EXPEDITIONS AND NOTES

1. CHASING CIRCULAR RAINBOWS
2. A SOLITARY PASS: THE THEU LA IN SIKKIM
3. THREE ALPINE STYLE CLIMBS IN NEPAL'S KHUMBU HIMALAYA
4. FRENCH EXPEDITION TO ANNAPURNA I
5. FRENCH PUTHA HIUNCHULI EXPEDITION
6. RATNA CHULI I
7. BAD SERACS AND GOOD SERACS
8. EXPEDITION TO SRI KAILASH
9. SHIVLING, 2000
10. BAMSARU KHAL
11. BEYOND PANDOSERA
12. GEPANG GOH EXPEDITION
13. IRISH EXPEDITION TO KHANGLA TARBO I AND DEBSA NALA
14. A WHIFF OF ZANSKAR
15. YUNUM — THE NAME OF A DREAM
16. THE FIRST ASCENT OF DHHUN
17. THE FIRST ASCENT OF UMUDUNG KANGRI
18. THE FIRST ASCENT OF DAWA KANGRI
19. MOUNTAINEERING EXPEDITION TO MASHERBRUM
20. JAPAN K2 EXPEDITION, 2000
21. BATURA MUZTAGH – MUCHU CHHISH
22. BROAD PEAK
23. EXPLORING AND CLIMBING IN THE SHIMSHAL PAMIR
24. DIR GOL ZOM IN HINDU KUSH, PAKISTAN
25. CHONG MUZTAGH – RECONNAISSANCE AND CLIMB
26. UNEXPLORED PEAK LIANGKANG KANGRI
27. EXPLORING UNCLIMBED PEAKS IN TIBET

 

 

 

"HAVE YOU TREKKED TO SANDAKPHU? Yangdu asked me. "It is one of the best treks in the world, uncle". She had been calling me 'uncle', a title you receive as you age in India. Yangdu has a long experience of trekking, particularly around Darjeeling, having been born there. She has lived there for half her life.

"Sandakphu is a window to one of the finest views of the snowy mountains, from the mighty Everest in Nepal, to the revered Kangchenjunga in Sikkim and the legendary Chomolhari in Bhutan. From here Everest is 144 km as the crow flies." she added with an infectious enthusiasm.

"This trek takes you along the famous Singalila Ridge. Singalila is a prominent spur of high ground that lies at the southern end of a long crest, which runs down from Kangchenjunga itself. It forms the border between Sikkim and Nepal. The trek along this ridge going through small settlements is renowned for being one of the most scenically rewarding in the entire Himalaya. Apart from these giants there are views of a host of other peaks in the eastern Himalaya, all seen at one stretch. — Quite a sight to see even from about 3500 m, the maximum altitude you get to on this trek." And as a final advice she added, " Go in autumn, you will obtain the clearest views". So there I was en route to Darjeeling in November 2000 to taste the best views as promised by Yangdu. She was not wrong.

There are two major advantages of trekking around Darjeeling. First is the great flight from Delhi to Bagdogra (make sure that you have a left hand side window seat). We viewed the entire Himalayan range starting from Bandarpunch, Nanda Devi, Everest and the complete range of Nepal's high mountains. When you see the Kangchenjunga massif you know, that now you are nearing Bagdogra. From Bagdogra, going up the Himalayan Hills Railway is a long and laborious process and as a result most people now travel to Darjeeling by road and take the little toy train ride from Darjeeling back to Ghoom. This Hill Railway has been declared as "World Heritage Railway". This is what we did along with a visit to the memorial at the Batasia loop, to the heroes of the Indian Army's Gorkha soldiers. We visited Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and spent time with old friends. Like all other visitors, a trip to the Tiger Hill early in the morning to view the sunrise was mandatory. I wouldn't vouch for the peace and sanctity of the surroundings as a large crowd had gathered there and we were told that such crowds are there every day. As the sun rose over the horizon, on one hand the peak of Everest was lighted up in a exquisite change of colours. But on the other, next to us, people burst out beating drums, shouting, and dancing and there was such a big commotion that one felt as if the sun had done something wrong. People have different ideas of enjoyment and shattering the silence in such surroundings was a part of theirs.

