JANNU — MY WAY

TOMO CESEN

1. Jannu north face. Route of solo ascent (centre) and decent. Article 2 (Tomo Cesen)

2. Annapuma I south face from the base camp on Annapuma glacier. The route of 1987-1988 Japanese winter expedition. Article 4 (K. Yagihara)

ALMOST A YEAR before the departure I had spent a long time deciding about the move which is now behind me. For a fortnight I thought only of Jannu (Khumbhakarna in Nepalese). After all, its north face is one of the most difficult in the world. Today, of course, I do in it regret that I eventually decided to go, just as I do not regret my decision to climb the face alone.

The last winter season was perfect for preparing thoroughly for such difficult Himalayan climb — not so much physically but psychologically, an aspect which I consider very important. Difficult winter ascents, particularly on Mont Blanc and Marmolada confirmed that I was psyc hologically strong enough for a solo ascent amongst the Himalayan gaitns. I tried then to avoid thinking about Jannu until my departure, mostly with success. However, it all came back with the preparation of equipment two days before leaving. From then on, like it or not, my thoughts always dwelt on Jannu.

Jani, the doctor who accompanied me almost by chance, was a good I companion. Along with the liaison officer and the cook, who was also our Sirdar, we made a great team. We established the base camp on 22 April 1989 at 4600 m at the edge of the Khumbhakarna glacier. The following day after breakfast, Jani and I went towards the foot of the face. Its upper part was always clearly visible from the base camp, but the lower part presented a puzzle which I wanted to solve as soon as possible. The beginning of my route did not look encouraging. The face started with an icefall which, from our side of the glacier looked like a wound of ice-cubes threatening to tumble down at any moment. But I Was even more interested in the upper part of Jannu's north face. Ice gullies, a smooth, overhanging granite wall, interspersed with giant roofs — it was a fantastic sight. It became clear to me that I would need A different strategy from my original intentions for the upper part of the face . But I knew before I left that on such a face it is difficult, or practically Impossible, to plan an exact route. The threat from falling seracs or from avalanches was not too great but the whistling of blocks of ice and rocks was sufficient proof that the face is extremely dangerous. Due to its particular situation, most of this falling ammunition ended up in the funnel at the bottom of the middle part of the face. That's why I decided to climb during the night.

At dawn on 27 April I was not too enthusiastic about the weather. It was cloudy. However, I still had half a day to prepare my equipment. We were having lunch when the sunrays eventually pierced the clouds. It is interesting how quickly one's mood can change. Chindi, our cook, was a master of his craft. His cheese flans were excellent and I decided that apart from biscuits, tins of fish and drink, I would take some with me. Around midday I left with Jani, who wanted to accompany me to the start of the glacier. The weather was fantastic and my mood matched it. I was aware, however, that for Jani, who would be waiting for me, it would, at times, be even more difficult than for me.

Alone on the glacier I felt a sense of exhilaration. This is a good sign and I am already in control of the feeling. I hung the pitons and a spare blade for the ice axe on my harness, put crampons on my feet and ice axes in my hands. Apart from this I took some rope and of course a helmet. My rucksack contained only spare clothing, gloves, glasses, food and drink, sleeping bag and a bivouac sac. Truly, not much gear. To climb the north face of Jannu in this way was, apart from everything else, a great challenge.

After some 200 m of initial warming up I came to the first 10 m high vertical ice-section. Four hours later this easier, lower part of the face was behind me and I rested for about ten minutes. In the valley below it was already dark, but up here the visibility was still satisfactory despite the late hour. Thankfully the rock and icefalls were easing off. Climbing this section of the face during the day would have been suicidal, but for me the night represented safety. For 200 m, perhaps a little more, it was very difficult, cramponing up the 70 to 75 degrees steep couloir, sometimes on rock sections as well as on ice. At that point it slowly dawned on me what could be waiting above.

The new day broke when*I reached the end of the icefield. Here I had to take a right turn to the next icefield which was separated from the last one by the first really problematic part of the route. Very steep ice and smooth granite slabs followed one after the other. I chose the seracs at the beginning of the middle icefield for orientation. Here there was no possibility of protection as there were no cracks at all in the rock. At the end I was glad to reach the steep ice-gully leading to the less steep icefield below some huge seracs where I took my next short rest.

A short rock step separated me from the final part of the face. Ice, rock, ice again, always followed by more granite slabs. The exit from this particular section was something special. A gently sloping slab blocked the way to the last icefield before the vertical exit from the face. Without crampons and gloves, and of course some 6000 m lower, this would have been quite easy, but here it was another matter. It was impossible to remove the crampons and the double plastic boots are not the most suitable for traction climbing. For a while I leaned unhappily with my hands on the slab and my crampons dug into the thin ice below. In order to gain better support for the tips of my crampons I carefully knocked on some small crystals of ice with my ice axe. Everything went very slowly. I can hardly describe the feeling of relief at the top of the slab when my axe at last hit ice. This section was definitely not for the faint-hearted ! What was ahead, though, deserves a particularly detailed description. The entire face above 7000 m represented a trial into which I had to invest a great deal of my knowledge but even more, my psychological strength.

