EXPEDITIONS AND NOTES

1. LEADING A MULE-TRAIN TO TIBET, 1957; A RECOLLECTION
2. ASCENT OF CHHOMOLHARI
3. NAIMONANYI, 1999
4. THE 1999 MENLUNGTSE/MILAREPA EXPEDITION TO TIBET
5. GANGAPURNA, 1998
6. CHO POLU — PROBABLE FIRST ASCENT
7. MAKALU EXPEDITION, 1999
8. THAMSERKU NORTHEAST FACE
9. GYACHUNG KANG, 1999
10. SHIVLING
11. HIGH TENSION
12. PANPATIA GLACIER EXPEDITION, 1999
13. SPITI: THE DEBSA NALA
14. PARCHA KANGRI
15. DIRAN, 1996
16. PIR PEAK (6363 m) SHIMSHAL VALLEY, HUNZA
17. 1999 GREAT TRANGO TOWER EXPEDITION
18. THE FIRST ASCENT OF EAST KANTHARI
19. TRIPS TO SOUTHWEST CHINA IN 1998/1999
20. SAXON KARAMBAR EXPEDITION, 1998

 

 

 

AFTER RELUCTANTLY OPTING OUT of a posting in the first year of the IFS (1947) as Trade Agent in Gyantze, Tibet, a decade later I chose to lead a mule train as far as possible on the Lhasa route, in a more modest role. I could go into Tibet in only two guises, as a pilgrim or as a trader. As I thought the latter would be a more credible role, I was encouraged to go in as a trader by my old colleague, Jagat Mehta, then in charge of the China desk in the External Affairs Ministry. At Gangtok, Apa Pant, our Political Agent gave me an unusual passport in four languages, English, Hindi, Tibetan and Chinese; which antique I still have.

At that time, China was desperately seeking Indian trade into Tibet for their rising settlements and needs. There was no railway in Tibet and the long road to Lhasa from Kunming must have been highly uneconomic. Mao's regime was clever enough to induce a flood of Indian goods with payment in a four-fifths silver coin, probably the Kuomintang dollar. Indian trade had Siliguri in N. Bengal as its railhead, then by road to Gangtok, and by mule train over the Nathu la thereafter. Our company was then 'exporting' over Rs. 30 lakhs worth of goods into the unknown market of Tibet, mainly fats, which we assumed must be for Tibetan consumption, and that of larger Chinese garrisons in Tibet. How to match the strong odour of yak butter was an R&D challenge of no small scientific magnitude. The extreme odours of the 'civilised' labs could not match it. However, the R&D work was started.

The market recce of Tibet was only an excuse to go to Tibet, particularly to see the last days of the old Tibet, and the changes being brought about by the Chinese PLA. When I met our agent in Gangtok, and asked about the two mules I had written to him to lay on, I got no response. After some pressing, he told me, to my surprise, that twenty mules were laid on. In view of brigandage between Gangtok and Chumbi he thought the goods would be safer if accompanied by a 'Sahib' like me, known to the Political Officer, Gangtok, our ambassador for Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibetan affairs. When I met Apa Pant, the PO, I thought he might be amused by my story of asking for two mules and getting twenty, In all official seriousness he advised me to take twenty; adding 'two mules no status, twenty mules status'!

So, later, for the glory of India, I rode through the gates of Chumbi, the first PLA Station, leading a caravan of 20 mules and thinking of Mallory and company riding on this same track to Everest a generation ago. Janet Rizvi (in the book reviewed in this issue) relates how meticulously the Customs officials in earlier times counted the number of packs on animals, and how trustfully Chinese customs officials accepted the word of the traders about their contents, on the ancient feeder Silk Routes between Ladakh and Central Asia. I had been warned that the PLA would tolerate no cameras and binoculars; so I took none. At the Chumbi check-post, the PLA soldiers merely kicked around my soft-bags, to satisfy themselves. I let them, with no protest, till they gestured me on.

In the Chumbi valley flat track, I found to my delight I could canter on a mule as on a horse. But the local Tibetans, who had never seen this amusing western style of riding with the seat rising in the saddle, half of Chumbi came out to see this hilarious spectacle. Some ran along side, and with much laughter, spanked my backside each time it rose in the saddle. I was glad to bring smiles on the faces of these fun-living Tibetans, which the Chinese had removed.

At Yatung, it took me a day to realise I was seeing no children between the ages of five and fifteen. I was told they had been removed to Peking for 'education'; in reality, as hostages for the good behaviour of their parents, and, of course, for ideological indoctrination. Yatung had an atmosphere reminiscent of an American market town in the Wild West before the locomotive. All kinds of legal and smuggled goods were brought in from India : cloth, utensils, toiletries, locks, petrol, explosives, arms, and even BKD¹ trucks. In Yatung market, I met a Punjabi sitting at his steel desk in suit and tie, with not a scrap of paper on his table. When I asked him what his business was, he said 'Automobiles'. When he found me incredulous as there was no automobile track over the Nathu la, he explained that he had the trucks dismantled at Siliguri, components carried on mule and human backs over Nathu la, and then reassembled in Yatung. The cost of the truck at Siliguri was Rs. 17,000 then. The entire operation of dismantling, transport and reassembly cost him Rs. 10,000; and he sold the truck to the Chinese for Rs. 37,000. He was content to do business of about 10 trucks — in a business year of about six months. Here was this bourgeois Punjabi making easy profits in style without paying any taxes in Mao's Socialist Republic of China. Imagine the silver dollars he and other Indian traders must have amassed. Oral estimates were at least Rs. 6 crores of silver a year. Each silver coin was then worth Rs. 5. Unaware of exchange rates over the Himalaya, organised Indian business sold their goods to small, enterprising Indian traders in Siliguri, Gangtok, and Kalimpong for Indian alloy rupees and paid high taxes in India; whilst these traders earned four-fifths silver and at high profit margins. Across the Nathu la in Tibet, they paid no tax. The Punjabi automobile gentleman made a net profit of Rs. 10,000 per truck on a total cost of Rs. 26,000, or 38.5% and tax free. He seemed to suffer from no executive stress.

At 7 a.m. every morning at Yatung, I found Indian traders switching on their radios to listen to All India Radio. I thought they were nostalgic for Hindi film music, till 7.30 a.m. when silver prices at Bombay were announced. Not quite the old Silk Route! The new 'silver route'! Another discovery was that the fat we were exporting was not for human consumption, but as fuel for Tibetan monastery lamps. Needless to say, R&D policy to match Yak Butter was reversed on return!

In the stupid way of my class, I asked the Chinese military officer- in-charge at Yatung what was the policy about trade from India. His reply was, 'You bring the goods, then we tell you policy'. Even the old Silk traders did not know such uncertainty. He flatly denied me permission to go beyond Yatung, even in Chinese trucks. So I walked on to a monastery short of Phari on the Lhasa route, and spent two days and nights with the kind monks, enjoyed their Tibetan tea, but was horrified to see the Chinese had over-pasted their ugly newspapers on walls beautifully painted in red and gold design. Two Dalai Lamas had taken refuge here, near the Indian border, in the previous half century, when Chinese pressure mounted on Lhasa. So this was a special monastery beautifully painted for a personage no less than the Dalai Lama. The removal of Tibetan children, and the desecration of the beautifully painted walls of this monastery was for me, in 1957, a bad omen of things to come.

For the added interest of HC members, I should add a Mallory recollection on return from Tibet. I visited my old English School, Victoria in Darjeeling district, and was personally upset to learn of the loss of Mallory's compass. After Odell had retrieved it from Mallory's highest camp on Everest in 1924, Mrs. Mallory had kindly gifted it to Mallory House, as the three houses of Victoria were named after the Everest climbers, Mallory, Irvine and Kellas. In 1936, as Vice-Captain of Mallory House, I was the titular 'Keeper' of Mallory's compass. Although it was actually kept in the Head Master's office, I remember how awed I was when I handled it, after reading Odell's account, as a boy, of his last sad climb looking for Mallory and Irvine lost in the mists in the upper reaches of Everest. I now wonder if it could have been saved by the HC, whose President then, in the disturbed years 1946-7, L. R. Fawcus, ICS, was Commissioner of that very division in North Bengal. He should have known of Mallory's compass at the school in his jurisdiction. (Incidentally, Fawcus introduced me to the Club) Long years later, I had to admit to that loss personally to that grand old climber, N.E. Odell who had retrieved the compass, and who we were fortunate to have met at the golden jubilee of the Club in 1978 in Delhi.

One way the world goes round is in old men's reminiscences, which is all they can do!

Summary : Recollections of travels toTibet.

 

 

 

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Lhotse-Everest

WE CLIMBED CHHOMOLHARI (7315 m) on 23 April 1970. But despite the significance of the climb, there was virtually no publicity. This was because of a heated controversy triggered by the deaths of three Indian members of the expedition. Speculation in the Indian press that they could have been shot down by Chinese forces alerted by Beijing, which in turn voiced its displeasure over Bhutan allowing Indians to climb a mountain along the border with China. The threat of all this blowing up into a diplomatic row resulted in a total press blackout over the details of the expedition.

Ours was the second ascent of the peak, following a successful attempt by Spencer Chapman and his Sherpa companion, Pasang Dawa Lama, in the summer of 1937.

After many requests by friends in the climbing circles, I now tell the story of the fateful climb.

The expedition was sponsored by the King of Bhutan and the Indian Military Training Team. It was led by Col N. Kumar, then the principal of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling. The team comprised eight Indians and three Royal Bhutan Army personnel and was supported by eight High Altitude Sherpas from Darjeeling.

We assembled in Thimpu, where during an audience with the Bhutanese King, I was appointed to carry a religious artifact, 'to appease the gods' of the Sino-Bhutanese border mountains. The beautifully ornate copper pot or 'yangu' contained gold, diamonds and a variety of precious and semi-precious stones. It was to be placed on the top of Chhomolhari, and in addition to bringing prosperity to the country, it would also protect the bearer from harm or misfortune. I learnt that the people of Bhutan, being devout Buddhists, considered Chhomolhari a sacred mountain and any ascent of the peak tantamounted to sacrilege. The Bhutanese government felt the 'yangu' would appease inflamed sentiments over the expedition.

The approach to the mountain started with a drive to Druke Dzong through the Paro valley. The trek beyond to the base of Chhomolhari was easy, and a week after leaving Thimpu, we had established our base camp about 200 m below a permanent icefield.

We pitched our first camp on the icefield itself at about 6300 m. The approach to the camp was relatively easy as most of the crevasses along the way had been packed hard with winter snow. It could accommodate up to 12 expedition members.

However, the way to Camp 2, between a chasm falling about 3000 feet on the East Chhomolhari glacier and a heavily crevassed icefield was trickier. We established the camp at just under 7220 m, below the shoulder of the south ridge which forms the boundary between Tibet and Bhutan.

The first summit attempts were made from Camp 2 on 23 April at 4:30 a.m. The first five-member summit party included Captain Prem Chand, Bhutanese Army Lieutenant Chachu and myself. The Bhutanese government was keen that at least one of its nationals be included in any successful summit attempt, although this meant putting them through a crash course in mountaineering because none of them had been adequately trained. Incidentally, I was given the unenviable task of providing our three Bhutanese colleagues with on-the-job training whilst the expedition was in progress.

Roped together with Chachu and Prem Chand, I took turns leading the way up the snow slope with Santosh Aurora and Sherpa Thundu on a second rope. When we reached the shoulder of the south ridge, we came across a spectacular view of the prominent fortress, the Phari Dzong, standing in the middle of the vast Tibetan plateau, and the massive Lhasa-Chhumbi highway extending into the horizon.

The climb from this point became more difficult as it got steeper and more exposed. A thin coating of snow over the ice required precise crampon work and frequent front-pointing.

I took the lead as we neared the ridge, only to discover that it was too sharp and dangerously exposed on either side. The peak was still a good 150 m away. Taking into consideration Chachu's inexperience, I asked Prem Chand to belay me as I negotiated the ridge, placing one foot on either side and treading with extreme caution. It was a gut- wrenching experience, and mid-way, I was interrupted by a scream from Prem Chand behind me. I braced myself for the inevitable tug on the rope that would mean he had fallen down the side. But it was something else. Chachu had freed himself from the rope and was trying to go back down the mountain. Unable to control him, Prem Chand was urging me to make him see reason. I shouted across to Chachu in Tibetan, asking him what his problem was and he yelled back that we would all die if we carried on pushing towards the summit. After some pleading and cajoling, I persuaded Chachu to move forward with us to a safer spot, where we anchored him to the ice. Then, ignoring his warnings, we left him behind and moved on upwards.

The last remaining 60 m of the climb were easier and soon we were at the top. Prem Chand, Thundu, Santosh, and I spent nearly an hour on the summit, taking pictures and placing the holy pot on the top with a bit of ceremony and prayers.

When it was time to head back, I was against negotiating the treacherous knife-ridge again and decided to try a direct descent from the spot where we had left Chachu. After abseiling 60 m down to a gentle slope, we descended diagonally in the direction of Camp 2. We arrived at the camp to meet the second summit team comprising Capt Dharam Pal, Capt P. S. Kang, Sherpa Aa Nima and Sherpa Nim Dorjee, who were ready to move the next day. After some directions and advice for the second team, Prem Chand, Thundu and I went down to Camp 1 while Chachu and Santosh stayed behind as they were exhausted.

On 24 April from Camp 1 we saw the second summit team head up towards the ridge. At about 7 a.m. they were barely a hundred feet above Camp 2, indicating that they had started late and the going was very slow. They were on a single rope and Aa Nima appeared to be leading the climb. Two hours later they were on the ridge and given their rate of progress, we soon grew tired of watching them and went about our business.

At about 10 a.m. when I decided to start tracking their progress again, I couldn't see them on the mountain face any more. The others joined me to look for them, but we were soon enveloped in a thick fog which made it impossible. When the fog cleared in the afternoon, all we could see was the Camp 2 set-up and there were no human figures on the mountain face.

At daybreak on the 25th, we began anxiously scanning the slopes with our binoculars again and located a lone figure moving above Camp 2. It was Sherpa Nim Dorji, the fourth member of the second summit team, who had gone up about a hundred feet on his own to look for his missing colleagues after spending the night alone at Camp 2. Fearing the worst, I took Sherpas Phu Tharke, Pemba Tharke and Nim Tenzing with me and headed up towards Camp 2. We came across Nim Dorji there, who was back in his tent and incoherent. Taking Nim Tenzing with me, I made my way up to the place where our missing colleagues were last seen. We found a telephoto lens up there, along with some fruit tins, but there was no other trace of them. Looking out towards Phari Dzong in Tibet, we noticed a convoy of large vehicles on the Lhasa-Chhumbi highway. Nim Tenzing remarked that it must be the Chinese army observing our moves on the mountain face.

We went back to Camp 2, picked up Nim Dorji and then made our way down to Camp 1. By this time it was clear that Kang, Dharm Pal and Aa Nima were lost and Col Kumar, in a state of distress, requested a helicopter for a search operation.

The chopper arrived on the 26th and reported seeing coloured objects below the summit. However, after a second helicopter search, these turned out to be the Camp 2 tents and not the lost climbers. Col Kumar, Prem Chand and six Sherpas still went ahead with a ground search.

I wanted to join them, but was literally grabbed and held back by the Bhutanese members who said I would be heading out towards certain death. As a Buddhist and a Tibetan speaker, they considered me as 'one of their own', and were convinced that I had been spared by the mountain deities earlier because I had been carrying the 'yangu'.

On 1 May, the search was called off after unsuccessful and exhausting efforts to locate the missing climbers. Two days later, we left the mountain. The expedition was over.

I still look back at the Chhomolhari expedition with mixed feelings. It was a significant climb in terms of mountaineering achievement, but the tragic loss of those three brave young men meant it was never to be celebrated.

Summary : Ascent of Chhomolhari (7315 m) by an Indian team on 23 April 1970.

Photo 15

 

 

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ON 10 SEPTEMBER, 1999, Kin-ichi Yamamori, the leader, Masayoshi Matsudate, the deputy leader. Yoshihide Higami and Ito Mitsuru left Narita airport, and went to Lhasa via Beijing and Chengdu. On the 17th, Ayumi Nozawai, Tomoyuki Furuya and I, Hiroshi Iwazaki, who were already in Pakistan after the expedition of Spantik, joined the others at Zhangmu, a town near the border with Nepal. On 18th, we passed Ma la (5234 m) by jeep and on 19th, reached Gun village.

On 21st, we established base camp at a meadow on the north side of Kabang (6717 m) at 4700 m. The weather was not good because of the monsoon. On 24th, we set up C1 on the Nasu glacier at 5180 m and on 2nd October, C2 on the shoulder of the east ridge at 6050 m. On 4th, we fixed up 13 ropes until 6450 m. On 5th, we reached 6550 m where there was a crevasse band, unfortunately. Thus we had to retreat.

On 10 October, we parted from Ito, who would pass Ma la from Gyirong Zhen and return to Japan, went to Saga, located on the northern riverbank of Yarlung Zangbo, and then marched via Zhongba and Paryang, looking over the mountains on the border with Nepal. On 12th, we established BC (4700 m) on the banks of the Gurla Chu.

On 15th, we set up an advanced base camp at 5450 m. Matsudate and Higami attempted to ascend Guna la (6902 m), located to the north of the Naimona'nyi (7694 m) across the Naimona'nyi glacier, and Nozawai, Furuya, and I went together for the purpose of exploring the north side of Naimona'nyi.

On 17th, we stayed on the Naimona'nyi glacier at 6095 m. On 18th, we climbed up the west ridge and all of us succeeded in reaching the summit together at 1414 hrs. On this day, we stayed at 6095 m and on 19th, returned.

On 22nd, we started after dawn at 8 a.m. for the new route to Naimona'nyi. We, Nozawai, Furuya and I, traversed the rock, scrambled up the slope and went through a valley to the Support Camp at 6000 m on the Naimona'nyi glacier. And then, Matsydate and Higami moved to S.C. There, we picked up deposits and carried up rucksacks, which became heavier. We shook hands with Matsudate and Higami, and left. We could enter glacier branch from the southeast side of the Naimona'nyi north peak as we had explored it at Guna la. We went along the right side of the glacier for a while and across it, and then towards a col of the ridge between the main peak and north peak. The snow condition was poor and the main difficulty was breaking trail in crusty snow. Nozawai and Furuya climbed up straight and I traversed right and ascended the contact line of rock and snow, and we reached the col. From there, the whole of the north side of Naimona'nyi could be seen. There was a serac, which we had not been able to see before, under the lower crevasse. Thus, we could not climb the north side directly. On this day, we stayed at 6380 m just below a 6512 m peak.