I was to trek to Sandakphu in the company of some wonderful friends. Ajit and Usha Mehta are Gujaratis from western India, as I am, and have migrated to Chicago, USA, many decades ago. They, like several other friends of mine, adopted U.S.A. as their country and we in India officially call them as NRIs (Non Resident Indians). Perhaps, in a foreign country they live more like Indians, than we do in India, for we in India adapt to the fast changing society and many times miss out on the traditional beliefs. None of our NRI friends have given up their love for India and have kept the Indian traditions alive wherever they have settled. They visit India and those who have any inclination and interest in the Himalaya always return to trek there. As their children grow up having heard stories about India and the Himalayan range, they too want to be introduced. This was one such group and we all got along very well. With them came their American friends. Dr. Mart and Gina Jalakas who work in the same hospital as the Mehtas. Mart, with interest in many facets of India knew a lot about it and about many other subjects in general. No combination could be better; people from different cultures but with the same background or interests on a trek together, with the same love for the mountains.

It was on first of November, that we were ready to start for our trek and. drove around 30 km to a village called Manebhanjang. As I started walking, a young lady from our group, Sejal, started walking with me. She was a student from USA who appeared quite strong and fit. I casually asked her, "So Sejal, have you been trekking before ?". In an American accent she replied, "No, but I have been doing plenty of walking around, plenty of training, long distance jogging and have been for short walks around places in U.S.A". Then with a pause, she looked at me and said, "How about you, have you been to the Himalaya before?". I just smiled. I wished I was coming for the first time. For that infectious enthusiasm of the "first time", that first view of the snow, and that first smell of pines is something which I miss now after so many years in the Himalaya. As Martin Conway had put it :

Later we may know more, we understand more, we may even come to love more; but the first vision of a young man's love is surpassed by no further splendour, and the glory of a mountain view never comes again.

The trail started with a rather steep climb as one has reach the Singalila ridge. Luckily the first part was a climb for a short distance, about 3 km, and at around noon we stopped at Chitrey, a small hamlet where we had lunch. As lunch was being prepared in a small dhaba, some of the local boys about 200 ft. above us were playing loud music and making so much noise that it reminded us of the Tiger Hill incident. As we had to sit here for a while, Nilesh Kothari, from our group climbed up to them and waived. The boys would not pay any attention. So he waived out a Rs. 50 note and shouted, "How about stopping this noise". He was an American and this was his capitalist method of conquering the natives. The boys did not listen and in fact turned the speaker towards us, made it louder and started dancing. Finally it was the tall figure of Dr. Mark Jalakas who climbed up steadily towards them and gave them a piece of his mind. That did the trick. The authoritarian approach had certainly succeeded over the capitalist approach.

We were to climb more than 1100 m to reach the top of the Singalila ridge at Tonglu. By 4 o'clock, with such steepness to overcome, we were dehydrated and tired. As the sun went down in the evening, everything was looking lovely in the autumn light. As we turned a corner on this long winding road, Mark Jalakas who was slightly ahead of me and feeling little tired suddenly stopped.

"Harish look at the Brocken Spectre".

Mark always knows more about things and as I looked around I saw a lovely circular rainbow riding on the clouds in the valley below.

What was incredible was that our shadows were falling right into the centre of that rainbow. It gave us a feeling as if we were riding on a cloud, at least our shadows were. (Such a phenomena was first noticed in the German mountain range of the same name, Brocken).¹ It was an amazing sight and Sejal who was with me went crazy with photographs. The clouds were rushing towards us and we felt as if were riding towards heaven in the centre of a rainbow. All Sejal could repeatedly say was just, "It is awesome, its awesome".

