THE INTERNATIONAL HIMALCHULI WEST EXPEDITION, 1989

STEPHEN BELL

THIS WAS A commercial expedition operated jointly by Himalayan Kingdoms Ltd. (UK) and High Country Expeditions (New Zealand). It's original objective was Changtse in Tibet, however, the Chinese had closed the border in Nepal as a result of Buddhist rioting In Lhasa. Thus, all pre-monsoon expeditions to Tibet were barred access from their objectives and either turned back from the border or, if they were lucky, arranged alternative peaks in Nepal.

The closure of the Tibetan border was a major crisis for all the expeditions concerned, but as the leader of a commercial expedition I found myself in a particularly difficult situation. Each of our nine clients had paid a large sum of money to join an expedition to climb Changtse (7580 m) a particularly fine guiding objective, right next to the North Face of Everest. Having already invested a considerable amount of money In the expedition, I was now faced with the prospect of refunding our clients who would no doubt be extremely disappointed. There was still a small chance that the border would be opened by the time the expedition started, but this would have been a serious gamble. The only way I could save the expedition was by booking an alternative peak of comparable height and difficulty in Nepal. With our departure only a few weeks away, this seemed improbable, but it was worth a try.

In response to my urgent plea, our man in Nepal, Bikrum Pandey, of Annapurna Mountaineering and Trekking, telephoned me to say he had booked Himalchuli West (7540 m). It was a great relief to know that the International Changtse Expedition now had a fall back plan.

On arrival in Nepal it was no surprise to find that the Tibetan border was still closed. The expedition now diverted itself fully for Himalchuli West , although it was not without some disappointment.

The other two guides on the expedition were Russell Brice, a New Zealand climber who had an enviable Himalayan record, including the first ascent of the Pinnacles on the Northeast ridge of Everest in 1988, find Paul Bayne who summitted Everest via the South Col route on the Australian expedition also in 1988. Russell had many contacts in Kathmandu and together we sought as much information about Himalchuli West as we could. I had already assured the rest of the team that Himalchuli would be a straight-forward climb, probably not much harder than Changtse. The information that we obtained in Kathmandu seemed to confirm this. Our intention was to repeat the route taken by the American expedition in 1984 which climbed the main summit of Himalchuli, but diverting from this line to take in Himalchuli West. The west summit had only been climbed once before, by the Japanese in 1978.

The six day walk-in was a sheer delight. Climbing out of the Marsyangdi valley, we followed a superb ridge through forests of flowering rhododendrons and idyllic meadows. The base camp at Meme Pokhari (4600 m) was well above the tree line but pleasantly situated beside a cluster of lakes. We reached this on 9 May and started climbing three days later. From base camp we could see very little of the line we had selected, but after climbing 900 m to a point on the southwest ridge we were confronted by a spectacle that left us in no doubt of the enormity of what we had taken on. Between us and the mountain lay a three kilometre ridge, bristling with no less than eleven major pinnacles, all of which would have to be climbed or bypassed. The far end of the ridge butted into the main bulk of Himalchuli, at an altitude of 5790 m, a mere 900 m higher than the start of the ridge. Above this lay 1700 m of snow slopes and ice-cliffs. The climb would doubtless be considerably harder than Changtse, and 1 knew that some members of the climbing team would have no chance of getting high on the mountain. However, we were now committed to our route and had no option but to give it a bash.

The three kilometre ridge proved to be everything it appeared to be. Each pinnacle was a major obstacle, some of them only relenting after very determined climbing by the guides. Only four members of the rest of the team were able to proceed far beyond Cl, which was located near the start of the ridge. Mark Vallance, Graham Hoyland (UK), Jon Gangdal (Norway) and Campbell Mercer (Australia), put in an enormous effort over the next ten days to establish the route to C2 at the far end of the ridge. It proved to be varied and interesting climbing and being at a comparatively low altitude was particularly enjoyable. Virtually the whole route had to be fixed so that by the end of the expedition we had fixed a total of 3500 m of rope. The difficulties were mainly on rock (Alpine grade 5). The fine weather that we had enjoyed during the walk-in was not with us for this part of the climb. We battled through it, often in particularly adverse conditions, only lying up when the weather was so bad we could barely leave the tent.

During foul weather Russell, Mark .and Graham occupied C2 for th« first time, with the rest of us carrying in support. The following day was a complete write-off due to bad weather, however, everybody appreciated the rest day! The next day Russell, Mark and Graham pressed on up the flanks of the main mass of the mountain. They pushed a precarious route through a maze of crevasses and ice-cliffs and were able to establish and occupy C3 the following day on 28 May. Above them lay the most formidable obstacle of the climb, a 100 m vertical ice-cliff. There was no way round it, so it would have to be breached.

HIMACHAL WEST

To our good fortune, the weather had cleared up to give us the best weather of the expedition just when we needed it most. While Paul, Jon and Campbell moved up from C2 to C3, Russell solved the problem of the ice-cliff. After an abortive attempt he pulled off a brilliant 100 m lead with a minimum of protection. With the cliff now fixed, only a straight forward snow slope lay between us and the summit.

Russell, Mark, and Graham made a half hearted attempt to climb the remaining 600 m, but the previous days of hard exertion took their toll and they retired to C3 exhausted.

Paul Bayne and Jon Gangdal, feeling comparatively fresh, dumped their loads at C3 and continued on through the ice-cliffs to bivvy in a crevasse at approximately 7000 m. Without sleeping bags they endured a particularly cold few hours before setting off for the summit soon after midnight. It was a long grind up the final snow-slope, however, they reached the summit at 9.30 a.m. on 30 May. It was bitterly cold, and Paul was suffering from a terrible headache so they didn't stay long.

Meanwhile, at C3 Russell had been supervising an attempt to move the camp above the ice-cliffs. Jumaring up the ice-cliff with heavy loads proved too tiring and difficult so this idea was abandoned and they returned to their original site. Paul and Jon joined them from the summit and together with Graham and Mark, descended to C2 where I plied them with food and drink. Paul told me that Russell and Campbell intended to make a dash for the summit the next day. With the vain hope of catching them up, I left C3 at 2 a.m. reaching C3 some three and half hours later. As expected, Russell and Campbell had already left. At midday they came sliding down the ropes of the ice-cliff having topped out at 7.30 a.m.

In making the second ascent of Himalchuli West our expedition had succeeded despite very poor odds. It was an alternative climb, undertaken with extremely limited information. The standard of climbing was far harder than we had expected and proved too hard for some of our climbing clients. The guides, particularly Russell and Paul, pulled out the stops on both hard rock and steep ice with very limited technical climbing equipment, and often in very poor weather. The successful outcome of the expedition was appreciated by all members, including those climbers who didn't get beyond Cl, but who provided the essential support and moral back-up throughout the trip.

As far as I am aware, this was Britain's first commercial expedition to a 7000 m peak. It's achievement of putting two guides and two clients on the summit, making the second ascent overall and the first ascent of the southwest ridge direct, serves to underline the potential of such expeditions to achieve notable ascents in the Himalaya.

The second ascent of Himalchuli West (7540 m), by a commercial British expedition.

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