On 23rd, it was a comfortable day. Although the serac was not so dangerous, we could not climb up straight, and had to traverse to the right to avoid a crevasse. We could not keep up a rapid pace and gain high-altitude due to deep snow, and lost time. We went over two snow bridges, and at last, we climbed up to the upper great white slope. After a short break, we started to climb the slope, where, fortunately, the snow condition was good and could make a rapid ascent of the slope. We continued to climb towards the upper part of the north ridge. The great white slope was long, as we expected, and our pace became slow after we were over 7000 m. Then, it became dark. We made a slow ascent, without any rest, in high winds and blowing snow. We established a campsite at 7205 m. The wind was blowing so strongly that one third of our tent was in the air. We spent a long night holding down our tent against the storm.

On 24th, we overslept because of fatigue, and our start was delayed. We were forced to go roundabout to the east face, because we didn't have rock pitons. The serac overhung the upper part of the face. Naimona'nyi threw a shadow upon the face, and it was too late to climb up the serac. Fortunately, we found a terrace on the face at 7410 m, which was wide enough to pitch a tent. We could enjoy the view of Tibet under fantastic moon light.

On 25th, we found a weak point between a rock wall and an ice wall, but whilst climbing up, the slope became steep and the pace of climbing slow. The slope was over 75 deg, thus we climbed with a rope over the last 50 m. At last, we slipped out of the east face, and climbed a gully. Nozawai and Furuya climbed along the ridge and I traversed a snow face and climbed up. At 1512 hrs, we reached the summit together, having completed a new route on the north side via the east face and the fourth ascent of the peak. Just after the ascent, we descended the Zaronmaromba glacier on the west side, and stayed at 6800 m. On 26th, we arrived at BC.

After the climbing, we drank in celebration of the ascent at Burang, and left for the pilgrimage to Kailash. We did the circuit around it in two days. Nevertheless, we were exhausted. After that, we went via Zhongba to Lhatse, and there I parted from the other five members, who returned to Japan via Lhasa and Beijing, and I went to Zhangmu by hitch-hiking. I left for Delhi via Kathmandu to attend the Millennium Meet of the IMF.

Summary: An ascent of Naimona'nyi (7694 m) by a Japanese expedition on 25 October 1999.

Members : Kin-ichi Yamamori (leader), Masayoshi Matsudate, Yoshihide Higami, Mitsuru Ito, Hiroshi Iwazaki, Ayumi Nozawai and Tomoyuki Furuya.

 

 

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WE HAVE RETURNED to our respective homes on 1 November from an extraordinary 2&frac; month adventure in Tibet's Rolwaling Himalaya. The intense emotions I experienced during the trip will take a while to sift through. We were about 50 km east of the mountain called Shishapangma, where an avalanche took the lives of our two friends, Dave Bridges and Alex Lowe. This loss was a big blow to our morale, although our expedition was otherwise without mishap.

Nevertheless, our exploration and ascents on the northern side of Menlungtse (7181 m) were fascinating. Prior to our expedition, not a single photo seemed to exist of this valley, nor of the north face of Menlungtse. According to Jim Wickwire, the resident historian of Menlungtse and the surrounding area, no team had ever been in the valley beneath its north flank. My own expedition photos have just returned from the developers. I'll be eagerly going through them over the next few weeks.

August 17 — Our team of four departed for Tibet.

September 3 — We arrived at the upper meadows of the beautiful green Menlung valley. Spotted with lakes at about 4900 m beneath the north face of Menlungtse, it was an ideal camp site. We set up BC in the normal monsoon weather : clear mornings followed by rain in the afternoons and evenings. A few days later, Martin Zabaleta decided to return home rather than do any climbing. There were a number of reasons for his decision. His wife was expecting their first baby in January and I suspect this had a lot to do with it. Mark Price, Andrew Brash and I stayed on to attempt to climb both Menlungtse and several unclimbed and unnamed peaks just north of Menlungtse. Particularly interesting was point 6262 m on the Chinese maps.

While waiting out the monsoon in September, we became well acclimatised. Most of our first week was spent bouldering in the clear mornings and hiking in the rainy afternoons. It was actually quite relaxing.

September 11 — On our first real 'outing', we attempted to reach the col between the two very attractive unclimbed peaks north of our BC. We were turned back on the 12th by deep, heavy snow on a glacier which felt avalanche prone.

September 14 — We camped at 5420 m on the compact West Glacier of a small, unnamed peak northeast of our BC.

On the morning of the 15th, after the normal snowfall during the night, I made what was probably the first ascent of this peak (about 5610 m) by its west ridge. It was a fun climb; a short, exposed, granite ridge. The climbing was not difficult, but several steep steps were tricky due to the newly fallen snow. I descended the east flank, a simple scree slope, and circled around the peak to the south. I met the others a couple of hours later back at the edge of the west glacier and we returned to BC.

September 23 & 24 — All three of us hiked back up to the top of Pt. 5610 m by the easy eastern scree slopes and spent the night a few metres under the summit. Our efforts were simply for acclimatisation. This little mountain offered breathtaking views and we knew that the night higher up would do us good later on.

September 26 — Due to the snow conditions, this was the first day we were willing to venture onto the north face of Menlungtse. Nearly the entire north face is guarded by a huge line of seracs at about 7000 m. We followed a line up an ice rib on the east end of the face. The rib eventually joins the northeast ridge at about 6400 m. Lower down, this ice rib threads between two additional serac barriers on the face. Though the rib is relatively safe, reaching the base of it is not. For the first two hours of the morning, we were forced to ascend over the massive snow and avalanche debris cones at the bottom of the wall. There was no getting around this obstacle. In all honesty, the approach to our route was nerve wracking and dangerous. Once on the rib itself, however, we felt free of the risks of these big seracs.

September 26 and 28 — We fixed about 600 m of 7 and 9 mm lines to a small, safe bivouac spot at the base of a 20 m rock wall. The ice climbing was not extreme, and the snow and ice conditions were not bad. It was a fantastic feeling to be climbing on such an enormous and awesome face. Working as a threesome, we were able to carry up food and gear to the bivouac spot for a planned 7 to 10 day alpine style ascent of the remaining 1600 m of the peak.

September 29 and 30 — We came down for a 2 day rest with the plan to begin climbing alpine style on October 1st. On the night of September 30, it began to snow.

October 7 — The storm did not finish until this day. In the morning we took a good look at the mountain through binoculars. So much snow had fallen that huge crown fractures were visible all along the top slopes of the peak. Though we believed our route was feasible in safe conditions, it seemed very risky after the snowfall. Many avalanches scoured the north face of Menlungtse in the afternoon.

October 8 — Enormous avalanches continued to pour down the North Face. We made the decision to abandon the climb for this year. We considered changing our objective to the beautiful, unclimbed 'point 6262 m'. Much less snow had accumulated on the two mountains north of Menlungtse. (We had no idea about the October 5 avalanche on Shishapangma until the 10th.)

October 11 — The three of us made our second attempt to reach the col between Pt. 6262 and the other smaller peak, north of our BC. Fortunately, less snow had fallen there and we were able to climb safely to a good campsite on the glacier at about 5550 m on the col. I have to admit that our motivation was shaken by the terrible news about Alex and Dave which reached us the day before.

October 12 — Nevertheless, at 5:00 a.m. we three set off up the east face of point 6262 m. It was an ice face with a short mixed section at the bottom and another just under the summit. Not far up the face, Andrew decided to withdraw from the route. The mountain just didn't feel right to him. He descended to the col without trouble and continued back to our BC on his own. Mark and I decided to push on. I think we continued in the spirit of the two men who had died on Shishapangma.

The weather began to look dismal by 10:00 a.m. and I considered bagging it altogether. But Mark's determination was strong and we pushed on. The face was about 50 degrees in overall steepness, and the ice climbing was moderate. Only the last two mixed pitches to the top were time consuming. At 3:30 p.m. we stood on the exposed, corniced summit, the meeting of three steep ice ridges at 6262 m. Dark clouds were passing rapidly overhead. The view, in a full 360 degree arc, was extraordinary. To the northeast, Cho Oyu's summit was shrouded in lenticular clouds above 7500 m. We had an impressive view of Menlungtse's north wall. I could see Ama Dablam, Chamlang, and Baruntse far off to the east. Shishapangma was the dominant mountain to the west. There were numerous unclimbed 6000 m mountains piercing the sky between us and Cho Oyu. Most of them were spectacular and difficult summits.

The descent went quickly with two 60 m ropes. Due to the threatening weather front approaching, we had rigged rappel anchors all the way up the route. I was nervous about getting caught on the face in a blizzard. By 7:30 p.m., we were back on the col. Though we were tired and thirsty, we were immensely satisfied by our efforts. Chilled from the long day out, I crawled into my sleeping bag without food or water and slept.

It began to snow that evening. Later, after warming up, Mark and I spent several hours in the middle of the night melting ice for water. The following day, we descended to BC without urgency.

October 16 — We left our BC for the 2 day return hike to Tsambouche village at 3550 m in the Rongshar valley. Our return to Kathmandu was made difficult by another storm which began on October 18. The Fusila pass, which gives access to the Rongshar valley from Tingri, was covered by too much snow for vehicles to get through to Tsambouche. We had to spend an extra week organising and hiking the 40 km up and over the Fusila pass where the jeeps could pick us up near Cho Oyu BC. We utilised 3 unloaded yaks to stomp a path through the snow enabling the other 19 to follow. We, fortunately, walked in the trench behind all 22 animals.

October 27 — Our return, by jeep and truck, to Kathmandu was completed. We learned later that the entire southern area of Tibet had been hit by a cyclone from India. Numerous teams had been caught in base camps and had undergone difficulties similar to our own.

Summary : We greatly appreciated the opportunity to climb in an area where few, if any, outsiders have ever trekked. The north face of Melungtse will have to wait for another year. It is an extraordinary wall. In good conditions, I think it will yield a fine route on the east end. I hope we will return ourselves.

Our ascent of Milarepa peak (Pt. 6262 m) is a source of satisfaction for us. One by one, these 6000 m gems of the Himalaya will offer challenges to those expeditions willing to explore a little off the beaten track. We named the mountain after the well known Tibetan yogi and saint who died about 900 years ago in the Rongshar valley. He was poisoned by a very rich and influential lama who was jealous of his vast influence. Milarepa's last days were spent in the sacred caves at the base of Pt. 6262, only a few hundred feet from the renowned Chuar monastery. His legend lives on throughout Tibet. The fable goes that he was able to reach enlightenment in only one lifetime.

Photos 16-17-18

 

 

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A POST MONSOON ATTEMPT on Gangapurna 7455 m (24,500 ft) was conducted during the second half of September and October 1998 by a team of club members most of whom had not visited the Himalaya previously. Tharpu Chuli (Tent Peak) 5500 m (18,000 ft) was used as an acclimatisation climb by the main team with Jim Booth and Howard Staines participating in this part of the expedition.

Gangapurna forms part of the Annapurna Sanctuary and is situated in Central Nepal near Pokhara, one day's drive from Kathmandu. At nearly 7455 m, it is one of a number of 7000 m peaks forming a horseshoe, and is one of the most popular trekking areas in Nepal. Gangapurna has had 12 successful attempts since it was first climbed by Gunter Hauser in 1965 and only 3 parties have been successful in repeating his route from the south. With this in mind the team expected and found a less than straight forward route which proved to be beset with difficulties.

After spending one day in Kathmandu repacking kit and food, the team travelled to Pokhara by coach. The 8 hour journey proved to be the ultimate white knuckle and bone shaking ride and was endured in very hot conditions. From the road head at 1000 m, the busy route into the Annapurna Sanctuary was followed for 4 days to Machapuchare base camp at 3700 m. A series of well organised tea houses and lodges were used for meals and shelter during this time. Here the supplies needed for Tent Peak were separated from the main kit and the majority of the 54 porters were paid off. The fingerless Sherpa Sirdar, Dorje Lakpa, who had been my Sirdar on the Mera Peak trip of last year, retained 8 porters, and concentrated on moving the loads north towards Gangapurna. At the same time the expedition members moved west to Annapurna base camp, a series of lodges at 4100 m overlooking the boulder strewn South Annapurna glacier.

From here the route to Tent Peak crossed the glacier and climbed northwards over grassy slopes to a camp at 4400 m on a spur overlooking the head of the glacier and the south face of Annapurna.

This was only achieved after negotiating the steep and highly unstable lateral moraine slopes on either side of the glacier. It was decided to use 2 camps to aid acclimatisation and a short day climbing the rocky hillside saw a camp being made at 4900 m at the foot of a small glacier on the southwest side of the mountain. The changeable weather took a turn for the worse on summit day with fine conditions turning to steady snow high on the glacier. At the foot of the slopes, 150 m below the summit, it was decided to abort the attempt due to the unstable state of the snow, which by this stage was deep and unconsolidated. The deteriorating weather only helped to convince the team that this was a wise decision. To avoid eating into the time available for the main expedition, the team descended back down to Annapurna base camp the same afternoon and back to Machapuchare base camp the next day.

One day was spent drying and repacking the kit and celebrating the start of the Autumn Nepalese Festival. The weather continued to be very poor above 4000 m with rain falling at regular intervals. Chris Holding, Jim Booth and Howard Staines decided to start their return the next day despite further rain, but it was not until the day after that the main team moved north towards Gangapurna. The route which went down to cross the snout of the South Annapurna glacier involved a steep descent down unstable moraine, followed by steep vegetation and fixed ropes to descend into the Modi khola gorge. Walking alongside the Sherpas and porters, who carried 25-30 kg loads over this difficult and dangerous ground, only served to increase the teams respect for them. Once again the dry start to the day quickly deteriorated into low cloud and drizzle as the clouds rolled up the valley on an anabatic wind. Dorje and the porters had previously cached their loads as high as possible in the valley at a point where a river crossing was necessary. This was at the site of a Japanese expedition's base camp, near to the confluence of the rivers feeding the Modi khola. A damp overnight camp at 3900 m was achieved only after using a fixed rope haul of 45 loads over the torrent. The damp start to the next day quickly changed to sunshine as the team climbed the main valley leading to Gangapurna. Base camp was established on the top of the moraine field on the right hand side of the East Annapurna glacier at 4500 m on a flat area below a protective rock buttress. The next 2 days were taken up with repacking kit and food and establishing the camp. The daily sortie to the top of the moraine field at 4750 m directly above the camp allowed extensive views towards Gangapurna and Annapurna III, and it was from this position that the route towards the col between the two mountains was planned.

Camp 1 (C1) was quickly established at 4950 m after a 2 hour climb and a traverse below a series of glacial snouts, which regularly littered the route with serac debris. The camp was on a loose stonefield, directly below another protective rock buttress, in what proved to be an ideal place. Porters were used once again to lift much of the kit and food from base camp to C1, near the foot of the main glacier. While the Sherpas and porters built up supplies at C1, the team pushed the route forward up towards the col. Camp 2 (C2) was at 5350 m on a small relatively flat area of glacier above the main icefall, with Camp 3 (C3) at 5800 m above the level of the rock buttress and right of the direct line to the headwall below the col. It took 8 days to lift equipment and food to the camps to support a summit bid, with the fixed ropes between C1 and C2 proving to be most arduous.

The route through the bottom of the glacier and up to C2 took a number of days to fix to gain some degree of safety and to allow efficient movement. It followed a weaving route with several sections through jumbled blocks and two areas with vertical fixed ropes climbing seracs. 400 m of rope was used with a large number of ice anchors. Despite this the most difficult part of the route was a single crevasse, which was jumped with some difficulty at first but required fixed ropes and combined tactics towards the end of the expedition. The Sherpas, both of whom had climbed on Everest a number of times, commented that this part of the route was much more difficult than the Khumbu Icefall.

On 17 October with Andy Johnston, Dave Cummings and Stuart Jackson at C3 and the two climbing Sherpas at C2, the route to the bottom of the headwall at 6400 m had been tested and all was ready to mount a summit bid. The weather then turned for the worse with 1 m of fresh snow falling overnight and throughout the next day. Overnight the tents at C2 were partially buried in a small avalanche and by the morning of 19 October it was clear that the route was loaded with unstable snow. With only four further days to summit in, it was agreed that the conditions were unsafe and would be so for several days. The decision to end the expedition was therefore reluctantly made. The team members at C3 very carefully descended to C2 to meet the Sherpas and in what proved to be a long and eventful day, all eventually arrived at C1 3 hours after dark. After one day at base camp and another returning to the lodge at Machhapuchare base camp the team walked out to the roadhead at Naya Pul.

Our thanks to Sherpa Dorje Lakpa, who once again proved to be a totally reliable Sirdar. His motto of 'no fingers - no problem' proved to be entirely accurate and will not be forgotten by any of the team !

Members : Lt Cdr Neil Hicking (leader), Lt Cdr Stuart Jackson, Sgt Howard Staines, Marine Andy Johnston, Warrant Officer Tony Morris, CPOAEA Jim Booth, Lt Dave Cummings, Marine Chris Holding.

Summary : An attempt on Gangapurna (7455 m) in Nepal by a British team in 1998.

 

 

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OUR TEAM WAS composed of Dieter Ruelker, Guenter Jung, Dr. Olaf Rieck and me as leader. On 13 October we started from Kathmandu, reaching Lukla by flight and continued along the normal trekking route via Namche Bazar with some days of reasonable good weather. On 18 October, we reached Dingboche. It started to snow heavily, so we were forced to stop our approach for 2 days, before continuing via Chukhung to Island Peak (Imja Tse) BC. Over the last 10 km we broke the trail through 1 m of snow and dug a path for the yak with shovels. Lots of trekking groups were waiting behind us to use our work, when completed. So the yaks reached on 23 Oct and the porters on the 24th. They reached only till the shelter near the island BC. They were not able to continue further to Island Peak or even Cho Polu BC. So we lost three more days in carrying the loads by ourselves before establishing our base camp on the moraine east of Island Peak at about 5200 m on 26 Oct. Two days later, we started the first reconnaissance, but due to vast amount of snow on the crossing of Lhotse Shar glacier, it took us some days of trail-breaking until 1 Nov to reach the base of the mountain. Laying a track through the west face of the Col Hardie we reached the Col (6183 m) after 2 days of climbing under continuous avalanche danger on 1 Nov. Due to really bad snow conditions and unstable cornices, continuing via north ridge to summit would have been like playing Russian roulette. One day of reconnaissance on the ridge had no result except cold fingers in the incredible wind up there. The Col Hardie works like a wind channel, whipping the normal Himalayan winds up to heavy storms even in sunny and good weather. Such stormy weather with heavy winds (but no snowfall) and having no more food for a longer summit attempt forced us to descend again to base camp. On Col Hardie we left two tents and some cooking and climbing equipment. After 3 rest days in base camp we again reached our camp on Col Hardie, having taken with us enough food for a longer stay during summit attempt. Next day, we descended by abseiling to the east side of Col Hardie about 80 m down on a plateau of Barun glacier. We crossed the 'hollow' glacier through deep snow and reached the bergschrund on the north face of Cho Polu. Happily, we registered excellent snow conditions on the steep wall above the bergschrund, and so we climbed 100 m, fixed two ropes there and returned to our high camp, reaching it in darkness. Next morning, on 12 Nov, we started at 4 in the morning, reached the bergschrund by dawn, at 6, and climbed up our fixed ropes, taking them with us after reaching the highest point of the previous day's reconnaissance and continuing towards the summit. We climbed a direct line through the centre of the north face, passing some seracs and small crevasses in the upper part of the wall. The whole face was about 600 m high and up to 60° steep. Because of temperatures of below —25°C in the shady wall and excellent ice conditions, we climbed unroped without belaying. 60 m below the summit cornice we turned slightly to the right, crossed across a big crevasse and used the lower lip of this crevasse as a natural traverse line to reach the north ridge. A few steps on the broad ridge brought us to the summit of Cho Polu, 6734 m high. Incredible good weather with low winds and a fantastic view over hundreds of summits was waiting for us. We spent more than one hour on the top, taking a 360° panoramic photograph and several hundreds of telephotos of neighbouring mountains. The ascent took us about four hours from the bergschrund. The descent on the same route took only two hours. Late that afternoon we reached our camp on Col Hardie again and over the next two days we descended down to base camp with all the equipment. Climbing the sunny westface of Col Hardie was still much more difficult and dangerous than the Cho Polu north face because of the snow conditions. Reaching base camp on 14 Nov, all 4 team members scaled Cho Polu. By the way, before leaving base camp on 19 Nov, we celebrated Dieter Ruelkers 60th Birthday on 17 Nov by making a short ascent on Island Peak within 3 hours from BC. Back in Kathmandu on 23 Nov we realized that we had probably made the first ascent of mount Cho Polu. With the help of Mrs. Elizabeth Hawley we made extensive investigations, but no former ascent could be verified.

