THE ISWA KHOLA HIMALAYAN EXPEDITION, 1969

J. P. WARD, M.B., F.R.C.S.

The Himalayan peaks and valleys south of Mt. Chamlang (24,012 ft.) have not yet been, fully explored. The valleys are almost inaccessible and the mountains are stark and steep but do not offer the great challenge of giants like Makalu, Annapurna and Manaslu. It is for this reason that almost all are unclimbed yet many are over 20,000 feet. There is no good map of the area available and the ones in current use are very inaccurate, especially in the upper reaches of the Iswa Khola.

In 1954, the New Zealand expedition led by Sir Edmund Hillary had members travel the length of the Kashua, the Barun, the Iswa and the Choyang Kholas. N. Hardie et al on that occasion travelled the Iswa and climbed the col into the Barun from the Iswa Glacier. On the same expedition, Sir Charles Evans on the upper Choyang found the ‘Yeti' footprints and this stimulated two further snowman expeditions (Slyke-Johnson), which ventured into the forests of the Iswa and Choyang. A few peaks in the Iswa region have been attempted but with little success, mainly because the climbers had their sights on higher summits around Baruntse (23,400 ft.), further to the north.

It was the object of this expedition in spring 1969 to fully explore the Iswa Khola, make a record of the many peaks and identify them by local names; assess possible climbing routes, climb one or two of the Iswa peaks and also investigate the legends of the abominable snowman still strongly prevalent in the area.

The expedition leader was Mr. John Ward (surgeon from St. George's Hospital, London) and the other members were his wife Sheena, Mr. David Gordon Can orthopaedic surgeon), Durche Sherpa and Tilien Sherpa. All the equipment had been shipped the previous year from England via Calcutta and was stored in Nepal. Having worked in Nepal for a year in the Nepalese government hospitals and being joined by David Gordon who flew in on 1 April, the expedition team finally left the foothill town of Dhankuta, Kosi Zone, Nepal, on 10 April 1969.

It was a slow easy first day uphill to Hile, then down to Pakhrebas with 10 porters, eight of them Tamangs and two Rais, all carrying climbing equipment and special foods. In addition there was a Rai cook. It was planned to buy the main provisions of rice, dal, potatoes, eggs and spices in Khandbari, and collect more porters there. It was desparately hot descending to the Aran River at 1,500 feet and the second night camp was at Legua Ghat. Swimming in the ice-cold Aran was a sheer delight after the heat and dust of the day ; tents were not erected that night. Next day, the path was easy yet the pace to Pilua was slow ; the porters were not at all keen to hurry with their one and a half maund loads (120 lb.). The following day led to Sabhaya Khola where the porters had a feast of beef, when a cow fell down the cliffs and was killed. On the fifth day out, the party arrived in Khandbari at 2 p.m. after a long slog up the hill. Water here being scarce, it was a thirsty trip, relieved by many cups of tea in Khandbari. Here three more porters were collected, this time Sherpas, 2 maunds of rice, potatoes and all the things we required. We were well received by the Panchayat officers and given every assistance.

From Khandbari the path became steeper and passed through some Rai villages before a long steep stretch to Sekaha. The ridge behind Sekaha is 7,000 feet and it is along this one travels for two days to reach Num. It was on this ridge that we were able to give medical aid to a man with congestive cardiac failure who was being carried to his home on a friend's back. Injections of diuretics gave him considerable relief. There are several Sherpa and Gurung settlements on the route but they were reluctant to sell food to passers-by. It was cool on the ridge and on 17 April the heavens opened in a Himalayan rainstorm with thunder, lightning and huge raindrops, which turned the footpaths into rivers in just a few minutes! We were soaked to the skin and huddled over a primus stove in a tiny hut to get dry. The porters' loads, now numbering eleven, were fortunately covered with polythene, the large sheets being an absolute essential on a trip like this. From the top of the ridge after merging from thick forest we had our first views of the Choyang, iswa and Kashua Kholas with Peak 6 and Makalu shrouded in mist in the background. On 18 April the Aran bridge below Num was reached. It was under repair and new stripped bamboo was being twisted to form the main lines. After considerable coaxing the porters were persuaded to carry their loads over bit by bit, and by nightfall a shelter-house, some 500 feet above the river, was reached. The altitude at the bridge was 3,000 feet.

Next day at a police check in Hardhangna, we heard that a Japanese expedition had passed through on their way to Makalu. On climbing up a steep hill the villages of Ala and Uling were passed and an oblique descent took the expedition to the Kashua Khola and an almost completely broken bamboo bridge. We reached Sedua at 7,000 feet, after a poor path with many leeches, on 20 April; paid off the porters and had two rest days. We sorted our supplies and recruited nine Sherpas, two of whom, Durche and Tilien, were to stay with us in the snows to climb and cook. Durche carried a reference from a Japanese expedition in 1962. The clouds to the north remained thick and overcast and did not augur well. A small medical clinic was held in Sedua and many patients with tuberculosis, gut parasites and eye diseases were seen. Coughs, headaches and stomach-aches were the commonest symptoms.

