THE HANUMAN EXPEDITION*

A. R. CHANDEKAR

A Himalayan expedition was our long-cherished desire. The Nanda Devi Sanctuary particularly had fascinated us for a long time. To visit that region on a trek, if not to climb a mountain, was one of our dreams. So when it was suggested that we should attempt the virgin peak of Hanuman (19,930 feet) just outside the sanctuary, we simply jumped at the idea. The credit for this must go to Venkie (Shri T. S. Venkatraman) who, when he took over the secretaryship of the Club under its new name (e.g. Giri Vihar), tenaciously followed up the idea to its successful conclusion.

The selection of the team presented no problem. It consisted of nine members from Bombay and two Sherpas from Darjeeling as follows:

Prof. A. R. Chandekar (Leader), Prof. M. V. Mali (Deputy Leader), Prof. R. G. Desai, Shri D. C. Arora, Shri M. D. Gharat, Shri S. D. Ovalekar, Shri P. A. Shringarpure, Shri T. S. Venkatraman (Organizing Secretary), Dr. V. N. Desai (Medical Officer), and Sherpas Lopsang and Dorje from Darjeeling.

The last four of the members from Bombay had not done any courses in mountaineering and out of them Shri Ovalekar and Shri Shringarpure were visiting the Himalayas for the first time. But they were very good climbers and were included in the team to be wedded to Himalayan mountaineering. I think this is a good practice if done in a responsible manner. The spirit of mountaineering should not be smothered by certificates and courses.

Hanuman is the highest peak south of Dunagiri just outside the Nanda Devi Sanctuary. The western face of the ridge is extremely steep. There are numerous avalanche areas. To us there did not appear any possibility of a route to the summit from this side. Following the South Ridge was out of the question as it was broken in a number of places. The only possibility then was an attempt from the east. The Scottish Expedition under the leadership of W. H. Murray in 1950 had made an attempt. They followed the Eastexn Ridge of Hanuman but were stopped at about 18,000 feet by a sudden cut in the ridge. The attempt had to be abandoned. Our plan was to go beyond this ridge and try to find a route over the glacier beyond, ilius avoiding the Eastern Ridge with its cut.

Western face of Hanuman (Dunagiri to the left)

Transport to the starting point of the march and porters are the main problems of any expedition. Thanks to the assistance given by the Border Roads, we had no transport problems, i'i of. Mali and Shri Arora, who constituted the advance party, had arranged for the 30 porters required as per our estimate. Hut actually when the loads were made it was seen that we needed 43 porters and not 30. The main reason for this increase was our gross underestimate of porters and the assumption that they would be carrying their food in addition to a normal load of approximately 60 lb. We were unable to get more porters. The result was that we had to ferry the loads from one camp to the next with a consequent increase in expense and loss of time. The porters were recruited from Lata, Reni, Subain, Paing and other villages nearby.

The party reached Rishikesh on May 17 evening and by the 20th afternoon we were camping on the banks of the Dhauli near Lata nearly 220 miles away. The village Lata is situated a few hundred feet above the river. With the 30 porters available the main party pushed ahead on May 22 and camped at Lata- Kharak in the evening. Prof. Mali and Shri Gharat stayed behind to try and get more porters. However, they could not get any and joined the party the next day. On May 23 and 24, loads were ferried from Lata to Lata-Kharak and from Lata- Kharak to the Durashi Alp. On May 25 the entire party crossed the 14,000-foot Durashi Pass and camped at the Durashi Alp in the evening. From Durashi the party moved to the well- known camp-site of Dibrugheta and thence to Deodi. At Deodi there were two camp-sites, one on the banks of the Rishi Ganga and the other 1,500 feet above the river. We preferred the upper site as we wanted to cross the South Ridge of Hanuman as high as possible. The route up to this point was the traditional route into the Nanda Devi Sanctuary through the wonderful gorge of the Rishi Ganga River. The famous peaks of Trisul, Bethartoli Himal, Devistan I and II and Nand-a Devi were always in sight. Crossing the South Ridge of Hanuman we entered the valley between that mountain and Rishikot and pitched our Base Camp at an altitude of 14,400 feet. The date was May 28.

