. A small rocky rib was starting from this base to form a divide between Sem and Deoban glacier. The possible route to the peak was along this rib plodding the upper snowfield, upto the col.

The final snowfield on the wide col (6200 m) at the base of the peak was reached at 1500 hours. They all sat very much exhaust¬ed. They saw footmarks going towards northeast ridge of the summit which was the obvious route avoiding the steep south face. Suddenly Anand looked at 3 tiny black dots very near the summit. All were overjoyed. The final summit was looking pyra¬midal.

Nandu's rope reached the base of the peak at 1130 hours. They kept the south face to the left and continued on a gently rising snowfield that was turning steeply towards northeast ridge of the summit. Nandu located the loose boulder on the crest, 'Rock Island' described by Frank Smythe.

They started for last 300 m, troubled by cold winds. The last easy slope lead them to the square plateau at 1530 hours. The successful moments were shared silently. They had a nice view of ridge going towards west. Mana (7273 m) (east face) was looking very impressive. Deoban (6851 m) and unnamed (6977 m) were looking dwarf peak in front of gigantic Mana. Kamet and Abi Gamin were also located to the north of Mana. To the northish, Purbi Kamet glacier and Tibet ranges were looking dry and black.

The descent was not easy due to crevassed region and tired¬ness. Both the last crevasses were crossed over by a bridge cauti¬ously. They made it to the camp under the rock wall at 2100 hours, too much exhausted. They reached base camp within 2 days and continued down to Malari. The Bumpa and Gamsali villages were fully active by now.

Members : Anand Palande (leader), Nandu Page, Sharad Natekar, Ravindra Palkar.

 

 

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THE PEAK Nandabhanar is a tiny dot at the height of 6236 m in the great Himalaya. But it is situated on difficult ridges in the Kumaon Himalaya and had refused to surrender to two earlier expeditions. This must have attracted many out of curio¬sity, as we were. Consequently we set off for it on 16 August, 1983 with a team of 15 members including two Sherpas.

We left Bharari, the roadhead, on 20 August and established base camp on 24 August at the foot of Pindari glacier in five days with intermediate camps at Loharkhet, Khati and Phurkia.

The team took a shepherds' trail through steep slopes and juni¬per bushes towards southeast for Camp 1 site and reached a tableland high above the true left bank of the Shel Changuch glacier. We established Camp 1 on 26 August at a fine spot. To our east we spotted Nandabhanar with resemblance to a hooded snake in the company of lofty Nanda Kot to its north and rugged Changuch at the far end with a sheer drop over the Traill's Pass. We could see Nanda Khat, Panwali Doar and Bauljuri to the west We could also see Nanda Devi East and Nanda Devi Main to the far north over Traill's Pass and Maiktoli over Bauljuri Col. Nandabhanar's western rock wall seemed to be most discouraging because of its three thousand feet.

We considered establishing Camp 2 on the Shel Changuch glacier at a point as high as possible. We also discarded the route through west face and the north ridge and decided for an approach from south over a col and three high points south of our target.

According to the plan we set up Camp 2 on 28 August at the highest possible spot on the debris at the altitude of 13,000 ft over Shel Changuch glacier negotiating many crevasses. We were at this time to the SW of the peak and the west of the col.

To reconnoitre the south ridge and established Camp 3, five mem¬bers left in the morning on 29 August. They climbed over to the top of the col. Soon they found a vast glacier bed on the east with a sudden drop southwardly which they recognised to be Kafni glacier and the glacial bed being fed by Nandakhani and Laspa Dhura. To the immediate north of the col there stood three higher points on the same range, the second and third of which concealed Nandabhanar. The ridge near these three points appear¬ed unsuitable for climbing. Seeing no other alternative they chose Camp 3 to be installed on a ledge just a few feet below the col at its eastern drop which could accommodate hardly four clim¬bers.

On 30 August in the morning Sajal and Samir with Sherpa Karma and Mingma set out for Camp 3 and stayed there for the night. The day after, they crawled down to the icy basin on the east and traversed a considerable distance through a crevassed zone to establish another camp on the basin. They could not find an encouraging route. On their west the vast icy refuse of the peak Nandabhanar and others formed a huge icefall at its feet disconnecting the basin for a route through east.

The picture was quite clear when on 1 September they esta¬blished Camp 4 and left for a recce. They found the efforts not only in vain but also ascertained it to be very risky through the crevasses. It not only marred the hope for approach through east but also created an obstruction to have a look at SE or NE of the peak. But it was evident that the peak had a sheer rock wall of 1000 ft a few feet below the top at its eastern side.

The climbers had the only faint line of hope for a route through NE in which case they would be required to climb a col nearly 19,000 ft in height between Nandakhani and Laspa Dhura to penetrate onto the NE ridge of Nandabhanar. But reaching the col they found no ridge. Even to climb Nandakhani might have been an achievement but it would only equalise the height of the icefall and would not provide a route to Nandabhanar.

In spite of best efforts, our climbers had withdraw, disap¬pointed because of their limited gear and low budget plan. They could have tried south ridge, had they been equipped with suffi¬cient equipment.

Summing up the observations by our climbers, we can conclude that the peak Nandabhanar has two ridges, north and south and two faces east and west. Both the faces are sheer rock-walls of about 2000 ft. To climb the peak through the faces demands ut¬most high grade of climbing. To climb through the south ridge also invites negotiating through three crags of rotten and unstable rocks risking rockfall any moment and also requires bivouac at unsuitable stances. It is also felt that the climb on any ridge may be performed in the pre-monsoon period with possible de¬posit of snow on the ridges.

 

 

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WE, THE Basarashu Mountaineering Party from Japan, climbed the north ridge of Satopanth (7075 m) and the northwest ridge and the south wall of Shivling (6543 m) in Garhwal Himalaya in the summer of 1983. In spite of various accidents, we could climb these two mountains. We report the ascents in the following pages.

Approach

On 25 July, we departed for Uttarkashi. Owing to the monsoon we loitered, but arrived at sacred Gangotri. Leaving the call of 'Ganga Maiya Ki Jai’ behind us, we headed for Gaumukh and made the base camp at Nandanban (4400 m) on 31 July. It was a comfortable place with grass. We could see the steep mountain of Shivling in front of us, Kedarnath, Kharchakund on the left side, and Bhagirathi on our back.

Satopanth (7075 m) North Ridge

On 1 August we started our climbing. On 2 August our mem¬ber Nozaki suffered from a serious high altitude sickness and decided to go down to Bhujbas. However, on his way, Nozaki could not walk and was carried on other's back as she was put on oxygen. Because of this accident, we stopped climbing and brought her down to Bhujbas, while liaison officer D. K. Sharma ran down to the army at Harsil at night in order to call a helicopter.

On 4 August Nozaki was carried by helicopter to Bareilly. Without co-operation of the liaison officer and kitchen boy and cook, Nozaki might have been in a worse state.

On 5 August we again started our climbing, and made up ABC at Vasuki Tal (4850 m) next day. On the 7th we made Camp 1 at the foot of Satopanth glacier, and fixed ropes for seven pitches on the ice-wall from there to the north col. On 12 August we made Camp 2 at 5850 m on the col of the north ridge. From there until 6000 m, there was an easy snow-ridge. But ahead continued a sharp edged snow-ridge above, where we fixed ropes for 12 pitches till 6300 m and made Camp 3 at 6300 m on 16 August. On 16th and 17th all the members finished adjustment and took a rest at BC. On 20 August we started to attack the summit, and our first attack party, H. Seki, Y. Endo and M. Nakao departed. They arrived at Camp 3 in the evening of 22nd as they had a hard time climbing by digging out fixed ropes and clearing fresh snow.

At three in the morning of 23 August they headed for the sum¬mit. It stopped snowing by dawn. They continued clearing snow from Camp 3 until the summit. They cut off, the snow-block on the summit ridge and arrived at the summit at 10.11 a.m. On 24th the next party left Camp 3 at 3 a.m. and arrived at the summit at 8.45 a.m. It was clear as the monsoon season was over, and we could see Kamet, other mountains around it, and Shivling which we were heading for. Except for Takamoto and Nozaki who had returned, all the members reached the summit. Y. Mihara, E. Toida, K. Miyake and Y. Seki were the first female climbers of Satopanth. From 24 through 26 August we collected fixed ropes and tents and went back to BC.

Shivling (6543 m)

After climbing Satopanth we moved BC to Tapovan on 27 and 28 August, where we took a rest until 31st. We were planning to climb Shivling in two different parties on the south wall and northwest ridge in order to meet again at the summit. As we had finished re-organizing we decided to climb in semi-alpine style.

Northwest Ridge Party

H. Seki and other six members, the party on northwest ridge made up Camp 1 at the col (5060 m) on the north where the northwest ridge is divided into two. From there we traversed around under the rock ridge into a gully, wrhere we fixed three ropes in order to go out to the snow-wall. We then climbed this snow-wall of 200 m, and climbed the fragile rock out to the west ridge. There was a rock tower of interesting shape, under which we made Camp 2 (5450 m) as it seemed to have been a tent site of the other party in the past. From there, H. Seki, Y. Endo and Y. Seki were to climb. We arrived at Camp 2 on 4 September, and made Camp 3 at the place through the rock ridge (5850 m) on 5th. It was hard climbing as we had food and equipment for four days. We were guided by bolts and pitons which the past party had left while climbing. We were satisfied as we had gone through the difficult part within a day. We felt well in spite of a little fatigue. We were going to the summit with only one bivouac.