Summary : The first ascent of Cho Polu (6734 m) by German team on 12 November 1999.

Colour Plates 20-21
Photos 19-20

 

 

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ON THE 25TH OF MARCH I arrived in Kathmandu, having left Switzerland the day before. A few days of preparation, shopping, formalities, sorting out of equipment and - most enjoyable — meeting with other climbers like Fausto De Stephani, Um Gil Sun and Juanito Oiarzabal, who like to tackle these Himalaya monsters without assistance; and then I left Kathmandu by plane for Tumlingtar. I hoped to join Michael and Ilgwar during the 11 days walk to base camp, crossing the Shipton la and the wild Barun river. On 10 April the three of us installed base camp at 5400 m, right under the fabulous west face of Makalu. We would climb independently from each other, but share equipment.

Seen from base camp, Makalu is most spectacular, with its summit 3000 m above me. The view of this giant triggers in me a feeling of doubt. I will have to go 'beyond myself. Up to now, 110 expeditions have been to Makalu, with a success rate of 5%. Only 47 climbers reached the summit. This success rate probably is the lowest of all 8000 m peaks. Seven expeditions went to Makalu last autumn; none of them were successful. As far as I am concerned I was 8 times successful out of a total of 10 expeditions to 8000 m peaks; but I failed twice on Makalu. In 1996, due to a parapente accident some 300 m above Makalu base camp, I broke a vertebra, an ankle, 4 ribs and opened my cranium! After waiting in vain for 10 days for an helicopter I was forced to 'walk' for 8 days with the help of two selfmade crutches: a bit of martyrdom. In 1998 I made a second attempt, joining an expedition of 6 Swiss mountain guides. But Makalu did not want us: clear sky but a continuous and extremely strong storm at the higher altitudes.

This spring of 1999 the storm was present again on Makalu. The Jet Stream might be a benediction for my countryman Bertrand Piccard and his balloon, but it creates a lot of trouble for us on the mountain, in particular during the night. In the early hours of the morning I could in base camp the howling of the storm around the summit. Piccard was happy to float in the air at 180-200 km/h; but I needed a day without storm, and had to make sure that I did not miss that day.

The slopes of Makalu are covered with ice, contrary to the autumn season when they normally are covered with snow. We placed 800 meters of fixed ropes in order to reach the Makalu la at 7400 m; the last part of the route was through a 50 degrees steep gully.

I thought of the excellent conditions met by the French expedition of Jean Franco in 1955, which was the first successful climb. And also of my countryman Marcel Ruedi who died, exhausted, on the summit of Makalu; and of my Swiss friends Loretan and Troillet who succeeded on the west pillar.

Life in base camp is an opportunity to write down one's dreams and to make them live. The inexorable laws of the mountain world don't care about human brotherhood or tears. At moments my thoughts lost all logic; a kind of delirium. Exceptional are those periods of life during which one's devotion towards effort, isolation and risk is so total. Difficult moments are followed by enjoyment; thoughts go to future projects. Did I lose too many neurons above 8000 m ?

High altitude climbing means ego, clouds, wind, ice, muscles, but also the physical possibility to improve one's mind. Gestures are being made with an extreme slowness and precision; respiration requires a perfect control and uniformity. The physical climbing concurs with a prepared reflection, with a deep and active concentration. One should listen to the mountain, just listen; and patiently wait for 'D-day'. The guardian angel will keep an eye on the rope-dancer dizzy because of the altitude, the loneliness, the cold, the lassitude, in order to prevent him from tumbling into heaven at the slightest mistake. Sometimes one feels emotion warming one's cheeks, upon which all becomes solid and calm again.

So many moments spent under a simple tent, dreaming, doubting, observing sunrises and sunsets on icy mountains, wrapped in a duvet, sleeping on the hard stone. Protected by that canvas flagellated by the storm, surrounded by rocks and glaciers; no restaurant, no telephone, no bar, no distractions. The new scenery is nature, with its sounds and laws. Certain moments, when I am physically at the end, I feel like joining a Buddhist order : my body does not belong to me, it belongs to my mother; she gave it to me and I have to bring it back to my family. That's why, on my way down from these summits, I have to reach that tent at 7000 m or lower, be it day or night, whatever the weather, whatever my fatigue.

When I am climbing in a group I avoid putting pressure; the younger climbers need advice, moderation; a climb becomes so easily a fatal one. That's nevertheless what happened to Michael, too ardent; with an unbelievable determination pushed him beyond his strength. What a great loss! When Sherpas climb to higher altitudes I stay as much as possible with them, keeping secretly an eye on them because they do not always see the crevasses, the avalanches, the dangers. I check their equipment, check if their crampons and ice axes are sufficiently sharp in order to allow them to climb the ice. Some advice, based on so many years of experience, can be very helpful. The Australians have installed their camp under some very unstable seracs. 'Don't worry' they say. Do they sleep better with such a permanent risk? A first night on Makalu la, at 7400 m, exposed to the storm. In general, these strong winds come from the west; and Makalu la is a particular exposed place. Already 15 days of clear weather, but impossible to climb higher-up. Makalu is mocking us, few 'penguins' hanging around at its foot, notwithstanding our humbleness; nothing we can do about it.

With two camps, at 6400 m and 7400 m, everything is ready for the final assault. I observe the mountain all day long; it is difficult to make the right choice; one should also avoid to use one's energy by unnecessary going down and climbing up again, and so on. I have to make sure not to miss the right day: Makalu offers only very few of them! In addition to the opportunity, a bit of luck is necessary.

The Accident of Michael Jorgensen

The morning of 28 April the weather looked good. After a short discussion with Michael I left base camp for Makalu la. At 10.00 p.m., much to my surprise, Michael and Ilgwar entered my tent. Difficult night at 7400 m. The tent was too small for three of us; impossible to sleep, to prepare some food or even to melt some snow; everything was covered by hoar-frost. Outside a storm raged. At 6.00 a.m. I went down, irritated by the unplanned visit; on the mountain one should not stick together. In the gully under Makalu la I crossed Markus Stofer, member of a Swiss expedition, who was trying a assault on the summit. At 9.30 a.m. Ilgwar decided to follow me to base camp. Michael and Markus climbed to 7800 m in order to spend the night in a tent installed by the Americans. On 30 April at 3.30 a.m. it was stormy; but at 5.00 a.m. the storm abated, and they decided to leave for the summit which they reached at 2.30 p.m., very tired. After a rest of 20 minutes Michael started to descend. Markus, who left the summit before, made a rappel in a steep gully about 150 m under the summit, and took rest on a piece of rock. Startled by a noise he turned his head and saw Michael falling down, together with the rope, all the way through the gully, 50 degrees at the top, some 500 m, his body violently touched snow, ice and rocks. Michael must have died right away. His body lies at 8000 m, on the Tibetan side of Makalu; impossible to bring him back. Makalu will keep Michael. Late that day Markus entered the American tent at 7800 m; and descended next day to base camp to give us the sad news.

Michael was pushed by an extreme determination. Fate hit him; only 32 years and with so many dreams of new projects! Anxious at not seeing Michael coming back, two Sherpa left base camp to look for him. But nothing could be done anymore. Michael and I met twice in the Himalaya; and we got along well together. Five minutes discussion last year, at the foot of Everest, and the Makalu project was born. His enthusiasm was contagious : join me to Greenland next year?

In my opinion Markus Stofer was leading their ascent; and opened a new route, the central gully, which - mixed and partly covered with ice - was difficult, instead of following the normal route. After three days of huge effort at high altitude, fatigue, concentration, climbing in 50 degrees stone-hard ice above 8000 m, Michael must have been exhausted.

A few days later however I wanted to see Michael, take some pictures, bring back something personal to his family, protect him from glances even if those would be very rare at 8000 m on the Tibetan side of Makalu. I found him, in that hostile world, curved in the snow, face down, arms and hands damaged. Most of his body was covered by snow; and I was unable to do anything, to put him into a crevasse 50 m below him or to take the ultimate picture, the farewell picture; I was carried away by emotion.

The mountain of sadness however gave me an opportunity. On the 13 May I reached the summit; it was my eighth 8000 m peak.

Five days on the mountain

It was snowing in base camp. As soon as the weather started clearing up I left. It's 10 May, 5.00 a.m. Fresh snow slowed down my climbing; and it was still very cloudy. When I reached Camp 1, I hesitated before continuing. I decided to sleep there and to climb next day, 11 May, to Makalu la. A lot of powder snow had accumulated in the steep gully leading to the pass; and heavy masses of clouds bounced against it. 12 May I reach the American camp at 7800 m. Hopefully the sea of clouds just below me would grant me an ultimate beautiful day, tomorrow. I was alone on the mountain; all others were at base camp, under a huge blanks of clouds.

On 13 May I left the tent at 3.30 a.m.; it was very cold. After crossing the zone of seracs the first daylight touched me; I was climbing on the glacier heading towards the summit of Makalu. At 8200 m I joined the rocky east ridge, and finally the summit ridge which was covered by snow. It was 2.00 p.m. when I reached the summit. The view was absolutely fantastic: only Lhotse and Everest rose above the clouds; all other mountains were hidden, even Kanchenjunga far in the east. A violent wind swept the summit, blowing powdersnow high in the air. I took a few pictures and started descending; endeavouring to maintain a good rhythm. In the American camp I came across an American and a Spanish climber. The next day, at 6.00 a.m., we all left the camp. I was going down and they were going up. But weather, storm and snow decided for everybody; there was no way for the others to continue their climb. It was a matter of survival. Late that day I was back in base camp, happy and grateful, after five days of enormous efforts high on the mountain, alone all the way from base camp to the summit.

Twenty seven climbers besieged Makalu this spring of 1999; amongst them Alan Hinks, and Ginette Harrisson who was the first woman to climb Kangchenjunga. But only three reached the summit: Makalu maintained its average!

Members : Michael Jorgensen (leader) and Andre Georges.

Summary: A successful Swiss expedition to Makalu (8463 m) in 1999.

 

 

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I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN INTERESTED in this enormous side of .Thamserku. I have run into it several times in my life.

The first time was in 1984, when I participated in an expedition to Cho Oyu. Descending the top and after a short rest in Namche Bazar, very early in the morning I went to a fantastic viewpoint where the Tyamboche Monastery is. I was delighted with the sight: Everest, Lhotse, Ama Dablam, Kantenga, etc. It was great! But what was that other mountain on the right? I had to look for it in the map... Ah! Yes! It was Thamserku, of course! It was striking. I thought of the first conquerors of the valley who, I am sure, did not realise the magnitude of this satellite mountain. It rose like a dream, like an arrogant challenge. But the truth was, I did not plan to climb it, I just dreamed about it for a long time.

The second time I saw the wall was in 1987, when I was trying to climb the southeast ridge of Lhotse Shar for the first time. During my approach I studied the mountain again, with the hope and the boldness of those who know that they might never plan to climb it. While we were descending Lhotse Shar I did not even remember having seen Thamserku, because I was mentally smashed. We had had a serious accident and lost four mates on the Lhotse ridge.

Once again I saw Thamserku, this time was the third, during my ascent of Lhotse Shar in 1990. How could this ridge of Thamserku still remain virgin? It could be an interesting project, because of its 1600 metres of slope and its elegant central passage. Perhaps the serac that closed the route in the highest part of this passage could be the reason why nobody had climbed it yet. I took several photographs to put them in my office in Barcelona. Curiously, these photographs got damaged, and this fact made me wonder if this mountain was linked with my destiny.

In October 1991, after the ascent of the west pillar of Makalu, from the top I looked for my friend, Thamserku... and there it was almost unrecognizable, half-hidden between the silhouettes of Ama Dablam and Kantenga. Why the attraction? I don't know! I have never known the feeling before.

Finally, the fifth time, in 1996 I went on a trek with some friends and my wife, in order to show them this marvellous valley of the Everest and its surroundings. I must admit that I had almost forgotten Thamserku. Since the last time that I had seen it in 1991, a lot of things had happened. While I was going up the valley of Everest and before reaching Tyamboche I saw the snowy top of Thamserku again briefly, and suddenly I remembered every detail of it.. , it was alone and high and I think it was calling me. This trip in 1996 was very special for me because it was the first time I had visited Nepal without a major climbing project and was consequently without 'pressure'. We only wanted to visit the valley till the base of Everest and Kala-Pattar. If the weather was good we would continue until the base of Lhotse- Shar to remember the nice old days. Moreover, we had a permit to go up Island Peak where we could enjoy the fantastic view of the south edge of Lhotse. Due to this, I could study some future projects in a more relaxed way and I took several photographs of the north-east face of Thamserku, too. Of course! It was without my wife's notice because I had promised her I'd take a break from climbing. Later, whilst talking to my friends, I learnt that they had not noticed anything about my plans.

I wondered again, why had somebody not climbed this face of Thamserku? Perhaps that big serac in the high part of the passage made the ascent impossible. I could compare my photographs of the same face of Thamserku on my different trips over the last fifteen years. I therefore concluded that the serac was stable.

I got the necessary information about previous attempts of climbs on it and I found that in 1985 two French mountaineers had to stop before the serac after a quick 16-hour alpine style attempt. One of them, Michel Fauquet, described this face like the north edge of Les Droites on Montblanc. In 1980, a Japanese group could ascend the left edge of the passage using a classic technique, that is, with fixed ropes and four high altitude camps, over one and a half month.

At the end of 1998, I came to the conclusion that the central passage was unexplored and was waiting for us... it was a dream. I began to think about it... it would be 1500 or 1600 metres ... how would the serac be? How would we go down? I remember that all these thoughts got me excited, but finally, I knew that the only possibility was to do quick climbing, such as the French climbers had done, in order to reduce the danger of the ascent.

In July 1998, I proposed my project to my friend Joan Quintana. Although Joan had not been to the Himalaya, I had climbed in the Alps with him before, and I knew how he moved. I told him, 'why don't we join your alpine experience and my knowledge of the Himalaya?' Would it be possible to climb the north-east face of Thamserku like the north face of Les Droites? That is to say, without anything in the rucksack, except a stove and some energy food. The idea was bold but not crazy. In fact, I had already proved in other mountains of the Himalaya that it was possible to thus overcome similar slopes in upper altitudes. Furthermore, Joan had climbed the passage of Diamante in Kenya the day after he had arrived in that country.

In January 1999, we got the permit. Two people and one project that required our combined spirit and soul. Joan had studied the itinerary carefully and came to the conclusion that the project was dangerous but possible. He had climbed some routes in the Alps with similar seracs on the top. From his experience on the north face of Ortles in Tyrol, with a passage of 1600 metres and a serac on the top, we could prepare the strategy. Only a light attack could be successful. Another factor to take into account was the descent. I agreed with him that we would go down the wall using abalakof. Joan was used to using these bridges of ice.

When I bought the plane tickets three weeks before the trip in Barcelona, I wondered if I was too optimistic. I felt our daring project was quite possible. However, when you are working against time, sometimes it is impossible to finish a task because one always wishes there were just two days more. We spent only eleven days Kathmandu and we were exhausted. I had tried something similar on other occasions, but had not succeeded because of the altitude, the weather, the strategy... It had happened the autumn before, in Patagonia, and I had only had the opportunity to see bad weather and to hear the wind.

On 21 April, we flew from Kathmandu to Luckla and the same day we slept in Phakding. My partner, who had never visited the country before, told me that other climber friends had advised him a rest of two or three days in Namche Bazar. I agreed with him but on this occasion the weather was extremely good. We had a big anticyclone, the barometer was up.

On 22 April, in the morning when I woke up, the weather was still good and we went up quickly to Namche. At the police post, I told Joan, 'I have been here at least ten times before and this weather is too good to be true. Why don't we go on to Tyamboche, today?' He answered that Manel de la Matta had advised him to stay put for some days. 'Don't pay any attention to his words!' I told him. The same day we arrived at Pungi Tanga, the town from where the ascent to our edge began. We stayed at Evergreen Lodge, whose manager was Migmar Sherpa. He helped us to find two guides in order to open the path with their Kukris. The path was totally invaded by vegetation and so we had to make our access easy.

Then, the same day (23rd) we rested. We went to Tyamboche early next morning to see the condition of the wall. Our first visual contact with the wall was impressive. At dawn, when we arrived at Tyamboche, the wall was bathed in sunlight and it was shining like a mirror. I had never seen it like this before. We watched it for six hours. Perhaps we were waiting for some sign that could dissuade us. But it did not happen, the weather conditions were exceptional. Just looking at the wall was overwhelming. As I remembered my previous visits to the valley, I noticed that it was the driest year that I had ever seen and it was good for our quick climb.

Our adventure began on 24 April. Very early in the morning we went out with our three porters to base camp. I was surprised at the wild surroundings. There was no path... nothing. We only found four stone blocks, almost entirely covered by plant growth, that seemed like an old cooker of a base camp, probably of the Japanese group.

Finally, at 4400 metres in the moraine, we put up our little tent and said goodbye to our porters. Two hours later, when we were alone, a huge block fell down fifty metres from us and very fast. Was this the sign that we were waiting for? That night we slept with safety helmets on and knives in our pockets.

