GYA — END OF A STORY

MOTUP CHEWANG GOBA

EVER SINCE HARISH KAPADIA — our very own "Indian Himalayan Explorer" — and his ever enthusiastic team penetrated the Lingti valley, photographed Gya in 1983 and wrote about this unknown, virgin and technically challenging mountain, it has tempted mountaineers — novices and experienced. So the last decade saw several expeditions march off and try to be the first to put foot on this virgin summit. The initial unsuccessful expeditions due to following wrong routes, bad weather and false claims owing to misidentification of the mountain, made the yearning to climb Gya all the more challenging. Located at the head of the Chaksachan Lungpa and at the tri-junction of Spiti, Ladakh and Tibet, Gya (6794 m) thus became one of the most sought after summits and remained elusive to climbers for more than a decade since its discovery.

The History

From 1987 to 1994 three teams from Mumbai entered the Lingti valley from the eastern side and climbed various peaks around the watershed of the Lingti river. However, all attempts to follow the Lingti river and Chaksachan Lungpa to the base of Gya were thwarted by deep gorges and high water.

In 1994 and 1996 (July - August), a small team of climbers from Delhi with Yusuf Zaheer as the leader approached Gya from the north over the Rupshu plateau. This team did get up to the summit of Gyasumpa (Gya III) but the technically challenging steep walls prevented them from going any further to the summit on both occasions.

1995 (July) witnessed the first full-fledged expedition by the Army (Dogra Regiment) following the same route as the Mumbai teams. This team's claim to have climbed Gya was verified as a case of mistaken identity with them actually having climbed another summit close by at 6400 m.

In 1997 (July) Yousuf Zaheer made his 3rd attempt wherein his team made the first ascent of Gya North.

Colour Plates 13 to 19

In 1997 (July - August), Col. H. S. Chauhan, then the principal of HMI Darjeeling set out on the SAARC Expedition to Gya. This would probably be the largest and most talked about assault with the Indian team consisting of some of the finest Indian mountaineers — about 30 of them — carefully selected from the Army and prestigious mountaineering schools of Darjeeling and Manali, and included climbers from Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. What made this expedition even more prominent was the flag-off publicity and the team carrying, for the first time in Indian climbing history, hi tech equipment — satellite phones, G.P.S. etc. This team undertook the longest approach march to the mountain to Chumur via Parang la. However, due to landslides, the trek began from near Manali, making the approach even longer and due to the strain of the trek members were tired, as they carried every bit of the load and hauled it across Parang la (5400 m) which divides Spiti and the Rupshu plains in Ladakh. One member had to be evacuated by helicopter to the Army Hospital in Leh due to fatigue and illness.

The above team on return staked their claim to have summitted Gya. This was in August 1997 when I accompanied Harish Kapadia to the Dhaulakuan in Delhi where Col. H. S. Chauhan, on his return from the SAARC expedition was going to give an unofficial slide show with comparisons from previous teams who had been there to verify his team's ascent before the press conference to be held the same evening. Paramjit Singh and Vaibhav Kala, members of the Delhi Gya expedition led by Yousuf Zaheer, were also present. During the presentation it became very clear that the SAARC team had summitted not Gya but one of the subsidiary peaks. We decided to name this Gyasumpa which in Ladakhi means 'third peak of Gya'.

The race to Gya had begun again. End of July - August 1998 saw another equally large expedition to Gya by the army's — 3rd Infantry Division. This team, under the leadership of Lt. Col. A. B. Goth, approached the mountain directly from Chumur like the SAARC team. Despite an earlier reconnaisance trip by helicopter and carrying some of the best Survey maps, valuable time on the approach was lost as this team made gross map reading errors. They took the wrong valley making them arrive in the Lingti valley of Spiti from where they had to turn back towards the actual valley leading to Gya making the 3 day approach march to the base of Gya 15 days for them.

Simultaneously, the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) sent out their first expedition to Gya at the end of August-September of the same year, led by Sqn. Ldr. A. K. Singh. On arrival in Karu they learnt of the army team having put 4 members on the summit of Gya. Lack of photographic evidence and controversial statements by members made this claim another false one. In the meantime, the IMF expedition followed the same route from Chumur taking them 7 days to base camp due to transport problems and non-availability of horses to carry the loads. This team climbed Gyasumpa (the same peak misidentified as Gya by the SAARC expedition) but the unseasonal bad weather and lack of time made them abandon the expedition.