However, an unexpected thing happened. At about 3.40 a.m. in the morning of 6 September, the upper hanging glacier broke with a big sound and caused a snow-slide, which attacked our tent where we had been sleeping. One ice-block fell on our tent and fell on Y. Seki. She shouted and fainted as she was attacked by an ice-block of 4 kg. Fortunately, her injury was not so bad, but she was off the attack party. At 7.30 a.m. H. Seki and Endo headed for the summit. The condition of the upper glacier was very bad, and at about 9.00 a.m. the second slide occurred. It was very dangerous and hard to climb this glacier. In artificially climbing the glacier, while leading, H. Seki fell down 20 m because an ice-piton and snow-bar used as a fulcrum fell off, and he got bruises on his whole body. H. Seki hung in the air and climbed again with the use of jumar by himself. Because of the acci¬dents, we gave up climbing at the point of 6000 m and went down. The three of us (Seki, Endo and Y. Seki who had been in Camp 3) went down and continued the descent until we reached at Camp 2 at 8 p.m.

On 7th, the next day, Toida, Miyake and liaison officer who had heard of this accident climbed up to Camp 2. All the members went down to Tapovan in the evening. Everyone was glad for our safety. As I recall, we were lucky indeed. Nozaki was saved, and Y. Seki and I were relieved, too. We had climbed Satopanth, We wished luck, success and safety to the south wall party.

South Wall Party

The south wall of Shivling is just like a horned owl because of its two peaks. There is a ridge at the place of the 'nose' of the horned owl. This is the same route as that of the Austrian party who challenged it in 1982. Masami Yamagata, Kenji Ohama and Masaki Nakao challenged this route in 'capsule style'.

The party who had left BC on 2 September went over the col of the east ridge (5300 m) and descended a very fragile gully down to a glacier. They set up a tent at the point 5150 m. On 3 September they climbed the glacier and snow-wall in the snowy weather up to the point 5500 m, where they set up a tent at the tip of a rock-wall. On 4 September it was snowing. The party traversed the snow-wall, heading for the centre ridge of the south wall and climbing seven pitches up to a ridge at 5600 m. On 5 September it stopped snowing by dawn. There remained fixed ropes here and there which the Austrian party seemed to have left. Our party were helped by these ropes on and off. They fixed eight pitches with ropes and set up a tent at the terrace at 5800 m. Right and left sides of the south wall were very steep.. They fixed eight pitches with ropes again and reached a point at 5900 m on 6 September. From the fifth pitch they climbed a steeper rock ridge. At the eighth pitch they crossed a snow-ridge to set up a tent. On 7 September they climbed a rock and snow pitch. At the sixth pitch they crossed a small overhang, climbed a fragile rock there, and reached 6100 m.

On 8 September their climbing became difficult. They climbed a vertical wall, traversed at the third pitch, climbed a fragile verti¬cal wall at the fourth and fifth pitch, crossed a small overhang at the fifth pitch, and traversed to the left at the sixth pitch. Our party was forced to tension traverse to a very steep place about 24 m below them. By this traverse, however, they could get to the col between the main and west summits (6250 m). They deposited their luggage at the col and went down to the tent site at 6100 m.

On 9 September they reached the col removing the fixed ropes. It was 12.50 p.m. From there they climbed a steep snow-wall by four pitches and got out to the ridge at the fifth pitch. They reached the summit at 4.22 p.m. after simultaneous climbing of four pitches. It became clear and they could see Tapovan BC. Giving the good news of their success by transreceiver, they loiter¬ed at the summit, and then they started to descend. It began to snow. They returned to the col to set up a tent.

On 10 September it was snowing in the morning. They gave up climbing the west summit (which they had planned) and des¬cended the west ridge led by transreceiver call from the BC. They made a vertical descent of 70 m at the hanging glacier. Yamagata had a hard time descending because of haze and shortage of rope. When Nakao was descending, an ice-piton fell off and he slipped off by 6 m with no injury. The party who had come out to the west ridge descended to Camp 2, where they stayed for one night.

On 11 September it started to rain after snow while descending the west ridge. They joined the west ridge party at Camp 1 and returned to BC, It took eight and a half days to climb the summit and two days to descend. In this way we left Tapovan on 14 Sep¬tember for Gangotri with the fifth fortune.

 

 

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Travel and Walk-in

THE TEAM formed by four climbers from Barcelona (Spain): Juan C. Aldeguer, Sergio Martinez, Jose L. Moreno and Juan Tomas reaches Delhi on 21 April. The following day we arrive at Uttarkashi were we contract 28 porters to transport our 300 kilos of food and equipment.

On the 23rd we arrive at Lanka by bus and there the 3-day trek begins; Gangotri, Bhujbas (Gaumukh), and base camp. On 26 April we are installed at the base camp at Nandanban, at 4300 m on the true right slope of the Gangotri glacier.

Preparation

The following day we are installed at the advance base camp (ABC) at 5000 m at the foot of the SW face of Bhagirathi III. It takes us ten days to equip it with food and equipment and we finally move there. It snows during the first stages.

On 5 May a roped team begins to install rope on the wall. The route we take passes by the superb pillar situated to the left of the Scottish climb of 1982.¹ The rock is a magnificent white granite, and the climb is vertical and very difficult. The average advance is two long pitches per day. The leader must climb only with 'rock boots', with which it is only possible to open a route during hours of sunlight which does not reach the wall until 11.30 a.m.

In eight days 350 m of rope are fixed on the wall. While one roped team is opening up the route, another takes up heavy loads of upto 150 kg of food and equipment which we calculate are necessary in order to remain on the wall for fifteen days. There are two falls which produce inconsequential injuries.

The Final Attack

After one attempt frustrated by a snowfall, on 16 May we start the final attack. Using capsule system, we leave the ABC and we begin to sleep on the wall, in a bivouac of hammocks which we fix at point A (see photo). We remove them in order to replace them higher up.

In three stages we open the central dihedral of the wall, and on the 20th we transfer our dormitory to point B, where we install our rigid hammocks. The wall has no ledges and the hammocks are uncomfortable.

In three more days we have overcome a zone crossed by an overhang and we have reached 6000 m, where the granite finishes and the mixed schists begin.

On the 24th we throw away nearly all the equipment, and using alpine technique rights away we are going to sleep at point C. The following day we cross almost all the zone of schists, which are extremely rugged and convert the climb into a very dangerous one.

We make an uncomfortable tenth bivouac and the next day (26th) after crossing some pretty ice-slopes (60 degrees) we arrive at the arete, and later at the summit at 5 p.m.

We descend a short way by the SE arete in direction of Bhagi¬rathi I, and we bivouac. On the 12th day on the wall we make eight rappels on the NE face (bad rock, we joined ropes in order to descend snowfields) and after we climb down, making large S's, by way of some slopes with bad snow, as far as the Chaturangi glacier, which we| follow in order to reach the base camp by night.

 

Technical Resume

'Impossible Star' route: new route on the W column of Bhagi-rathi III (6454 m), Garhwal Himalaya.

Unevenness: 1300 m Capsule system. Twelve days on the wall for the final attack. Summit reached on 26 May, 1984.

There are no ledges for bivouacking, hammocks are necessary.

Difficulty; M (5-10). With 4 passages of VT and two of A3+. Climb maintained in the V° grade and superior (French grading).

'Rock boots' are necessary.

Basically a free climb, fissure, beautiful, athletic and vertical, on excellent granite. On the higher part there is an area of dan¬gerous schists.

Route accomplished by a group of four climbers from Barcelona (Spain): Juan C. Aldeguer, Sergio Martinez, Jose L. Moreno and Juan Tomas.

 

 

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Delhi, May 1980

An array of ceiling fans stirred up the sultry air, billowing the full-length drapes. The high-vaulted, sparsely furnished room was decorated in deep turquoise and magenta and sea green. And lounging on the brocaded furniture were nine women.

At first glance it might have been a scene of intrigue from a popular novel. But the forty large duffel bags, the open ones re¬vealing an array of ropes, climbing hardware, camping gear and freeze-dried food suggested another story.

Six American, two Indian, and one New Zealand women were in the early stages of the 1980 Indo-American Women's Expedition to the Gangotri glacier. Actually our destination was the head of the Kedar Ganga, a tributary of the Bhagirathi, a few miles south of the Gangotri glacier.

