TERAM KANGRI II EXPEDITION

COL N. KUMAR

ON 13 OCTOBER 1978 at 1645 hours, three soldier-mountaineers stood atop the 24,300 ft virgin Teram Kangri II peak on the main crest of the Great Karakoram range. The snow under their feet had different directions, for the Karakorams form a great divide between the waters falling into the Indian Ocean and the Black Sea. Teram Kangri was the highest virgin peak climbed by Indians in the last five years and perhaps it was for the first time in India that a mountain had been climbed along its face. This success had not come easily to the team of the High-Altitude Warfare School. They had waded through the flooded Nubra Valley, travelled through the longest non- polar glacier in the world, crossed many others before reaching the base of Teram Kangri.

In the words of Fosco Maraini, the Karakorams are 'the world's most spectacular museum of shape and form’. The Great Karakoram range runs from northwest to southeast. It is bound by the Ishkoman and Karumbar rivers on the west and the Shy ok in the east. Karakoram forms a great divide between Central Asia and the Indian sub- continent.

After the 1977 Kangchenjunga climb, I had begun to feel a great urge creep into me. Those days the Karakoram Highway was very much in the news. Karakoram. 'Yes', I told myself. It was a magic word. I pored over the maps and looked at the Karakorams. In the midst of the blue markings on the Survey of India maps, one line helped make up my mind: 'Alignment approximate'. Here was an area which had not been visited even by the surveyors.

I looked closely and found that these markings were over the Siachen glacier. I read all the literature I could and found that the Siachen was the longest non-polar glacier in the world. Later, I found that this area was also the most glaciated outside the poles. Around the glacier were hundreds of peaks.

The Sky was the Limit

I selected Teram Kangri II (24,300 ft). I was alive once again. It was by no means going to be as challenging a task as Kangchenjunga, but I knew it would be a difficult venture.

I needed administrative support of the kind we had received on Kuuinhenjunga, if not more. So I called on the Chief of the Army Staff, General O. P. Malhotra, PVSM, and unfolded my plans. I was relieved to hear: 'Karakoram, an excellent idea.' So the sky was the limit as far as administrative backing was concerned.

The main party left Srinagar on 28 August 1978, reaching Kargil on the 29th and Leh on the 30th. After a two-day halt at Leh, the expedition left for Khalsar on 2 September. Owing to a late start, we had to spend the night at South Polu. The next day the party crossed Khardung La (18,360 ft), the highest motorable pass in the world.

Photos 38-39-40

On the north side of the pass, the road is actually cut through the glacier and goes over the ice for about 100 yards. The steep road ends at North Polu and follows the mountainside above the river Pharka Topko and comes to the first village on the other side, Khardung. There is a beautiful monastery in the village. The road descends to Khalsar, which is situated on the bank of the Shyok river. One road branches off here towards Deskit and goes towards Baltistan and another goes straight towards Nubra valley.

Along Old Trade Route

We followed the Nubra Valley road and reached the twin villages of Sumur and Tegur. The track from Tegur to Panamik village runs along the bed of the Nubra river. Then comes the famous village of Panamik. This is the last village on the old Central Asia trade route. About 3 km further up, the old Central Asia trade route goes over Saser La and to Depsang plains, crossing the Karakoram pass before entering Central Asia.

We followed the track which goes along the Nubra river and came to Tongsted (10,600 ft). This is the last main village towards the snout of the Siachen glacier. Base Camp was reached on 5 September, after roughing out 194 km from Leh. We still had to cross 70 km on the Siachen glacier before reaching the foot of Teram Kangri.

Between the Base Camp and the tongue of the Siachen glacier lies the fast-flowing Nubra river. To negotiate this torrential river, the team tried to use rubber boats, but the forceful current made this unsafe. Flying foxes (a rope-transfer device) were successful but time- consuming. The only route to the tongue of the glacier now lay over the steep rock-face, east of the Siachen glacier. This route was made safe by fixing a thousand metres of hand-rail rope. We felt elated when we stepped on to the Siachen, knowing it to be the longest glacier in the world.

Stage I was established at five hours' distance from the Base Camp in an area where the U-turn of the glacier ends. I carried out a reconnaissance to cut short the curves of the U, by heading straight from the snout over Terong Topko to the proposed site of Stage I. The new route was shorter by 2 km.