For a while I stared upwards and took in an unbelievable view. In fact It was only thereat 7000m that I really realised what lay in store for nu1. But there was no way back. A vertical gully covered in thin ice, sometimes interspersed by a few meters of rock. The rock appeared pood, though it was clear that climbing with crampons on my feet would be very difficult. The feeling of uncertainty which gives climbing a partilcular attraction, and which I need from time to time, was suddenly lost. In these moments of utmost concentration the world around you no longer exists. It is in just such a situation that one has to use to use the limit all of one's capabilities and strength and have a good sense of balance.

The vertical granite slabs were covered by ice, no more than 10 cm thick. The slabs were on average 30 to 40 m high, and the steepness was consistently between 80 and 90 degrees. The suffering was both psychological and physical. Due to the thin air I couldn't climb these vertical slabs without rest, but rest, best described as hanging on my Ice axe which I tried to secure as safely as possible, was anything but pleasant. There were at least ten such 30 to 40 m high, ice covered Vertical slabs in this part of the face. An additional problem was the fact that there were some easier options but they were not visible from below. This meant that I could only guess about the best route upwards. I needed to use pitons on four occasions as the rock was too difficult to climb free. But it was necessary to continue up the wide cracks, most often wiih the crampons on. There was either not enough space to remove Iliem, or it would have been too dangerous. Fortunately the cracks were somctimes wide enough for me to jam in my foot, relax the tension in relax the tension in my arms and get a short rest. At the end of the rock there was always Ice again. Hard, black, green, sometimes crumbling, but almost always very steep. On one occasion I had to perform a pendulum — a narrow In' gully lost itself in granite slabs above, across which there was no wny of continuing. Vertical rock above, left and right. I noticed a tiny crack above me and climbed slowly almost to the end of the ice-tongue. I required the greatest care because it could easily break off. I hammered in a piton, threaded my rope, descended a little, then tied myself onto the rope and started to sway. In this way I managed to reach the continuation of the ice-gully to the left.

I was slowly approaching the ridge, although extremely difficult sections continued virtually to the end. And suddenly the end came. I almost Mumbled onto the soft snow on the ridge. The summit of Jannu was very close, and the ridge leading to it presented no technical difficulties. I felt drained and that final ridge to the top was another occasion where I told myself I've had enough of this kind of torture. The weather, meanwhile, was deteriorating and I only reached the summit just after 3.30 p.m. To the south was a sea of grey clouds. It was clear that the usual worsening afternoon weather would prevail then as well. For this reason I wanted to descend along the Japanese route as far as was possible. I needed to use the rope to reach the upper icefield on the Japanese route. The weather began to resemble a proper storm, but there was no point sitting it out in the middle of a 55-60 degrees steep Icefield. However, heavy snowfall and strong cold winds forced me to seek temporary safety in a crevasse among the seracs. The bivouac, which dragged on and on, was marked by chattering teeth and quivering muscles, looking at my watch, and hoping that the weather pattern of the last few days would prevail. Howling wind which swept the snowflakes in all directions, fog, darkness — I felt it all lasted far too long. In the middle of the night I thought the storm finally began to abate. I decided to continue the descent immediately. From the crevasse I descended among the seracs for about 100 m. It was not the right way, and to continue needed to deal with a 15 m high vertical icefall. I did not feel like retracing my steps, so I decided to descend with the aid of my rope. At the edge of the serac I chiselled an ice-mushroom with my ice axe and fixed the rope with a loop, otherwise it could have come off if I had to pull it after me. Although a manoeuvre of this kind may appear close to madness to the untrained eye, such an ice-mushroom holds weight without danger.

JANNU NORTH FACE

The ice-slopes leading to the lower seracs sometimes surprised me with black ice. During the day I could have sought a better route but in the darkness I descended down the most direct one. Among the lower seracs I zig-zagged left and right in order to stay among them for as long as possible, and on the final section to the plateau I used the rope .i few more times. The icefall in the jumbled mess of the Khumbhakarna glacier was only a formality. I chose a much easier route than for my ascent, albeit a more dangerous one. But I told myself that if the seracs hadn't collapsed for a whole week, they'd last another hour or two. And finally it was all over. When there's no more danger, and the way ahead is easier, concentration falls. My walk across the glacier resembled the walk of a drunk returning from a night out. Halfway from the base camp Jani came towards me with a smile on his face. It was nice to see another human who had kept his fingers crossed through my climb. It took me 5 hours to reach the base camp from the foot of the face, although normally it would take me just two. I was exhausted. After three days of great effort and with only a little food, my stomach was not prepared for a feast. Only liquid goes easily down the throat. That afternoon we drank a lot of it, and some of us had some trouble because of this. But that is another story.

Some people thought that the north face of Jannu was almost impossible to climb the way I had chosen. I did not agree with this and perhaps I believed more than most that I would succeed. However, for me personally it was important that a matter in which I believed so much, I resolved it own my way. And Jannu is only a part of what I believe in.

A solo ascent of Jannu (7710 m).

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