After leading the successful women's climb of Annapurna in 1978, Arlene Blum wanted to organize a small, relatively light¬weight expedition. Planned with a small budget and no publicity, the aim was to give more women a chance to begin climbing in the Himalaya. Piro Kramar and Christy Tews had climbed in Nepal, but for Nancey Goforth, Susan Coons and myself this was our first opportunity to experience the mighty Himalaya. In con¬trast, the Garhwal region of the Himalaya was the familiar stamp¬ing ground of Rekha Sharma and Rajkumari Chand, two Indian women climbers who joined us in Delhi. Rekha was the expedition liaison officer. Both women, with their knowledge of the Garhwal Himalaya, the language, and the local culture, greatly enriched our trip. In return, they were able to extend their climbing ex¬perience. The ninth member of the team was Barbara Drinkwater, a physiologist. Barbara and Piro carried out a research project in women's high altitude physiology.

Bhrigupanth, 22,300 ft, lies in the heart of the Garhwal Himalaya. Previously unclimbed, it had been attempted from the east by the Indian army. Our attempt would be from the west, based on a single photograph and a sketchy but optimistic description from climbers who had been in the area the year before. Garhwal has experienced a surge of popularity since it was opened to Western climbers in 1979—a consequence, no doubt of the easy access and the abundance of unclimbed peaks of moderate altitude and all degrees of difficulty.

Access is indeed easy. The road climbs, a tortuous route up the Bhagirathi gorge, to Gangotri, at 10,000 ft. The temple there, on the banks of the Bhagirathi, is the desination of many Hindu pilgrims who come to worship at this sacred source of the Ganges. In some ways we felt kin to the pilgrims with whom we shared the road. Our journey, like theirs, was the culmination of many dreams.

With the help of fifteen local porters we established base camp at 14,000 ft, a leisurely two days' walk from Gangotri. Above base camp an initiation into the mysteries of Himalayan climbing began —reconnoitre a site for a camp, carry gear and supplies for a few days, take up residence there and repeat the procedure. Above 16,000 ft we had no more assistance from porters and carried every¬thing ourselves. The mystery dissolved quickly—it seems that good lungs, good legs, and a generous dose of physical and mental resilience are the primary requirements. The compensations were significant—an even better view of the classically beautiful Thalay Sagar, and the excitement of seeing our route unfold. Even the weather, the traditional bane of Himalayan climbers, was kind to us. A pattern of consistently fine days with light mist or gentle snow in the afternoon soon developed.

Above base camp a moraine-hop brought us to advance base camp. The route then skirted a moderately steep but technically easy icefall to 'snow-dome' camp, on a massive dome of ice at the foot of Thalay Sagar. A great granite bulwark girds Bhrigupanth and Thalay Sagar above the snow-dome. A convenient snow- couloir led through the rock to a col between the two mountains. From our foreshortened view of the couloir we anticipated chal¬lenging climbing. Although the angle was less than we had ex¬pected bad snow conditions made it difficult enough and we fixed 1800 ft of rope to ease the load carrying.

We keenly anticipated reaching the col, at 20,000 ft. From there our first view of the hidden flank of the mountain would show us the way to the summit. Our first view was surprising. 200 ft below we saw a broad flat plateau, an unexpected Shangrila in this vertical world. To the side where our route should lie a con¬tinuous ice-cliff seemed to guard the upper slopes. Closer inspec¬tion showed that after traversing the! plateau, a safe ramp led through the ice-cliffs to the summit slopes above. These in turn were crowned by a neat row of little rock buttresses that ringed the summit itself.

With a camp established on the plateau, and the summit team chosen, Susan and Nancey and I prepared for an attempt on the final 2500 ft. Our first attempt turned into a farce—after seven hours we had covered only 1100 ft on easy slopes. In our enthu¬siasm we had started too early when it was too cold. The time had passed warming each other's feet, laboriously plugging steps in fresh knee deep powder snow, extracting Susan from a crevasse, and belaying inefficiently in a patch of hard ice. We were forced to retreat sadly to the plateau camp. Since our radios were no longer functioning communications with the lower camps broke down. We had to go back down ourselves to carry food up from the snow-dome camp.

On 17 June we set off once more from the plateau with bivvy gear and a day's food and fuel. Avoiding the^ mistakes of our first attempt we climbed to 21,000 ft and established a bivouac camp in a wind scoop at the base of a fractured rock buttress. I still remember that first evening in the bivvy—the red rock on Thalay Sagar glowing fierce and bright in the evening sun, the shadow of Bhrigupanth cast on the face of Meru, the thread of warmth and encouragement that seemed to connect us to Christy and Arlene who had come up to the plateau camp to watch our progress.

Climbing higher, we eased around the side of the rock buttress and on to the face that led to the summit bastion. Unconsolidated knee deep, snow over dense, steep ice became thigh deep, and finally waist deep. Ice-screws were difficult to place in the brittle ice. Our progress slowed and our hopes for a quick ascent faded with the day. We were 100 ft from the rock band, may be 250 ft below the summit. The sun was setting and an electrical storm raged over the summit of nearby Kedarnath. The snow was even worse, the rock looked difficult, and we did not want to climb in the dark. There seemed little choice. A long rappel off single, shaky screws by torchlight brought us back to our bivvy site. We talked about going back up the next day, but that night, the prospect of the effort, the testing conditions, and the lack of food and water seemed overwhelmingly daunting. It no longer seemed of any consequence to reach the summit except as a way of end¬ing the struggle, so that we could go down.

The new day brought new hope and the decision was made with no discussion—we set off again, upwards. We made quick pro¬gress at first with steps and protection already in place. Above our highest point I struggled with a long traverse in deep snow over loose rock, which steepened into a narrow gully between rock ribs. I cleared armloads of snow from the holds, bridged and pulled up on frozen blocks. Susan took over the lead and flailed the final 50 ft on atrocious snow and ice.

The three of us stood on the summit at last, but thick mist hid the view that was to have rewarded six weeks of effort and months of. preparation. We took the obligatory summit photographs of each other, and contemplated the descent.

I have always found the summits of mountains anticlimactic. It seems a mountain is not climbed until it is descended as well. We had climbed for two days with little food and water, we were facing darkness, bad weather, and rappels on rotten rock. Yet underneath the immediate worries of the descent were still the familiar experiences that yield the real rewards—the focusing of mind and body and soul on a single objective, the uniting of all my powers to overcome a problem that is overwhelming as a whole but step by step becomes possible.

Descending to the bivvy was desolate. I stood alone on the belays, the last person down each rappel, with my headlamp illuminating a diffuse halo of falling snowflakes, feeling cold and lonely. At last there was some relief as I stepped off the last rappel, and dragging the rope behind me stumbled into the bivvy.

It was days of rain and carrying heavy loads down the moun¬tain before we could reflect on the climb. But at last we reached base camp where we could unwind and relax, and feel the sun on our bodies and a sense of pleasure in our accomplishment. Our safe and successful ascent was a tribute to our work as a team, both as women and as an international group.

Members : Arlene Blum, Penny Brothers, Rajkumari Chand, Susan Coons, Barbara Drinkwater, Nancey Goforth, Piro Kramar, Rekha Sharma, Christy Tews.

 

 

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ON MY several visits to Garhwal Himalaya, I had heard so much about the sanctity, serenity and ruggedness of terrain of Kagbhusund Tal that it became irresistible for me to visit it. Be¬sides a keen desire to photograph the lesser known and unfrequent¬ed beauty of spots of Garhwal, my spiritual attachment to the holy places pressed me on to undertake a pilgrimage to the Tal. So on a bright August day along with a friend, S. R. Saini, I left for Garhwal.

Between Joshimath and Badrinath there is a small place called Gobindghat (near Pandukeshvar). It is the starting point for treks to Valley of Flowers and Hemkund. We left our jeep at Gobindghat and engaged two sturdy porters.

The first day of the trek was an easy and gradual climb to a village, Bhyundar, 8 km away. We spent the night in a school building. It rained the whole night and we fervently hoped that it clears in the morning. During the night we checked our gear— rations, tents, raincoats etc., to be ready for any kind of weather next morning and the sun was just peeping through a thin veil of clouds and mist. We were on our way by six in the morning. After winding through some very slippery and muddy patches, we reached a point where we were confronted by a steep rock, almost perpendicular and a rapid stream gushing through to the right of us. We decided to take the rock. Getting whatever holds we could we crossed it on all fours. Now it was a stretch of almost 4 km with thick foliage, seven feet high thorny grass and bushes called 'Bicchoo Booti',¹ which when touched gave a sharp stinging sensation. The ground was covered with thick vegetation and big boulders. The going was slow and tiring.

After about 4 km the landscape changed as if by magic and we were in an open valley called Semartoli the like of which I had never seen before. There were wild monsoon flowers and flowers everywhere. Saini and I marvelled at the bountiful extra¬vagance of nature. There wras a carpet of flowers of every shade and colour as far as the eye could see. I have been to the Valley of Flowers, too, but this was something vastly different. Saini aptly described it as the 'Asli Pushpghati', the real Valley of Flowers. Who would not like to tarry a while in such a dream place ? We decided to take a short rest and refresh ourselves. The cameras were out and started capturing the colourful splen¬dour all about the place. Well refreshed, we started for the distant glacier looming large on the horizon. We found it to be heavily crevassed. Zigzagging our way cautiously we crossed it around 3 p.m. and reached a shepherd's hut in a place called Rajkharak.