I had seen such a phenomena in the local hills near Mumbai, in the Sahyadris (Western Ghats). A historical fort of Shivaji, the great Maratha worrier, named Harishchandra Gad, has steep high walls facing the West. In late May, as the build up to monsoon clouds swirl up from the valley to the fort and the morning sun rises from the east. It casts long shadows on these clouds making you feel as if you are walking on them. During the days of the Raj, a British officer once stood at the edge on a horse. His shadow 'riding' on the clouds was seen by the simple villagers. A folk-tale developed about British officers who could even ride on clouds, and hence no one dared challenge them!

All the tiredness was behind us and we reached Tonglu with the memory of the this brilliant spectre. Tonglu has a small trekker's hut and if you are lucky just standing on the balcony you could be treated to a spectacular sunset of the Kangchenjunga range. We were lucky, and looking at this brilliant spectacle again revived many memories. On the second day we had to proceed to Tumling which is at around 2860 m. We were walking on a very broad and rough jeepable trail on the famous Singalila ridge about which I had heard a lot and on which for centuries people have travelled. On the left of the ridge, towards the West, is the Nepali territory and to the East or right is India. Thank God both are friendly countries and no armies are here facing each other. In fact the trails zig zag into Nepal and back to India regularly. We entered the Singalila National Park paying a minor fee and descended 6 km to Garibas. From Garibas, the motorable road continued along the ridge, but there is a lovely foot track which crosses towards the west into Nepal to reach a small village of Jaunbari. We were not an unusual sight for people in the village, they had seen many trekkers. There were small eating joints and everybody was nonchalantly talking to us and busy in their work.

The trail climbed up back to the Singalila ridge rather steeply and we again followed the ridge till we reached Kala Pokhri, literally meaning 'Black Lake'. In fact, as we reached late evening, the lake certainly looked very black.

On the 3^rd day we were to proceed via Bikhey Bhanjang to Sandakphu. It was almost 5 km of steep ascent till we reached Sandakphu. The place almost defies description. Right on top of the ridge we were on an international boundary with a police post and several excellently situated bungalows.

That evening it was very cold, but who cared, right in front of us was the majestic Kangchenjunga and all its surrounding peaks with lovely deodar and pine forests. Peace was all around, and the backdrop was magnificent. Towards the west appeared Everest as a very small dot, almost peeping from behind Makalu. But then there were many who were more excited over looking at Everest than Kangchenjunga. I think being tallest in the world has its advantages and attractions. Next day we woke up early morning to see the golden sunrise. It was as has been mentioned by an early explorer.

From Sandakphu, the wild elemental grandeur of the snows begins to assert itself, till the climax is reached at sunrise, when it soaks the snow-laden peaks in crimson and mauve, orange and gold, Kangchenjunga and Everest are seen in all their glory against the background of an azure sky speckled with lazily floating, fleecy clouds. The whole snowy range of Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal, about 320 Km in length, a wonderful square mass of mountains looking like a wall of snow, is visible, but the gigantic height and breadth of towering Kangchenjunga, with its attendant peaks, Kabru, Jannu and Pandim dominates the scene; Everest, (8848 m) now looking rather graceful and majestic, 160 km away, soars above, peeping shyly from the northern horizon with Lhotse on the left.

After breakfast we started on the trail on the ridge towards Molley. As we walked along we could view the beautiful valleys of both India and Nepal. From Sandakphu the same broad trail continued and now all the steep climbs were behind us. As we passed through beautiful open areas with Kangchenjunga on our right and Everest on our left, we crossed a few Nepali villagers who were carrying fresh peas from Nepal and descending into Sikkim for selling them to villagers there. You can easily buy some from them as we did. Eating fresh peas and walking with such a grand view is certainly a different experience. For about 4 km the trail was flat, and finally there was a long steady climb to Sabagram (totally about 5 km further away). To break the long walk to Phalut, a slight detour has been made and after a small descent you reach a trekker's hut at Molley, about 2 km off the road. Molley² was once a camping ground for shepherds. From here a long ridge led down into the Ramam valley making this a convenient camping spot for shepherds travelling from Nepal to Sikkim. Molley was 3600 m and the vegetation was alpine, with an undulating ripple of dwarf rhododendron bushes and shrubs of poisonous aconite

From Molley next day the trail at first climbed back to join the main trail and after some descent there was a 3 km steep ascent to Phalut which is an important view point on the trail. A bungalow has been built little below the highest point.