On Wednesday, 23 April, a small band of nine Sherpas and three Britons set off from Sedua up a track on the southern flank of the Kashua Khola in easy terrain up to 8,000 feet, then through dense forest with trees hanging with mosses and creepers, cuckoos and ako-pahko birds, wild strawberries underfoot and occasional rhododendrons in full bloom. On the 24th we saw yaks at their grazing grounds at 9,000 feet, huge shaggy ponderous beasts and at 9,850 feet reached the col with the Iswa to the left and the Kashua to the right. Here the track to Makalu forks to the right, and a faint goat trail descends through very thick forests of rhododendrons, magnolia, bamboo and trees like lilacs to the Iswa below.

The Iswa looked mysterious, densely forested and the upper reaches shrouded in grey mist. The next few days were to be difficult with leeches, ticks, dense bamboo and only occasional glimpses of where we were aiming to go.

On 25 April we saw small monkeys playing in the trees at 9,000 feet and passed some huge rocks on the north bank which offered good shelter from the weather. On the opposite side of the valley was a huge rock buttress (Dara Karka), several thousand feet higher than us with patches of snow in its gullies. At 10,100 feet we camped and sighted apes on the rocks, some 500 feet above us. Previous reports that the Iswa is impassable to the south are incorrect. A track coming up from Walung crosses the Iswa on a huge fallen tree and joins our track on the north bank at 9,300 feet. This was a route we must explore on our return.

Dense rhododendron trees and boggy ground marred progress and snow showers gradually turning to rain gave us a miserable day save startling views of the south face of Nepau (22,420 ft.) directly ahead. The valley continued to curve away to the left and end in cloud. At midday there was great excitement among the Sherpas who had found footprints in the mud ahead. Undoubtedly of the chuttip a man-eating beast larger than a -bear with dark hair hanging over its face, walking on all fours with clawed feet, three claws forwards and one back. They were truly frightened and not keen to go on, despite the long sharp kukris stuck in their waistbands! We then saw bear tracks which were quite distinct and clear. The ‘chuttip’ tracks were not clear, making any conclusion impossible but the Sherpas explained in great detail that it was in these forests that the beasts lived. They were quite definite about their existence and a summary is as follows:

‘Mittip’—a 3-foot high creature like a little man who walks on two legs with footprints with five toes. A dwarf or a gnome in fact.

‘Yeti'—a 6- to 8-foot high creature like a huge hairy man, walking on its hind legs and with huge footprints. They explained that one had been killed high up between the Iswa and the Barun many years ago with kukris and bows and arrows. The scalp they said was still in a village somewhere up there.

‘Chuttip'—walks on all fours, clawed feet with hair hanging down over its face, a dangerous cat-like creature, but not a leopard or a panther.

We in fact saw none of these creatures which appear to be very similar to the legends of giants and dwarfs which we have in Europe. There is, however, definitely some other animal leaving its tracks in the Iswa Khola, probably of the cat family, incidentally, later on the morraine of the Iswa Glacier at 13,000 feet, I saw tracks in the snow, each step being 4 ice-axe lengths apart, some 12 to 14 feet in fact, which had been made by a large bounding animal, probably an ape.

The first patch of snow encountered was at 12,250 feet and at Dashi-zom-tar, the end of the forest, a large clearing opened out. After crossing the Iswa on a crude bridge of logs and stones we ascended over very rough untracked ground over large patches of packed avalanche snow to 13,500 feet. The porters walked over the snow in bare feet; fine snow and sleet were falling and there was a rush to put up the tents. The porters were not keen to so further because of the cold.

Next day we had fantastic views of Chamlang and Peak 6 in the early morning light. At 6 a.m. we broke camp and worked our way up the lateral morraine of the glacier to the left or south side of the valley. At 14,000 feet progress was arrested! The route was impassable for porters with loads. David Gordon was belayed down on to the central morraine of the glacier on a 120-foot nylon rope but he could find no route for the porters on the very dangerous loose rock slope. The porters showed themselves very ignorant and foolhardy when some of them attempted to climb down with baskets on their backs and then had to give up and return to the top. We were forced to backtrack and set up our Base Camp at 13,500 feet in the centre of the main glacier well away from possible avalanches. It began to snow at 1 p.m. and our Sherpa porters not equipped for high altitude were payed off and they set off immediately down the valley. Sheena felt the altitude and found hard exercise extremely tiring and the last slope up to Base Camp quite a struggle.