On the 25th, we went out from base camp at 5.00 a.m. The mountain was so dry that it was even difficult to climb the access to the base. We went on to the left side of the central cone of the couloir of Thamserku, looking for the upper spur protection. When at 11 a.m. we arrived at a safe place under a fallen rock at 5300 metres, we placed our little bivouac. Although we talked about our strategy for a long time, our final decision was clear: we had to profit from the good weather conditions and we would go out the same night. We slept for some hours and at 19.00 hrs after having dinner we continued our trip. In the end, we had decided to carry a stove, some climbing material, wore extra clothes for the cold and kept some sweets in the pockets as if it was an edge in the Alps. When we began climbing the first slopes, we noticed that the conditions of the wall were excellent and it made our climb easier. We went up the first 800 metres almost without ropes. We spent 12 hours more or less and at 8 a.m. on the 26th we arrived at the key position of the wall. It was a compact stone wall which gave access to a light goulotte of 850 and M5. I remember the bitter taste in the mouth due to the height and the dehydration. But the ice was good and this turned out to be a fascinating climb. The sound of the end of my ice-axe showed the safe ground below the ice. It looked like the ice that we had found on the west pillar of Makalu in 1991. The serac on the top seemed to grow bigger and bigger, as we approached.

'Joan, we must stop! We have to drink and the water bottles are empty.' At 10 a.m., we stopped for about one hour, near the serac, in a little hole which was probably caused by the impact of an ice block from the same serac. The place was unusual, cold, changing... Nature showed its magnificent power. The great Himalaya! At this point, we turned right and we went on to a passage parallel to the serac. We knew that the descent along the same ascent would be quick because the ice conditions allowed us to install several abalakof which would help us in rappelling. At 3 p.m. we were on the upper ledge, exhausted. How long would it take us to go beyond the ramps to the summit? It was endless... We were worn out, and took 3 hours to walk 150 metres. We were close to the summit...

'Joan get on the edge! Don't be exposed!' We felt dizzy. It wasn't strange! All summits look similar... With the last daylight we arrived at a place where all was below us — the summit! Immediately, I looked at Joan with worry. We had to do the worst possible thing! We had to go down the same way that we'd come up, but in darkness, for it was now night. We could not stay on because we had nothing with us. We installed a deadman on the same edge and it made us dizzy. Fortunately, we had our front lamps and as if it was not enough, we were surrounded by a fog. It was particularly difficult to find the inflexion point of the slope where began the descent ramps towards the base of the serac. As we were rappelling, there were little avalanches of ice which worsened the descent. We could not eat the sweets because our throats were so dry. Although the liquid had finished several hours ago, we couldn't stop now.

We spent 13 long hours doing 30 rappels from nails, stakes, 15 abalakofs and even one off our ice-axes. At 8 a.m. on 27 April, we were exhausted but very happy when we arrived at the bivouac camp which was right beside the wall. We slept for five hours, wearing even the crampons. After we hydrated ourselves we decided to go down to base camp in order to move away from the danger-area. Finally, at night we arrived at our base camp 'palace'. We did not want to wake up from our dream. The day after, in the evening, we arrived in Pungi, where Migma Sherpa waited for us with a dish of Dalbhat and all his family's warmth.

My dream had come true!

Summary : New Route: Northeast Face Couloir. Millennium Catalonian Route
(VI I- 5+ - M5 1600 metres) From 25 to 27 April of 1999.

Photo 21

 

 

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GYACHUNG KANG IS a significant mountain between Everest and Cho Oyu on the Tibetan-Nepalese border. It is a very attractive mountain despite its height (7952 m) and awkward name. The mountain has huge neighbours and due to its missing 48 metres Gyachung Kang was less interesting in the past!

Before us, only three successful expeditions had reached the summit from the Nepal side. We were the first to try climbing from Tibet. 15 people from 4 different countries were recorded to have climbed the summit.

Arrival in Kathmandu.

18-23 Sept: Kathmandu — We were packing and waiting for some cargo loads. We left the kitchen boy to bring the missing loads to BC later.

24 Sept: Kathmandu — Kodari — Zangmu. We met an interpreter who was also a liaison officer.

25 Sept: Zangmu — Nyalam.

26-27 Sept: Nyalam — We acclimatised till 5000 m.

Nyalam — Lalung Leh (5200 m) — Tingri — Shegar.

Shegar — Pang la (5120 m) — Tashi Dzom — Chinese base camp (4650 m).

30 Sept-1 Oct: Spent two days waiting in BC for yaks and acclimatisation up to 5500 m.

1 Oct. : BC — the first camp (5150 m) on the way to the real BC. Late departure.

3 Oct : From first approach camp to the second approach camp (5470 m). We should have reached the real BC but yak drivers stopped just one hour before BC which cost us an additional $ 300 and one day more.

Arrival at BC (5550 m)

5 Oct : Arranging BC. The first acclimatisation climb. Car, Meznar, Prezelj and Stremfelj climbed the peak, 6700 m (NE of Siguang Ri and N of Gyachung Kang). In the guidebook of J. Kielkowski the summit was described as virgin and we suggest the name Zero peak. We made an ascent over the E face and SE ridge and descended over the E ridge and E face.

Guzej went upto 6135 m, and Meglic and Jost till 6270 m.

Jakofcic, Jost, Meglic and Navrsnik climbed the peak 6700 m (Zero peak).

BC was a bivouac under the N face of Siguang Ri Shar. Four couples made different bivouacs.

Meglic and Navrsnik started the climb of Siguang Ri Shar N face. Navrsnik turned back on E ridge, 200 m under the summit. Meglic reached the high Siguang Ri Shar as the first climber and descended over the S side. They both descended to the BC the same day. Prezelj and Stremfelj climbed a new route on the N face of Siguang Ri, finishing it at 6660 m near the saddle between Siguang Ri and Siguang Ri Shar. Car and Jost, and Jakofcic and Meznar climbed another new route more to the right and joined the first 100 m below the saddle. All six made a bivouac on the saddle (6550 m).

All six of us climbed a new route to the summit of Siguang Ri (7309 m) with a very strong wind blowing. Probably we made our second ascent of the mountain. All six returned back to the bivouac on the saddle.

12 Oct: Car, Prezelj and Stremfelj climbed Siguang Ri Shar from the saddle via long traverse over the S face. Descended to BC the same day. Jakofcic, Jost and Meznar descended from the saddle directly to BC.

13-14 Oct: At BC for a rest day.

BC-ABC (5850 m) — Due to the long distance over the glacier we put two tents one hour from the N face of Gyachung. We also marked the way with stone-men and returned to BC.

16-17 Oct: At BC for another rest day.

18-20 Oct: It was snowing for more than sixty hours. There was nearly a metre of snow in BC. Our kitchen and store tents collapsed.

22-25 Oct: We were short on kerosene for cooking. Because of that, the leader went down to the village to order yaks for 3 Nov.

Car and Jost and Prezelj and Stremfelj went to ABC to start the climb the next day. In the evening Prezelj and Stremfelj got poisoned by gases (CO and CO₂) whilst cooking. Car and Jost found them unconscious and helped them.

Car, Jost, Prezelj and Stremfelj went to BC; Jakofcic and Meznar, and Navrsnik and Meglic came to ABC.

28 Oct: Jakofcic, Meznar, Navrsnik and Meglic climbed to bivouac 1 (6800 m). During the night and in the morning a strong wind blew. The two pairs stayed on B1 for one more day.

Car, Jost, Prezelj and Stremfelj went to ABC.

Navrsnik and Meglic decided to go back to BC Jakofcic and Meznar decided to continue the climb. At the most difficult parts they belayed each other. At fall of dark, they reached the left edge of a big serac and set the second bivy (7500 m). Car, Jost, Prezelj and Stremfelj climbed to B1 to the same place as the first two.

Due to very low temperatures and being tired, Jakofcic and Meznar went towards the summit only at 12:00. After six hours of climbing they stood on the summit and went back to B2.

Car, Jost, Prezelj and Stremfelj reached B2 at 15:00

All four climbed the summit. The weather was nearly perfect. After descending to B2 they joined Jakofcic and Meznar and started descending to the ABC. Due to difficulty in climbing in the middle part whilst going up, we descended in another variant of the route. We descended independently. At the fall of dark Jost, Prezelj and Stremfelj were at ABC, Car and Meznar were near the bergschrund and Jakofcic was just below B1.

In the dark Meznar slipped and after 200 m stopped under the wall. Luckily Car noticed his fall and alerted Jost, Prezlj and Stremfelj in ABC and doctor Guzej in BC. Meznar suffered injuries in the head - concussion of the brain, nose bleed... He could not stand on his feet so we evacuated him from the line of the seracs. The doctor was on his way to ABC. We put up a tent on the way to ABC as it was not easy to carry Meznar in deep snow. At noon Jakofcic descended safely.

Early in the morning Guzej, Meglic and Navrsnik came to ABC and further to the tent with the injured Meznar. After receiving medical aid Meznar was, with some assistance, able to walk to BC. We also packed ABC and all went to BC.

Jakofcic and Meznar were exhausted and had some frostbite on their toes. In the evening the yaks came.

We left BC and reached the road to our waiting truck. Went thence to Nyalam, and further via Kodari to Kathmandu.

7-14 Nov : Drying equipment and resting.

15 Nov : Left Kathmandu.

16 Nov : Back home.

All times in Tibet are local Beijing time.

Summary : Just for acclimatisation we climbed five new routes on three different peaks (two of them were climbed for the first time). After heavy snow we climbed a new route with a descent variant on the N face of Gyachung Kang. The wall is steep enough to have been soon cleaned of heavy snow by avalanches and winds.

We started the climb in strong winds because we had no time to wait for better conditions.

Gyachung Kang: N face, climbed by the new 'Slovene route', by Peter Meznar and Tomaz Jakofcic from 28 to 31 Oct 1999 and Marko Car, Matic Jost, Marko Prezelj and Andrej Stremfelj from 30 Oct to 1 Nov 1999. 2000 m, VI/4.

Siguant Ri Shar : N face and E ridge, by the new 'Trzic route' and first ascent, by Janko Meglic 100 m, IV+/4 S face descent route Janko Meglic 10 Oct 1999. 800 m, III/3.

S face new route, the second ascent to the summit, Marko Car, Marko Prezelj and Andrej Stremfelj 12 Oct 1999. 450 m, IV/3.

Siguang Ri: N face and E ridge, by new route. Marko Prezelj and Andrej Stremfelj to the saddle, further to the summit also Marko Car, Matic Jost, Peter Meznar and Tomaz Jakofcic 10-11 Oct 1999 to the saddle 650 m, IV/3, above 800 m, II/2.

N face, climbed by the new route by Marko Car, Matic Jost, Tomaz Jakofcic and Peter Meznar on 10 Nov 1999. The height where it joins with the Prezelj-Stremfelj route is 550 m, IV/3.

Peak 6700 m (Zero peak) : E face and SE ridge, the new route and the first ascent to the summit, by Marko Car, Peter Meznar, Marko Prezelj and Andrej Stremfelj on 6 Oct 1999. Matic Jost, Blaz Navrsnik, Tomaz Jackofcic and Janko Meglic, 7 Oct 1999, 700 m, III/2. E ridge and E face, the new descent route, by Marko Car, Peter Meznar, Marko Prezelj and Andrej Stremfelj on 6 Oct 1999, 700 m, III/2.

Members : Andrej Stremfelj (leader), Marko Prezelj, Marko Car, Matic Jost, Peter Meznar, Tomaz Jakofcic, Janko Meglic, Blaz Navrsnik and Zare Guzej (doctor).

Photo 22

 

 

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A FEW YEARS AGO, my parents presented me for Christmas, a wonderful book called The most beautiful mountains of the world. The first time I opened it, I was stunned by the Indian mountains and especially the one which looks like the Matterhorn. This was Shivling. I said to myself: 'I must climb this summit in my life time'.

When my boss, Captain Bolo, asked us to suggest an expedition for spring 1999, I immediately remembered the picture of Shivling. I proposed to him the east ridge which should be a serious route for us. He agreed. Our small team was made up of five people. The doctor, Pascal Urbain and four climbers : Frederic Gentet, Laurent Miston, Philippe Renard and myself. We took a plane from Lyon to Delhi via Amsterdam. The temperature increased from 20°C to 42°C in a few hours. Air conditioning in Delhi hotels helped us withstand the difference. We spent two days there before recovering our equipment at the airport. This gave us plenty of opportunity to explore the city, its monuments and its carpet sellers... It was time to go to the mountains. Our first stage led us to Rishikesh : the holy town where John Lennon learned transcendental meditation. On the second day, after a long and sinuous road passing through the hills, we arrived at Uttarkashi the last town of this region. We recruited our porters there. On the last day, the bus brought us to Gangotri (3100 m), at the end of the road. This is the place where pilgrims, coming from everywhere, begin their 24 km walk to the source of the Ganges. From Gangotri, two days of trekking are necessary to reach the Tapovan fields, the area where we established our base camp. The second morning, after a short walk in the fresh snow, Shivling appeared before my eyes. I was very impressed by the steepness of its slopes and the purity of its lines. On the other side of the glacier, the Bhagirathi range seemed to be insurmountable though many routes have been done out there. The first week, we acclimatised ourselves. We climbed on the normal route of Shivling up to 5600 m to make a reconnaissance of the way down. The enormous serac above us seemed to be very dangerous. When going down, we would have to run under it ! Another day we climbed up to the beginning of the east ridge to bring up some food and equipment. We made some small walks around Shivling too. The east ridge is called 'Ganesh ridge'. It was climbed for the first time in 1981 in 13 days by Doug Scott, Greg Child, George Bettembourg, and Rick White. It was considered, at that time, as one of the most technical routes ever climbed in alpine style. The difficulty grade is VI/6, A3 and the route involves mixed climbing.

During those few days, the weather was not that bad : sunny in the morning, snowy in the afternoon. This was even good compared to the following week. We were almost ready to go to Shivling, but then came the low pressure with a lot of snow. The mountain was impracticable for a while. We had to wait and that was very bad for the morale. We were spending all our days in our tents, alone, thinking and doubting.

On 14 May, the pressure rose again. After consulting with each other, we decided to try the south ridge of Bhagirathi III. We had the authorisation and this route is easier than the Ganesh ridge. So, we thought we should succeed, even if the weather deteriorated again. Moreover, it would improve our acclimatisation for Shivling.

On the 15th, we walked for 7 hours around the Bhagirathi range to pitch a camp at 5300 m. This side is less steep than the other, but the route contains grade 4+ climb. The day after, we woke up at 3 a.m. for the ascent. At first we had to climb a 55 degree slope of deep snow to reach a pass at 6000 m. Then we had to keep crampons on the rocks because of the ice. It was very unstable, enormous rocks ready to fall at the slightest touch. Little by little the high altitude forced us to slow our pace. We needed to breathe hard at each step. Seven hours later, we reached the icy and sharp summit ridge, took some pictures and considered the way down. There were two choices : to traverse on the north ridge or to go back by the same route. In spite of the very bad quality of the rock, we decided on the second solution. We just about managed to reach our camp inspite of the bad quality of the snow. It had melted during the day and sometimes we were sinking into it to the armpits. We were happy to get into our warm sleeping bags as the night fell!

Those days were so sunny ! We could hardly imagine that the bad weather would go on and on. Perhaps we should have been to Shivling instead of playing around... Finally, we had only ten days left for the Ganesh ridge, so we had to act very quickly. We took a day's rest and on the 19th good weather incited us to leave. Philippe had bronchitis and needed to recover. Laurent stayed with him, they would try the west ridge later, and we were hoping to find them on the summit if they started in two or three days.

We were only two, and we decided to reduce the weight of our rucksacks to climb as fast as possible. We took six days worth of food and only one hauling bag. Nevertheless, we had to carry 50 kilos.

The ascent began with deep snow on a steep slope; we had to increase our vigilance. We would be glad to reach the ridge! An easy beginning was quickly followed by a crenellated part. We had to carry the bags on our shoulders because it was impossible to haul them. Some very old fixed ropes reminded us that Doug Scott and his friends came here eighteen years ago. One of them broke a bone. Fortunately, we were roped up together. Our heavy bags had exhausted us and we stopped before night fell, having climbed 1300 m from the base camp. The horizontal part of the ridge was almost done with.

Thursday 20th, we woke up with daylight; it was sunny and our sleeping bags dried fast. Two hours later, we came up against a wall. This was the first hard part of the ridge. We were now able to haul our bags. At the beginning of the afternoon, the weather changed very quickly and the snow came. We had not worn our rock climbing shoes for a long time! At 4 p.m., we put our tent on a small platform and Frederic climbed up to fix a rope for the next day. He put a 40 m tyrolean traverse across a little pass under us.

Friday 21st, it was cloudy even in the morning. We swallowed our freeze dried food and crossed the pass hanging on our rope. It was moving a lot and we could see the base camp swinging by, 1500 m below us. Above, we free climbed an A1 pitch. With climbing shoes it's a 6b. Then there was an easier part. It became more difficult just before the " crocodile ". The tower has a strange shape and the small icicles hanging from it look like teeth. At the top of it there should have been a bivouac but we couldn't see anything. Frederic climbed up another 110 m : nothing... The wall before him was compact. He came back and finally, we cut a platform with our ice-axes into snow and ice. It took us 45 minutes to make it a little bit comfortable. It was snowing.

The fourth day, we went to the top of the rope and I climbed an athletic pitch with large cracks and arrived at the first pendulum. It was hard to find the best place to put it and, when Frédéric got to this point the quickdraw had moved. It was impossible for him to put it back, he had only to hope that it would not come out. The hauling bag made a nice flight but Frédéric did not ! I climbed a difficult chimney, it was snowing a lot and the snow was running down on my neck and into my clothes. We were penetrated by cold.

Sunday 23rd, it was my birthday, we were dreaming of the summit, it should have been possible! To celebrate, I lost my gloves ! The ridge was like a blade and because of the snow, the pitches were harder, conditions wintry. We established our bivouac in full storm. We made a platform on the ice and it was well into the night before we crawled into our sleeping bags.

The 24th was summit day. We woke up at five, it was snowing and the wind was strong. We didn't want to go outside but needed to. Frederic climbed three pitches and I did the last rocky one. Wind was always as strong when we did the 200 meters of the ice cap in deep snow. After a small serac it was the summit. We embraced each other, and took many pictures despite the fog (we saw the west summit only for five minutes). Then we went down on an icy 45 degrees ridge. Approaching the great serac of the normal route, the fog was still there. So, we preferred to make a sixth bivouac. We had some food, and then weren't in such a hurry!

The seventh day, after many hours of descent, we met Laurent and Philippe at the beginning of the normal route. They couldn't climb it because of Philippe's cough and bad freezing conditions. They gave us tea and carried part of our equipment. Weather was nice again when we arrived at base camp. Two days later was departure. A last gaze at Shivling and I left. My boyhood dream was realised at last!

Summary : The ascents of Bhagirathi III (6454 m) on 15 May 1999 and Shivling (6543 m) on 24 May 1999 by a French team.

Photos 23-24-26

 

 

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IN THE SPRING OF 1999, Alexander Klenov teamed with khail Davy, Mikhail Pershin, and Alexey Bolotov to ascend Thalay Sagar by its north face.

