AUSTRALIAN GAURI SHANKAR (TSERINGMA) EXPEDITION

First Ascent TSERINGMA (20,778 ft)

P. A. CULLINAN and G. BRAMMER

THE AUSTRALIAN Gauri Shankar Expedition was conducted under the auspices of the Australian Army Alpine Association, and under the patronage of Maj. Gen. P. C. Gration, OBE.

The aim was to climb Gauri Shankar, 23,442 ft via a 5 km traverse on the south east ridge obtaining access by climbing initially a subsidiary peak known locally as Tseringma 20,778 ft (6333 m). Many previous attempts to climb this mountain complex of Gauri Shankar Tseringma had failed, although an American team had reached the northern summit in 1979.

The team consisted of Pat Cullinan (leader), Paul Richards, Graham Brammer, John Remynse, Barry Young, Chris Bennett, Mick Hardless, Wayne Carroll, Jim MacDonald and Val Lishman (doctor) from Australia and Anu Sherpa (sirdar).

The Austrains flew into KathMandu on 19 February 1980 and left by bus for the start point of the walk in (Barahbhise) arriving on 1 March.

The team left Barahbhise on 2 March with 103 porters, took the route to Charikot, then along the Bhotes Kosi to Simigaon and into the Rolwaling valley arriving eight days later at the village of Gyabrug 10, 800 ft (near Beding). This became our low base camp for a few days.

After a short reconnaissance the expedition took the sherpa track from Gyabrug into a large cirque between the SE and SW ridge and established high base- camp in the cirque at 15,400 ft on 14 March. All other opproaches to the ridge were too difficult for the porters to negotiate with their heavy loads.

From March, the weather that had been so favourable during the walk in, turned bad. We had selected an ideal site for an advance base camp below and adjacent to a large ramp at 16,600 ft and in appalling weather conditions the advance base camp was established. All high altitude food and climbing equipment was stored in a cave above the camp. During this period, Barry Young, supported by Mick Hardless, Paul Richards and Shambu Tamang fixed ropes along the ramp and onto the ridge at 17,450 ft.

A1 this point we established Camp 1. The weather then became consistently appalling and our progress became proportionally slow. Finally at 2 o'clock on the afternoon of 24 March, Graham Brammer and Anu Sherpa established Camp 2 on the side of the south gully between the SE and SW ridge. It took 2-1/2 hours to carve the single tentsite out of the solid ice on the side of the gully but we were optimistically happy about the situation.

Camp 2 was situated at 18,300 feet; Camp 3 followed quickly. Two days later Camp 3 was established in the gully at 18,600 ft. Its position proved hazardous but we were committed to the site due to lack of alternatives.

In a short period of time a number of things happened. Firstly, the youngest expedition member, Jim McDonald (20) failed to acclimatize and returned to Australia. Secondly, a fierce, consistent snow storm of 48 hours duration made the gully a death trap. It buried Paul Richards and Shambu Tamang for 24 hours at Camp 3. They survived by cutting a hole in the top of the tent and forcing the windshield from a MSR stove through the top as an airway. The storm damaged both high camps and base camp, collapsing the kitchen and forcing everyone off the mountain. Thirdly, the tragic news of three Australians killed in an avalanche on Annapurna III² from the same storm reached the expedition on 1 April and cast a cloud of gloom over all.

We were running out of time. The weather had not let up. We had taken a wrong fork in the gully above Camp 3 and had to reroute the fixed lines. We were experiencing difficulty in finding a suitable site for another camp. The gully was in a continual state of avalanche due to continually heavy snow falls, making movement on the mountain very dangerous. There had been a few near misses but then at 1.40 p.m. on 3 April it happened.

Barry Young, after detaching himself from the fixed line, caught one of his front points in the strap of his other crampon and fell 1200 ft down the gully, injuring both legs and suffering mild concussion. Only the quick thinking of Anu Sherpa and the heavy snowfalls of the previous day saved his life. Anu saw a pack fly past, moved further into the gully and grabbed Barry as he came past. The pack with equipment travelled another 3500 ft over an ice-cliff. Wayne Carroll looked after Barry for the next two days, giving him pain killing drugs and on 5 April, during a break in the weather, Graham Bram- mer organized the rescue operation that brought him off the mountain. Barry didn't climb for the rest of the Expedition.

Camp 4 had been established at 19,800 ft by Mick Hardless and Wayne Carroll on 4 April. This was occupied by Paul Richards and Shambu Tamang on 7 April. They continued to force the route toward the most prominent high point that the valley people call Tseringma. They were joined by Graham Brammer on 9 April and at 12.30 p.m. on 11 April, after some excellent technical work and vertical climbing on the part of Paul Richards, the high point that the locals call Tseringma, 20,778 ft, was reached. Paul Richards became the first man ever to stand on Tseringma followed soon after by Shambu Tamang and Graham Brammer.

 

Standing on this high point at 20,778 ft and looking along the ridge toward the south summit it was evident to the trio that we had neither the time nor the equipment to reach even that Summit. Graham Brammer descended to high base camp at 6.15 a.m. on 12 April and advised Pat Cullinan of the situation. Pat Cullinan then decided to put as many members as possible on the high point, cut any losses, and go home. We were due to leave Kathmandu on 26 April.

On 13 April, the Expedition leader, Mick Hardless, John Remynse and Wayne Carroll ascended to the high point in fine weather and descended to various camps on the same day.

We turned to the valley village of Beding on 15 April, to Kathmandu on the 23rd and flew to Australia on the 26th.

The high point reached by the expedition is the point where the SW and SE ridges, meet. It is the highest point visible to the villagers of Gyaburg and is referred to by them as Tseringma, the first born daughter of the Hindu God Shankar (North Summit) and his wife Gauri (South Summit). The whole Gauri Shankar complex is referred to as Jomo Tseringma or Khangri Tseringma by the Sherpas. It has tremendous religious significance to these villagers and our presence on the mountain was received with mixed feelings.

Both summits (Gauri and Shankar) and the high point (referred to as Tseringma ) are all visible from a vantage point on the track between Bending and a village ailed Na This view of the mountain only serves to corroborate the villagers’ belief.

We didn’t get to the top of Gauri Shankar as we had initially planned, however we returned to Australia satisfied. We had pioneered a new route atleast part way up one of the world's most technically difficult and serious mountains.We were generally happy with our overall performance, especially considering none of us had ever done any Himalayan climbing before. We endorse Peter Boardman's comment that there does not appear to be any straightforward solution to Gauri Shankar the Nepalese side.¹

Both summits will eventually fall to a single expedition. However, any attempt from the Nepalese side will require more time and equipment than we had and more favourable weather conditions than those experienced by us.

 

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