Phalut forms the junction of Nepal, Sikkim and West Bengal and is one of the beautiful places to visit. The hills are all bare and from here Kangchenjunga is only 48 km as the crow flies. Unfortunately, being cloudy that day we did not get much of a view. Our discussions cantered around from serious, sublime to simple laughter. There were many stories from America and many concerns about India. Our NRI friends, were certainly in contact with everything Indian and in love with the country of their origin. We had heated discussions regarding different aspects of politics, which livened up the evening. We were trekking with mules which were carrying our loads. That afternoon we had reached early and sat down for a chat in the bungalow. Mark Jalakas suddenly rose, and very politely murmured, "I will go out and check the horses". I looked at him and said, "Mark, the horses must not have arrived as yet". He looked at me in amazement; "Haven't you heard the term before?" And everybody smiled. He had used a polite American expression, to announce that he was going out for a nature's call.

The route ahead of Phalut to Gorkhey was certainly not for anyone with weak knees for it descends 1200 m in 15 km. But this descent was through a most wonderful forest. The trail was well trodden. The bamboos and furs ultimately replaced deodars and pines in a day's wonderful walk. The lower hills were covered with moss laden trees, different varieties of rhododendrons, silver firs, pines, spruce, chestnuts, oaks, giant magnolias and hemlocks.

Tired but satisfied, we reached the small village of Gorkhey at 2390 m. Gorkhey is a small village, which is on the border with the northern part of western Sikkim though foreigners are not allowed to cross into Sikkim via this point. We were on the Ramam river. This is a small river but an important one as it is the boundary of West Bengal and Sikkim to the north. We continued descending and next day and our destination was Siri Khola.

For those who love plants and people this route is a paradise. With a forest of different varieties of the indigenous trees. Samanden, a beautiful village was worth taking a halt at and meeting the simple folks there.. The villagers are basically from the Sherpa clan who many years ago migrated here from Nepal. A legend attracts many curious visitors and Lepcha pilgrims to this quiet village of Samanden. It is said that many years back the legendary Himalayan "Yeti" fought with a Lepcha hunter for supremacy of the hunting grounds here. Due to equal strength on both sides they came to an agreed solution and made a treaty. So, in the quiet woods a huge stone was erected as a symbol of friendship between the Lepcha hunter and the Yeti. These simple villagers' main source of income is potato farming, fields of which we saw around the lower villages of Rimbick and Ramam.

As we trekked ahead the main difference was that we were beyond the forests, but the pleasures were different. There were small villages that we were constantly passing through. Early in the morning little after we started on the trail Usha and Gina sat down to play a match on carom with the local villagers. While walking from that point we logged-on with a forest party and the forest officer was a mine of information about various legends, stories and happenings in the area. When walking between villages this makes it interesting. You pick up so much from these locals or officials posted there that it makes your trek really worthwhile.³

The trekker's hut at Siri khola was built overlooking the river. It was well placed and with small hotels clustered around, it gave us welcome relief. We cooled off that day and in the evening everyone had a most relaxing time. The last day's walk was to Rimbick village. It was a flat walk again on a broad trail. That day we almost had a competition as to who would reach the camp last.

Everyone walked leisurely, chatting with villagers, sitting at small way side shops, drinking tea by the roadside dhabas and of course, some food and a glass of beer also went well with trekking. The trail was well decorated with flowers, for the local festival of Dusherra which had recently been celebrated. Yellow flowers were hanging from all windows. The villagers keep these yellow flowers hanging on the windows till they dry up and then the seeds are used for planting. These villagers certainly have an age old eco-friendly tradition. At the Rimbick (2286 m) is a small important town and is quiet but busy during the main market day i.e. Tuesday. It is a lovely day to watch simple people from different villages coming to buy and sell their local products. Rimbick, which is a Lepcha word means "Ling-gip" i.e. "place where there is a swing."