Pitfalls of Glaciers

The route to Stage II was opened on 9 September. For the first 3 km or so, the track ran along the grain of the glacier and was safe. A kilometre from Stage I, the party was obstructed by glacial streams. Then it came across unnegotiable crevasses and we had to cross over to the western side of the Siachen glacier. Stage II was put 3 km short of the junction of the Chumik group glacier and the Siachen glacier.

The entire route between Stage II and Stage III was strewn with huge boulders and was extremely rough. Stage III was 1 km ahead of the junction of the Siachen glacier and the one coming from the Chumik group. This was accomplished on 12 September. From Stage III to Stage IV the going was good. The glacier was covered with small stones and there were no crevasses. Stage III was established 2 kilometres short of the junction of the Siachen glacier and the Lolo- fond glacier.

From Stage IV, the plan was to cut across the Siachen glacier again and camp in the lake area, south of Teramshehr glacier. How- I ever, this approach was obstructed by two deep streams — almost 50 ft I wide and despite all our efforts, we could not cross them. The advance party went higher and luckily found huge snow-bridges over the streams. Crossing these, they hit Teramshehr glacier about 3 km west of the lake and established an Advance Base Camp. This was the roughest portion encountered by the expedition on the Siachen I glacier.

After crossing a number of different-coloured moraines, we climbed about 500 ft to hit the left bank of the Teramshehr glacier. Here we established our Advance Base Camp at a height of 17,000 ft. In retro-spect , the Advance Base Camp, which was about an hour's journey from the planned 'Base Camp' at the lake, turned out to be more practical. From here, every movement on the mountain was visible.

Teram Kangri was given its name in 1909, when Longstaff saw it from the Bilafond Pass for the first time. When the trigonometrical observations taken by Dr Longstaff were collated in the Dehra Dun Survey of India Office, the results caused a big furore. The height of Teram Kangri turned out to be 30,000 ft, almost a thousand feet higher than that of Everest!

However, later readings taken from a broader base have revealed its correct height to be 24,300 ft. The Teram Kangri ridge forms the watershed between the Teram basin in Central Asia and Ladakh in the Indian subcontinent. Apart from Sasar Kangri, it is the highest virgin peak to have been climbed by Indians in the last 17 years. It is the northernmost peak ever to be climbed in the Indian Himalaya. Also, it was a 'face climb', which is far more difficult and dangerous than ridge climbs.

Camp 1 was established in an area where the unnamed snake glacier coming down from Teram Kangri II starts at a height of 19,000 ft. To reach the camp we had to cross the Teramshehr glacier, which is about 3 km wide and full of hidden crevasses.

From Camp 1, which was just below the south face of the peak, there were three approaches to the summit. The first approach led from the southwest ridge, the second diagonally across the face from east to west and the third straight up over the face. The entire face was festooned with precariously hanging glaciers. Having studied the trend and routes of the avalanches for seven days, I came to the conclusion that the- right-rib route was the safest of all — that is, if any route could be called safe.

Major Stobdan's party broke the trail towards Camp 2. They went along the bottom of the south face of the mountain for about 2 km before climbing a steep gully. This gully was formed by sheer rocks on the right, while on the left were overhanging ice-glaciers. The huge chunks of ice littered along the route bore testimony to the dangers lurking ahead.

After this the route followed the rocky rib which was full of loose stones, some of them as sharp as knives. Every hold had to be tested before putting any weight on it. After climbing 500 ft on these slippery slates, we were once again forced to come on to the glaciated part of the face.

There were huge chunks of ice precariously balanced in the chalk- stone formations. Hundreds of .tons of ice could be easily dislodged by the touch of a human weight — we never tried it!

 

The Most Dangerous Stretch

After about 400 yards of gradual climb over the glacier, we hit the rocky rib again. When we had left it a little earlier we were happy, but after the glacier walk we were happier to return. The last 1000 ft to Camp 2 had to be crossed under the falling stones and the safest position on the rope was in the lead. Camp 2 was established at a height of 21,000 ft. This was the most uncomfortable camp of the entire expedition. We had to make retaining walls of stone to serve as platforms for the tents and there was the danger of falling stones.