Climbing mountains had always interested me and I had taken to this sport at a young age while in school at Srinagar, Kashmir. Harmukh, Kolahoi and other smaller peaks around Sonamarg were my initial climbs during vacations. I went on to do the regular Adventure, Basic and Advance Mountaineering Courses from NIM, Uttarkashi, again whilst still in school. More confident after the technical training, I went back home to Ladakh to continue my hobby.

Gya

Gya — because of the series of unsuccessful expeditions it interested me more. My fascination grew on seeing the mountain from Tso Moriri. Climbing had become a low priority for me as my wife and I worked hard to establish ourselves in the adventure trade business. But my interest in mountaineering kept me updated on all climbing activities. I followed all news closely. At the time the elusive Gya seemed to be the goal of most Indian mountaineers. Harish and I used to constantly discuss it. Harish, of course knowing of my eager desire to get to Gya, kept provoking and called me a 'Delhiwala' — a city dweller — who would love to be in the mountains only in dreams. Gya also became the topic of discussion between me and my Sherpas who came from Darjeeling during the summer months to work for us in Ladakh. They too were enthusiastic and we initially made plans to attempt the summit in June 1998 but due to business we had to shelve them.

In March 1999, I learnt that the IMF was organising their second expedition to Gya in summer. I was invited to join. Since climbing Gya had been my dream, I wanted to go but told them that I would do so only if I was offered the leadership and choice to select my own team. In the meantime, the selected leader due to some reasons was unable to go. It was a couple of weeks later that I was offered the leadership of the IMF team. Time was running out as I intended to begin this expedition by mid-May and not July-August as the previous teams. This period, I gathered, would be the best fair weather period. I had studied all the reports of previous expeditions and the change in the weather pattern over the years. I had been planning this expedition for a long time. So it did not take long to get organised.

Unlike in the past, my plans were to keep the team small, tough, and budgeted so that we could move fast knowing the difficulties of the terrain and dealings with the local means of transportation. I had no major summits to my credit to boast about but I was confident of my knowledge, skills, practicality and thus I chose 5 other members. Ngadare Sherpa from SGMI*, Gangtok was the most experienced of us all having had major climbing laurels as well as being part of the unsuccessful SAARC expedition to Gya. Cyrus Shroff, an engineer by profession from Mumbai, had done many small climbs but nothing major. However, having met him earlier, I had confidence in his technical skills, strength and compatibility and I knew of his interest in Gya. Lobzang Tangtok from Ladakh had only done his mountaineering courses but I knew him personally as being tough and interested in climbing. Amrish Jha from Bihar had also done only his mountaineering courses and had to his credit the record of standing on 1 foot for 72 hrs!!! Unfortunately, the last requested member, Lopsang Sherpa of the ITBP was not released by his senior and we missed having this fine climber with us. Besides the final 4 members and myself, we had with us five sherpas — Pasang (Jr.) Sherpa, Pasang Tenzing, Chombe, Dawa Wangchuk, Nima Thendup and Mingma Sherpa (cook) — all were young, enthusiastic, tough and working with me. A small, skilled, compatible and confident team is what we needed and had.

* Sonam Gyatso Mountaineering Institute

The Start

Finally, on 19 May, all members and Sherpas flew to Leh, minus the equipment and ration. Indian Airlines refused to carry 1000 kg of our cargo on that flight to Leh. Over-booking is normal during these months when flying is the only means of getting in to Leh. H. H. The Dalai Lama was on the same flight and our Sherpas believed this to be a truly lucky omen. I was forced to stay back with most of the equipment but managed to fly out the next morning after meeting the General Manager of Indian Airlines and explaining our situation. He was most helpful and we had just a day's delay.

On arriving in Leh on 20 May, the members all seemed well despite the travel from sea level to 3500 m in one hour an the previous day. The sherpas were naturally acclimatised and immediately everyone set about to invade the market of its already depleting resource of vegetables. Potatoes — the Sherpas staple-diet was the only readily available vegetable but with the quantity we required we had to buy it from households who had stocked them for the lean months. A bit of yellowed greens added to our vegetable list. Members and Sherpas hurriedly re-sorted all rations and equipment which would be required at different stages of the approach march and climb.