A year earlier, Klenov had recced this area and was so attracted by Thalay Sagar that he had convinced his mates that it was this very wall they ought to climb. The expedition was originally planned in autumn 1998, but had to be postponed because of the Russian economic crisis.

The journey was begun from Delhi, from where the party took a bus to Gangotri via Rishikesh and Uttarkashi. It took three days to reach Gangotri. From Gangotri, the trail was good, but once in a while, stones rolled down from the slopes on the sides. The team gained 1700 m in two days. A firm, regularly used, path led through a moraine, then crossed the glacier from its left and went up the icefall on its right to an ice 'pillow'.

The base camp was established by the Kedar Tal lake, 4700 m and the ABC at 5400 m, on 16 May, on the ice 'pillow'. From ABC, the team began its eleven day climb on 17 May. On an average they gained 200 m per day. The nights were spent on a portaledge because of the lack of natural bivouac ledges. Using a 'portaledge' as a movable camp allowed them to 'bivy' quickly on any feature. Though on some day, they were forced to stay put because of bad weather or difficult terrain, on the whole it was a remarkable alpine-style ascent over an extremely dangerous route.

After having spent two days at base camp, the guys were bubbling with energy. They transferred their gear and supplies to ABC and recced the area a bit. Only Michail Pershin was not feeling well and it was decided to send him down to Gangotri with Victor Ostanin to recover. The rest were about to start their acclimatisation trek without them when they were informed over the radio that Michail was feeling better and would like to join them. So the team delayed their progress till the two came up. In the meantime, the team went up to 6300 m and spent two nights there for acclimatisation before returning to base camp. Two days later, all of them returned to ABC.

The wall looked unapproachable. There were vertical monolithic steep rocks right at the beginning of the route and there was one crumbly-looking rock overhanging from somewhere near the summit. The weather had turned worse and after fixing some pitches, the party was forced to bivy. Avalanches kept passing them by without a break. They had to set up the portaledge under endless snow and strong wind. By morning, the storm seemed to have spent itself out. The next section was very steep, and the weather turned bad again. The team spent another night in the portaledge, waiting for the snow and ferocious wind to stop. It didn't. So they decided to move up slowly even in the foul weather.

It meant climbing into an endless storm and through horrible frost. Even the cracks were filled with ice. But the daily, rigorous, intensive climbing had overcome the most difficult part of the route. The leader actually 'freed ' the way where possible, and climbed each pitch with direct aid. The three behind him followed with jumars, hauling the bags after them. Every afternoon, a different person led. However, Alexander Klenov, the strongest member of the team, led most of the time.

It is worth mentioning that, in the section between Camps 2 and 3, the cracks in the ice suddenly came to an end and the climbers came up against the monolithic vertical wall. Michail Pershin had led that pitch with sky-hooks and bolts. By afternoon, he moved down to the portaledge, having fixed 30 m of rope. He was very tired and complained of burning eyes. It was later discovered that he'd had a serious burn on the retina which resulted in damaging his eyesight. He was not able to lead any more, though he helped in jumaring and hauling up the luggage. Mikhail Davy took his place. By the end of that pitch, they had swung to the right, over a small crack that seemed to form a narrow river of ice. Sections of monolith rocks, ice, cornices all seemed to alternate and merge. Combined with bad weather, there wasn't a moment's respite. The team crossed the ice couloir at 6400 m. The terrain then changed abruptly. Above the couloir, the rocks were unreliable and steep. Their colour, too, was a bright red. Belay was not possible, so Alexander Klenov had to find his way through long portions without belay. It was more than just difficult climbing.

Camp 4 was set up at 6630 m. In the evening, Klenov went up as far as he could. There were huge cornices which threatened to collapse because of the crumbly rocks.

On 27 May, the party attempted the summit. They left the portaledge behind, carrying only climbing gear. Every rope length covered meant a longer and more difficult retreat. Fortunately, in spite of high winds and brutally low temperatures, the day was clear and bright. After 300 m, following Alexander's careful lead, avoiding any risk, the team reached the summit at around 2 p.m. It was wonderful. A white, sparkling silence reigned all around. At the end of eleven hard days of exhausting work, they had climbed by a very difficult route over Thalay Sagar's north face.

They clicked a few photos, but did not congratulate each other (as per tradition, that must wait till they reach base camp), and began rappeling to their portaledge. Usually, the weather turned bad by afternoon, but they were able to reach their yellow 'starling-houses' by evening, weary, but pleased.

The descent to the couloir was exactly via the route of ascent. After the couloir, they followed the previous expedition's route, which cost them two days to reach ABC. From ABC to base camp took one day and all the reserves of their energy. They had to drag their luggage over soft and deep snow and make sure they didn't fall head over heel.

The route was named 'High Tension', although some call it the Russian Direttissima, a beautiful and difficult ascent, a feat in the history of mountaineering.

Summary : A Russian ascent of Thalay Sagar (6904 m) on 27 May 1999. They climbed a direct line on the north face.

 

 

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PANPATIA BAMAK IS LOCATED at 300 41' north and 790 21' east. It is 12 km long and 800 m wide. The height of its snout is 3840 m. From Chaukhamba III (6853 m) a watershed originates and extends to the SE. To the east of this watershed lies a vast icefield. It is 5.5 km from north to south and 3.5 km from west to east. This icefield gives birth to the Panpatia glacier that flows towards the east. The icefield is surrounded by a series of peaks (5773 m, 5474 m, 5922 m, 5300 m, 5553 m, 5545 m). To the east of the icefield, in between two nuntaks, Panpatia flows down towards the east. The distance of its snout from here is 9 km. From the snout originates the Khir Ganga river that merges with the Alakananda near Hanuman Chatti, therefore if Panpatia can be negotiated at its head one can reach Alakananda valley from Madhyamaheshwar valley. Our aim therefore was to enter the upper icefield of Panpatia from Madhyamaheshwar by negotiating an unnamed glacier and a col at its head in the uppermost extreme of Gondharpongi valley.

History of Attempts :

(1) In 1912 C. F. Meade reached a col, at the head of Satopanth glacier. He was looking for a legendary pilgrim route. He was, however, of the opinion that this pass was not a practicable one for pilgrims. (Ref: Kamet Conquered p. 29).

(2) In 1934, Eric Shipton and H. W. Tilman with three Sherpas traversed Satopanth glacier from Badrinath and reached Gondharpongi valley after crossing a col of approx 18,400 ft. (Ref: H. J. Vol. V, p. 1-20).

(3) In Sept. 1984, Ranjit Lahiri and Arun Ghosh attempted Shipton's route in reverse. In the Madhyamaheshwar valley they moved upto Kachni Tal. Their further progress is still shrouded in mystery. Later, their only porter came back to Madhyamaheshwar badly frost bitten. He reported that after Kanchni Tal, he lost contact with Ranjit and Arun. All search and rescue attempts have proved futile so far. (Ref: The Trek, Vol 10, p. 30).

(4) In 1985, Prabhat Ganguly reached upto Maindagalla Tal. His guide was Shivraj Singh of Ransi village.

(5) In Aug 1996, Dr. Kallol Das and Tarun Bhuniya of Orion Mountaineers, Howrah, approached Panpatia Bamak from Hanuman Chatti. Due to delayed monsoon they could penetrate only a few kilometres of the glacier. On their way back they crossed Nilkanth Khal (Holdsworth's Pass) and reached Badrinath following the Rishi Ganga.

(6) In Sept. 1997, three member team from Orion Mountaineers tried to reach Panpatia Bamak from the upper Madhyamaheshwar valley. They failed to locate the col leading to Panpatia. Shiv Raj Singh of Ransi accompanied them as guide.

(7) In 1997, Harish Kapadia entered Panpatia Bamak from Hanuman Chatti side. An icefall stopped them from reaching the upper ice field of Panpatia. He was also looking for the col that leads to upper Madhyamaheshwar valley via Maindagalla Tal.

(8) In Oct. 1998, Anindya Mukherjee and Subrata Bhattacharjee of Orion Mountaineers left Madhyamaheshwar, crossed Kachni Khal, Maindagalla Tal and an unnamed pass of 4700 m to reach the upper extreme of Gondharpongi valley. They recced an unnamed glacier and located the col leading to Panpatia.

We reached Mansoona by bus (via Rudraprayag, and trekked to Raun Lenkh. Trekked ahead to the popular pilgrim place of Madhyamaheshwar. On 26th, our trek started from Madhyamaheshwar. Track goes steadily upwards upto Nand Barari Kharak.

At 10.30 a.m. we reached N. B. Kharak and took a short break. It is a beautiful camping ground (4000 m) mainly used by shepherds. From N. B. Kharak the track climbs down a bit through a boulder zone. Then after reaching the foot of Kachni Khal, the track ascends steeply. At about 12.00 noon we were atop Kachni Khal (4010 m). Kachni Khal is a pass located on the southern ridge of Nand Barari Danda (4657 m). A track goes east from K. Khal towards Pandosera - Nandi Kund area. From Kachni Khal one can see the Vishnu Garh Dhar to N E. This range guards the upper limits of Madhyamaheshwar valley. We climbed about 100 m to the north of the pass and found an excellent camping ground with a stream near by. We called it a day there and pitched our tents. 27th morning dawned clear. We could start at about 7.45 a.m. We moved steadily towards the north. In this direction, beyond Kachni there is no track. One has to rely heavily on map and compass. We moved towards Maindagalla Tal (4550 m). After crossing meadows of Brahmakamals and Fenkamals we entered a very unstable boulder zone. We were moving quite fast considering our load. Soon we were at the foot of col 4700 m. This is the col we had crossed last year to enter the sanctum sanctorum of Gondharpongi valley. To the east of the col there is a rocky peak of 4880 m. And to it's west there is a rocky projection of 4800 m. At about 11.00 a.m. I was resting atop the col. The hidden valley of Gondharpongi and Chaukhamba III and IV was once again in front of me after almost a year. After taking a few snaps I started to climb down towards the east. Approximately 100 m below the col there is one beautiful lake that we had noticed last year. We made our base camp there.

The Climb : On 28 Sept., Anindya Mukherjee and Sundar Singh started at 7.00 a.m. from the cave for the unnamed glacier which was to the NE from base camp. We descended over the morain towards the glacier. The glacier stretched east to west. Last year we had located the col leading to Panpatia at the head of this glacier. In order to reach the col one has to negotiate the unnamed glacier first. First we followed the left side of the glacier. Soon we found ourselves at the foot of an icefall. The ice was hard. We had our crampons on. We could not find a route through it. So we turned left and traversed the width of the glacier and came to the right side of it. Through a very unstable rock-fall zone we forced our way upwards only to find ourselves amidst a crevassefield. As the ice was firm our going was not that complicated as I thought it would be. We crossed a few bridges and after a lot of deviations we could negotiate the crevassefield. At about 11.00 a.m. we were at the foot of our col that would lead us to Panpatia. The altitude of the col is 5260 m, to its east is a peak of 5922 m and to its N W another of 5553 m.

We started climbing towards the col. We negotiated a bergschrund by a bridge and reached the slope. The gradient was 700 to 800. As the ice condition was favourable, we had no problem climbing up. We removed our crampons and zig zagged our way up. At 12.30 p.m. we were atop the col. In front of us was the vast icefield of Panpatia. We took photographs all around. We approached north and looked for a way down to the Panpatia glacier. We could see the icefall that stopped Harish Kapadia's team. The weather was turning hostile. So we had to turn back. We were glad to reach the upper icefield of Panpatia. We descended rapidly but carefully by glissading. At about 5.00 p.m. we managed to reach base camp. On our way up we had dumped some equipment and tents at the foot of the col so that we could establish a camp there the next day. That night Subrata, my companion complained of chest pain. Next day, the weather was fine. But Subrata was still complaining of chest pain. He was unable to eat and had a mild fever. So we took a day's rest. On 30th, as Subrata still didn't feel better, I decided to call off our expedition. On the next day we retraced our steps to Madhyamaheshwar.

Team : Anindya Mukherjee (leader), Subrata Bhattacharya, and Sundar Singh Pawar of Nanu village.

Summary : Thus although we were the first to reach Panpatia glacier from Madhyamaheshwar valley, we could not traverse the Panpatia entirely.

 

 

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IN 1993 AND 1994, I spent about eight months trekking throughout Himachal Pradesh, particularly in Kinnaur and Spiti. While traversing many passes in and between these districts, I was delighted, but not too surprised, to find that I met no other trekkers except on parikrama such as that of Kinner Kailash, as Inner Line restrictions had been lifted only some months before my visit.

However, once again travelling to Spiti in 1999, I was little short of astonished to find that there were still areas virtually untouched by mountaineers and not visited at all by westerners.

Harish Kapadia has written extensively on Spiti and has attracted various climbing parties, particularly Indians, to the mountains of eastern Spiti. In the west of the district however, there are a number of valleys which have received very little attention since a period of fairly intense activity in the 1950s. Kapadia himself, with Kaivan Mistry, were the first mountaineers to use the Spiti approaches to that complex of nalas which empty into the Parahio river shortly before that river, in turn, joins the Pin. In 1993, they penetrated Khamengar nala and crossed what they called the South Ratang Pass to the Ratang nala. Only one other recorded mountaineering visit, that of an Indian team which climbed Khangla Tarbo II, had been made to the area between 1956 and July 1999.

It was those descriptions of Kapadia's which led to a visit by myself and Michael Scott to the Khamengar and Debsa valleys in July/ August of 1999, in preparation for an Irish expedition in 2000. In early July, we crossed the footbridge which links Mikkim and Sagnam across the Parahio. We followed the right bank of the Parahio for about 4 hours and recrossed the river by wire-and-cradle jhula to reach Thango. The village of low stone houses was occupied for the summer months by old people and children who had not reached school age. A tributary flowed southwards from the valley leading to the Killung la to join the main Parahio just opposite Thango, rather than at Thidim as shown in the various maps which are available to us. We also discovered that we could have reached Thango by following the left bank of the river from Mikkim. We later returned by this route and found it slightly quicker.

An hour from Thango we reached the junction of the Khamengar and Debsa nalas both of which were in full monsoon spate. It is at this point that the combined rivers become known as the Parahio. We crossed the Khamengar by pulling ourselves hand over hand on a wire jhula while suspended by our climbing harnesses. As our porters crossed, it was interesting to see that the traditional Spitian sit-harness of yak-hair rope suspended from a bone or wooden saddle had yielded to webbing hung from thick wire loops wound round the suspended jhula wire. We established a base camp by a stream a few hundred metres up the left bank of the Debsa. Several excursions from there showed that, contrary to all the maps we had seen, there is no major nala other than the Debsa joining the Khamengar near Thidim. Indeed, there is only one major nala between the Khamengar valley and the Pin valley and that is the Debsa.

Exploration of the upper Debsa was made difficult because of swollen side-streams and we found ourselves having to make numerous strenuous ascents to find snow bridges across the higher reaches of these. Eventually we were forced to retreat just before the final basin when the snowbridge we had used to cross the final large tributary began to disintegrate before our eyes. However, we managed to take photographs of parts of the upper basin and were able to see that the upper part of the Debsa splits in two, with the northern section forming a large bowl which curves northwards to the Debsa/Khamengar watershed. The divide between the two branches of the upper Debsa is surmounted by an interesting and beautiful peak which seemed to us to be in the region of 6000 metres in height.

We had thought to clear up puzzling interpretations of Snelson's account of his visit with Graaf to the upper Debsa in 1952 (H.J. XVIII, p. 110). According to his description, they crossed a col from the Ratiruni glacier in Kullu to reach a glacier forming a branch of what was then called the Parahio (now the Debsa). They ascended the glacier to camp and next day climbed to a col to the southeast and looked down on what they assumed to be a glaciated tributary of the 'Parahio'. They returned to camp on the same day and by nightfall had traversed a col which led to the Parvati river which they followed back to base in the Dibibokri glacier complex. Various maps and descriptions written since then have misinterpreted Snelson's account - not surprisingly in view of the complicated nature of the Debsa/ Khamangar region and the inaccuracies in the original survey.

Our observations make it clear that the col used by Snelson and Graaf to link the Ratiruni with the Debsa ( their 'Parahio') brought them into the upper left or northern branch of the Debsa. They ascended a col, probably to the southwest of the peak mentioned above, and behind it as seen from our viewpoint. From there, they looked down on the right hand branch of the Debsa and rightly assumed that the two branches joined some miles downstream. They did not penetrate as far as the junction and could not possibly have seen the Debsa/Khamengar/ Parahio confluence which is much further away and around a bend (see Harish Kapadia's Spiti: Adventures in the Trans-Himalaya, p.135). The pass they took to the Parvati valley was also reached from the left branch of the Debsa and it may well be the one shown in the photo.

All this seems to confirm that Scott and I were the first mountaineers to have ascended the Debsa, although Kapadia suggests that a trekking party may have reached it from the Parvati.

From our highest point reached, we also saw a gaddi camp and flocks which could not possibly have crossed the various swollen streams we had negotiated. On enquiry at Thango, we learned that the flocks came from Kinnaur across the Bhaba la and Killung la. We could see what appeared to be a nala coming in from the south and we assumed that this must lead to a pass which provided the nomads with a link to the upper reaches of the Killung nala. Our rough bearings showed that the right-hand branch of the Debsa turns sharply south bringing it within easy reach of the Killung la.

We later met one of these shepherds who told us that he and his flocks came from Kinnaur so we must assume that these nomads are not Gaddis from Kangra as has been previously thought.

We turned our attention to the Khamengar and followed an easy path on the right bank to the pastures of Chokum ('place of the lakes') where over a hundred horses grazed under the care of two herders. We continued on the same day up difficult screes to establish a base on the right-hand bank of a river, above the far side of which loomed the fine peak of Khangla Tarbo I and its subsidiary Khangla Tarbo II. We walked up an easy glacier to a point where we could see that the ridge containing Khangla Tarbo is quite unconnected to the main watershed between the Khamengar and Dibibokri glaciers and that when the rivers are low it should be relatively easy to complete a circuit of the Khangla Tarbos, as apparently is done by local people taking part in a sacred circuit.

As always, we wished we had access to modern Indian maps which would probably have given us much of the information which we had gone to such trouble to ascertain. On the other hand, perhaps it is the dearth of good maps which has put off other parties and given us the unusual pleasure in the 1990s of exploring beautiful places barely touched by mountaineers and completely untrodden by westerners.

Summary : Explorations in the Debsa valley, Spiti by an Irish team in summer 1999.

Photos 27-28

 

 

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THE BARREN windswept plateau of Ladakh with its brown beauty inspired us to choose Parcha (6056 m) — one of the high peaks in the Kangri group in Leh, and on 16 August 1999, in the wake of the post Kargil scenario, 8 members headed by Showkat Ah Mir left for Kargil by bus via Sonamarg. The enchanting valleys have a wealth of climbing opportunities, the blue skies, the snowy peaks, ice-water rivulets, pine-forests, rhododendron, extensive flower-filled alpine pastures and a multitude of flora and fauna.

