THE PROBLEM OF ISTOR-O-NAL

DR. A. DIEMBERGER

[Dr. A. Diemberger has, after considerable study, submitted a note on the recent attempts on Istor-o-Nal and has unravelled a few of the mysteries which surrounded some of them. We are grateful for this review and consider it important enough to print—Ed.]

'The first attempt to climb Istor-o-Nal Main Peak was made in 1929 (Major Dutton, Captains Burn, Coldstream and Culver- well) ; the second was in 1935 (Lt. D. Hunt, Col. R. J. Lawder). On 11 August, Hunt with two porters reached a point c. 200 feet below the summit. In 1955 J. E. Murphy and Th. A. Mutch were reported to have reached the summit. Was it the main summit ? R. J. Lawder (AJ., Vol. 48, May 1936, Istor-o-Nal: the 1935 attempt, p. 119) writes:

‘The mountain can best be divided into four definite sectors. The first was a long snow-field closely interested with crevasses, rising 1,500 feet from Camp I to the foot of the couloir, the second sector. This couloir gave access to the ridge where we hoped to find a site for Camp II. The third sector consisted of a rock face, 300 feet high, forming the right-hand edge of the couloir. This had to be scaled to reach the long knife-edged ridge, the last sector, and which continued almost to the summit.⁹1955—J. E. Murphy, jr., and Th. A. Mutch (HJ., Vol. XIX, 1955-56, pp. 156-164) reached the large snow-field (Camp II, c. 20,000 ft.) and could see ⁴ the summit ridge clearly above us outlined against the blue sky \ Later they started for the large couloir which dropped down from the summit ridge ; on 6 June they established Camp III at 21,400 feet on the col above the couloir.

On 7 June they made the top of the rock wall on the right side of the col and edged along the narrow-corniced ridge. ⁴ Beyond us the ridge stretched forward toward the distant summit.' They placed Camp IV at 22,400 feet. ⁴ A half mile beyond the camp the narrow ridge expanded into a broad plateau, which rose to what we thought might be the summit. Just below the highest visible point was where the English party had turned back in 1935. . . . The first high peak of snow which we thought was the summit, was not. The distance to the end of the wide ridge increased instead of diminishing and we passed a second false summit. Beyond these we could see the ridge narrow and curve toward right. Its south or inner face was precipitous and its narrow crest rose gradually to a point and then descended. Keeping below the crest of the ridge to avoid overhanging cornices, Tim moved forward. Cloud formations began to drift in from the south, periodically limiting visibility (!)... finally we reached three small mounds of snow—50 yards beyond, the ridge levelled and several hundred yards further, it fell away. We had reached the summit, 24,242 feet (?) above sea level.' (The exclamation and question marks are Dr. Diemberger's.)

ISTOR-O-NAL AREA

This summit was not the main peak of Istor-o-Nal!!

In 1968 the Japan Women s West Asian Expedition (K. Sato, S. Watanabe, H. lzumi and H. Ashiya) placed Base Camp on the Upper Tirich glacier at 14,600 feet, Camp III (21,325 ft.) on the col of the SW ridge. They bivouaced on the ridge and reached a peak, which they thought was the main summit. 'There was a prominent rock-tower (Monolith). The highest point was about 100 m. distance behind this Monolith/ (Extract from the report, Himalaya (7,403 m.). 'Beyond this peak the ridge begins to descend gently and then by sheer dropping reach to a gap before getting on to the North Peak.'

The Japan Women's Expedition published a well-illustrated book, Himalaya (7,403 m.). Now a serious problem concerning the second ascent of the highest peak of Istor-o-Nal has arisen in Japan. Mr. Ichiro Yoshizawa writes on 3 June 1969 to the author, ‘They say that they climbed the highest peak for the second time but someone here, I do the same, says they did not reach the highest peak.’

Two expeditions have cleared up the situation on the summit area of Istor-o-Nal. The 1965 Austrian Hindu Kush Expedition (K. Diemberger, H. Handler and F. Lindner) climbed Tirich North.

The 1967 Austrian Hindu Kush Expedition (K. Lapuch, leader) climbed Istor-o-Nal North I and II.

Their pictures show the correct situation of the summit area: a depression (old valley); on the northern rim Istor-o-Nal North I, II and III and North-East; on the western rim Istor-o-Nal West II and I; on the eastern part Istor-o-Nal East. The southern group contains Istor-o-Nal Central (Main) Peak, Istor-o-Nal South-East and Istor-o-Nal South.

Heights	Wala	Gruber	Lapuch	Anglada
Istor-o-Nal: North I	(102) 7,247 m. (old) (7,373 m. (new)	7,373 m.
North II			7,340 m.
North III			7,310 m.*
North-East	(East-103)	7,276 m.	7,310 m.*
East			over 7,100 m.*
West I			c. 7,300 m.
West II			c. 7,280 m.
Main Peak	(7,389 m. (old)	7,403 m.		7,389 m.
	(7,403 m. (new)	7,403 m.		7,389 m.
South-East South	7,303 m.	7,403 m.		7,365 m.
Summit Col	7,303 m.			c.7,100 m.
Rock Pinnacle	7,303 m.			c.7,200 m.

The Istor-o-Nal West I is also the highest peak of the SW ridge. The ridge with its secondary peaks is separated from the southern group (Main, South and South-East Peak) by a wide col on the top of a large couloir (on the right hand of the SW ridge). Only on the old maps and sketches the SW ridge continued to the main summit. (See A .J., Vol. 48, p. 122, andVol XIX, p. 157.)