Two days were spent in Leh completing all official formalities and collecting information on road conditions to Chumur. It was on one of these visits to the District Commissioner's office that we were surprised with news of some people from Mumbai who had left a few days before our arrival for Chumur. We were told that this team had applied for a restricted area permit to trek from Chumur towards Parang la and then end their trek at Tso Moriri on 6 June. Cyrus and I had an intuition that whoever they were, they were definitely heading towards Gya. (More details on this team later).

The winter of 1998 was one of the most severe in Changthang (where we were heading). We were informed by locals that thousands of sheep, goats, horses and yaks had died due to heavy snowfall and starvation and the remaining animals were none too strong having had hardly any fodder. Moreover, knowing the problems faced by earlier expeditions in getting horses at Chumur, we decided to take 15 horses from Leh. This would prove to be expensive but none of us were keen on any delay.

Finally, on 22 May, we left Leh after an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama who blessed us for a safe and successful expedition. This personal meeting with H. H. the Dalai Lama lifted our spirits as we left Leh in the morning with three trucks — 2 trucks with 15 unhappy horses, and 1 truck with our equipment and ration. Members and Sherpas squeezed together in the seats next to the drivers of the 3 trucks.

The uncomfortable seating was compensated for by the spectacular scenery as we drove along the Indus as far as Nyoma from where the valley opens into an expansive plateau — the Changthang plains where the average height is 4500 m over an area of about 25,000 sq kms. Beautiful, high altitude lakes — Tso Moriri, Tso Kar, Kiagar Tso, with the backdrop of the snowy peaks give these plains a majestic serene atmosphere. Here one can meet the nomadic Changpas who roam the plains with their flocks of pashmina goats and sheep. This area is home to a variety of wildlife. The Tibetan gazelle, wild ass (skyangs) who move in herds, wild yaks, ibex, wolves and foxes can be seen and the lakes are breeding grounds for migratory birds — like black-necked crane and barheaded geese (one of the highest flying birds) and brahmany ducks to name a few.

Seven hours after leaving Leh we arrived at Rongo where we set up camp by the banks of river Hanle. The travel sick and dazed horses took some time to get back on ground and seemed as relieved as we were. Tents were quickly set up and welcoming cups of hot tea served by our cook.

We had to get up very early the next morning (23 May). As there is no real road till Chumur, — one has to follow tyre tracks and drive. Being one has the first vehicles to come there at that time of the year, there were no tracks to follow. Beyond Hanle, on the drive towards Sasa la, we snailed at less than 10 km per hour. Most times we were on the ground putting flat stones at places to make a path for the trucks and then pushing the trucks through slippery ground. At 3 p.m., we were stopped by a snowbridge across a stream. We spent an hour wondering how to get across. Everyone welcomed the decision to camp there and work on the road the next morning since the weather was not looking too good and it had started snowing. Our plans of getting across Sasa la with the trucks did not seem possible even though the truck drivers were most helpful and said they would make every effort to get us till Chumur Fort where the ITBP and ITBF outposts are.

With the fresh snow, it was foolish to even attempt to get the trucks across the Sasa la. So the unloading began and we were relieved to have brought the horses along as we did have a long march ahead. Lobzang rushed ahead to a nearby village with one horseman to look for more horses as there was no way that 15 horses and we could carry our month's ration and equipment. In the meantime, the 15 horses were loaded and members and sherpas began the ferry across Sasa la (5300 m). They reached by noon. Lobzang, who was in touch with us by radio, gave us the good news that he had 10 horses with him, (being locals was an added advantage for us to get things done quickly). He joined us. We continued with 25 horses now to camp at Sasa Dingo by 5 p.m.

With clear blue skies we made an early start and marched off to Chumur passing several Changpa settlements. We were able to get our first glimpse of Gya as we neared Chumur. We were lucky to have finally reached Chumur on 25 May — just 2 days behind schedule - despite the terrible road and weather conditions. Our decision of taking the horses from Leh and not Chumur was the wisest otherwise we could have been delayed even further.

On arrival, the ITBP people came to meet us and we were informed that the Mumbai team who came to Chumur two weeks prior to us were Arun Samant and two others. The evening was spent in purchasing two sheeps which were carefully skinned and prepared to last us for at least two weeks. The locals were very friendly and invited us over for chang and tea.

