JAONLI, 1989

JOSS LYNAM AND MIKE BANKS*

(Joss writes)

IT ALL STARTED when Mike Banks, whom I had never met, but with whom I had a good telephone-and-letter friendship, wrote to me at the end of 1988, asking was I interested in a 'last fling', ,ind had I any ideas for an objective. I answered yes to both questions! The objective... As a Bengal Sapper in 1946 I had climbed Kolahoi (see HC Newsletter 41), and had bigger ideas for 1947. From my bungalow in Roorkee I could see the whole Garhwal Himalaya spread out, and decided to attempt Jaonli (6632 m), then of course unclimbed. I was repatriated in April, and the scheme died. I have made quite a few I limalayan trips since, but work constraints have always limited me to monsoon time, so Garhwal never got revisited. Now self-employed, I could pick my time. Jaonli has now been climbed several times (first .iscent by Hari Dang and party in 1966), but always from the west, and the east side seemed to have been ignored. In fact the whole Khatling v.illey has been almost completely ignored by climbers, and the HC Newsletter yielded only two references. The expedition was now born, ,md we each agreed to recruit another elderly climber; when it came to the point, we had to settle for youngsters in their 50s, Alan Blackshaw from UK, and Paddy O'Leary from Ireland.

Mike was leading a trek in Nepal in the autumn of 1988, and he took the opportunity to make a quick reconnaissance up the Khatling. He came kick with a lot of photographs, and saying that the east ridge looked feasible, but not so easy as to be uninteresting.

At this moment our fairy godmother materialised in the form of Saga Magazine, Saga specialise in holidays and other services to the 'retired and near-retired', and leapt joyfully and generously at the chance to iponsor a Himalayan expedition comprising two climbers in their imil-sixties, one with a triple heart bypass (me), and two in their fifties. They paid all our air fares, and put us up in Delhi in quite unaccustomed luxury. We also acquired a base camp manager, Don Roberts. When hi1 volunteered his services, we immediately put him in charge of food, I kit worst of all jobs on an expedition.

* For finding out the age of these climbers see at the end of the article. For finding Out about their spirit (which really counts) — read on! — Ed.

We arrived in Delhi on 10 May, and met our liason officer, C. P. Ravichandra, an old friend who had been LO on my Z8 trip in 1984.We shopped for food, collected our cook-porter, Chewang, and accompanied by the Saga assistant editor, Rosi Cossey, and the editor, Geoff Axbey, drove to roadhead at Ghuttu.

The Khatling valley, which leads to the eastern flank of Jaonli, even though it lies between two very popular places of Hindu pilgrimage, Kedarnath and Gangotri, has somehow escaped major tourist exploitation, and above Ghuttu, the villages can hardly have altered since the heyday of the Raj. This sadly is about to change; the road is to be extended, and the foundations of two hotels-, one at Reeh, and one at Gangi, were being built as we passed. I wonder whether the inhabitants of the valley will really benefit from this development.

At Ghuttu we met our porters (who had bussed round from Uttarkashi), and said goodbye to Rosi and Geoff. We had a five day walk in, climbing from 1524 m to our base camp at Kachhotra at 4100 m. It was a lovely walk, mostly through pleasant woods, and it was a bad shock to find when we arrived at base on 19 May that the winter snow was still lying deep. Before we left Dublin, I had replied to queries about the weather that it was supposed to be good in the Garhwal Himalaya in May and June, but that it was about as predictable as the Irish summer; it was no consolation on our return to find that Ireland had enjoyed its best summer for years !

