SATOPANTH — THE MOUNTAIN OF GOOD FAITH

MAJOR ASHOK ABBEY

IN 1947, A SWISS EXPEDITION sponsored by the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research wound its way up the Gangotri glacier, in the western Garhwal. As they retraced their steps from the Chaukhamba massif on the Gangotri glacier and moved up the Chaturangi Bamak, their attention was drawn to a towering vortex of a massif at the head of Sundar Bamak. Here they sensed a great opportunity. With the assistance of five Sherpas, the team established two high camps on this mountain. From their final camp on the ridge, André Roch, René Dittert, Alexander Graven and Alfred Sutter reached the summit in two ropes, taking ten hours to climb the last 900 m, steep north face of the mountain. The date of ascent to their great satisfaction was 1 August, the Swiss National Day. The mountain they climbed was Satopanth.

Satopanth, standing majestically at 7075 m is one of the most dominating massifs of the western Garhwal. It is the second highest mountain of the Gangotri area and can be seen for miles around. The mountain, a seven thousander, reigns supreme amongst a sea of six thousanders and is distinct by its mammoth shape, sharp, and shapely ridge lines. Viewed from the top, the mountain resembles a square emerald set in a natural show case. To many, its horizontal summit ridge resembles a near perfect circus trapezium.

Satopanth literally means ‘Good Path’ (Sat means good and Panth means path) and hence the connotation ‘Good Faith’. The mountain is a revered one and finds mention in the Skand Purans (Kedar Khand). Apart from this hallowed mountain, Satopanth is also the name of a holy lake and a glacier situated 28 km northwest of the Himalayan shrine of Badrinath. The Marchas of Mana (a village near Badrinath) hold this lake in great reverence, as according to them through this lake lies the path of salvation. From Satopanth Bank takes birth the mighty Alaknanda, which ultimately joins the Bhagirathi at Deoprayag, to form the perennial life-giving waters of the Ganga.

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The mountain has a chequered history. It was first attempted from both, the northeast and northwest ridges by an Austrian team (R. Schwarzgruber) in 1938. It was however climbed eight years later, by a Swiss team (A. Roch) in 1947. It took 33 long years before the mountain was climbed again, in 1981, from the northeast ridge, (M. Gardzielewski and L. Lehrer) which was its second ascent. After the peak was officially opened to foreigners, a Japanese team (K. Toya) was the first to make an ascent in 1982. The west summit of Satopanth was climbed first by a Japanese team (M. Omiya) from the northwest ridge in 1984. The south face (from the Swachand Bamak) was first attempted by Polish climbers in 1983, by Hungarians and the Japanese in 1984. This face was first climbed by a Polish team (R. Kolakowski and T. Kopys) in 1986. The first Indian attempt on the mountain in May 1986 ended in a tragic disaster. In one of the most macabre accidents, the mountain claimed lives of three promising Indian climbers and a porter (Dr. Minoo Mehta, Bharat Manghre, Nandu Page and Nar Bahadur) who were attempting the mountain from the northwest ridge. The mountain was also reportedly attempted by three Indian expeditions in 1992. Satopanth today is one of the most well-known mountains of India and is very often attempted by foreign teams. This is primarily due to its impressive altitude and the variety of technical permutations and combinations of varying difficulty, which the massif has to offer.

The Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi, under the stewardship of its Principal Col. Ajit Dutt, SM, FRGS decided to climb Satopanth as a part of its refresher training for its instructional staff in July 1997. In 1995, as we returned after our successful climb of Chaukhamba II, our attention was drawn to the very impressive south face of this mountain, which lay at the head of the Swachand valley. So it was to be in 1997.

We had originally planned to do a variation of the Polish route of 1986, our objective being the west summit of Satopanth (7045 m). Unfortunately the events of 1997 put an end to that. Col Ajit Dutt took over reign of the Institute only in end May. Also with the pre-monsoon series of mountaineering courses in full swing till 24 June and with all the signs of the monsoon breaking in early, we were left with little option but to approach the mountain from the comparatively shorter northern approach.

Despite the paucity of time the expedition was organised and took off in record time. This was possible only due to Col. Dutt's planning, foresight and the well-oiled Institute administration.