We had a delayed start the next morning as some horses had wandered off. Then began our final approach to base camp. Ngadare Sherpa, a member of the earlier SAARC team, was an asset to us as he explained where they had faced difficulties in crossing the high river. The SAARC team had rafted down a section of the Pare Chu but we were there early in the season and were able to just wade across the river. It was not necessary to unload the horses. Besides being our main guide en route, Ngadare is a very fine, strong and optimistic climber and extremely hardworking. Our first day's progress was smooth and I was satisfied as all team members and Sherpas went about the work assigned to them. Our cooking team served excellent meals and our evenings in camp were spent listening to Lobzang's radio — our sole source of contact with the outside world. The Kargil conflict had blown up by then and we heard the news of the Indian Air Force resorting to air assaults. Then the radio broke down so we now had only Gya to think and worry about.

Base camp was finally established on 27 May, 4800 m at the head of the glacier. This camp became our dump and ABC would be the main assault camp. Here we saw a single tent left by Arun Samant and his teammates so it was confirmed that they were attempting Gya though officially no one knew of it. It seemed another race to Gya had begun. Arun Samant had previously attempted Gya so I think he was confident and determined to get there this time.

The next morning, 28 May, all members, the Sherpas and I began ferrying loads to ABC (5350 m). The route being mostly scree was unstable and got difficult and tiring at times. Load dumping at ABC was at the safe and well-situated site selected on the lateral moraine below Gyasumpa. We could see Arun Samant's team (3 in all) making progress along the east ridge of Gyasumpa so we presumed that they had either misidentified Gyasumpa as the main Gya or were planning to traverse across Gyasumpa to get to the summit which, to us, did not seem feasible. Leaving Cyrus, Amrish, Lobzang and the sherpas at ABC, Ngadare and I went ahead to do a recce of our route towards camp 1 which was heavily crevassed but with the well covered thick winter snow it was safe. The only caution we had to take was to avoid the rocks falling from the east flank of Gyasumpa. Our campsite was reached in 2% hrs. It was directly below the south buttress of main Gya at about (5800 m). Here we had the first good view of Gya which to us was a great feeling as many teams had returned without seeing the main peak. Being a clear day, Ngadare and I spent the whole morning discussing the best possible route to the summit and before leaving we pitched the tent and dumped the rope and some gear we had carried with us. Till we left Arun Samant's team were still on the same ridge, their progress was very slow and we did not think that they would be attempting the summit that day. By the time we reached ABC, the Sherpas and Lobzang had made a second ferry. Cyrus and Amrish were tired and rested that afternoon in base camp. Approximately 400 kgs of food and gear to ABC on the first day! This was good progress and I must say that everyone was working equally hard - no bitterness, no hard feelings, no health problems — this did seem like the most compatible and happy team.

29 May was again spent in ferrying loads to ABC and it was definitely much quicker as we knew exactly where to step on the slippery scree. The Sherpas, as has been proved in all expeditions, moved at an amazing speed reaching ABC in 1 hour 20 minutes. Our huge kitchen cum-mess- tent, 2 North Face tents and most of our ration and gear were left here. In the meantime, Arun's team had moved higher along the northwest ridge of Gyasumpa but only two climbers were visible. The summit, Ngadare told us, was much further than the highest visible point at ABC and he estimated another 5 hrs for them to get to the summit of Gyasumpa.

After two days of continuous load ferrying, I decided to call 30 May a 'rest day'. Enlarged photographs of Gya were brought out and suggestions of the various possible routes came forth. We decided that we could keep attempting till our ration stock got exhausted as we had enough to feed another small team. (My wife, Yangdu had prepared a varied and exhaustive ration list making us not long for anything but fresh vegetables.)

The Tragedy

31 May was when we would be establishing ABC leaving Jasbir alone at base camp. All were prepared to leave when we were stopped by a local boy from Chumur descending from above. He was with Arun Samant's party and had come down to us for help. The only details he could give us were that two members went to the summit of Gyasumpa on 29 May and were still there (this was 31 May). Two nights on an exposed ridge at that altitude in bad weather conditions (it had started snowing and was very windy) and without food was difficult for someone to survive but this fellow could give us no further details. Leaving our loads, I immediately sent Ngadare with 4 Sherpas and some hot tea and food. The weather turned worse. It began snowing and we could see a blizzard higher up. Ngadare led the rescue team and Dawa Wangchuk remained at the rear. Both kept in constant touch with me over radio. On reaching ABC, visibility on the ridge was barely a few metres and rescue in such weather conditions did not seem practical. I was confused and almost called off the rescue party, but it was a matter of three lives out there and knowing the capabilities of our boys I asked them to continue. Around noon, Ngadare informed me that 2 persons were huddled inside the tent — both extremely exhaused and dehydrated with one of them suffering from frostbite. They learnt here that the leader, Arun Samant, was still out as they could not bring him down. After giving them enough hot fluids, the Sherpas helped them dress warmly till they returned after rescuing Arun. A little further from their tent, Ngadare and the Sherpas found Arun's lifeless body tied to a rope on the ridge. Nothing much could be done as Arun was already dead and with the weather not getting any better it was decided to leave Arun's body there, as our priority was to save the other two persons who definitely needed help. So Ngadare and the other four sherpas roped them up and brought them down to ABC. They gave them some more hot drinks, roped them up and slowly brought them down alive and safe to our camp by late afternoon. By evening these 2 persons — Dhananjay Ingalkar and Sunil Chavan recovered enough to tell us what happened on 29 May.