The snow forced a change of route to the foot of the mountain. The previous autumn Mike had climbed the almost dry glacier, but now reconnaissance quickly showed that the num. -ous crevasses were dangerously masked with snow. We were forced to » k out a switchback route over the spurs south of the glacier. One spur it. particular — 'The Hump' we called it — entailed a 300 m climb and nearly the same amount of descent the other side. Several days were spent fruitlessly in trying to find an alternative to the Hump, but in the end we had to resign ourselves to climbing it. Carrying loads at altitude is tiring enough; having dumped them, to have to climb back over the Hump was the last straw ! The compensation for this hard work lay in the magnificent surroundings. The cirque which closes the head of the Khatling valley is outstanding even by Himalayan standards, a mixture of slender rock spires and massive snow and ice peaks, almost all of them unclimbed from the Khatling.

Hampered by further snowfalls, it took us seventeen days instead of Ihe expected seven to stock C3 on the far side of the Khatling glacier, ,it the foot of the 5450 m eastern outlier of Jaonli. Six of us congregated there, but the extra length of the approach and the greater usage of supplies dictated a slimmed-down assault party. Paddy, Alan, and Mike were the fittest, so with Chewang to carry, they continued, while Ravi and I returned to base camp.

Ravi and I had no intention of sitting idle while the others climbed. After a rest at base, well fed by Don and our cheerful young chaukidar, Karam Singh, we persuaded Don, on the specious excuse that he ought to see what a glacier was like, to help us carry gear and food up to C3. Immediately behind this camp was the unclimbed 5450 m peak — our target. The summit snowfield was buttressed by a high wall of rock overlooking the camp, but by traversing north along the edge of the glacier Ravi and I were able to reach a series of tenuous strips of snow which led diagonally across the rock wall to the snowslopes above. In the early morning, these slopes were well-frozen snow into which our crampons bit firmly, and only the effects of altitude slowed us.: We reached the summit at about 10.30 a.m. in brilliant sunshine, and through a monocular we could see three tiny dots on the steep snowsiope below the south ride, and below them, the two tents of C4 where a lonely Chewang was waiting. Above the climbers, on the crest of the ridge, was the spot where they would site C5, which would be their home for four1 stormy nights.

We descended about noon. By now the surface layer of snow had softened in the sun, and it was essential to dig our crampons into to the harder layer beneath. We moved carefully, one at a time, for a slip would have taken us straight over the rock wall back to C3 a lot more quickly than we intended. Fortunately it was one of the few days we had without afternoon snowfall, because in bad visibility it would have been very difficult to find the top of the narrow snow ramp through the rock wall. Back in camp, swallowing mug after mijg of hot drink, we told our tale to Don, and unofficially christened our mountain 'Saga Parbat'.

(Mike takes over)

New prospects opened up once the Khatling icefall had been bypassed and C3 placed on the far side of the upper Khatling glacier. From this camp Alan Blackshaw and I prospected our way upwards through cloud without seeing much but we gained the impression that we had broken throuqh the outer defences. A return the next day in clear weather revealed the possibilities. The rock band on the east ridge was uninvitingly steep and heavily plastered with snow. The admittedly foreshortened view of the south ridge seemed to offer an accessible and a straightforward snow climb. It was the obvious choice.

The plan was therefore to establish a camp on the crest of the soutn ridge about 700 m below the summit. If the snow was in reasonable condition the climb might then be completed in one further day; two at the most. On 6 June Paddy O'Leary, Alan Blackshaw and I moved to about 5200 m to C4 below the south ridge, Chewang was with us but he felt ill and came no higher.

To reach the crest of the ridge we first had to climb a 600 m snowface — steeper than anything climbed so far. We first placed a depot on the ridge at just under 5800 m — the 'carry high sleep low' axiom. W^ all made it in good shape and felt that things at last seemed to be going well.

The following day we repeated the climb, moving more slowly with heavier loads. This would establish us in C5 on the ridge with three day's food. It is eloquent of the formidable outer defences of Jaonli that _it had taken no less than 20. days from base camp to get into a position to make the final assault.

We reached the crest ot the ridge and searched without success for a campsite. We decided that our best chance was to level a site below the crest. We cleared the surface snow and were walloping away at the underlying ice when the weather began to change. Tendrils of cloud crept up the mountainside, snow began to fall and there was a sharper edge to the wind. A blizzard developed and we found themselves in a dour race against time.