Suddenly we were amongst modern facilities. A hot shower, a good clean room and change of clothes made us feel happiness that only civilisation can give. We talked of having completed a lovely trek, hardships faced and loosened our tired limbs.

We saw a different perspective soon. There was a commotion in the bazaar and as we looked around, suddenly there were runners arriving. A Himalayan run was being conducted in the area and all that we had done in about 8 days of trekking, these enthusiast were running, clocking only that many number of hours. But then to each his own, as they say. We saw some runners arriving very tired. They collapsed on the ground and were heard murmuring, "Never again, never again". I am sure they were running again the next day and returned next year. It is the spirit that counts and looking at these runners you feel amazed at what a human body can do.

All that remained for us now was a 130 km long 7 hour drive to Kalimpong which was our last destination. Kalimpong is a small cosy place which had retained the old British charms. There are many educational institutions, particularly Dr. Graham's Home which is legendary. Kalimpong was once an important trade centre between India, Bhutan and Tibet. This lovely laid back town with a pleasant climate is famous of its orchid nurseries and handicrafts. This town was surely the best place to wind up the trip and relax before going home.

Everybody was now in great form and a sense of satisfaction enveloped us. The dinner table was a lively affair and memories of the trek were pushing us on. Like all good things it had to end and the next morning we parted company. My friends took a bus and a flight on their way back to Delhi and I took a taxi back to Darjeeling to meet my Sherpa friends. Each one of us were going back to our Brocken spectre in a different way.

Explanations of meaning of some names on the Sandakphu trail.

 

Summary: A trek to the Singalila ridge in west Sikkim, in November 2000.

 

 

 

 

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Forgotten in the midst Himalayan giants, the pass is sad and solitary. Furious harbinger of the coming monsoon, today its mistress is the storm that howls, growls and roars in quick succession. The large menacing black clouds that have been torn by the furious wind from the bottom of the valley seem to crash against the sharp rocks, twisting and whirling as if they were tortured souls going through the narrow notch of the pass.

The surrounding mountains, peaks and glaciers have disappeared in a strange but luminous greyness which stomps and sometimes blots out the outline of the pass. From time to time sunrays pierce through the greyish space, illuminating with a supernatural glare the abandoned cairn left last year by some pious herdsmen to propitiate their gods. Other stray rays hit in quick succession some snow patches, splitting and refracting themselves in millions of small dazzling rainbows.

The universe seems to consist only of black clouds, flashing lights and the sadly melancholic pass.

Perhaps the pass nevertheless remembers the glorious days when nature was in finest moods, the snow was white and sparkling, the sky deep blue in which a few white clouds floated gracefully, when the rocky slopes were covered with edelweiss in bloom, when the haughty eagle whistled slowly above for hours without a wing beat.

It was also the time when northwards the arid Tibetan valleys were visible, with their brown hills on which dark violet shades mark the passage of the white clouds overhead, their few small rivers meandering in a landscape which had been planed by glaciers disappeared long ago. Otherwise, nearly all round, the horizon is barred by peaks and mountains quasi-unknown but supreme in their beauty; some have names, strange and romantic names, which make one dream of the immensity of Tibet, of which they are the last bastions, the last barrier. It is the gigantic and grandiose chaos of the Himalaya. As far as the view goes, arise the sparkling peaks, covered with ice and snow over which floats and reigns the immaculate deity: Kangchenjunga! A translucent veil turns around its regal summit, leaving a white trail in a crystalline azure. Summits, peaks, spires, edges, needles, crests, inaccessible passes crush, break and twist in fantastic clasps. Ice and snow with frantic efforts take hold of the smallest asperity, rush down impossible slopes, rounding or sharpening hard and inhospitable rocks and only stop, conquered, low down in the narrow valleys where the rhododendron, the primulas, and the blue poppy flower, and where furious torrents roar.