The expedition team comprising the Principal, Vice Principal Medical Officer and the instructors left Uttarkashi on 3 July. Our move on the mountain coincided perfectly with the monsoon letting loose in the area. This was incidentally the last pre-monsoon expedition of 1997. Moving rapidly up the Bhagirathi valley and the Gangotri glacier, the expedition established an intermediate camp at Nadanban, which was a broad meadow situated above the meeting point of the Gangotri and Chaturangi glaciers. The Chaturangi which literally means four colours, derives its name from the four colour tints of its moraine, primarily composed of grey, white, black and red boulders. Base camp was established at Vasuki Tal (4680 m) on 6 July.

Advance base camp was established on the lateral moraine, at the forked junction of the Sundar Bamak, (5200 m) on 8 July. En route to the advance base camp, Rattan Singh explained on ground the tragedy, the rescue and the aftermath of the ill-fated 1986 Indian expedition. A dump of fire wood, which had been brought up to the light the pyre of the victims, was a gory reminder of the 1986 tragedy. Our hearts reached out to those young intrepid climbers, and we prayed for the departed souls.

When viewed from the head of the Sundar valley, Satopanth has a trapezium shaped near horizontal summit, with a prominent rock band on its north face. The east summit of the massif is 7075 m while the west summit is 7045 m. The ridge joining both the summits is almost 500 to 700 m long and runs from west to east, before finally taking a southeast direction, from a slight kink on the summit ridge. The north face of the mountain has two prominent ridges, the northeast ridge and the northwest ridge. The northeast ridge of the mountain, starting from Pt 7075 m is about 6 km long and peters out at pt 5801 m, which is the northern most point of the ridge. The ridge separates Suralaya Bamak from the Sundar Bamak. The northwest ridge is about 2 km long. Emanating from the west summit, the ridge drops to a col and then rises to a rocky pinnacle (Pt 6010 m), before joining the Sundar Bamak. The south face of the mountain has the southeast and the southwest ridges. The south face is bounded by the Swachand Bamak. The Suralaya Bamak lies to the east of the massif.

The weather had now turned most unpredictable and the count down to the monsoon had began. On 9 July a team comprising Ranveer, D. Norbu, Surat, Gurung and Soban commenced a move at 0530 hours from ABC, to open the route to Camp 1. The rest of the members did a follow-up-ferry to establish Camp 1. The route from ABC moved up the east Sundar glacier directly under the base of two shattered prominent rocky pinnacles on the northeast ridge. The face is totally weathered with loose infirm rock, resulting in near constant rock fall. Leaving the icefall to our west, a randkluft was negotiated which gave us access to the base of the northeast ridge. From the base of the northeast ridge, we moved directly up to the col formed between the lone prominent ice-pinnacle and the shattered rocky pinnacles. From here we skirted the lone prominent ice-pinnacle and established Camp 1 at the col formed between the base of the south shoulder of the lone prominent ice-pinnacle and the northeast ridge. Camp 1 (5920 m) was established the same day by 1200 hours. It took us 5.30 hours of good going to establish the camp. 6 rope lengths were fixed on various sections of the route.

On 10 July the sky was overcast. A team comprising Major A.Abbey, Capt Vivek Gupta, C.Norbu, Pun, Digamber, Thapa, Sohan Singh and Jagmohan moved up and occupied Camp 1. In the afternoon the weather took a turn for the worse and we recorded 5 to 7 inches of fresh snowfall. As slopes between Camp 1 and ABC were avalanche-prone we decided to delay the move of the other party to Camp 1 by a day. On 11 July a team comprising Major A.Abbey, C.Norbu, Pun, Digamber, Thapa, Jagmohan and Soban moved up the northeast ridge to push the route to Camp 2.

The northeast ridge from Camp 1 narrowed into a sharp ridge, from where began the section of the ‘Bumps’. Here began technically the most difficult section of the route and was the crux of the entire climb. This ridge had to be negotiated, before the heavily avalanche-prone slope leading to main summit was met. This section of the ridge was about 800 m to 1 km long with near vertical drops to the Suralaya Bamak to its east and the Sundar Bamak to its west. The snow condition on the ridge was very peculiar. The east slope towering above the Suralaya Bamak was covered with powder snow, which was very loose and unconsolidated. This made placement of protection very difficult and time consuming. In contrast, the snow condition on the west slope was hard and conducive to placement of ice protection. To my mind over the years the physical shape and snow conditions on this mountain, especially the ‘bumps’, have undergone a dramatic change in shape, form and texture. The team in a stupendous effort, despite the unstable snow conditions near flat light and a forced late start managed to fix 5 rope lengths on the bumps and by the end of the day had negotiated a major part of the route. At times due to poor visibility, the physical continuation of the northeast ridge was the only aid to direction.