On May 29, Prof. Mali, our two Sherpas and myself went ahead for a recce. We went beyond the Eastern Ridge attempted by the Scottish team and by 11.30 a.m. reached the top of the terminal moraine of the glacier beyond. There was no doubt that this was the best route. The gap that stopped the Scottish team could be identified. Going over the glacier we would reach beyond that gap on to the snow and ice ridge leading to the summit. There seemed to be no technical difficulties except for a crevasse very close to the summit. The site for Camp I was fixed. The altitude was 16,400 feet. It was a wonderful place. Changbhang and Kalanka were quite close. The sheer wall of Rishikot protected the eastern side. Devistan, Trisul and Bethar- toli Himal were seen on the south and our mountain Hanuman on the west. Climbers could be watched from this camp right up to the summit.

May 30 was a day of rest. On May 31 Camp I was established and occupied by six of us, Shringarpure, Arora, Prof. Desai, Lopsang, Dorjee and myself. The rest of the party was to follow the next day with supplies.

On June 1 the six of us in Camp I started at 07.00 in the morning to open the route ahead and select a site for Camp II. In about 45 minutes we reached the snow slope beyond. Desai and Shringarpure had to return from here as the crampons for their boots were left in the Base Camp.

The four of us, Arora, Lopsang, Dorjee and myself, proceeded ahead. The weather was not good. Clouds appeared in the sky. The wind was blowing. By 11.00 hours we reached the steep slope of hard ice covered by a thin layer of snow at 18,000 feet. The drop of about 300 feet which stopped the Scottish team was below us. The weather was taking a bad turn. It started snowing. The wind rose and the clouds were thicker. Visibility was bad. But we pushed on and reached the crevasse near the summit. It was bridged by a natural snow- and ice-bridge. But to reach it we had to go on the outer side of the ridge. We crossed over the cornice. The snow was fresh and loose. We had to be careful. It started snowing very heavily. The wind was blowing the snow on our faces. One by one we crossed the crevasse. Climbing up the steep slope of loose snow beyond we got on to the final summit ridge, cutting through the cornice. The summit was hardly 15 yards away but it was not seen. The cloud was so dense. Suddenly it cleared and we saw the summit. We walked towards it and were on the summit. Hanuman was scaled. The time was 14.15 hours. The wind was howling. It snowed very heavily. It was almost a blizzard. The summit of Hanuman is a junction of three slopes, two of them extremely steep. Only the south-eastern face is accessible. It was dangerous to stay there longer. So after 10 minutes we started back. As we were coming down, we could hear occasional thunders of avalanches around us. But we were very happy. Only we could not take any photographs. We reached camp at 5.30 p.m.

Nanda devi (left) , Devistan Iand II (right) with Mrigthuni, as seen from the summit of Hanuman

EASTERN FACE OF HANUMAN (SCOTTISH HIMALAYAN EXPEDITION, 195°, FOLLOWED THE RIDGE SEEN TO THE LEFT OF SNOW-CLAD HANUMAN. THE CUT ON THE RIDGE WHERE THEY STOPPED IS ALSO SEEN)

CHANBANG AND KALANKA AS SEEN FROM THE SUMMIT OF HANUMAN

The rest of the members were all anxiously waiting for us. All were happy at our success. They all danced around us and unbraced us.

On June 3 a second team went up. They started at 4 a.m. in glorious moonlight. It was a full moon. The weather was dear without a speck of cloud in the sky. It stayed that way iill they reached the summit at 11.15 a.m. The first rope consisting of Lopsang, Venkie, Gharat and Prakash Shringarpure reached (he summit. They stayed there for half an hour. The National i lag and the flags of Giri Vihar and of the University of Bombay were hoisted. The flag of Rashtra Seva Dal (Giri Vihar) brought by Shri Ovalekar, a sainik of the Dal, was also hoisted. Then I hey formally installed the idol of Hanuman. The weather suddenly changed and they had to hurry back. Fortunately Prakash had already taken valuable photographs. They met Dorjee and Ovalekar of the second rope near the crevasse. The weather was bad and the second rope also turned back with lhem just 80 feet short of the summit. Venkie, Prakash and Ovalekar did very well indeed. On their very first visit to the snow-clad Himalaya two of them climbed a virgin peak while Ovalekar almost did it. This fully justified their inclusion in the icam. None of them suffered from the altitude. They all returned to camp at 4 p.m.

On June 4 we returned back to our Base Camp and started the return march on June 6.

Thus ended our first expedition, it was a wonderful experience.

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