The landscape drenched with colour and beauty, seems to vibrate with a strange life, a fantastic life that belongs more to the immense and ethereal spaces than to our earthly ones. But today the pass is sad and only the memory of better days seems to haunt it. The storm has extinguished all life and only the whistling and howling wind, in a mournful saraband, proclaims the end of everything on the top of the abandoned pass. The end of everything? No! Life is there, at the top of the pass, at more than 5000 m. A couple of Himalayan birds, braving the hurricane, the snow and the cold, are raising a rudimentary nest in the crack of a rock. They fly with short staccato wing movements, proclaiming that life is not extinguished and that better days are days are not far off!

Summary: A visit to the unfrequented Theu la, North Sikkim.

 

 

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ON 24 SEPTEMBER, 2000 Andy Gresh, Steven Su, Fredrick Wilkinson, and I arrived in Kathmandu. This was every team member's first Himalayan expedition, and I may be one of the youngest Himalayan expedition leaders ever at the age of 20. We planned to operate in two independent teams of two while making alpine style ascents on Lobuje East and Cholatse. In addition, Fred and I hoped to complete a new route on the southwest face of Kusum Kanguru. Accompanying us for the trek in and the ascent of Lobuje East was our friend Adam Wilson.

After a few close encounters with monkeys, sadhus, and hashish vendors we flew to Lukla on 29^th September and began our approach up into the Khumbu region. We followed the classic Everest trek which was beautiful and charming, despite heavy tourism over the past few decades. Upon leaving Lukla, Fred and I were keen to get a glimpse up the Kusum Khola, the narrow river valley which we would have to explore in order to approach Kusum Kanguru. Unfortunately, clouds obscured the view and we were forced to trek on by up to Namche Bazaar and eventually to our sirdar Lhakpa Norbu Sherpa's birthplace, Pangboche. After enjoying several days in Pangboche admiring Ama Dablam and eating potatoes at our sirdar's house, we arrived at Lobuje East base camp. We passed several days playing cards and taking acclimatization hikes. Fred even made a short ascent on one the rock outcroppings in the area, which yielded a few pitches of 5.7 or 5.8 climbing. All the while we took in views of Nuptse, watching powder avalanches cascade down its dike-crossed Spiderweb wall, and the massive and absolutely stunning south face of Lhotse.

Colour Plates 16 to 20

On 9^th October Andy Gresh and Steve Su left camp at midnight in a light snowstorm and made an alpine style ascent of the East Face Couloir on Lobuje East (6119 m). The pair descended after reaching the top of the couloir at about 5700 m due to lack of daylight. The pair found very thin ice and poor rock, a far cry from the thick ice shown in the guidebook The Trekking Peaks of Nepal. There was also some very hard climbing involving passing chockstones on the route. Their round trip time base camp to base camp was 18 hours, which speaks to the difficult conditions the pair encountered. On 10^th October the rest of our team climbed to the summit of Lobuje East via the normal South Ridge in about 8 hours round trip from base camp.