 

Sham Singh, the old shepherd was the owner of the solitary hut. He was about 65 years old and full of the cheerfulness which is so natural in these simple hill folk. He brewed tea for the four of us. The steaming cup of tea was most refreshing and conversation flowed easily. 'Did any one visit the Tal this season?' we asked. 'No, you are the first ones of the year, apart from the few locals' he replied.

Sham Singh stays here for about six months every year with his younger brother and son, grazing his flock of about a thousand sheep and goats. A team of five ferocious looking watch dogs help him in rounding up the sheep, the dogs are always on the alert for any leopard or wild bear that might be roving about. Sham Singh informed us that the region abounded in these and one has to be particularly careful about the wild bears who would very often attack for no reason at all.

It became cloudy and started to rain. We pitched our tents next to the hut and spread out our sleeping bags hoping for a good night's sleep which, alas, was not to be. At 14,000 ft a plains¬man like me experienced loss of appetite and sleep. The thunder, rain and continued barking of the dogs added to my discomfort. As if this was not enough, my tent was leaking, making the sleep¬ing bag wet and damp. How I missed my warm comfortable bed at New Delhi!

At last came dawn and the much needed cup of tea. Leaving tents and sleeping bags to dry, we were ready to march by six-thirty. The shepherd assured us that as we were young and healthy we would be able to reach the Tal inside three hours if we main¬tained a steady pace. However, at about 9.30 a.m. first signs of fatigue appeared and Prithvi Singh, our porter informed me that we had covered only half the distance so far. The going was be-coming difficult with every step. Our path lay across huge boul¬ders. Somehow we reached the Pass at 17,000 ft, the view from there was breathtaking. We felt as if were almost at level with Hathi and Ghori Parbat on one side and on the other side below spread the vast expanse of Joshimath hills.

Here our porter informed us that the Tal was about a 1000 ft down. This was depressing information as going downhill was as tiresome as climbing up. We began our descent. We had been going down for about 45 minutes when there appeared before us a deep emerald coloured lake. The Kagbhusund Tal in all its glory. We bowed our beads in awe and reverence and said a silent prayer.

In' about 45 minutes the porters were back after having a dip in the holy waters. The wind was now strong and it became chilly. Very soon it started to rain. We decided to return. We reached the hut late in the evening. Next morning it was time to say good¬bye to our excellent hosts Sham Singh and company. It is my be¬lief that only a hillman can welcome a complete stranger with open arms. We shall always cherish the memories of these simple yet big hearted friends. We gave them all our medicines for com¬mon ailments like headaches etc. which they accepted joyfully.

Note : The names differ on the maps. The pass is called 'Kankul Khal' and the Tal is called 'Kankul Tal'. Kagbhusund gad flows from the Khal to west directly to Alaknanda. There is an alternative route viz Baldeora and Gaucha Udiar. Kagbhusund peak (5855 m) lies far to the north on Deoban glacier* — Ed.

 

 

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PIN-PARBATI pass (c. 16,500 ft) is situated on the Kulu-Spiti divide separating the sources of Parbati and Pin rivers. It has a difficult approach and it is rather tricky to locate it from the Kulu side. This explains why a large number of attempts have been made to cross the pass from Spiti. Sir Louis Dane crossed it in 1884 from Spiti followed by F. Skemp in 1906. The first known crossing from Kulu to Spiti was done by a team led by H. Lee Shuttleworth in 1921. There may have been other unrecorded crossings by locals as mentioned by J.O.M. Roberts, who, however, himself failed to locate the pass in 1939, as it was shown incor¬rectly on the map.¹

 

In the hundredth year of Sir Louis Dane's crossing, a group of five from West Bengal led by me set out to repeat the crossing from the Kulu side. The other members of the group were Gurudas Santra, Anil Banerjee, Robin Dey and Shib Shankar Mukherjee. After collecting the necessary inner line permits from S. D, M. Kulu and hiring three porters from Manali at Rs 35 per day plus food, I reached the bus head at Manikaran, a lovely hill resort on the right bank of Parbati on 5 September, 1983 and joined the other members who were waiting.

We were able to move out late in the morning and reach Naktan (8000 ft), the last village enroute, before dusk. Here we took shelter in a deserted temple. Next morning the porters were very late in moving out. So we could make it only upto Khirganga (9000 ft). On the way we crossed the Parbati over a log bridge near Rudra Nag.² Besides the temple there is a lovely hot spring at Khirganga, of which we took full advantage.

On the 8th we continued along the true left bank of the Parbati. The valley widened out beyond a small rock-step and the track ran through thick forests. At Niara thatch camping ground we met a group who were returning after collecting medicinal herbs. Thereafter we forded a turbulent stream, crossed a plank-bridge over the next one, and ascended through gentle alps to reach Tunda Bhuj (11,000 ft). The nextj day's march through forest took us past Tunda Bhuj cave, along alpine meadows and over the Basuki Nal, flowing down from the south. At its head we could see the rocky Basuki Nag (17,186 ft), recceed by J. O. M. Roberts in 1941. The tree-line ended here and the Parbati after taking an S bend widened out. Three sections of craggy rocks were negotiated and after crossing another stream over boulders we reached Thakur Kuan camp site. There is a large) cave here but we preferred to camp on the river bank. The wire rope bridge here across Parbati. leads to Dibibokri nala which splits the massive rock walls and falls into Parbati on the opposite bank.

On the 10th the valley gradually turned from east to south¬east and widened out. We could at last see peaks and glaciers in the distance. After passing through Gaddi thatch where there is a cave we came to the Pandav bridges. The first one was a big boulder lying across a stream coming from the south. Its slippery surface was risky for our laden porters. Beyondt this wTas the second bridge, another gigantic rock spanning the Parbati itself which we used to cross the river.³ We camped about half a kilo¬metre upstream of these natural bridges. It started raining, the temperature went down to below zero and it snowed during the night.

On the 11th we forded a number of streams coming down from our left and trekked through undulating meadows till we reached a flat ground where the Parbati flowed in several channels. Since Mantalai lake was still some distance away, we camped in a wonderful double storied cave which could easily accommodate thirty people. The, holy lake (13,500 ft) was reached fairly early on the next day and we stopped for offerings. After proceeding about half a kilometre beyond the lake we met a team which had crossed the pass from Spiti the day before. We took one of their porters and released the two Manikaran boys. We camped in the afternoon near the snout of the Parbati glacier. South Parbati (20,101 ft) and its rocky pinnacle dominated the entire moun-tainscape.

 

Next day we started at about 8 a.m. After fording an ice-cold runnel we pushed south along the right lateral moraine of the Parbati glacier and gained height steeply. It was difficult to locate the exact snout because of multitude of glacial tarns and streamlets dotting its surface. At about 10.45 a.m. we turned left into a valley formed between the two parallel ridges coming from the east, to follow a turbulent feeder stream. We then turned NE up a subsidiary stream at the head of which I could notice a vast icefield. I was able to spot the huge flat-topped boulder at our left which Graeme Dingle had asked me to look out for. Dingle and three other members of the Indo-New Zealand Himalayan Traverse team had crossed Pin-Parbati in 1981 attempting it from Sutlej valley on the south. The hints given by Dingle now came useful. We pitched camp about 500 ft below that bivvy rock at a height of about 15,500 ft. The weather was clear but it was ex¬tremely windy and cold.

On the 14th morning we set out at 6.10 a.m. Steep slopes of scree and boulders soon gave way to hard ice and in spite of steps cut from time to time, some members found it difficult to negotiate the ice-slopes in their ordinary shoes. The ice-slopes led us to the vast icefield liberally sprinkled with crevasses.

The pass was at last visible in the distance as the lowest "point of the rocky rim. By means of a lucky ice-bridge spanning a huge crevasse we gained it at 11 a.m. There were a number of large cairns to which we added stones. We could, see a host of icy peaks towards Kulu dominated by the magnificent South Parbati and a series of black rocky peaks stretched away towards Spiti. After spending fifty minutes on top. we started down the other side.. After another fifty minutes the ice-slopes gave way to boulders and scree and we could see the three streamlets which join to form Pin river. We pitched camp shortly thereafter on a snow free ground. The famous Spiti winds battered our tents during the night.

Next morning we crossed the stream to our left after coming down about 800 ft to the bed. of the glacier and proceeded down the true left bank of the Pin river. After a long day's march over loose boulders we made a camp at a small level ground known as Chink Pata maidan. Two more days down the valley, unusual because of its colourful serrated rock formations, saw us to Muth, the first village. We were out of rations by that time. Since there was no food at Muth we pushed forward to Sagnam over a. fairly difficult track at places. Sagnam is a big village at the confluence of Parahio and Pin and is provided with a P.W.D. Bungalow. Our permits were checked here and we were able to buy rations and fuel.

On the 18th we crossed the single wire rope bridge over Parahio with the aid of pulleys kindly supplied by the overseer of the P.W.D, Our 22 km long trek, to reach the bus head at Attargo commenced at 11 a.m.. We passed through Gulling, Chedang and Dolgang and arrived at a. point where we could see a flat valley at the far end of which Pin meets with Spiti river near Dankhar. We followed the right bank of the Spiti to cross it over a bridge at Attargo. The evening bus took us to Kaza, the headquarters of Spiti, within an hour. After resting for a day at Kaza, we took the bus to Manali via Kunzum and Rohtang passes on 20 September.