As their story goes, on 29 May, Dhananjay Ingalkar and Arun Samant left their high camp at about 5 a.m. for the summit of Gyasumpa in good weather. The third member Sunil Chavan stayed back at camp as he had frostbite on his fingers while tying his shoe laces the previous day. The pair was confident of reaching the summit by 12 noon and returning to camp by late afternoon. So they did not carry any flashlight, bivouac for emergency or food. Dhanajay said, they summitted Gyasumpa around 4 p.m. which was already late and not wanting to delay their return any further, Arun did not even allow Dhanajay to hoist the national flag. Arun Samant according to Dhananjay was very tired, exhausted and moving extremely slowly. It became impossible for Arun to stand on his own and Dhananjay had to belay him from behind which delayed their descent further. Darkness fell soon as they were on an exposed ridge with sheer falls on both sides. It was obviously suicidal to descend in darkness as Arun kept falling off to sleep at every rest step. Arun must have realised this and at around 11 p.m., he asked Dhananjay to descend alone and get Sunil to help bring him down. Dhananjay Ingalkar fixed a piton anchoring Arun to the rope. The following morning, both Dhananjay and Sunil went back to where Arun lay. Both managed to bring him down till they were about 30 minutes from camp but they were exhausted too and were stopped by an exposed difficult stretch where they just sat with Arun till he died the following morning on 31 May when they sent the local guy to get help from the IMF expedition.

I personally felt that such an alpine style expedition on a peak like Gya is likely to be disastrous. One should be confident but not to the extent that you overestimate your skills, take the mountain for granted because you have been there previously and come totally unprepared for any eventuality with not even the basics of proper clothing and equipment needed for a climb like this. Besides their shoes, both Dhananjay and Sunil had no proper mountaineering clothing which would explain the frostbite. The helper they brought from Chumur having never been on a mountaineering expedition before obviously had no idea as to what had to be done in an emergency else he would have come down to us for help on 29 evening itself. Moreover, this team was on the mountain unofficially having told the authorities that they were just trekking around the Tso Moriri area. Nobody but they, and I would presume, their families knew of their plans of attempting Gya. They would have known of the IMF expedition so I would say that they planned to get there ahead of us. This was a step which I don't think any real mountaineer should take. A mountain will always remain and no true mountaineer and lover of the sport would consider its 'conquest' at any time an achievement. We climb mountains because we enjoy the activity and as Mallory rightfully said 'Because it is there'. One does not compete on the mountains. It seems that the urban rat race is getting to the mountaineering field too which is a real pity. I however fail to understand as to why Dhanajay or Sunil had not come to us for help earlier. They were aware that we were on the mountain as they would have seen us ferrying and the fact they sent the boy from Chumur to us on the 31st. Had they even come to us the first thing on the morning of the 30th, we would have been able to bring Arun down as he was still alive then and for the following 24 hrs. His death due to exhaustion, dehydration and exposure could have been avoided if they had only come to us for help. Out there in the mountains, each team would help the other in distress. Egos should be put aside. Whether it was inexperience, a life was lost nevertheless and in this case, one that could have been avoided. I only hope that in future such incidents do not occur.

Even though Arun was dead, at least Dhananjay and Sunil were alive and had recovered. We had to go on but we pitched a tent for them at ABC. Food supplies were already there and we left instructions with their helper from Chumur to descend to base camp where Jasbir was. We asked them to leave for Chumur at the earliest and inform the ITBP post. Sunil and Dhananjay had also said that the body was in a very precarious place and would be difficult to bring down.