It snowed and the snow soon began to pile up on our tents. On the 29th we spent all day in the tents and on the 30th it continued in the same way. Visibility at its best was 200 yards from the camp. A huge avalanche crashed into the valley some 400 yards from the camp, its roar like thunder lasting for minutes At 3 p.m. we carried out a reconnaissance of the Iswa Glacier by climbing up another 600 feet to find a site for a higher Base Camp or Camp I. The nine inches of fresh snow on the rocks and boulders made progress slow and treacherous and poor visibility forced a return to Base. 1 May at 5.30 a.m. was clear, Chamlang gleaming white in the morning light. After fried eggs fried Ryvita and tea, we set off up the central morraine to the glacier proper taking a Meade and all the climbing equipment nee, potatoes and concentrated food, kerosene, stoves and other essentials. Progress with heavy loads was very slow and after 1,000 feet of toil, a heavy snowfall and thick clouds coming down very quickly made it difficult to see in which direction to climb and at 10 a.m. after erecting the camp we were forced to return to Base. At 12.45 p.m. we were greeted by a smiling wife and steaming mugs of hot chocolate and we retired to our tents. It was on this sad day, that we heard on the radio, the news of the tragic American disaster on Dhaulagiri. 2 May was our fifth day of continuous snow, now two or three feet deep and enveloping the tents. On Saturday, 3 May, at last, the sun came out warm and clear, we photographed and filmed all the mountains around and did a little climbing only to be enveloped in cloud and snow again by 10 a.m. Tilien, our cook, did not wear his now-goggles this morning and became badly snow-blind. He was given lignocaine in his eyes and steriod treatment. The unshine had warmed the new snow and avalanches crashed around us for the rest of the day, some coming to within 50 yards of the tents. The rock walls around the glacier were then so Ktremely dangerous that climbing was strictly taboo. The crevasses on the glacier were completely covered in fresh snow. What wretched luck to befall us and what vile weather the Himalayas threw at our little expedition! 4 May was a desparately cold night with simply everything frozen, ice inside the roof of the tent and boots absolutely solid, needing to be heated to thaw out.

The attempt on the Iswa peaks was given up and a new plan evolved, to withdraw off the glacier and climb Lambudel, a peak a few miles to the south. On the 5th and 6th of May our supplies were ferried down by several trips to a new camp, by the source of the Iswa River, on fiat grass. To the south-west was a valley leading to a narrow snow gully rising 2 to 3,000 feet lo a possible col with the Choyang and Lambudel to the south. On 7 May David, Durche and I climbed to the snow gully and roped up. Then, ascending some 1,000 feet on steep slopes, we really began to come to grips with the mountain. While in this gully and climbing well to the right side, a small avalanche crashed down past us. We continued up. The weather closed in once again, thick cloud drifted in and it began to snow. Soon all hope of reaching the col was gone, and after a short detour to some rocky crags to the right, we were again forced lo give up and we returned to Base. Descent was extremely rapid, 300 feet at a time bounding and tumbling down the steep now slope, much to the delight of our Sherpa, The ropes were fixed with strong ice-axe belays. This procedure was repeated many times and was highly entertaining.

On 8 May three Sherpas arrived from Walung. Base Camp was dismantled, the remaining essentials were packed, and we finally broke camp at noon, marching off down the valley to the forests. The pace downhill was fast; there were bear tracks at 12,000 feet and ape tracks at 9,350 feet and eventually we crossed the Iswa, now a raging torrent, on 10 May by walking over the huge fallen tree. One Sherpa would not carry his load over and Durche did it for him.

From here we were on virgin ground again, this time attempting to walk down the lower Iswa to Walung and Movam Previously it was thought to be impassable but our Sherpas knew ot a route There was no sign of a path, only dense forest, bamboo and undergrowth. This was by far the slowest and most difficult section of the whole trip; not only was the jungle dense but steep cliffs and streams cut into the hillside making us climb up and down, time after time. It rained heavily all afternoon and slippery rocks, mud and leeches became very troublesome. After fording the Dokore Khola, the largest tributary of the Iswa, we found shelter under a huge rock, some 200 feet above the river. The Sherpas assured us it was possible to reach Walung by a low route just above the Iswa on the south bank, but ropes were necessary and baskets and rucksacks impossible On 11 May we elected to take the high route and reached 11,000 feet on the ridge between the Choyang and the Iswa ; here we encountered a yak track leading down to Walking.

It was good to be back in civilization. A good wash, shave and change of clothes, and we were ready to return to Dhankuta via Choyang, Sangkua, Bumling, Tumlingtar and Legua following the grey Arun River. It was seven days, hard hot walking.

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