 

 

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SUSAN BRENER, Barry Owen and I spent a short time in the Miyar nala area, of Lahul in September 1983. We went up the first glacier to the right (E) off the main glacier which flows down from the Kangla Jot. The configuration of the glaciers shown on the Himachal Pradesh trekking map is reasonably accurate, as shown on the accompanying sketch. Although we had not read of any other expeditions to this glacier we did find dis¬gusting litter left by a Japanese party. It was obvious that no attempt had been made to bury it; at two sites we came across tins, sacks, bottles and plastic bags strewn over the dry ice and moraines with abandon. We felt sad that mountaineers should be so careless of unspoilt country and can only hope that future parties will be more thoughtful.

The side, glacier forks after a few miles and the direct con¬tinuation has an awkward icefall which we climbed in bad weather. However we later took the easier northern fork and established a camp in a. snow-bowl at about 5250 m. From here we climbed two peaks shown on the sketch as A and B. To reach A we followed an easy glacier up to a plateau at about 5750 m on the frontier ridge between Lahul and Zanskar. We then had an excellent rock climb of about 300 m up firm knobbly granite with one quite hard pitch low down. We traversed the peak and continued along the ridge over a sharp subsidiary pinnacle before dropping back down to our camp. This climb was done by the three of us on 7 September. After a rest day Barry and I climbed the beautiful peak B by an interesting and varied snow and ice route. We had perfect weather and enjoyed superlative views from the summit. We traversed the mountain in a westerly direction, descending by way of the glacier bowl below peak 3 and .then re-crossing a col to our camp.

The spot heights marked on the trekking map are difficult to identify precisely but we have marked three which seem to fit. The highest peaks in the area are probably 1, 2 and 3, the latter two being reasonably accessible from the second tributary glacier of the main Miyar nala glacier.

 

 

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OUR EXPEDITION to Phabrang (20,250 ft) began on 28 May, 1984, as we boarded the bus for Udaipur in Lahul. It was evening when we passed the Trilokinath temple on the other side of the river and at 7 p.m. we were at Udaipur.

On the 29th we departed for the next village Sukeli, situated ?at a distance of 10 km along the Miyar nala. As our progress was very slow, we settled for a night halt at Sukeli. The next day we could make progress only to Chimret, covering a distance of 8 km.

We reached Karpet on 31st evening. It was the last village enroute and the first place from where we had a view of Phabrang.

Next morning, we regrouped ourselves and left for BC.

We had already covered 10 km from Karpet, and a good part of the walk was on moraine, bringing us to 13,000 ft. Feeling tired and with no inclination to proceed ahead, we decided to put up a camp on the moraine of Raling Jot.

The next day's walk to BC though not long was totally over moraine. After covering a distance of 4 km on boulders and un¬even stones, we established BC at 14,500 ft, Phabrang loomed large over us. At various nooks and corners, traces of ice and snow could be seen, This in fact was to become our source of water for the rest of the expedition. The path beyond BC was over the glacier. So on the 3rd, we proceeded further to establish the ABC (16,400 ft) near the foot of the icefall. Now the southern ridge appeared more prominent and looked higher than the upper reaches. In the afternoon, Prabhu, Devi Singh and I went for a recce and after examining the various approaches to the moun¬tain, we decided on the southwest route over the icefall which is on the western shoulder of the mountain.

The three of us left ABC the following day to open the route over the icefall. At 5.30 a.m. the weather was excellent. Fixing ropes, we slowly negotiated this difficult terrain. When we had climbed about 500 ft, we heard a thundering- sound from behind. Looking back, we saw that the lower portion of the icefall had avalanched, raising clouds of powdered snow in the air. It was sheer luck that we had already crossed the avalanched area an hour back. The weather had taken a sudden turn and by noon we were surrounded by clouds. We had no alternative but to con¬tinue. So around 3.30 p.m. we reached the wide glacier cap south of Phabrang, at 17,500 ft. We selected a place which was least affected by wind (as we were exposed to wind from both sides) and pitched our tent.

On 5 June, we could leave our camp at 8 a.m. As a result of the recce made the previous evening, we selected the southwest route. Going was not easy bcause the path was very steep. At several places we had to negotiate stretches which were a com¬bination of rock and ice. At others, we had to pass through knee deep snow. We had planned to reach a col on the main ridge in two to three hours and from there traverse the main ridge which would lead us to the summit. We reached the col by 2.30 p.m. There we were agairf confronted with bad weather, perhaps the worst ever. We were in the midst of clouds with visibility almost zero. Going further on the sharp ridge could have been suicidal. We were left with no other alternative but to take a shelter somewhere.. The col is open from the two sides and was very windy, so we thought it proper to go down a little. Only after we had descended, almost 200 ft could we find a small shelter between the rocks. It was barely enough for three of us.. However, with no other possibility, we decided to bivouac here. It was a severe night for us with mercury falling as low as —24°C and a strong wind blowing throughout the night.

Morning came after a long wait. Our bodies were stiff from cold and the previous day's fatigue. Once our stomachs were full we felt reasonably warm in our clothings. The weather was fine. We set out for the col at 8 a.m. and after reaching there we found ourselves over a portion of loose rocks. Crossing this did not pose any problem. But thereafter lay stretches of steep ice. At several places we had to cut steps. It also became necessary to fix rope as the razor-edged ridge posed hazards. Our progress was slow. We could see a high point ahead of us but we were not sure whether it was the summit. It appeared to be very near and yet we were finding it so difficult to reach it. At about 11 am. the weather once again turned bad. But fortunately the visibility continued to be good. After some time it started snowing. We could still see the ridge ahead of us. We kept crossing one hump after another but then some other would appear which was higher than the previous one. Around 4 p.m.. the weather Gods were smiling at us and the clouds around us had disappeared. This gave us courage and we felt hopeful of making it to the summit. We saw the panorama of peaks all around us. After walking for more than an hour we made a steep climb which took us to the top of the " last hump. On reaching the top we realised that we were on the summit of Phabrang because all other surrounding areas were lower. It was six in the evening and a great moment for us. North was covered with clouds. On south and east we saw a panorama of mountain ranges. There was just sufficient light at that moment and we took a few shots. After staying on the top for seven minutes, we started descending. We had to bivouac again for the night.

On 7 June, three of us came down to Camp 1. A false alarm triggered by a avalanche worried our teammates below. However we descended to ABC to a happy reunion and were back at Udaipur to celebrate our climb.

 

 

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AT 7350 m, KARUN KOH must be one of the most attractive and amongst the highest unclimbed peaks in the world. Towering over the mountains around it, it is situated to the north of the main Karakoram chain,, only a few miles to the south of the Chinese frontier. It is one of the peaks reserved for the Pakistan Alpine Club and is therefore open only to joint expeditions. It had been attempted by only one expedition, an Austrian one led by Robert Schauer in 1983. They approached the mountain from the village of Markhun on the Karakoram highway, up a narrow valley leading to the glacier that flows southwest from the moun¬tain. They established base camp at 4800 m but only managed to get as far as the col at the head of the glacier at a height of about 5500 m.

In 1984 our four-man team consisting of Al Rouse and myself, with two Pakistan climbers, Major Ikram Ahmed Khan and Maqusood Ahmed, followed the same route. We set out from Islamabad on 25 May by mini bus in which we were able to pack all the expedition baggage. This is probably the cheapest and most comfortable way of travelling up the Karakoram highway. We reached Gilgit in the day and the following day drove to Markhun, by jeep and Suzuki van.

We left Markhun on 29 May with 30 porters. The route starts up a narrow gorge, which then opens out into a wide cultivated valley, dotted with small stone houses. Beyond this cultivated area the path winds through sparse juniper woods to the upper pastures. We camped by some derelict herders' huts at 3732 m. Karun Koh was still hidden from view, concealed by a bend in the valley.

The following day, we reached the snowline at around 4000 m, just short of the snout of the Karun Koh glacier. You get your first view of Karun Koh as you come round the corner of the glacier. It towers at it's head, the two skyline ridges looking de¬ceptively easy, for their very steep approaches are concealed by intervening ground.

We spent a fortnight acclimatizing on surrounding peaks and then on 14 May made a recce of the southwest ridge of Karun Koh, finding a safe route to the foot of the ridge up the snow slopes to the side of the glacier and then along a glaciated shelf below the crest of the ridge leading to Karun Koh. We camped in a snow basin just short of the southwest ridge and then recceed a route to the foot of the ridge. This was barred by three steep rock pinnacles and the only way round them seemed to be a long traverse on snow and ice below them. Above the pinnacles a knife-edged ridge led to a barrier of seracs at about 7000 m. Beyond this the difficulties semed to ease.