At Zoji la (3530 m) the scenery suddenly changes. Distant alps and snow-capped mountains, rugged precipices previously hidden from the eye of an observer are now brought into the landscape. The pass forms a barrier to the monsoon clouds which come up from the Arabian sea.

After the two-day bumpy bus ride from Srinagar we reached Leh late in the evening. Leh — one of the elevated regions of the earth — seen from above would appear a mere succession of yellow plains and barren mountains crowned with snow. Situated in the eastern part of the Kashmir valley, to the south of the Karakoram, it is for the most part a desert of bare crags and granite dust with vast arid tablelands. A land where there are no forests or pastures, where the burning heat of day is succeeded by piercing cold at night and everything is parched by the extreme dryness of the air. Here one can see the mixture of Buddhist and Muslim cultures, and the features of the people vary from Mongolian to Aryan.

Next morning we moved to Stok — a village across the Indus, about a 40 minute drive from Leh. Here we were delayed for a day, as it was difficult to get porters. This was a period of harvest and the scarce population of the area was busy preparing for the long and severe winter. Barley, wheat, buck-wheat, peas, beans, turnips and lucerne are the chief crops grown here. Finally two high altitude ponymen Chang Dorgey and Chring Wanchuk along with their two horses and a yak were engaged to carry our extra load upto base camp.

The first day of trekking was under a hot sun; the valley was narrow at first then widened to large barren canyons, where the physical weathering and erosion of the cliffs made the walk enjoyable. We spent the night at the foot of Stok la.

While climbing the pass (4900 m) next day, some of us slipped there but we bore it in good spirit. From the pass the scenery became more rugged and stark. We left the tree line behind, the junipers and then the boulders. Moving onwards, we saw a totally different landscape. The valley narrowed, the sides got steeper and the mountains on either side had a distinct strata of rocks. The tiring march ended upstream at 4 p.m., at Mancarmon, a vast exposure of shale. Here we met a Swiss couple who shared dinner with us. The night was calm but cold. The following day was exhausting, with us scrambling through the minor gorges of the tributaries. We had forced our way upstream through reddish icy water and amidst boulders. The poor porters had cut themselves badly on the slippery rocks but they faced the ordeal gallantly. Nothing seemed to daunt these sturdy Ladakhi men.

22 August dawned bright. After a heavy breakfast we left for BC at 10 a.m. The gradient now was a lot steeper. By 2:30 p.m. we set up our tent on a flat spot half a mile short of the terminal moraine of the glacier at the height of 5500 m. There is a lot of wildlife to be seen in the area which includes the Himalayan marmot (Aretomys Candatis), the ibex, the Tibetan gazelle, lammergier, ghoraks, the black bear, the carrion crow, and the woolly hare and snow leopards.

On summit day the sky was partially cloudy and we decided to attempt the peak from the NW face. All the members except Ayaz started for the summit. The NW ridge rises directly to a rock band where it gets steeper till one reaches a junction of the north and NW ridges. Ahead of us, like an impenetrable rock barrier, rose the summit ridge of Parcha. Amin and Ashok had suddenly developed symptoms of pulmonary dropsy and dehydration. Their condition did not improve and they could not go ahead. From that height one had the thrilling experience of seeing a panorama of the distant Karakoram range.

The sun had now set behind the mountains, the chill of sundown began to spread over all, the air became crisper and sharper. As we gained more height, at 5800 m there was a sudden and rapid deterioration in the weather. We waited, but the rain and hail would not stop. So in view of continued wind conditions, we turned around. On our descent we came across sassurea saca and many species of primulas; corydails. Thrysiflo is common in the glacier swamp. The glissading of the final scree slope was thrilling with dust trails left in the air as we scooted down rapidly. In torch light we came down to BC, dizzy and shaken. Our knees staggered under our seemingly weightless bodies. Next day we packed up the BC and came down to Stok village.

Members : Showkat Hussain Mir (leader), Mohd. Amin, Ashok Kr Warikoo, Tariq Ah. Kachroo, Mhd Hanief Jan, Javaid Ahmed, Mohd Ayaz and Chamak Singh.

Summary : An attempt on Parcha Kangri (6056 m) by a team from Kashmir in August 1999.

Photo 25

 

 

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DIRAN, NAMED MINAPIN PEAK in the past, is in western Karakoram. Its snow dome is frequently called 'a beauty of Karakoram', since it reminds one of the ample breast of a noble women. However, she is not tender to climbers, and a number of the alpinists have lost their lives in avalanches or storms. With the exception of reconnaissance parties, 37 teams tried to ascend Diran, of which only 13 were successful until 1998, and 11 deaths were recorded. Diran was first climbed by three members of an Austrian party in 1968 from the Minapin side via the west ridge, followed by a Japanese party in 1986 via the north ridge. But no attempt had been made from the southern side until 1995, when two Japanese parties attempted it without success. In 1996, two Japanese and one Spanish party tried to climb Diran from the southern side, but only the small Japanese party consisting of two members, Hiroshi Iwasaki (36 years old) and Masanori Suzuki (34 years old) reached the top by climbing in alpine style. The following is a short report of their achievement.

The south face of Diran consists of a mixture of snowfields, small ridges and small glaciers and is characterised by constant falls of ice towers and rocks. No safe place for camping can be found on the southern slope, especially in the lower parts. Furthermore, the snow was rotten and heavy because of the sunny south side. Although there was no technical difficulty in climbing, countless avalanches and rockslides threatened the mountaineers, causing a lot of mental stress. Therefore, speed was the key to success.

10 July. Iwasaki and Suzuki left Gilgit early in the morning and arrived by two jeeps to a small village, Chirah in the Bagrot valley. They hired 7 porters there, after a lot of bargaining. The party carried only two ropes, three rockpiles, six icepicks and four snow bars.

11 July. They set up base camp at Hinarche (3400 m), a summer pasture of the Bagrot inhabitants.

14 July. They left the advanced base camp (4500 m), and went scouting for a possible route to break through the southern face. The rocky ridge originally thought to be promising turned out to be hopeless, because of extremely fragile rock structure.

However, they could find a new route by tracing a glacier to its source which was directly connected with the main west ridge.

The small glacier they had selected appeared the best and the shortest route to get to the west ridge by one day's climbing, although it was just like a river of avalanches. On 15 and 16 July, they were forced to remain at base camp because of bad weather.

17 July. They went up again to the advanced base camp (ABC), and almost completed setting up of a tent, when a huge avalanche came down and crashed into it. They had a narrow escape, but all the equipment was buried under snow. If the avalanche had came 5 minutes later, both of them would have been inside the tent and smashed to death. After this accident, they came back to the base camp for two days (18 and 19 July) to restore their energy.

20 July. They started climbing once again and occupied ABC.

21 July. 21 July was the most critical day for the success of the ascent. At that time, three parties were trying to get to the summit simultaneously. The Spanish (5 members) preferred the snow ridge which originated from the west ridge, and to come down directly to the advanced base campsite. But, they could not reach the west ridge at all. The Japanese (Yamanashi Mountaineering Association; 13 members) traced the ridge mixed with rock and snow, located to the left of the Spanish route. They could arrive at a col of the west ridge, but gave up climbing at 6700 m.

Iwasaki's party preferred the route that was the lowest and further left. They climbed the snow ridge above ABC for 500 m, and then traversed an unstable snow slope with the help of a rope to reach the glacier. From the bottom of the glacier, they climbed 1000 m without stopping. This glacier was a nest of avalanches and rockslide. Although they tried to select a safer route in the glacier, it was like playing a game of Russian roulette for them. No one knew when and where an avalanche or a falling stone would hit them. Two members were tied with a rope 50 m long to avoid a drop into any crevasse. A col on the west ridge, which they reached, was enveloped by a freezing wind. They wanted to set up a tent as soon as possible, but the ridge was covered with hard snow and ice, and no place was found that would protect from the brutal wind. However, when they went up 100 m, they fortunately found a crevasse inside which they fixed a zelt-tent. This was Camp 1 (5800 m).

22 July. They followed up the west ridge through deep and soft snow to establish Camp 2 (6350 m).

23 July. They climbed about 150 m, but returned to Camp 2, since a violent blizzard continued through the day. Freezing snow powder stole into the partly worn-out tent through a number of pinholes.

24 July. It was a perfectly fine day. They climbed a broad snow ridge, with an angle of 45 degree, without rope or step-cutting to save time. A couple of snow covered bean-shaped things tricked them into believing it was the summit. Finally they arrived at the true summit of Diran at 2:05 p.m. after 8 hours of climbing from Camp 2. The top was situated to the extreme north, directly connected with the north ridge. Although many clouds were floating around the summit, the weather condition was not bad, and they enjoyed a spectacular view of Nanga Parbat, Ultar, Shispare and the Hispar mountains around them.

Climbing Diran was very hard work. This was not due to any technical difficulty, but due to lack of acclimatisation, arising from the low altitude of base camp, and no appropriate area around the peak for setting up camp.

Upon descending the steep summit slope separately, Suzuki discovered an ice axe between 6800 m and 7000 m. It looked very old, but had no name of the owner on it. The long wooden shaft of 90 cm, a wrist band made of cotton, and other features suggested that it was made before 1970 in Stubai, Austria. Literature revealed that between 1968 and 1979, no foreign party tried climbing Diran, probably due to a political lockout. Accordingly, only four parties climbing up to 7000 m between 1958 and 1968 came under consideration. Then, it was confirmed that three parties did not leave any ice axe on Diran, and by elimination, there remained two members of a British party in 1958, Ted Warr and Chris Hoyte, as the most probable candidates as owners of this ice axe. Finally, the owner was identified as Ted Warr, since Chris had brought his own ice axe made in Simone, France, to the expedition. The ice axe, discovered 38 years after the owner died, was handed over to Mrs. Ann Anderson, a daughter of the late Ted Warr in London, in 1999.

The second ascent of Diran from the southern side was made by another Japanese party. Toyohashi Mountaineering Club in 1997.

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ON 24 JULY 1996 two members of a Japanese expedition, who made the first ascent from the south of Diran, found an ice axe about 250 m below the summit. A series of efforts made by them, commencing with an appeal to the Alpine Club, London, in order to discover the history of the axe, resulted in success when its ownership was traced down to either Ted Warr or Chris Hoyte, members of a British expedition, who were last seen on 7 July 1958 climbing up towards the summit before storm clouds enshrounded in mystery their failure to return. The Japanese graciously decided that they wished to return the ice axe to its owner or his descendants. The handing-over ceremony took place at a reception held at the Alpine Club on 29 August 1999 when Shigeharu Inouye of the 1996 expedition presented the ice axe to Mrs Ann Anderson daughter of Ted Warr in the presence of her brother Mike Warr, Mrs Susanna Craddock sister of Chris Hoyte, and an attendance of over fifty including family, friends, and guests.

A five-man expedition, organised in 1958 by Ted Warr, was the first to make an attempt to climb the mountain. The Minapin glacier which had been visited by members of Eric Shipton's survey party in 1939, was visited again 15 years later by a party of German and Austrian scientists and climbers (including Anderl Heckmair) who explored a number of glaciers in the Hunza and Nagar regions. They observed Minapin peak at close range and recommended the west ridge as a feasible ascent route. The members of Warr's expedition were Chris Hoyte, Dennis Kemp, Walter Sharpley and Trevor Braham (of 4 weeks' duration). Only two other expeditions visited Pakistan that year, when Mike Banks and Tom Patey climbed Rakaposhi, of which Diran is an outlier: and Pete Schoening and Andy Kauffman climbed Gasherbrum I.

Two members of Warr's party climbed Sumayar peak (5598 m) on 22 June 1958. From its summit a route was traced up the north face of Minapin, relatively safe from avalanches. With a base below the face, a second camp was set up in an ice-cave at 5180 m on the north face. Two further camps were placed, at 5850 m and 6550 m on the west ridge. From the last camp Ted Warr and Chris Hoyte set out for the top on 7 July. On the same day, Dennis Kemp and Walter Sharpley, in support, ascended to the top camp with supplies of food and fuel. From there they observed Warr and Hoyte ascending high up on the steepening slopes leading to the summit. It was a very windy morning at the top camp, and at 11 a.m. clouds obscured the summit, which was not visible again until the evening. There were no further signs of the two climbers, and no traces of them were found, although on 8 July and again on the 9th in calm and sunny weather Kemp and Sharpley climbed up to the top camp and beyond, following Warr and Hoyte's upward tracks towards the upper slopes.

When Ted Warr and Chris Hoyte were last seen they were at about 7000 m, and would have been an hour and a half away from the summit, which is situated at the far end of a broad plateau, the latter falling steeply down to the Bagrot glacier on the south side. It is very likely that they reached the summit plateau, and it is just possible that they were able to reach the top of Diran — thus becoming the first to do so — before they were struck by the storm which covered the summit area, continuing for several hours. Disoriented in a white-out on the summit plateau, they apparently strayed across to the south side, where the ice axe was found 38 years later embedded in the ice on a 45-degree slope. Whether the accident occured while ascending or descending can only be a matter for conjecture. Diran was climbed ten years later by the same route, after three earlier attempts had failed.

Prior to his presentation of the ice axe, Mr. Inouye showed an interesting set of colour slides taken during the Japanese ascent of Diran in 1996. He was preceded by me as the only surviving member of the 1958 party, who provided an illustrated account of the expedition. The presentation ceremony was followed by a buffet lunch hosted by members of the Warr and Hoyte families.

Summary : The Japanese ascent of Diran (7257 m) on 24 July 1996. They discovered an ice axe from the 1958 British expedition.

Photos : 29-30-31

 

 

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THE GREAT EXPLORER AND MOUNTAINEER, Sir Francis Younghusband said once that 'Both man and mountain have emerged from the same original earth and therefore have something in common between them'. Mountaineering is truly the grandest of sports. A. F Mummery, who died in his maiden attempt on Nanga Parbat in 1895, said it is the 'Purest of Sports'. Mountaineering without doubt is an individualistic sport that provides the player with the most honest self-assessment. It is an individual's struggle against a mountain and mountains never lie. It is an individualistic sport played far from the glare of flood lights. It has unfortunately not caught on in Pakistan where most people would much rather be watching than be a part of it. Every summer the Northern Areas become cosmopolitan as mountaineers and trekkers arrive from every corner of the developed world, to try and push till their limits against nature.

The Alpine Club of Pakistan launched its First Pakistani Winter Mountaineering Expedition to climb the 6363 m high Pir Peak located in the Shimshal valley in Hunza, in the Northern Area of Pakistan. Situated in the heart of the Karakoram range, the Shimshal valley is the remotest. The mountains are some of the toughest, with some virgin peaks lying here. The team left Rawalpindi on 17 February 1999 for a period of 20 days. This expedition, which comprised 10 young climbers, was launched with a view to train young climbers in high altitude mountaineering especially in winter conditions. Muhammad Nasir Awan, an experienced and active member of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, led the expedition. Muhammad Nasir Awan is a climbing instructor of international standing and has participated in numerous expeditions in the last decade. Prominent among those are the Alpine Club of Pakistan's expeditions to Passu peak (7284 m) in 1996 and Spantik peak (7200 m) in 1998.

The expedition reached Shimshal on 21 February 99 via Gilgit, Hunza, through the Karakoram highway and after two days of snowy trekking from the jeep head at Passu. Here two more senior members joined in : Rajab Shah and Shambi Khan from Shimshal village. The base camp (Shapodin) at 4515 m was reached on 23 February 99. The trek was through 3 feet of deep snow. Weather was extremely bad due to continuous snowfall. The trail breaking in such conditions was very difficult. The weather was consistently deteriorating in Shimshal valley for the last three weeks. In such a situation the chances of success were very remote but the leader Nasir Awan decided to manouvre towards success instead of surrendering to the brutal resistance of the weather. Consequently, he resolved to adopt Alpine-style climbing. The team was divided into three groups to fulfill different tasks. On 24 February 99, Group I consisting of Aman Khan, Bakhtawar, Ali Musa and Shambi Khan, went early in the morning to establish Camp 1 at 4900 m. The weather was not that bad. The members dumped the equipment and food there and left for trail breaking upto Camp 2 at 5420 m which took another 4 hours. They took a total of 12 hours for dumping and returning back to base camp.

On 25 February 99, Group I and Group II, consisting of Umer bin Abdul Aziz, Shahid Saleem, Wahab Ali, Ghulam Amin and Rehmat Ullah Baig, started early in the morning for Camp 2 and reached there in 8 hours. It was cloudy. After lunch at Camp 2 two members from Group I and two members from Group II, Aman Khan, Wahab Ali Shah, Bakhtar Shah went for the summit attack on the same day. They reached the summit in 5 hours. Due to bad weather and evening low light they were not able to take proper photographs and returned to Camp 2.

On 26 February Groups I & II started their climb to the summit early in the morning amidst good weather conditions. At the same time, Group III was on its way up climbing to Camp 2 for a summit bid the following day. Group I & II reached the summit in 4 hours because the trail was already broken and it was a very fine day. After taking some photos and rest on the summit they came back to Camp 2. After a light lunch at Camp 2 they packed two tents and started back to base camp. They left some food, equipment and one tent at Camp 2 for Group III : Nasir Awan, Rajab Shah, and Naeem Shaukat. As the group started descending an avalanche took Rehmat Ullah Baig and Shambi Khan down almost till Camp 1. They were behind the other members. Luckily the rest of the members remained safe from the avalanche. Aman Khan immediately informed the leader about the accident.

Near Camp 1, Nasir Awan and Rajab Shah cancelled their own program to come up to Camp 2 and rushed to rescue the injured. Both parties traced the avalanche route very carefully to find the missing climbers. After 20 breathtaking minutes, Rehmat Ullah Baig was contacted on a walkie-talkie and he said that Shambi Khan and he were OK. In a short while, Nasir Awan and Rajab Shah reached Rehmat Ullah Baig and Shambi Khan and transported them slowly to base camp.

Shambi Khan was seriously injured and bleeding from his wounds. The rest of the team also reached the base camp safely. They also brought the remaining equipment from Camp 2 with them. They took more than seven hours to come down because the avalanche had destroyed the climbing route. After this accident, Group III cancelled their own summit bid and the expedition was over. Both Shambi Khan and Rehmat Ullah Baig were fine by the time they all reached Islamabad on 5 March 1999. This was the first Pakistani Winter Mountaineering expedition. The young climbers wrote history in Pakistan. There has not been a single heavily budgeted foreign expedition lucky enough to get such success in winter in Pakistan.

Summary : The ascent of Pir Peak (6363 m), Hunza, by a Pakistani team on 25 February 1999.