Attempt: Southeast ridge

The tragedy of this expedition remained in everyone's mind when we offered our prayers on 1 June. We burnt incense and put up prayer flags which were blessed by His Holiness Dalai Lama to officially establish our ABC. I became even more concerned about the safety of the team but on the other hand I knew we were well organised and kept a positive attitude that nothing untoward would happen. The previous day's rescue team was pretty tired too so we had another day's rest.

Our plan was to attempt the mountain from the east ridge. The previous IMF expedition (1998) had written about the possibilities of summitting the peak from this route. Arun Samant had taken photos of this face in 1997 and it did not look impossible. We had however kept the option of attempting from the north west side too. As planned, the next day, 2 June, all members and Sherpas ferried load to Camp 1 with the first summit party of Ngadare Sherpa and Lobzang Tsering. Sherpas Dawa Wangchuk and Pasang Jr. occupied Camp 1 (5800 m), while the rest of us returned to ABC after helping set up camp. While this first team would open route to Camp 2 which was on the col (6200 m), stock it with food and equipment and try opening the route as far as possible towards the summit, the second team with Cyrus, Amrish, me and three Sherpas — Nima Thendup, Pasang Tenzing and Chombe — would stay at ABC for three days ferrying load to Camp 1 and then replace the first team after three days. But the weather was obviously not favouring us then and for two days we had continuous snowfall with strong winds making our movement impossible. Undeterred, the first team managed to move to Camp 2 on 4 June with some equipment and food. They had a good look at the possible route to the col on the east ridge which connects Gya Main and Gya East.

For three days the first team worked hard at fixing almost 1200 m of rope. The fresh accumulation of snow due to spindrift was very deep and the wind kept blowing all the fresh snow from the steep face of Gya to where our team was climbing. I was a little disappointed with our progress as we still could not get beyond the col (C 2). Tired and exhausted after three days of hard work on difficult terrain, the first team finally opened the route to the col on 6 June. I called them down to rest and team II excluding Amrish, who was not too well, moved up. En route, we met the first team who were badly burnt with the fresh snow and looked exhausted. We discussed the route beyond the col and the description given by Ngadare and Lobzang was that the route up the east ridge would be very difficult. I had however made the decision to go and see for myself so we continued to Camp 2. It took us 3 hrs. The camp which was on the col under the huge rocky face had spectacular views of the entire mountains of Rupshu, a few peaks in Tibet, and of mountains in Spiti.

On 7 June, Sherpas Nima Thendup and Pasang Tenzing moved on ahead beyond Camp 2 with more ropes and gear. Cyrus, Chombe and I followed later. By the time we got to the ridge, the two Sherpas had already started working on ahead and were on a sharp, exposed ridge with unstable scree. Our progress was very slow — just a couple of feet per hour — as we negotiated the ridge on the steep scree and ice slopes. By 3 p.m., we had managed to fix only two rope lengths and what lay ahead looked more severe. Everyone's attention was on the necklace of rocks about 70-80 m below the summit which seemed to be our biggest obstacle. By late afternoon, we returned to camp as we could move no further. The next day, 8 June, would decide whether we would reach the summit or return to base camp.

On 8 June, we moved quite quickly till where we had stopped the previous day and continued for another 2&frac;hours to just below the 'necklace', as we called it as it was a chain of closely set huge rounded and smooth overhanging stone, which stopped our progress. Not to give up easily, we traversed halfway across this rocky necklace to look for an opening but realised it was impossible and that we would be risking lives by going any further. We had already fixed 1500 m of fixed rope and knew we would need it to attempt the north west face. We began the slow process of taking out all the fixed rope on the east ridge and this continued till after sunset. Ngadare was not wearing his dark glasses and suffered snow blindness on our descent. Tired but not defeated, we returned to base camp. We were all pleased with our efforts of having got so far and attempting the technically challenging east ridge. Some of the members and sherpas were tired and Cyrus had to be back in office by 20 June but as decided earlier I was determined to try from the northwest face till our food supplies lasted.

The Climb: NW ridge

After 3 days of much needed rest, spent in finishing off the remaining lamb and drinking plenty of soups and juices, the common consensus was that we were ready to go back up for the final push to the summit from the NW ridge. So back to Camp 1 were we all on 13 June.