We were back at our high camp on 22 June after a few days of unsettled weather. We had shifted this closer to the foot of the pinnacles at a height of 5700 m. On 23 June Al and I set out for our first attempt on the mountain. We were carrying four days* food, a selection of ice and rock gear and a hundred metres of rope. Almost immediately we encountered hard bare ice and as a result, progress was both slow and laborious. We had set out at three in the morning but by ten the sun had softened what little snow was covering the ice on the traverse and we had only climbed nine rope lengths. There seemed at least another six pitches before we reached it's end and the probability that we should have to contend with bare ice for most of the way to the top.

We therefore decided to retreat and try to find an easier route round and unexplored east side of the mountain. On 24 June the four of us crossed the shoulder below the southwest ridge to drop down onto the glacier to the south of Karun Koh. We followed this down to where it was joined by a steep icefall dropping down from the eastern side of the mountain and then climbed it to a col to the east of the mountain. We could now see the southeast, the east and the north ridges of Karun Koh. They were dramatically steep and narrow with the faces in be¬tween threatened by seracs. These looked even more difficult than the pinnacled southwest ridge.

We therefore decided to return to the southwest side of the mountain and try this once again. Unfortunately the weather now broke and after ten days of continuous bad weather and one more attempt curtailed by bad veather we judged that it had set in for a long time and there seemed little point in trying to sit it out. We therefore evacuated the mountain.

Karun Koh is undoubtedly a very worthwhile objective and the pinnacled ridge should be feasible. It would probably be better to attempt it earlier in the season when one could expect a better snow cover. Although we did not succeed in climbing Karun Koh, we had an enjoyable and worthwhile time, parti¬cularly in exploring the glaciers around the mountain and pro¬bably being the first people to clinb the icefall and glacier to the east of Karun Koh. We look forward to returning to Karun Koh for another attempt on this challenging unclimbed peak.

 

 

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ON 18 MAY 1984 the team left Rawalpindi in a mini-bus followed by a bus with the gear bound for the expedition area. It was a 15 hour drive to Gilgit on the Karakoram highway. In the late afternoon of the following day we left for Passu, following the Hunza valley, which we reached at 11 p.m. It took two days to organize a team of local porters. On 22 May a team of 76 porters and a few attendants accompanied us through the narrow ravines of the Shimshal valley. After five days we reached the village' of Shimshal, We crossed the Yazghil glacier in two days and on 28 May set up the base camp on the right moraine of the glacier at an altitude of almost 4000 m. Two days later a Japanese ex¬pedition bound for the summit of Yukshin Garden Sar as well joined us in the base camp. The Pakistan Alpine Club had arranged a joint expedition of two Japanese teams parallel with our enterprise.

We had planned a maximum period of 7 weeks for the ascent beforehand. The presence of the Japanese expedition was a strong incentive for us to reach the summit as soon as possible. The Japanese were accompanied by the best Pakistani mountaineers.

On 29 May Camp 1 was set up at an altitude of 4400 m on a beautiful site with a view of Yukshin Garden. On 1 June we managed to establish Camp 2 at 5150 m and Camp 3 was set up on 3 June 100 m below Camp 2 at 5050 m.

On 7 June we could stay in Camp 4 at 6150 m on the edge of a firn-basin which had a length of about 8 km.

After crossing it we set up our last camp (Camp 5) right under¬neath the summit face on 9 June at 6700 m. The first attempt to reach the summit on 10 June had to be cancelled because of bad weather. All members returned to the base camp. But on 15 June we were ready to ascend once more, because we were determined to reach the summit before the Japanese. After hauling our skis all the way up to Camp 4—we wanted to cross the firn-basin as fast as possible—the second attempt failed on 18 June because of bad weather. Our team actually consists of the five Austrians who descend to Camp 3 together.

As all our supplies of food are finished, I (as the team leader) descend to the base camp to organize transport to Camp 3. This is our only chance, because according to experience the weather would stay clear for 3 to 4 days at the most before bad weather would approach from southwest. This assumption turned out to be right. On 24 June Willi Bauer, Reinhard Streif, Willi Brandecker, and Dr Walter Bergmayjr ascended to Camp 4 and reached Camp 5 on 25 June.

In excellent weather they started climbing the summit face on 26 June and reached the summit of Yukshin Garden Sar (7530 m) at 4.30 p.m. after an extremely difficult and dangerous climb. The first ascent of this high unclimbed mountain had been suc-cessfully achieved. After clearing all our camps the expedition set off for Rawalpindi on 3 July.

Description of route

The approach to base camp lasts 7 days together with the porters and is very exhausting. Our base camp is situated in the first one-third of the Yazghil glacier, on the only safe site on the orographic right. Because the glacier is nearly unclimbable be¬cause of thousands of seracs we went up the side moraine and the adjacent steep and dangerous slopes.

You go as far as the branch of Yazghil glacier. There you find an excellent site for Camp 1 at 4400 m, from there it is impossible to make a way across the glacier. So we crossed the branch of the glacier (width 1 km) and ascended over a crevassed rock-ridge leading up to the summit. At an altitude of 5200 m we crossed slightly descending to an altitude of 5150 m where we set up Camp 2.

From there we descended 300 m in a wide steep couloir as far as the glacier. Partly on the glacier and partly beside it to a place between two hanging glaciers we established Camp 3 on a good site at 5050 m. Now on the very edge of the glacier under steep ice-faces and hanging glaciers all the way up to the side crevasse (60°). (Danger of stone- ice- and snow-avalanches). Now you ascend about 800 m from left to right in an ice-face (40°) up to 6150 m. This is the beginning of a firn-basin with a length of 8 km—(Camp 4). This firn-basin is slightly slop¬ing upwards to the foot of the summit face (Camp 5, 6700 m). The way leads across snow-slopes to a rock pillar (icy and steep) up to a narrow gap. From there 150 m downwards into a very steep ice-couloir (60°). You traverse the couloir and ascend to the summit ridge, which you dimb to the summit of Yukshin Garden Sar.

 

 

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The Approach

ON 11 JUNE 1979 we found ourselves at Rawalpindi bus station waiting to begin the 17 hour non-stop ride to Gilgit. The bus journey was an unforgettable experience in itself. The second half of the trip is along the Karakoram Highway, following the Indus valley, and the trip can only be described as truly frighten¬ing. The K.K.H., as it is commonly known, has been blasted out of the sheer sides of the Indus gorge; unfortunately, the rock is still very unstable and ever so often the road has either dis¬appeared or been blocked by rockfall.

We spent a day in Gilgit and extravagantly had a meal at the newly built five-star Rakaposhi Hotel; we found it rather bizarre to be rubbing shoulders with middle-aged American tourists in such a wild setting. Following another night in the Vershi Ghoom Hotel we managed to cram ourselves and our equipment into a single jeep for the 80 miles and 10 hours of purgatory to Yasin, from where we would start walking.

We were fortunate in getting porters that evening and so the following day we were ready to leave Yasin by 9.00 a.m. We had six porters carrying 25 kilograms each and three of us carried our personal gear, a weight of about 15 kilograms. We all felt a cer¬tain release, now the walking had started; I think we all felt we could relax before the hard work of climbing began. The only thing that was a little troubling was the amount of snow visible on the peaks around Yasin, and on those we saw on the walk in. On talking to the valley people through Farid (L.O.), they told us that the last winter had been the worst snowfall for over 25 years.

We had originally intended to have our base camp at the junc¬tion of the Galander Gum and Aghost Bar glaciers, but due to the amount of snow the porters would go no further than Sholtali. So after paying off the porters, we just stood around helplessly as Yashinkar and Danat Shah took us under their wing and pitched our tents, built a fireplace, tables and chairs, and erected our tarpaulin as a sun awning. We—or rather they—had established base camp.

The Climb

After the first night at base canp it was decided that Jim and Farid would take a look at the north face of Thui Zom, while Ian, who had caught a cold on the walk in would stay at base camp in an attempt to shake it off. They left on their reconnais¬sance at 8.00 a.m. on the 17th and continued up the Aghost Bar glacier directly beneath the north face of Thui Zom to the Thui An pass.

They returned at 6.00 p.m. looking very tired; Jim described the walk as going from Chamonix up the Mer de Glace to the Vallee Blanche. Unfortunately he also confirmed our worst fears, that the north face of Thui Zom was totally out of the question for just the two of us with the limited time we had available. He also described our intended base camp as being buried by at least 10 ft of snow.

We made the decision to direct our attention to Thui III. The following day while Farid and Jim had a rest, Ian, whose cold had improved and whq was eager for some exercise, went to reconnoitre the south face of Thui III. He went up the Aghost Bar glacier to the junction with the Galander Gum glacier and then followed that to the foot of the first icefall. The thing he found most amazing was the amount of snow; when he had been here in 1974 it was a dry glacier, now it was uniformly covered in deep snow; also looking at Thui Zom he could only confirm Jim's pessimistic findings.

On return to base camp the prospective route was discussed and it was thought the major difficulties would be the icefall at the foot of the face, and the mixed climbing at the top of it. Also, as the south face looked decidedly avalanche-prone we thought the route should go up the left-hand side.