 

 

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ON JUNE 11, ALEX LOWE, Jared Ogden and I arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan. The objective of this expedition was to make the first ascent of the northwest face of Great Trango Tower (6344 m). In addition to the climb we also planned to cover our activities with a live web site and also a film for North Face television. Accompanying us were two field technicians from Quokka Sports in San Francisco, Greg Thomas and Darren Brito. Two additional cinematographers, Mike Graber and Jimmy Surette, would be shooting film and video for American Adventure Productions. All together, our group consisted of seven members. In Islamabad we met our agent, Nazir Sabir Expeditions, and began working through all the last minute logisitics. We met our liaison officer, Captain Umair Ahmed, and, with his help, we cleared the final hurdles at the Ministry of Tourism. Four days after arriving in Islamabad, we boarded a plane for the 45 minute flight to Skardu, located at the foothills of the Karakoram.

In Skardu we began hiring porters and packing up our loads. We were somewhat shocked to realize that we had more than 150 x 25 kg loads. Nonetheless, we loaded up eight jeeps and began the 10 hour ride to Askole. We spent the night in Askole, along with several other expeditions, and in the morning we hired the remaining porters and began our 50 mile trek to the Trango base camp. It was familiar territory for Alex, Jared and I, as we had all followed this same trail on previous expeditions. On the third day, we climbed onto the snout of the Baltoro glacier and got our first view of the immense Great Trango Tower. At this point, the summit appeared almost totally inaccessible and it sunk in that we had a huge amount of work ahead of us. Later that day we established a deluxe base camp directly below the northwest face of Great Trango. A Spanish team informed us that the weather had been bad for the past two weeks, which was obvious because all the surrounding rocks were covered in snow and ice.

We began fixing ropes almost immediately. Our wall comprised of two distinct sections. It began with a monolithic slab approximately 300 m tall. The slab ended abruptly in a beautiful headwall, similar in size and appearance to the southeast face of El Capitan. The headwall was clearly the promised land for big wall climbing, but to reach it, we'd first have to scale this 'slab from hell' After climbing the first few pitches on the slab, it became obvious that it was just too low angle and broken up for us to haul on it. It was a grim realisation that we'd actually have to jumar all our loads on our backs. The plan was to fix rope all the way to the base of the headwall, and then blast from there. We had hoped to put our first bivi at the base of the headwall, but it turned out that the commute up thousands of feet of fixed line was just too much. Luckily, we were able to find a sheltered bivi site below a roof about 100 m up the slab. The sandy ledge proved an ideal spot to test out our free standing tent/fly for our prototype Diamond portaledge. This turned out to be the most deluxe bivi any of us had ever had on a big wall. We used the wall tent as our base for a five day push during which we finished fixing to the base of the headwall. All together, the 'approach' slab turned out to be 20 long pitches, mostly free, up to 5.11 in difficulty. It turned out that the climbing had been the easy part. Lugging the ten haul bags of gear up 300 m of slab was accomplished almost completely in one day, but it was one of the most gruelling days we'd face on the climb.

All along, we had been sending our daily dispatches to Quokka, each night spending two to three hours uploading e-mails and digital images with our mini laptops and radio modem. Much of this equipment had never been tested in the field, so we were extremely relieved and excited to find that the technology was performing flawlessly.

After we scooped out our bivi below the headwall we retreated down the fixed lines for one last rest in base camp before committing to our final push up the headwall. In base camp, we met a Russian expedition that had arrived with the intention of climbing a line similar to ours on the northwest face. We already had a two week head start so we figured there was no way they could possibly catch up on us. A storm pinned us down for the next three days, but on 11 July, we finally committed ourselves once and for all to the wall. At the base of the headwall, we erected our three man portaledge from a boulder and we immediately began fixing pitches on the headwall. Unfortunately, the first few pitches of the headwall were exceedingly blank and we found ourselves having to use the drill a bit more than we would have liked. But it was worth it, because after three pitches of this we found ourselves staring up one of the most beautiful stretches of big wall that any of us had ever seen. Looming above our heads for as far as we could see was a continuous corner system that shot through three roof systems, the largest being a 25 footer (8 m) that capped an 250 m section of continuously overhanging rock. This was the promised land we had come to find. We had expected the cracks to open up a bit, but amazingy the cracks stayed as thin as anything we'd ever climbed. Pitch after pitch of A3-A4 climbing demanded the use of countless knifeblades, copperheads and beaks. On one particularly memorable pitch, every single beak and pecker had been required, about 30 of them in all.

We had decided to set up our camp about 300 m above our bivi ledge, but progress was slowed to a crawl by a punishing storm which descended on Great Trango and made our lives miserable for about eight days. A couple of times we headed up our fixed lines in the storm, only to get drenched to the bone like drowned rats. Meanwhile, the Russians were climbing the slab, seemingly unfazed by the atrocious weather. One day during the storm they arrived at our bivi and we knew it was time to head up, bad weather or not. The next day we lucked out and the weather was just good enough for us to pack up camp and haul to our first hanging bivi. We set up the three man portaledge at 5677 m, hoping we could fix more ropes above and then climb alpine style for the summit. By now we had hauled the pigs about 1230 m and no one relished the idea of bringing them any higher.

We spent the next several days continuing to fix ropes up some of the cleanest, most architecturally perfect rock in the world. At the top of the overhang, Jared did an admirable job leading us out a horizontal 25 foot roof on upside down knifeblades. We had now put the hardest climbing behind us and it was time to make an all out dash for the summit. Unfortunately, Alex had come down with some type of intestinal flu and he spent a day feverish and nauseous in the portaledge while Jared and I finished fixing the last of our ropes above. It didn't seem likely we'd be able to blast for the summit the next day, based on Alex's condition, but miraculously he announced that he was ready to go for it when we awoke on the morning of 29 July. Not knowing exactly how far we still had to climb, we loaded our packs with bivi sacks and sleeping bags, just in case we had to endure an open bivi somewhere near the summit. Jumaring the 300 m of freehanging fixed line with heavy packs was a real chore, but at least it was our last day of jugging. Above the top of the fixed lines, we climbed five more pitches and reached the summit ridge at 6154 m at around 3 p.m. The first ascent of the northwest face was a done deal, but we still had to summit the mountain. Great Trango has three summits, east, central and west, the latter of which had never been summitted. This was the obvious place to finish our route. We stashed the bivi gear on the ridge and set off on the knife-edge ridge, hoping to top out before dark. Most of the climbing was straight forward but right below the summit we encountered difficult, unprotected free climbing. Alex took a fifty foot fall, but unfazed, fired this crux on his second go. Just as darkness descended we reached the top, or close to it. An unprotected, iced-over slab led upwards for another 15 feet, but it didn't seem worth drilling bolts for a couple of extra body lengths.

We spent the next several hours reversing the knife-edge in the pitch black, arriving back at our bivi gear around midnight. We made an open bivi on the crest of the knife edge and that night it snowed and covered our bivi sacks with a couple inches of wet snow. Anxious to get off the mountain, we began our raps and reached the hanging bivi around 1 p.m. The weather was showing slight signs of improvement so we dismantled the ledge and continued down the wall — a big mistake. After a couple more raps we got caught in the worst storm of the expedition. Rain lashed the wall, causing it to cascade in waterfalls of frozen slush. Soon the three of us were soaked to the bone, hanging in the dark in the middle of a blank headwall with eight haul bags. Things were going wrong and there was real potential for our situation to become a dangerous epic. Trying not to think too much about our frozen fingers we continued to establish rap anchors with the utmost care. We reached the base of the headwall around midnight, thankful to be alive. The next day the sun came out and we finished rapping to the ground.

All together, we reckon this wall was between 1690-1850 m tall, making it one of the biggest rock climbs in the world. Our route was 44 pitches and we also made the first ascent of Great Trango's west summit (minus the final 15 feet which we didn't climb). We called our route Parallel Worlds (VII 5.11 A4).

Summary : An ascent of Great Trango Tower (6344 m) by an American team.

 

 

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The first ascent

AT 10:00 a.m. OF 13 JANUARY, 1999, the first attack team comprising S. Masuyama, N. Muraguchi, F. Yamanushi and T. Hiroshima of the 1998-99 China-Japan join Scientific Research Expedition to Kokosiri, East Kanthari (6167 m) managed to reach the top of the mountain in temperatures under - 30°C and with strong winds of 20m/sec.

Hedin, who?

Besides Sven Hedin, the legendary Swedish Central Asian explorer, who made a short but sharp comment on this mountain on his unsuccessful breaking-in in Tibet 100 years ago, only the brave Tibetan tribe Khampas and nomads with yak and sheep at the highest altitude in the world have reached this mountain, a landmark of this uninhabited frozen area.

While I do not know whether we are inheritors of Hedin's legacy, because the youngest member of our party asked, 'Hedin, who?', I am delighted to report our successful effort to open a new window to the deep end of the Tibet-Qinghai plateau 'Kokosiri'.

'Kokosiri'

'Kokosiri' is an area covering the borders between Tibet, Qinghai and Shinjyan, which is one of the most remote places in Central Asia.

It would take more than two weeks from the nearest village by jeep or on foot if you try to reach there in summer because of numerous small streams which originate from glaciers and become part of the Yangtze river. Midwinter frozen ground and lakes make it possible to go there relatively easily. That is why we were there in spite of the violent cold.

From the top of East Kanthari (6167 m), we could enjoy the 360°k view. In the east was the independent Shin-Qing-Hong (6860 m), in the west were the twin towers of West Kanthari, which had been namedkl 'the beacon of Kokosiri' by Hedin. When you turned your eyes to the north, you found the keel mountains 'Konlon' which separated Tibet from Shlinjyan. In the south, you get the whole view of Kokosiri (4800 m to 5000 m) plateau twinkled with surfaces of numerous lakes, some of which are llnot frozen in spite of temperatures as low as -30°C, such as Sijinuraho from where we could get a tremendous view of Kanthari.

East Kanthari

East Kanthari is only 6167 m above sea level. The altitude of the surrounding Kokosiri plateau is 4800 to 5000 m, so climbing this mountain might not be very difficult if you are well acclimatised. However, once you plan to try this mountain, you will find no information on this mountain other than Hedin's, because there have been no visitors to this place for climbing and nor have visitors come here in the severely cold season. This mountain region has been kept as a sanctuary for us climbers as well as for wild animals.

History

It was K. Yamada, our 'film' leader, who found beauty in this mountain. He has been producing a film on Kokosiri, the forgotten end of the Tibet-Qinghai plateau where there is a sanctuary for the Tibetan antelope, the gazelle, the wild ass, yak and wolves. He happened to find Hedin's legendary virgin peak. Why not include it in the film, he thought? He had tried to reconnoitre the north face of the mountain the previous year (1998). From our present point of view, the north route required a long trek through a glacier and ice ledge of 10 km. Too long. His photo pictures did not catch a precise view of the peak. Our concern was whether we should try the east or south face.

We also got two pictures which were taken by the 1991 Chinese Scientific Research Party. Another picture we studied was the one by the Kyushu University's expediton. However, before starting from Japan, we could not tell from which directions these pictures were taken, nor could anyone confirm that those pictures were really of East Kanthari.

A mountain unexplored except by Hedin sounded pretty? Just like as in the early days of exploration in the Himalaya. Every member was eager to insist upon his own route. Someone emphasised the crystal beauty of the icefall region of the main glacier, someone insisted on the importance of the security of the ledge route, and others did not stop arguing about the difficult snow wall route.

6 January, 1999

Five days, 800 km and the tough jeep caravan from Golmud (2800 m) finally ended at the southern foot base camp (5200 m) of East Kanthari. Though it was extremely cold, bitterly windy and dry, the Kokosiri plateau gave us a nice chance to face a bunch of wild animals such as the Tibetan Gazelle, Tibetan Antelope, Tibetan Wild Ass, Wild Yak and Wolf. We were members of a scientific research project of this area, but henceforth we were mountain climbers.

7 January, 1999

At BC. Fine, -28°C. Reconnaissance of ascending glacier route by S. Masuyama, N. Muraguchi, and D. Hiroshima. East Kanthari had an unexpectedly beautiful, great and long glacier which originated from the south peak. Severely low temperatures (-30°C) seemed to assure its stability and allowed us to use the route to the south ledge of East Kanthari through the glacier. Blue lucid ice fascinated us and tempted us to choose the route.

8 January, 1999

BC. Fine, -30°C. Strong wind during daytime. Reconnaissance of glacier route to be traversed to the south-east ledge by S. Masuyama, N. Muraguchi, F. Yamanushi and D. Hiroshima. It might be possible, but it would take a long time.

Next target was the north snow face to be reached via the southeast ledge. This route seemed very smart and beautiful from the lake side of Sijinuraho, 4800 m. The surface of the lake was not frozen. A steep and narrow neck, just below the top, gave a suspicious shadow of an avalanche. The ice on the wall was stable. Though we needed to be an careful of crevasses, the route could be said to be relatively safe.

The col of the southeast ledge was a strongly windy spot, while in the shadow space of the bared rocky parts, we could find calm camping spaces.

From here, we could get the upper view of the main glacier, where a lot of crevasses above the icefall region were identified if we tried the route to the south ledge.

9 January, 1999

At BC. -29°C. Snow. In general, it is dry in winter here in Kokosiri, though there seemed a weekly cyclic change in weather. Snow does not always mean bad weather. Cough inducing dry dust is now covered with beautiful snow. Snow makes the strong wind milder, too. But, it remains cold. The temperature does not go up higher than -20°C even during daytime.

Possibilities of climbing routes via the southern glacier, ascending or traversing the main glacier were precisely discussed among all members. The final plan decided upon was to take the shortest ledge route from the col of the southeast ledge where the attack camp would be set. From this camp we would trace the southeast ledge to the south peak and forward to the main peak via the south ledge.

After our ascent, we realised that the routes other than this one would not have allowed us to reach the summit.

10 January, 1999

-31°C. Snow in the morning, fine in the afternoon. Mild wind. All equipment and food for 6 people to stay for two days and to attack the peak were carried by S. Masuyama, N. Muraguchi, F. Yamanushi, D. Hiroshima, K. Yamada and Y. Kanazawa to the attack camp at 5650 m. Four snow bars, four ice screws, 100 m rope for fixing and two main 40 m ropes were brought, while technical difficulties seemed scary.

Serious difficulty would be increased by severe cold and strong wind. Even at BC, the lowest temperature was below -30°C. Even in daytime, it was lower than -20°C. We might have to encounter -40°C at the top. In addition, strong wind was inevitable in the daytime. Because the East Kanthari stands along on the Kokosiri plateau, ascending airflow was accelerated here by daytime sunshine. From 11:00 to 18:00 snow plume had been observed daily at the top because of a strong wind.

We would have to start early in the morning despite the severe cold.

11 January, 1999

At BC. -28°C. Fine. Resting at BC.

12 January, 1999

BC to C1. -24°C. Warm! Fine. Departure to C1 by S. Masuyama, N. Muraguchi, F. Yamanushi, D. Hiroshima, K. Yamada and Y. Kanazawa. Beautiful Sin Qing Hong helped us whilst hustling to C1.

At C1, we found a nice windless space for two tents. Muraguchi and Yamanushi, after reconnaissance to the foot of the south peak, reported, 'Snow is stable, but wind is bitter!'

13 January, 1999

At C1. -28'C. Fine. At 6:00, the first attack team of S. Masuyama, N. Muraguchi, F. Yamanushi, D. Hiroshima departed. Not cold. No wind as expected. Sky full of stars. Thin crescent moon.

China follows only one time. Here in the western area of China day-break is around 9:00. We will reach the top before 11:00 when the strong wind begins to blow.

An endless wide snow ledge leads us to the south peak. Crampons fit into well-crusted snow on ice. But once caught in the drifting snow the ascending speed became slower. Moonless night. The small head lamp did not have enough power to find the best route.

Just below the south peak, I felt wind on my cheek. Never expected wind before daybreak. West wind seemed to turn to east after the south peak. Had the temperature become lower? Clouds were seen in the sky. Should we turn back?

The south peak was climbed at 8:00 by Masuyama and Yamanushi. Muraguchi and Hiroshima had gone ahead for filming.

They made the marks for the descending points on the south summit.

Wind became stronger on the main ledge to the peak. Sudden bursts of wind could throw us off balance. Sensory feeling on the face and fingers began to disappear. If it were warm and calm, this open ledge could be one of the most beautiful climbing ledges in the world.

At the bottom of the last steep snow wall to the top, we noticed Muraguchi and Hiroshima descending. Hiroshima seemed too cold to respond promptly. He needed to descend to a safe zone. The other three continued to ascend the final wall.

At 10:00 am, we arrived at the top, a wide snow peak, with a 20m/ sec strong wind around it. My camera, though warm in my jacket's chest pocket, did not work. However, Muraguchi's video camera worked. We saw Shin Qing Hong in the east, West Kanthari in the west, the Konlon mountains in the north and Kokosiri plateau in the south.

We imagined that we would enjoy the clear sky and look back upon 100 years after Hedin and 1000 years of Tibetan history from top of the unclimbed peak. But it was only for 1000 seconds that we could stay there because of the cold and strong wind. It compelled us to go down, and then we reached the south peak to find no wind at the main peak!

At 13:30, returned to C1. Severe cold and strong wind had injured Hiroshima's eight fingers. 2nd to 5th fingers of both hands became frostbitten. Hiroshima was directed to go down to BC immediately with Masuyama.

At BC, Masuyama sent an emergency e-mail asking for the best field first aid treatment for Hiroshima using satellite communication.

14 January, 1999

At C1. At 7:00, the second attack team of K. Yamada and Y. Kanazawa started.

At 11:00, they arrived at the south peak. Further ascent was abandoned because of stronger wind than the day before.

Afternoon, C1 was evacuated by K. Yamada and Y. Kanazawa, N. Muraguchi, F. Yamanushi and S. Itoh.

Good bye, East Kanthari. I am sure that new guests will visit you in the next century.

Summary: Expedition name : 1998-99 China-Japan East Kanthari (6167 m) Expedition. Mountain Range: Tibet-Qinghai Plateau(Chantan Plateau), China

Route : via southeast ridge to South Peak and main peak

Number of summitters : 4.

Names of summit party and date: Main peak (6167 m); Shigeru Masuyama, Noriyuki Muraguchi, Fumihiko Yamanushi, Daiki Hiroshima on 13 January 1999. South Peak (6090 m); Kazuya Yamada, Yuji Kanazawa on 14 January 1999.

 

 

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QIONGLAI MOUNTAINS — Rock peaks to north of Siguniang, Sichuan Province. The highest peak, Siguniang 6250 m of Qionglai Mountains located on the eastern rim of the Hengduan mountain range has become so famous and popular that the southern side of the mountain, access to which is very easy from Chengdu, is now congested with hundreds of tourists and trekkers, domestic and foreign as well. However, looking at the northern side, you would note that many alluring lofty rock peaks of granite tower towards the sky. These peaks 5300-5900 m high encircle two beautiful valleys forming a grand Colosseum. Those which are really outstanding are less-known and untrodden too although an approach is not very difficult and 1:50,000 Chinese topographical maps indicate the relevant position and altitude in details.