It seems that the weather gods were favouring us this time as 14 June turned out to be unusually calm with no trace of wind and not a single speck of cloud. Recounting past expedition reports and what we had seen for ourselves, it is rare to see such weather on this mountain. As planned, all members and sherpas ferried load with the first summit party to camp II which was on a ramp, but safe under a huge rock below Gyasumpa at 6250 m where we set up two tents. The remaining team returned to Camp 1.

Taking turns from here, the first summit team of Ngadare, Lobzang, and Sherpas Dawa Wangchuk and Nima Thendup worked hard taking turns at leading and belaying as they traversed the steep slopes to fix ropes below Gyasumpa as far as the ramp between Gyasumpa and Gya North. Though exhausted after a long day's work of fixing ropes, the first party felt that they would be able to work fast along the pitches with fixed rope and get to the summit the next day. They were back at Camp 2 at 1830 hrs. In the evening we spent a lot of time on the radio sets discussing the various obstacles to be negotiated on the next day. My only concern was the gully which leads the route onto the main face. If they secured the gully, the summit was definite.

15 June turned out to be another perfect day. The summit team left at around 0500 hrs and had traversed the slopes between Gya North and Gyasumpa by 1100 hrs. This fast pace made us confident that the summit was possible if a breakthrough on the gully connecting the face was achieved. The route ahead was again on steep slopes and exposed. It was impossible go to up without fixing ropes till the summit. By 1230 hrs the summit team had done the gully, which from Camp 1, looked difficult and steep. Here the first summit team found a rope left probably by the army expedition 1998 which took us all by surprise as the report prepared by the IMF on this army expedition stated them to have climbed Gya North in which case the rope should not have been there as once the gully is negotiated, the summit is inevitable.

At 1424 hrs Ngadare Sherpa stood on the summit of Gya, which he conveyed through the radio set. He was followed by Dawa Wangchuk Sherpa who was on the summit at 1430 hrs, Lobzang Tsering at 1436 hrs and Nima Thendup at 1442 hrs was the last one to get to summit. Everyone cheered as this was the moment we were all waiting for until a further surprise awaited us as Ngadare who was first to reach the summit announced that he had found an 'old rusted' Stubai piton hammered into the summit rock. This piton explained the mystery of the rope found in the gully and clearly proved that somebody else had climbed Gya earlier. Nevertheless we were all still very happy at our success.

With the success of the first party, the second team was equally enthusiastic and we decided that it should move to Camp 2 immediately.

On 16 June, another unbelievably perfect day. Cyrus Shroff and Amrish Kumar Jha with three Sherpas Pasang Tenzing, Pasang Jr. and Chombey left at 0300 hrs and summitted at 0810 hrs. All were down at Camp 1 by 1700 hrs.

We were extremely lucky to have the weather gods favouring us. For me it was a great achievement, having put all the members and Sherpas on the summit.

Full of joy, we descended to base camp on 17 June. A team from the Indo-Tibet Border Police had arrived to retrieve the dead body of Arun Samant. They had neither the equipment nor the ability to do that.

So the following day, 18 June, two members — Ngadare and Lobzang with four Sherpas left with the ITBP team to bring down Arun's body. Having lain there for 3 weeks, the condition of the body was poor. The body was wrapped in tarpaulin and brought down to ABC where our boys handed it over to the ITBP and continued with the winding up of our camp as we were already delayed.

The ITBP rescue team was still facing problems in base camp in loading Arun's body on the horses. We helped them in arranging it on a horse and finally left base camp on 20 June, reaching Chumur the same evening. A civilian truck had brought wood for Arun's cremation from Leh so we were lucky to negotiate with the driver and left for Leh the next morning, arriving there by evening.

Due to non availability of flights the team had to stay for three days in Leh and we finally flew back to Delhi on 25 June. Harish Kapadia, who was then the Vice President of the IMF, was there to receive us. We immediately got our pictures developed and the next few days were spent in comparing the photographs. It became clear that the army team led by Col. Goth in 1998 was the first to summit Gya. The Saga of Gya had finally ended ! I was not at all disappointed that our ascent was the second. What gave me satisfaction was that this small, compatible team of determined climbers had a most interesting expedition having attempted the mountain from the difficult east ridge traversing almost the whole mountain and stopped just about 80 m below the summit. Even more satisfying was to rightfully justify the army's ascent of Gya in 1998 which till then had been considered a false claim.

SUMMERY

The second ascent of Gya (6794 m) on 15 and 16 June 1999. The team brought back the proof of the first ascent in 1998 and helped in the rescue of the two survivors from a team from Bombay.

 

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