The next day, 19 June, was spent sorting and packing gear; we took food and fuel for seven days and also an assortment of rock and ice climbing gear. As base camp was at an altitude of 10,000 ft and the summit was a little over 20,300 ft, we knew we would not be giving ourselves time to acclimatize properly. Balanced against this, however, was the weather, in that at the moment it was superb and we felt that it was sure to change soon, and if we spent time acclimatizing and stocking camps, we may well miss our chance if the weather broke.

"We left Farid at base camp on the 20th at first light and followed the Aghost Bar and Galander Gum glaciers to the first icefall. We managed to avoid the worst of the icefall by skirting it on its true left bank and then traversing back above it to our first bivouac beneath a rock buttress at the foot of the face. This 4000 ft gain in height and about eight miles in distance took us nine hours with frequent rests, yet on arrival at the bivouac we were both very tired. Considering our relatively slow time and that we were starting to feel the altitude slightly, it was decided that we would have to dispense with some weight. Our sacks had weighed about 45 lb that day, and after we had discarded a lot of food, a bottle of fuel and some climbing hardware we got this down to about 30 lb.

We spent a very comfortable night on the platform we had dug beneath the buttress, our Gore-tex bivouac tent working very well in that we didn't have any condensation problems. After a reason¬able breakfast we packed up, leaving a lot of gear behind, and at about 5.30 a.m. had set off. From reports of previous attempts of Thui III we expected a lot of problems negotiating the crevasses and bergschrund at the foot of the face. However, we were ex¬tremely lucky, presumably because of the winter's heavy snow¬fall and the continuous avalanches, most of the crevasses we had heard so much about were gone and we had no problems getting established on the face proper. By now the sun was up and plodding up the soft snow was extremely tiring, especially as we were now definitely suffering from the altitude. Our goal this second day was an ice-cave we could see about half way up the face where the angle began to steepen. By the time we reached it at 11.00 a.m. we were completely shattered and it was obvious we would go no further that day. The ice-cave made an ideal bivouac, so we pitched the tent and spent the afternoon brewing up and discussing our future course of action. We knew we still had about three-and-a-half thousand feet to go, and this would be technically the hardest part of the climb; also we appreciated that unacclimatized as we were we would be fairly slow. In essence we had to decide whether we went for the summit next day, or spent the day going down to the site of our first bivouac and returning with more food and fuel. Eventually we decided to go for the summit, our reasons being that at any moment we expected the weather to break, End if we paused we would destroy our impetus and stop it being an alpine ascent.

So the following morning, the 22 June, we left the ice-cave at first light, this time all we carried was a single rope, half a dozen rock and ice-pitons, a few chocs and a dead-man snow belay. We left the tent, stove, our spare clothing and sleeping bags at the cave, realising if we were to complete the climb we had to travel as light as possible. We reached the summit at 2.30 p.m. after nine hours of continuous slow movement; the climbing had at no point been desperately hard. The main technical climbing had been near the summit wheie there had been mixed climbing interspersed with snow- and ice-couloirs that had become in¬creasingly precarious because of the afternoon sun. We spent half an hour on the summit, taking ;he usual photographs and enjoy¬ing the magnificent panorama; it was a perfect day with hardly a cloud in the sky, so we could see for miles; we could even see our base camp 10,000 ft below at Sholtali. Later Farid said he had been looking out for us but; unfortunately never saw us; he just had to take our word for it that we had, in fact, made the top.

The descent was rather dangerous because by now the snow was in an atrocious condition and because we had only 50 m of rope, our abseils were short. After using up most of our hard¬ware by abseiling the steep mixed ground below the summit, we down-climbed the 55° snow- and ice-slope we had ascended from the ice-cave. We soon realised that belays were non-existent in the slushy mush the face had now become, so we unroped and descended separately and arrived back at the cave about 6.30 p.m. We were both physically and emotionally exhausted and finding our stove had run out of fuel had an uncomfortable, thirsty night.

The following day, still very tired, probably from dehydration as much as anything else, we just descended to the site of our first bivouac and spent the day enjoying numerous brew-ups and discussing the motives that made us want to climb. Needless to say we never really came up with any answers.

Next day saw us retracing our steps through the first icefall and along the two glaciers to Sholtali, to drag Farid out of his tent at 9.00 a.m. He had become used to a rather lazy existence while we had been away. The reunion was all we would have expected; he was as delighted to see us as we were to see him, and then Yashinkar and his brother arrived, and we drank tea and told our tales for the rest of the day.

 

 

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TIRICH'S MAIN chain stretches eastwards with a long ridge, separating the basin of lower Tirich glacier from that of Barum glacier.

From this ridge, on the east side of Tirich, rise Bindu Gul Zom I, Bindu Gul Zom II, Lono Zom and Kono Zom.

From Bindu Gul Zom II, a complete and imposing mountain, a long ridge with 4 prominent humps stretches northwards as far as the confluence of Lower Tirich and Upper Tirich glaciersr where the ridge itself gives origin to a vertical wall.

The most elevated of the 4 heights is 5891 m and is named Bindu Gul Zom II; no name or height have been ever given to the 3 others. As a matter of fact, they could be identified; as Bindu Gul Zom IV, V, VI according to what seems to be the custom of the country.

Their height is estimated between 5200 m and 5600 m.

The goal of the expedition was the west-northwest wall of Bindu Gul Zom II. A route was chosen, but it soon revealed to be too dangerous because of stone falls. It was then decided to find another route entirely on the long north ridge; it appeared to be much more difficult and complex from the technical view¬point, but safer from objective risks.

The expedition left Rawalpindi on 19 July 1984, crossed the Lowari Pass by jeep and reached Chitral on the day after. On the 21st, by a jeep, it moved from Chitral to Zumgramgran, in the Tirich Valley.

On 24 July, the base camp was pitched on the Lower Tirich glacier, just near the walls of the Bindu Gul Zoms.

On the 25th the expedition started the exploration of the ridge and, on the following days (27th, 28th, 29th) the ridge was climbed up to the top of the first height, overcoming the hardest technical difficulties of the whole ascent. Fixed ropes were set along the route.

Two parties, composed by Lino Castiglia, Ugo Manera, Franco Ribetti and Claudio Sant' Unione began the ascent on 31 July, directly from the base camp, and at night they bivouacked on the lower summit.

On the day after, they went round to the east side to avoid the numerous rock needles) on the ridge connecting the second to the third hump; they spent the second night on the snow-saddle at the base of Bindu Gul Zom II north ridge; the third bivouac was set on the pass between Bindu Gul Zom III and Bindu Gul Zom II.

On 3 August the top of Bindu Gul Zom II was conquered.

The descent, down the unknown east wall, required a fourth bivouac, at about 300 m beneath the top.

By the evening of 4th the four climbers reached the base camp again, after a descent of over 2000 m down the east wall, with 40 rappels.

On the 16th, after taking down the camp, the climbers left for Chitral.

Members : Lino Castiglia, Giuseppe Dionisi, Eugenio Ferrero, Ugo Manera, Pietro Peronato, Corradino Rabbi, France Ribetti, Claudio Sant' Unione.

 

 

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THE OBJECTIVE of our team was to climb the south face of Tirich Mir. Two climbing members reached the summit by a combined route—Polish variant up to about 6500 m and then Japanese route to the summit.

Onward caravan to base camp: entire group left Chitral on 22 July by jeeps to Borum village and then to base camp. 22 loads for members and 8 loads for L.O. and cooks were carried by porters, we arrived at base camp 4400 m on 24 July. Climbing activities from BC construction to evacuation:

Our route to summit is a combination of new Polish variant to S col (6500 m) and Japanese route to summit. Its difficulties are moderate. The main obstacles are: 10 m high snowy and icy over¬hang in the upper ieefall and inclined icy gully of about 200 m long. Its inclination is variable from 40 to 75°. Since we arrived to Hindu Kush at a very late date there was a great risk of avalan¬ches. The route between Camp 1 and 2 was climbed only in the night. At a height of 7000 m near the summit the climbers had to go through deep loose snow. We suffered due to lack of sufficient equipment and food because four members and truck with food and equipment arrived when the expedition ended. No transit Iranian visas and permission for truck and cargo were obtained on required date. Our activity was principally based on individual equipment borrowed from other expedition operating in this area and food bought in Pakistan.

 

 

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MY FIRST VIEW of the Himalaya was from the carriage window of the Naini Tal Express early one October morning in 1960 (though I had crossed the Bolan pass from Zahidan to Quetta earlier). I was slightly disappointed, for the foothills seemed ter¬ribly similar to the Ochil Hills which I had just left in Scotland, The carriages in blue livery were hauled by a 4-6-2 YP class of Indian Railway Standards, an elegant steam workhorse complete with blinkers. YP stands for metre gauge passenger traffic. (Broad gauge engines use the letter W while narrow gauge uses Z as a classification prefix.)

Now the North Eastern Railway, this line used to be part of the 'Oudh and Tiruhut Railway', always referred to as 'the Old and Tired'. The metre gauge was characteristic of the lines north of the Ganga and is referred to locally as the Choli Line.