It was in mid rainy season when I visited that mountainous area in July to August, 1998. Nevertheless the weather was fine and I could carry out a preliminary exploration to my satisfaction. It enabled me to unveil the mountain massif to a certain extent. On 26 July, I drove to Li Xian, 158 km from Chengdu, a provincial capital to the north along the river Min, one of the largest tributaries of the Yangtze. Li Xian, a small county capital, was the base to arrange for my caravan. On 27 July, I made a reconnaissance to 5892 m peak, the 2nd highest one of Qionglai mountains, southwest of Li Xian, but failed due to rainfall. This peak still remains as an illusion to me since nobody has even a glimpse of its profile. On 28 July, I marched to the valley called Bipung Gou to the west of the 5892 m peak. I had with me a horse and 4 donkeys and set up a base camp near Yuzupungtze (2988 m) surrounded by a splendid coniferous forest. On 29 July, I advanced to the head of the valley. On 30 July, our party crossed a high pass of 4644 m which is on the divide of the range stretching from Mt. Siguniang directly to the north separating the two valleys of Bipung Gou and Changping Gou. It was the highlight of the trek. I found myself in the centre of countless magnificent rock peaks and pitched the camp (3798 m) at the source of Changping Gou (valley). It was like a palace in a huge rock garden like in Patagonia, in perfect harmony with vivid green trees and pasture. Some are spiky and others are big masses of formidable rocks. From 30 July till 2 August, I proceeded with the caravan down to Rilong from north to south along the beautiful valley of Changping Gou. On the right bank of the valley was Siguniang whilst on the left was the sharp pyramid of Celestial peak, 5413 m, which has been climbed by Americans. A Tibetan herbs hunter of Chinese traditional medicines guided our party throughout our trekking. I left Rilong on 4 August for the country of the other minority people to the north tracing the road of Long March.

Peaks and Gorge Country in Northwest Yunnan to Southeast Tibet

Lohit, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Salween, Mekong and Yangtze cut through the mountain ranges 6000 m high and, flowing parallel north to south, are squeezed in one place to a span of 150 km. This remote frontier, called Deep Gorge Country is the heart of the Hengduan mountains which spread to the east of the Tsanpo Great Bend, and even today is very isolated. All the main snow peaks remain unclimbed. Since 1990, I have visited the gorge country in succession and in 1996 could complete the circumnavigation of the pilgrimage trail round Meili Snow mountain (Ka-Karpo).

In November-December 1998, I travelled to the lower Tsawarong. The main objects were firstly to reach Zayu (Drayu), the crossroads in the gorge country along Wi Chu, a tributary of the Salween, and secondly to search for a possible approach to the Damyon massif (the highest peak: 6324 m) from the Wi Chu basin. T. Nagai and I began our trip on 18 November leaving Deqen (Atuntze) of Yunnan for southeast Tibet along Mekong. The half day drive took us to Yanging and we crossed Mekong to a small village, Jada (2360 m) where we organized a caravan of two Tibetan guides, two Tibetan muleteers and seven mules. In 1911, F. M. Bailey and H. Edger had stayed here and started their memorable journey to Assam. In two days, we crossed Di la pass (4581 m) on the Mekong-Wi Chu divide through which E. Teichman had passed in 1981. The pass was very windy and cold. However, we were strongly impressed by a most glorious panorama of many 5700-5800 m peaks soaring into the blue sky. We went down to the Wi Chu valley, which is densely covered with a beautiful primeval forest of coniferous trees. We spent a night at a Tibetan farmer's house in Jino village on the bank of the river Wi Chu. We were the first foreigners here, except for the missionaries, since December 1923, when A. David-Neel passed in disguise towards Lhasa. From 21 to 24 November, we proceeded with our caravan from Jino to Zayu along the Wi Chu to the north. The Wi Chu flows north to south forming a great canyon in a magnificent landscape. We went through a deeply eroded gorge, the river water of which emerged from a cleft in the limestone mountain.

Zayu (3470 m) is now an administrative centre of the sub-division of Qamdo Pref. It was also an important place lying at the junction of several trade routes branching off to Qamdo on the northeast, Lhasa on the northwest, Yunnan on the southeast and India on the southwest. On 26 November, we had one day's excursion, a ride up the valley to a pass (3850 m) on The Wi Chu-Salween divide to the west. We had a good view the of 5500 m snow range on The Wi Chu-Salween divide. A treacherous ice and rock peak was enchanting. From the wide and flat pass, a panorama of the vast and huge mountain range of Baxoila Ling came into sight beyond the desolate valley of Salween. Range upon range, countless numbers of unexplored snow peaks stretched far in the distance. From 27 to 30 November, we were on the way back to Deqen via the Tibet-Sichuan/Yunnan highway, and we were lucky enough to take the photographs of the complete view of the Damyon massif from a pass (4200 m) on the Mekong-Yangtze divide. The scenery was really spectacular. I do believe that the Damyon massif and neighbouring 6000 m peaks are one of the greatest mountain ranges in the Hengduan mountains and therefore are worthy of being paid much more attention.

1999
Kangri Garpo Range, Southeast Tibet

It was in 1995 that I made the first access to Kangri Garpo when I attempted to go into Zayul, strictly closed to foreigners. In May 1999, I tried again to search the heart of the unknown mountains that remained "blank on map". The first explorer having traversed the mountain range and brought back the related information was a famous Pundit, Kishen Singh, called A-K, in 1882. The Pandit marched northwestward up the valley from Zayul to Kangri Garpo which he crossed at Ata Kang la pass (4610 m) and then came on to the elevated highland of Tibet. Here he noticed an impassable barrier to the oft-asserted flow of the river Tsangpo into the river Irrawaddy. In February 1933, F. Kingdon-Ward set off from Sadiya in Assam with Ronald Kaulback and then traced A-K's footsteps from Rima in Zayul district.

On 15 May, 1999, together with T. Nagai, I departed from Deqen (Atuntze) of Yunnan to Southeast Tibet via the Yunnan/Sichuan-Tibet highway and on 17 May arrived at Lhagu village (4060 m) that is to the south of Rawu. To the west of Lhagu, magnificent snow peaks and ridges were seen through the wide gap of the Lhagu glacier and reflected in the Lhagu lake. The Lhagu glacier has the largest surface area and the longest width in Tibet. It would remind us of the glacier in Patagonia. We started our trekking from the village to the south along the open valley of Lhagu. Our original plan was to ascend up to Ata Kang la pass (4610 m, Chinese name: Walela Shan). However the pass was covered with deep snow and the horses could not go over it. We were forced to change our target and consequently move north to the Ata glacier to find an eligible climbing route to Ruoni peak (6610 m, Kingdon-Ward's Chombo), the highest in Kangri Garpo. From 18 to 20 May, we reconnoitered the northern side of Ruoni, a massive snow peak, from BC at Chutsu (4185 m) which we reached in half a day's caravan from Lhagu with a Tibetan guide, and eight horses accompanied by two muleteers. The preliminary reconnaissance to scale Ruoni peak was made at the lookout point (4300 m) near the end of the moraine of the north Ata glacier. With the result, it was presumed that one of the possible routes would be: (1) To reach the saddle via the north glacier (2) To ascend the ice fall to a certain point (3) Then to climb up the northeast ridge to the summit before getting to the snow plateau. It was noted that two Japanese groups were applying for permission to climb Ruoni peak. On the way back we visited Shugden Gompa near Rawu and drove to Lhasa in four days via Sichuan-Tibet highway.

Khambas World in West Sichuan — Journey searching explorers' footsteps.

From the end of the 19th to the early 20th century many explorers travelled through East Tibet via the China-Tibet road to and from Sichuan. In October 1999, I had an opportunity of marching on a part of the old road between Litang and Batang in Sichuan province. The road crosses Shaluli Shan range of Hengduan mountains, passing the southern end of Genyen peak (6204 m), the highest in the range, and many 5700-5900 m unknown fascinating rock and snow peaks spreading to the northwest. Genyen was climbed by the Japanese in 1988, but all the rest are virgin and nobody has been introduced to the mountain massif as a whole. The object of our journey was (1) to trace twelve explorers' footsteps with a view to examine the changes that took place in one century and (2) to take photos of these unknown peaks and glaciers. Amongst the twelve, T.T. Cooper, W. Gill, G. Kreitner, F.M. Bailey, G. Pereira and two Japanese monks E. Teramoto and Y. Nomi were of particular importance to me.

K. Yokoyama, T. Nagai and I departed from Chengdu towards the west in a Mitsubishi Pajero on 1 October via the Sichuan-Tibet highway which we left turning for Lamaya, the starting point of our caravan, at Litang plateau (4000 m) on 5 October. We drove on an extremely bad road and crossed Gala la pass (4750 m) through an arid and desolate landscape to Lamaya (3700 m). Although they had described that there had been two villages with one station and several houses, we could find nothing en route. The old road has already lost its role as the main trade route since the Sichuan-Tibet highway was opened in the 1950's. These changes were also observed throughout our caravan along the old road from Lamaya to Batang. Nowadays houses near the pasture are used only for nomads' temporary stay in the summer season.

In October, from Lamaya we launched our caravan of three Tibetan muleteers and ten horses. We crossed two passes of about 4000 m, traversed widely open gentle hills abundant in pastures on the southern slope of the Genyen massif, where thousands of yaks were put out to graze, and went up a branch valley to a historical lamasery, Lengo Gompa, built 600 years ago. It is located at the foot of the east face of Genyen and is surrounded by rock peaks and pinnacles in harmony with pine and conifer forest. The lamasery, the peaks and the beautiful valley tempted me to dream of the Shangri la of 'Lost Horizon' by James Hilton. From 8 to 10 October, we continued our caravan leaving the old road at Samba for crossing a high pass of 4425 m down to Bomi, a sub-division of Batang county.

It was a surprising experience to find 'Foreigners' House' well preserved by the villagers of Bomi (Poteu 3645 m). Two British freelance missionaries, G. Patterson and G. Bull stayed there from 1947 to 1950 to render medical services to the people of Khamba in Bo district. An old Khamba had good memories of the two missionaries. In particular, the tough journey of G. Patterson to India from Bomi, crossing the heart of Hengduan mountains in the mid winter of 1950 was astonishing. I am now seeking his whereabouts through Mrs. Jean Kingdon-Ward who met him at Walong in Zayul in February 1950.

From 11 to 12 October, after replacing the horses and muleteers at Bomi, we began the second leg to Batang. We proceeded to the north, crossing a pass of 4428 m, to the source of a tributary of the 'River of Golden Sand' (Upper Yangtze). We marched together with hundreds of yaks and Khamba nomad families along the valley. They were in the process of moving from summer pasture land to lower places to be prepared for the coming winter. We were in a beautiful valley described by Yuc and Gabe, French missionaries who travelled here in 1848. Peaks, pasture, stream and forest created a complete scenery. We stayed at Ta So which had been a crossroad with the permanent residents but is now only the summer base for nomads. In 1923, from Ta So, General Pereira went up the valley to the north towards a fatal destination. It was his last journey and he died at Ganze. On 13 October, we crossed over Tsawala pass (Ta So Shan, 4995 m) on the range forming the watershed. It was one of the highlights that we could have a glorious view, first as mountaineers, of a panorama with countless untrodden peaks stretching to the northeast. Above all, a 5965 m peak was most impressive. On the following day we descended along a narrow valley to the west and safely arrived at Batang which was our goal.

Summary : Explorations in southwest China (Tibet) in 1998-99.

 

 

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HAVING BEEN TO PAKISTAN several times in the past few years we had collected information about less explored mountain ranges in the Karakoram and Hindu Raj area. One of the less visited regions in the Karakoram is the Batura Muztagh and especially the northwestern part of this group. After extensive investigation in the Alpine and Himalayan Journals, in late 1997, soon we decided on our final destination: the area of the Karambar glacier. There are a lot of interesting 6000 m peaks, most of them unclimbed until summer '98. The highest peak in this area is Kampire Dior (7143 m) at the head of Karambar glacier, the only 7000 m peak attempted several times by Japanese and Austrian groups. First climbed in 1976 by a Japanese expedition, it was the only summit of interest for many years in spite of standing in an area with hundreds of interesting possibilities.

When we started on 28 July from Berlin via London to Islamabad, we were a team of four climbers from Dresden/Saxon, Switzerland : Dieter Ruelker, Frank Polte, Joerg Ehrlich (leader) and me, strengthened by our Pakistani friend and many times expedition cook Jehangir Khan Astori. We reached Gilgit via KKH on 1 August, did last minute shopping in the market and hired 2 jeeps to bring us and our luggage into the Ishkoman valley. Stopped at Bilhanz, where the trail was washed away by melting water, we had to continue on foot. So we hired some local porters to help us bring our equipment to Karambar Ilag (3300 m), which took us hours of discussion with the locals and one day of walking over glaciers and moraines. There we established base camp on 3 August on a sunny grass plateau where the local farmers live during summer time. The inhabitants of this small village were very friendly and the oldest one of them could even remember the last mountaineering expedition had been there in 1977.

Making some reconnaissance trips along the Karambar glacier and the side valleys, we spent 2 days in taking a lot of photos of all the mountains and drawing a sketch map of the whole area, which is not covered by good maps or sometimes even shown incorrectly on available maps. Just before starting our first attempt into the Kutshkulin valley, the weather became bad with heavy rain and snowfall. So we were forced to have some rest days in BC before starting the exploration. After some more reconnaissance on 11 Aug, we established one high camp at about 4300 m near a small glacial lake at the head of Kutshkulin valley. East of this beautiful campsite, the main Kutshkulin glacier turns towards an ice covered wall which rises to a prominent summit of about 6000 m (later named Kutshkulin Sar as agreed by the local people). This was to be our first summit to be attempted, but we had a problem reaching the base of the wall. After some hundred metres of easy approach from our camp, the Kutshkulin glacier become heavily crevassed and rugged and so the first attempt by Frank and me failed at about 4600 m after hours of crossing crevasses, climbing up and down seracs and traversing hundreds of metres over exposed ice ridges. Dieter and Joerg, who tried it the next day, succeeded in reaching about 4900 m at the north side of the glacier very close to the steep rocky walls of the neighbouring mountain ridge and were thus exposed to falling stones.

After one rest day, (we used to have a small boulder competition in our idyllic camp) we started early in the morning and reached a platform on the glacier at about 4900 m where we established our high camp II. Originally, we wanted to start a summit attempt at 2 in the morning, but the weather changed completely, and so we descended to base camp later in heavy snowfall instead of going upwards. Two rest days with really bad weather brought a lot of new snow, but on 18 Aug we started again from Karambar Ilag to reach our high camp I and one day later high camp II. At midnight thousands of stars in the sky promised a nice day, and so we started our attempt at 2 in the morning on 20 August. Some hundred meters of walking brought us to the bergschrund, which we crossed roped, but whilst climbing simultaneously. So we did the first 200 m through ice up to 60 m before reaching a kind of snowy ridge on the ice covered northwest face of the mountain. Because of unsecure snow conditions and absolute darkness, we climbed about 12 rope lengths, belaying on dead man anchors, before dawn. 4 more rope lengths in a crevassed terrain led us to the saddle, a big snow plateau just below the final summit pyramid. As we reached this place as early as 8 in the morning, we left bivouac gear there before continuing further. First we proceeded fast, but after crossing a big bergschrund, the snow conditions got from bad to worse at every step.

So it took us about 2 hours to climb the last two rope lengths in upto 600 of loose snow. Breaking through a 1 m cornice I reached the summit at about 2 in the afternoon. The summit itself was built only from loose snow, so I belayed the other guys by using buried ice axes and my own weight. Celebrating this probable first ascent we named the mountain 'Kutshkulin Sar'. Our altimeters showed markings between 5860 and 5990 m - so the summit was just inside the permited fee category.

Due to rapidly worsening weather, we hurried to descend, taking a 360° photo shoot of the cloudy mountain range around us. Abseiling down on snow anchors, which were brought down by the last of us, who was climbing down with a belay of a 50 metre hanging rope, we reached the snow saddle and continued down the steep wall. Several pitches above ground, the darkness caught up with us and through increasing snowfall we reached the glacier with the help of our lamps.

After one hour of searching for our completely snow-covered tents, we reached our camp after 20 hours of continuous climbing. Due to the weather, we descended to base camp next day, leaving the high camps for another summit attempt at the head of Kutshkuklin glacier. During a period of 3 days of bad weather, we rested at Karambar Ilag before ascending towards high Camp 2 again. There we had to wait for one more day for somewhat acceptable weather before ascending the Kutshkulin glacier further on 28 August. Carrying some rock- climbing gear for the expected summit pitches on our next mountain, we were surprised that we gained altitude without any technical difficulties. Snow and ice only up to 50° led to the corniced summit, where we had beautiful weather and a great view of the whole mountain range. We rested for a long time on the summit before descending to our camp, sometimes missing a pair of skis on the long walk down. We named the summit Sax Sar after our home region, which when translated means Saxon Spire. Its altitude we registered as 5999 m in spite of some maps showing it between 6100 and 6432 m.

Our time was really over, but the weather seemed to be still good, and so Dieter and I tried to make a speedy ascent on another nice mountain in the upper Kutshkulin area before finally descending. Starting at 4 in the morning we reached the summit of about 5980 m at 10 after having climbed about 15 rope lengths of 50-55 simple ice slopes. Just when we went on the broad corniced summit ridge to reach the very high point, the whole cornice broke down just 5 metres away from us giving us a bad fright. We profited from this breaking- off of the summit cornice in having now the possibility of getting a spectacular view northeastwards down on the far glacier through the hole in the summit ridge.

The weather was incredibly good, offering a view from the high Pamirs (Peak Marx, Peak Angels), in the far northwest, to Nanga Parbat in the far southeast. While in the west, the massive Koz Sar dominated the scene, in the east, our two previously scaled summits Kutshkulin Sar and Sax Sar were very close to us. Before descending the same route, we named this third summit Yeti Sar (who knows, who had broken the summit cornice just short before we reached it?). Then we climbed down, removed our high camp II completely and reached camp I in the same evening, while Frank and Joerg were preparing everything for leaving the base camp in Karambar Ilag. Next day Dieter and I carried loads of about 40 kg from camp I down to BC, from where we descended on 31 Aug with the help of the local farmers and their donkeys.

The trip back to Gilgit in a jeep was adventurous because the jeep got stuck in the middle of a small river. Finally we reached Gilgit and after one week of travelling through northern Pakistan (visiting Karimabad with Fort Altit/Baltit, crossing the Deosai plateau by jeep and swimming in Sadpara lake near Skardu) we caught a flight back to Islamabad from where we reached Germany on 12 Nov.

Remark: In summer 1999, there was the 2nd ascent of the Kutshkulin Sar by a new route, by an American expedition, while Koz Sar (6677 m) in the same region was first climbed by a Japanese team also in summer 1999. So this region, unvisited for more than 20 years by expeditions, became somewhat popular in the past month.

Summary : The first ascent of Kutshkulin Sar (5990 m) by a German team, on 20 August 1998.

Colour Plates 22-23
Photos 32-33-34

 

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