Havildar Puran Chand and Prem Chand took over the lead from Camp 2. We went on to establish Camp 3 on 6 October in the stony area, at a height of 23,000 ft. The first summit party along with the leader went up to Camp 2 on 7 October. It was decided that the summit party, supported by six, would ascend up to Camp 3 and make the attempt on the peak the next day. But because of unclear weather everyone returned to Camp 1.

As soon as weather conditions improved a second attempt was made. The summit party consisting of Major Stobdan, Captain M. P. Sharma, Havildar Angrej Singh Pathania and Havildar Dhujman Rana supported by four other members, occupied Camp 2. Here again a major tragedy almost overtook this rope along a detour which had been tried earlier, but had not been made safe by the fixing of a rope. While on this detour, Sharma reached for a protruding rock.

Considering it to be safe, he tried to pull himself up with its support. It broke, making him lose his hold. He fell over his follower, who hit his head against the rock and blacked out for a moment. When the fellow regained his senses, he saw Sharma still rolling among the loose rocks. Another 100 ft below Sharma saw a precipitous cliff. Once over this, he would be smashed to smithereens. In a do-or-die effort, the companion saw Sharma change the direction of his fall away from the cliff to the ledge which brought him to a halt. He breathed a sigh of relief. Sharma had a miraculous escape from death. He was brought down to Advance Base Camp with multiple injuries and evacuated by helicopter to Leh.

On 7 October, the summit party led by Major Stobdan reached Camp 3. The next day was supposed to be the summit day. But our luck, once again, seemed to be out. The Central Asian low temperaures were further lowered by the westerly winds.

It was a difficult decision for me to take at this juncture — whether to make the third attempt or to call off the expedition. I called the party to Camp 1 and personally inspected the clothing and physical condition of all the members before making up my mind. Two cases of frost-bite were noticed and immediately evacuated. Seeing the un- dampened enthusiasm of the members and rationalizing to myself that winter had not yet set in, I decided in favour of sending the third and last party.

However, due to extreme cold and strong winds, it was now decided that the minimum number of people should be exposed to the high altitude. Therefore, the last summit party was not given any support party up to the assault camp, as most of the stores were there already. All the same, the support party was kept ready at Camp 2 for emergencies. The last party consisted of Puran Chand, Awtar Singh and Kalam Singh. This party reached Camp 3 at 1400 hours on 11 October. It did not waste any time and decided to fix 200 ft of rope to make things easier for the next day's attempt on the summit. This decision of Puran's had far-reaching consequences on the final attempt.

On 12 October, the party though ready to start at 0500 hours, could not do so due to the cold and had to wait for the sun to come out. They left the camp at 0700 hours. Initially they made excellent progress. But then they came across an ice-wall which was 50 ft high and was overhanging. Havildar Puran Chand found a small hole and, entering it, he found a big crevasse. He climbed through the roof of the crevasse to get to the top of the ice-wall. An excellent feat of mountaineering! The time was 1600 hours.

The Way to the Crest

The ice-wall had wasted four hours. The highest point on the summit ridge, though only a few hundred feet higher in altitude was still 1500 m away. Though it meant a very gradual climb on the other side of the watershed, Puran Chand calculated that it would take some time and he was not prepared to spend the night outside, exposed to the Central Asian winds. The party very wisely returned to Camp 3.

From Camp 1 we could see every movement on the mountain and our hearts sank when we saw the party descending without having reached the summit. We had failed in our third and final attempt. We spent an anxious night between bouts of disappointment and sadness. But on the morning of the 13th we saw the party appear and begin to ascend once again. This caused a wave of excitement as, once again, hope of success had been revived.

At 1100 hours the party was at the ice-wall; and at 1300 hours the party was on the crest of the Great Karakoram range.

Success had finally come. With a feeling of elation and exuberance we realized that the snow under the feet of the climbers melted into the mighty Indus on the one side and, on the other, into the great Yarkand river of the Gobi Desert. The summit party had discovered a beautiful plateau on the other side of the crest. In four hours they had covered 2 km of easy gradient to the summit. The time was 1645 hours. They were seen on the summit from the Advance Base Camp and Camp 1. From where they stood, they could see Afghanistan, Russia, China and Pakistan. This could be rightly called the 'great vantage point of Asia'.

Another Karakoram giant had failed to the spirit of man!

 

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