As we were unfolding the tent one of the metal poles rattled down the mountainside. Eventually the mishapen tent was pitched onpts cramped platform. At this point we were unaware that we were going to have to survive for the next four nights in the wildly flapping, semicollapsed envelope of the tent.

Our situation was precarious. The tent was pitched in a notch on the 600 m snow face. A snow slide from above could sweep us all the way down to the bergschrund. We therefore hammered a number of ice-pitons into the underlying ice and to these we attached some tent guys and vital items of equipment. Safety ropes were led inside the tent to clip in to climbing harnesses which we kept on while we slept. A separate safety rope was rigged for use when going to the toilet — a function performed suspended over a stimulating 600 m drop !

When everything was made safe we crawiea out of the drifting snow Into the cramped but welcome haven of the tent. Unhappily Alan Blackshaw was suffering from the dreaded 'Delhi belly', later diagnosed ,is dysentery, so he took the place nearest the door to facilitate a rapid exit. This also meant that he was lumbered with the cooking. He made frequent and urgent trips outside the tent to dangle on the end of the loo rope.

On the third day, 12 June there was a clearing but by now our food was/Virtually expended. Despite this, Paddy O'Leary and I decided to cjrasp our only opportunity of snatching the summit. We both realised thatlit was a last and desperate throw of the dice but if we had not tried wp wlould have been filled with self-reproach that perhaps we had missed our one and only chance.

Alan was too weakened by his dysentery to join us. Despite this affliction he had uncomplainingly done the cooking and supported us sloically throughout.

New show up to a foot deep lay everywhere and the avalanche danger w.is obvious. Paddy and I roped up and climbed cautiously, making p.ilnfuliy slow progress. We passed a rock outcrop, clawed our way up nn impressively steep face of mixed snovy and rock and edged along a (rinkjy, corniced ridge. Just beyond a siniious ridge curved towards the upper mountain.

Paddy, who had emerged as the expedition strong man, was leading. At last he ground to a halt, turned to me and called : 'I'm coming back' With the heat of the day building up and the avalanche hazard increasing, it was a wise decision. Even so, it was a sad and poignant moment when all the dreams of the last year suddenly turned to ashes.

By the time we got back to the tent the snow was too unstable to risk any further descent. After another uncomfortable night we started down. In the hope that lightning does not strike twice, we followed old avalanche tracks down the face where the new snow had been stripped off. The descent lasted a long drawn out, nerve wracking three hours — the worst of the whole expedition. Chewang had also run out of food and he had returned alone to base camp the preceding day.

Alan Blackshaw's dysentery had taken his toll and he was now in a very weakened state. The long haul of about 8 km back to base was a harrowing experience for him which he suffered without complaint. We reached base on 14 June.

(Back to Joss)

The storm that caught Alan, Mike and Paddy on the ridge caught us at Cl during our descent, but we were on fairly easy ground, and lit was unpleasant rather than dangerous. However we spent a few worrying days at the base wondering how the others were managing, and Chewang's arrival by himself did little to reassure us, though he could at least tell us that he had seen the others on the ridge after the storm, The next day, as Ravi and I were preparing to go up and look for them, a single figure was sighted below Cl. It was Paddy. The other two, he told us, were some distance behind, and at his suggestion we sent Chewang and Karam to take their loads. Looking tired and drawn, they arrived a few hours later. Listening to their story, we appreciated the tremendous effort which Alan had made in descending.

They were hardly down before the weather closed in again; then the porters arrived, and we were on our way home.

Members: Mike Banks (66); Alan Blackshaw (56); Paddy O'Leary (54); Joss Lynam (64); C. P. Ravichandra (34); Don Roberts (46).

A spirited attempt on a new route on Jaonli (6632 m) by 'Senior Citizens'. A peak of 5450 m was climbed.

 

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