On 13 July, the vice principal and eight instructors left to establish and occupy Camp 2. The team again made excellent progress. 7 more ropes were fixed and despite poor visibility conditions the ridge was negotiated by 1130 hours. The base of the final summit slope was gained at last. Camp 2 (6400 m) was established well below the beginning of the rock band which was very prominently visible on the north face Satopanth. This camp was established by cutting an ice platform, overlooking the Sundar Bamak, with the mountain plunging into an abyss below.

On 14 July a team comprising Major A.Abbey, C.Norbu, Ranveer, Pun, Soban Singh, Jagmohan, Surat and D. Norbu left Camp 2 at 0445 hours. Initially it seemed a clear day, but soon clouds started building up. As we moved roped up, we came across strands of old, weathered fixed rope. The snow condition was very dangerous. With every step, the snow under us squeaked which was a stark reminder that we were treading on unconsolidated wind slabs. From Camp 2 at 0520 hours we hit the beginning of rocky boulders. Thereafter we meandered through these boulders to avoid triggering and getting caught in a possible slab avalanche or a cornice-breakoff. The loose, unconsolidated knee to thigh deep snow was very hard to beat, yet we made good progress and were at absolute ease with the altitude. On our way up, we got fleeting glimpses of Kamet, Mukut, Mana and other peaks rising above a sea of clouds. At 0800 hours, we crossed. The last of the boulders of the rock band. From here we moved up slightly south and then traversed southeast to reach the summit. At 0950 hours C. Norbu stood atop the highest bump. The summit ridge joining Satopanth and Satopanth West was corniced and about 700 m long. The summit itself was corniced and as we stood on top, the razor sharp profile of the ridge came into light. That, the north side was the leeward side was evident from the build up of the near 700 m long cornice on the summit ridge itself. All along we had been treading on wind slabs. Soon the clouds were everywhere and a system seemed to be engulfing the massif from all around. With great caution we treaded to the edge of the cornice, in order to get a glimpse of the other side. We were lucky to get a fleeting glimpse of the Swachand Bamak to our south and the Chaukhamba massif. Soon all was covered from view.

After spending 37 minutes on the summit, we moved down once again in poor visibility conditions. We descended quickly treading once again on dangerous snow conditions. At 1130 hours, we reached Camp 2. After winding up the camp we moved down reaching camp 1 at 1530 hours on the same day. On 15 July all the members climbed the Unnamed ice-pinnacle, which was to the north of Camp. The altimeter read 6008 m. We were finally back at ABC on the 15 July to a joyful reunion.

As we moved down to the ABC, we noticed that the glacier and ice fall had changed considerably. There were gaping crevasses and more fracture lines opening all around. The randkluft had now broadened and had to be negotiated on a ladder. So much had changed in so little time. The climb had taken us sixteen days from and to Uttarkashi. From and back to ABC had taken us seven days. As we looked back at the mountain for the last time from the turning point at Vasuki, it was radiating and seemed to bless us. Mesmerised, we stood watching in awe, nature’s rare spectacle. Satopanth, the mountain majestic, was once again lost behind veil of clouds.

Team : Col. Ajit Dutt, SM, FRGS, Principal (leader), Major A.Abbey, Vice Principal (dy leader), Capt. Vivek Gupta, MO, Rattan Singh, Ranveer Singh, C.Norbu, Surat Singh, D. Norbu, Digambar Singh, V. R. Godyal, Jagmohan, Soban Singh, M. S. Gurung, S. S. Negi, K. B. Subba, D. B. Thapa and D. P. Pun.

SUMMARY

Ascent of Satopanth (7075 m) from the northeast ridge-north face by instructors of the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi. Date of Ascent : 14 July 1997 Summitters : Major A. Abbey, C. Norbu, Hav. D. B. Pun, Ranveer Singh, Nb/Sub K. B. Subba, D. Norbu, Jagmohan Singh, Surat Singh and Soban Singh.

 

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