That great Himalayan gentleman Jim Corbett was a railwayman when not dispatching maneaters, and in his book My India there are many allusions to the permanent way. He mentions how the Kumaon foothills were depleted by the demand for railway sleepers, and speaks of tramways into the hills to carry out timber and stone.

Though there is a metre gauge mountain railway in India (the famous rack system on a 1 in 12 gradient in the Nilgiris), the two Himalayan railways in India that concern us are both narrow gauge, albeit of different size. The older of the two—arguably the most famous steam railway in the world, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, was built in 1880 on a 2 ft gauge. This was followed in 1903 by the Kalka-Simla and Kangra Valley Railways which adopt¬ed a 2 ft 6 inch gauge. (Yet another famous Indian mountain rail-way, the Matheran Light Railway in the Sahyadris was opened in 1907 on a 2 ft gauge which takes a 1 in 20 gradient with articulated German locomotives that continue under their own steam eighty years later.)

Many other mountain lines were designed and even surveyed but the cost was always prohibitive. The Simla line was first mooted in 1847. Later one of the United Provinces lat sahibs took a fancy to Ranikhet and hoped to bring a line up from Ramnagar along the Kosi. After independence, I believe a line along the Sarju to tap the mineral deposits around Bageshwar was planned.

To complete the statistics, one of India's oldest 'Express' trains runs daily north of the Shivaliks on the broad gauge (5 ft 6 inch) to Dehra Dun. The Doon Express can claim to be a hill section on technical grounds, since the Dun valley has always been con¬sidered part of Garhwal. Incidentally a branch line runs from Hardwar to Rishikesh so that all three Indian gauges touch the hem of the Himalaya.

Because of the fame of the Kalka-Simla section with its exotic ambience (stepping out of the broad gauge, and after a breakfast of omelette and toast, stepping into the waiting railcar now (1983) with a see-through dome, or waiting for the more grand 'Shimla Queen' with her royal blue and silver rake) the Kangra valley line is overlooked. However from the point of view of the railway enthusiast the latter section has much more interest.

The Pathankot-Nagrota section was opened in 1928 on a gradi¬ent of 1 in 40. Another section to Jogindernagar was opened in 1929, closed in 1942, then reopened with a gradient of 1 in 25 in 1976. Now that the Simla line has been dieselised those lovely old German 'matchbox' tanks do duty at Pathankot. Some of them date from the early thirties and one is on permanent display at the Rail museim in New Delhi.

Another museum piece that saw service along the 96 km track to Simla, ascending 1280 m on a gradient of 1 in 33, is an English railcar seating four, with a petrol engine and a cowcatcher. Among it's other rovelties are two bottle-jacks which could turn her round for the return journey. This pulling oneself up by your own bootlaces technology arrived fifty years too late for the Darjeeling saddle tanls, which accounts for their search-lights both forward and aft.

For sheer workmanship the Darjeeling B class 0-4-0 saddle-tank locomotives would take some beating, British designed in 1889 they continued in production till 1927 and more than twenty are still active No 777 of 1892 vintage can be seen in the! Delhi museum.

It is advisable to be discreet while photographing engines on hill lines l«st you are suspected of evil designs. Just what secret-weapon value nineteenth century steam locomotives might hold in a nuclear age is not immediately clear to the photographer but those who wear uniforms are not paid to think.

Franklin Prestage's company started work in 1879 for 'a tram¬way on the alignment of the cartroad'. At Ghum the line touches 2258 m on an average gradient of 1 in 30. The story goes that an engineer was so disheartened by the lack of progress up the hill that he had a nightmare and someone shouted at the foreign devil 'go back'. His wife had a Jungian flair for interpreting dreams positively and suggested he do just that, by building Z-reversing stations, whereby the engine could take the slope at a rush, the wham-bam theory of ascent!

Modern travellers favour the even more effective rush of road transport for it saves half a day, though you miss a lot of fun. "The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway celebrated its centenary on 18 December 1982 and the first day cover in the Club library with a Rs. 2.85 P. stamp (for foreign letters) shows the puffing saddle-tank in reverse making a lot of smoke for only four bogies. One suspects the driver is so used to posing for photographs that he has stationed his smoke stack upwind of Kangchenjunga to get a black streamer effect over the abode of snow. Together, steam and ice represent the union of opposites, a thrilling and satisfying sub¬ject on any level. Dull would he be of soul who could pass by a sight so touching in its beauty, or turn deaf ears to a sound so magical:

*The runaway train went over the hill, and she blew. She was blowing then and she's blowing still, and she blew-ew, blew-ew, blew.'

 

 

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This year marks the centenary of the birth of one of the great Himalayan explorers. Oii 6 November 1885 was born in Man¬chester, England, Frank Kingdon-Ward. From his very first plant hunt in 1909 until his last in 1956 his career spanned nearly half a century. His father, Harry Marshall Ward, Emeritus Professor of Botany at Cambridge, was a mycologist, so it was hardly from that particular branch of botany that the boy Frank conceived his passion for beautiful flowering plants.

At Cambridge he read Botany and Geology in order to equip himself for a life of exploration in a remote region of the earth. He achieved his degree in only two years; but his father died in 1906 and there was insufficient money for Kingdon-Ward to con¬tinue with post-graduate study.

In order to get a foothold in his chosen part of the world, King¬don-Ward became a most reluctant schoolmaster in Shanghai. This penitential post lasted only until 1909 v/hen, providentially, he was offered a place as botanist on a small American zoological expedi¬tion into the interior of China. Rashly, he gave up teaching for good. Without private means he was therefore fortunate to foe commissioned by an English nursery firm to collect seeds of hardy mountain plants, to be raised for English gardens. This set the pattern for the private financing of all subsequent expeditions. Thus did Kingdon-Ward, in 1911, embark upon the first of a long series of usually solitary plant-hunting expeditions in the moun¬tains of Asia. His first book (now a collector's item) was called The Land of the Blue Poppy—namely, the high country around the Tibetan-speaking townships of Atuntzu and Batang, as they were then known. This was the farthest east of his collecting grounds, as the Balipara Frontier Tract of Assam was about the farthest west.

The Himalayan chain being composed predominantly of granite and gneiss, the flora of the entire region abounds in acid-loving plants—typically rhododendron, primula, meconopsis and gentian. On the southern slopes of the range the tremendous monsoon rain¬fall ensures an astonishing richness in that flora, culminating, perhaps, in the region where the Tsangpo river of Tibet crashes through the Himalaya near the 25,000 ft peak Namcha Barwar becoming the Brahmaputra of Assam. Here, in 1924, with the Earl of Cawdor as his companion, Kingdon-Ward reaped his richest harvest of botanical and horticultural treasure, in the form of a herbarium collection on the one hand, and many) hundreds of packets of fertile seed on the other.

His herbarium collections, over the years, are to be found in the British Museum (Natural History) and in the botanical gardens of Edinburgh, Kew, and New York, besides duplicate collec¬tions from post-1947 in Calcutta, Rangoon and Gothemburg in Sweden.

Kingdon-Ward was a prolific writer, with nearly as many books to his name! as expeditions he carried out, in SE Tibet, North Burma and Assam. His geological training enabled him to read a landscape as one would read a book, so that his scientific in-tuition produced at times startling interpretations of what he 'read'. It is, for instance, sad to reflect that he lived not quite long enough for the now firmly established theory of plate tec¬tonics to be common knowledge rather than the wildest specula¬tion. From evidence culled from the geology, botany and zoology of the great gorge country, Kingdon-Ward came—gradually, over many years and several expeditions—to the conclusion that the predominantly north-south aligned ranges between the upper Irrawaddy, Salween, Mekong and Yangtse rivers were not origi¬nally mountain ranges aligned N-S: rather they were the re¬mains of an ancient plateau, rendered unrecognisable as such by the tremendous depth of the gorges those four mighty rivers had carved. In other words, the great river gorge country pro¬perly belonged to the Himalaya, as an eastward extension of that vast range. With continental drift and plate tectonics to explain how peninsular India had once collided with Asia, squeez¬ing the Tethys Sea out of existence, one can indeed now see that the Hindu Kush and the river gorge country of the Tibet/China border are the two extremities of the Himalayan range, raised (and still being raised) by the inexorable) thrust of an irresi¬stible force against an immovable object. No wonder the whole range is tectonically unstable, and the extremities of it particularly so.

It will be noticed that the Himalaya make a sharp change of direction around long. 97°E, lat. 28°N. This is not far from Rima in SE Tibet, where Kingdon-Ward and his wife were camped on the evening of the Great Assam Earthquake, 15 August 1950. Fortunate indeed that so skilled and experienced an observer should have happened to be almost at the very epicentre of one of the greatest earthquakes of all time, and that he had the pen to describe it vividly!

Other learned Journals will no doubt record the award of no less than five gold medals in the fields of geography, botany and horticulture to Frank Kingdon-Ward. Certainly his plant dis¬coveries have for all time left their mark on English gardens.

Kingdon-Ward was, I believe, one of the Founder Members of the Himalayan Club in 1928, and one who contributed a number of articles to the Himalayan Journal. On 6 November this year may we honour especially the memory of a great and courageous explorer.

 

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