In 1969 the ‘Expedicion Barcelona al Hindu Kush' (J. M. Anglada, leader) placed the Base Camp on 19 July at 4,700 m. (15,400 ft.). From high camps in the Ano Gol (Upper Tirich glacier) they climbed four 6,000 m. peaks. But the main aim of our expedition was Istor-o-Nal. Its south and south-east peaks were still virgin. Its main peak had in principle been climbed by an American expedition in 1955 but now on investigation of data given by them it is being revealed that they climbed a secondary peak on the ridge leading from the Rock Pinnacle (Monolith Peak of Japan Women's team) to the Istor-o-Nal North. To climb the main peak we had to leave the ridge mentioned before and go down to a col at 7,100 m. which separates this ridge from the main Istor-o-Nal peaks. All climbs apart from the Rock Pinnacle were therefore first ascents’. (Expedition report.)

Dates of ascents:

Rock Pinnacle (Monolith Peak)	c. 7,200 m. (23,630 ft.)	11 August
Istor-o-Nal:
South	c. 7,303 m.	12 August
South-East	c. 7,365 m.	12 August
Main Peak	c. 7,403 m.	12 August

(by J. Cerda, J. Pons, E. Civis, J. M. Anglada)

The summit-team (Cerda-Pons-Civis-Anglada), after reaching the Rock Pinnacle, followed the SW ridge a bit further but then ⁴ descended with several rappels (as the snow conditions were rather bad) and then went down progressively in the direction of the col where we pitched our Camp VI at 7,100 m.' (ref. Anglada, 7 Oct. 1969). (The teams of 1935, 1955 and 1968 never mentioned that they had to go down to the col for attacking the main peak.)

The upper part of the SW ridge shows four secondary peaks. The highest and first is the West I (probably climbed by the American party in 1955). The third is the Rock Pinnacle, climbed in 1968 by the Japan Women's party. In 1969 the expedition of the Kansei Gakuin University A.C. (A. Nomura, leader) and the Czechoslovakian Expedition (T. Surka, leader) also climbed this peak.

The lower part of the SW ridge and the southern group (Main Peak, South-East and South) are of slate (black), the middle and upper part of the SW ridge and the other peaks of the summit area are of granite (pink colour).

The mighty and spectacular intrusion of granite and pegmatites into the black slates was first observed and described by Dr. Geol. M. A. Diemberger-Sironi in 1965.

[As postscript Dr. Diemberger appends two letters from Thomas A. Mutch. The first is addressed to Mr. Adams Carter (date 17 November 1969) and the second is an extract from his letter to Dr. A. Diemberger (dated 14 January 1970)—Ed.]

Dear Ad,

Thanks for the material on Istor-o-Nal which I am returning. I have gone through it in detail and have the following observations :

By way of ancient history I should note two important facts:

When we reached the ‘summit' of Istor-o-Nal there was a substantial cloud cover over parts of the adjacent terrain. I cannot discount the possibility that an unexpected summit massif, separated from the point on which we stood by a large depression in the ridge, was capriciously covered by clouds.
We have no photographs of the last day's climb. Shortly afterwards, one set was stolen from my car and a second set was lost by Eastman Kodak.

The gist of Anglada s argument is that, in order to rceach the main summit, it was necessary to descend from a south-west ridge and strike south-east, descending some 100 metres to an intervening col en route. I suspect he has noted that our accoumt of the climb has no record of such a descent. Indeed, I do not recall following such a route.

There is a possible sequence of events which suggests that Angladas interpretation is correct. The attached sketch-map shows schematically the route we followed. The south-west ridge emerged on a plateau sloping off to the north-west. We worked our way up the plateau, the crest of which was to our right., When we finally arrived at the ‘summit' it might have been <our first opportunity to look across this ridge in the direction of a detached true summit massif, separated from the south-west ridge by a wide, broad col. I must assume this detached massif was concealed by clouds ; otherwise our position relative to the main summit should have been obvious. Of course, at the time we had no inkling of the complications in the summit topography referred to by Anglada. The existing maps were not detailed enough to indicate more than a single summit pyramid. A previous expedition, whose route we followed, was under the impression (shared by us) that the summit lay at the far end of the sloping plateau. They reached an intermediate point along that plateau route.

In view of the new information provided by Anglada I would be gladly willing to publicly credit him with the first ascent of the main summit of Istor-o-Nal. I hope you will transmit this willingness as appropriate.

Privately, I am about 70 per cent convinced that his interpretation of our route is correct. However, there are several points which puzzle me as I try to reconstruct mental images of 15 years ago. My recollections do not fit exactly his reconstruction of our route. By the same token any reconstruction that gets us to the main summit as located on his sketch-map seems pretty far fetched.

I am sending a copy of this letter and copies of Amglada's material to Joe Murphy. If he has any additional observations I suspect he will write you directly.

If nothing else, this reminiscing about climbs long past has reminded me how long it has been since I have done any climbing. I still look forward to brighter days ahead. Why, I have even started to run a mile each day to keep in shape!

Best wishes.

Sincerely,
Thomas A. Mutch

'Since I have already responded to several requests about the Istor-o-Nal climb, Mr. Murphy asked me to answer your letter. With receipt of a more detailed description of the Spanish expedition from you, I think there is little question but that the Spanish party made the first ascent of the main summit. As a minimum, I reckon that we climbed the Rock Pinnacle, West I.' Dr. Diemberger then writes as follows:

Footnote

For Mr. Mutch is the Rock Pinacle identical with the West I ? I am convinced that the American party in 1955 has climbed first the Rock Pinnacle and later the West I. In the 1955 report Mr. J. E. Murphy writes that they climbed many false peaks. I think these peaks are the secondary peaks below the West I. The error of the 1955 party is caused—

by the wrong map, which showed that the SW ridge continued to the main peak,
by clouds, which coming from the south covered the main peak group and
by the fact that no one imagined that the main peak was on the right hand and on the other side of the grand couloir (summit col).’

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