On October 11^th the entire team crossed the Cho la and descended a ways down the Gokyo valley to Cholatse base camp above Na. Our base camp was located in a beautiful flat valley at about 4700 m, directly below Cholatse's West Face. Both teams decided to attempt the West Rib, due to rather nasty looking snow mushrooms on the NW Ridge. There appears to be good potential for possible routes on the main West face of Cholatse, but possible suitors should beware of possible serac danger and unconsolidated snow. On 17^th October Fred and I climbed to about 5800 m on the West Rib, half way between the bergshrund and the summit plateau from base camp. We easily passed the icefall below Cholatse by climbing up its middle and then flanking the large upper crevasses to the right. The climbing on the lower rib was good quality neve/ice on anything west or south facing, but powder on anything hidden from the snow. Our bivouac that night was on a spectacular ridge crest, barely big enough for our I-tent. We were treated to amazing views of Pasang Lhamu Peak, Cho Oyu, and Gyachung Kang as the sun set, and settled in for a cramped night. On the 18^th we left camp early and proceeded up the upper rib. The views were spectacular down to the hidden lakes immediately below Cholatse, and the climbing was Alaska-type cornice and mushroom ridge climbing — quite airy. Where the rib merges with the summit plateau we had two options — a pitch of dicey sugar snow or a steep serac wall about twenty feet high. To our right was a large serac wall, with all kinds of wild snow formations like waves of water frozen in space. I started up the serac but quickly realized the snow was too soft to free climb with ice tools. Thus I aided the serac with our two pickets, leap frogging them. We bivouacked that night a little above 20,000', after crossing through a miniature serac field atop the West Rib. At noon the next day after some powder snow climbing and few steep steps Fred and I reached Cholatse's summit at 21,129' or 6440 m. The views were mind blowing, with clouds brewing over the Everest Massif. Down below at Cholatse's northern base I could just make out a series of trekking groups' tents. After a brief period on top we began our descent of the South West Ridge. We down climbed a good portion of the ridge, and made a few rappels off bollards before darkness fell. We cut a ledge for our I-tent and spent our third night on the mountain at about 5800 m. The following day we continued down the ridge, mainly down climbing, to a dip between the upper SW ridge and a prominent rock pinnacle at about 5500 m. From there we made four 60 meter rappels off V-threads and pitons down a prominent couloir to reach the icefall below Cholatse. Fred and I arrived back in base camp at about 4 pm on 20^th October. All were happy to see us, and the dal bhat that night was particularly tasty.

Steve and Andy repeated the West Rib alpine style in five days, leaving on 21^st October. They utilised all of our bivouac sites, and used one additional site at the base of the West rib at the top of the icefall at approximately 5300 m. They also descended the SW ridge. Both teams agree that Cholatse offers a great climbing objective, without the hordes of people typical of the Khumbu area.

After our ascents of Cholatse, Andy and Steve had to return to the United States. Fredrick Wilkinson and I, then both 20, were still keen to try Kusum Kanguru (6367 m). We descended to Thado Khosi from the Gokyo region of the Khumbu Himalaya in early November, 2000.

After a few days of rest we began our approach up the Kusum Khola drainage. On the first day a logging trail lead to the first major fork in the river. On day two we were forced into the bamboo forests on the river's left side after a bit of riverside talus hopping. We used the local knives, called kukris, to cut a lot of bamboo! That night we camped at a stream bed high up on the left flank of the Kusum Khola drainage. The following day we reached the site of our base camp at 3900 m on a rhododendron studded ridge, really the only naturally flat site we saw in the vicinity. From here we could tell that a direct route up the SW face would be more or less suicidal due to incessant rockfall, so we decided to attempt the brilliant-looking "Dream Pillar," first climbed by Stephan Venables and Dick Renshaw in 1991 and just begging for a second ascent. After a day of rest Fred and I made a carry to our advanced base camp at 4800 m and returned to base camp. The approach to the mountain's base was a maze of rock slabs and technical moss moves, but with a little luck we managed to find a flat spot to cache our gear. A little more dal bhat and Chinese spam and we were ready. We began the ascent on 9^th November. The climbing on the lower part of the route is characterised by about 1000 metres of mixed climbing - more or less good granite interspersed with snow of all qualities and consistencies. On the first night we slept under a rock overhang, with the Milky Way shining brightly above. On 10^th November we hoped to reach a section of horizontal ridge about halfway up the climb, but were still short of this objective when darkness fell. After a tricky move off our last belay of the day utilising a picket to aid off a snow mushroom, Fred managed to find a cornice/mushroom bivouac who's security seemed fairly marginal. After a good deal of stomping the site turned out quite nicely and we entered our little yellow submarine once again. On day 3 we began the upper section of the route after a short cornice ridge traverse. There was rock climbing of the highest quality on magnificent rock to about 5.9 (hard at this altitude!), and there was some excellent mixed climbing as well. Three pitches stand out, a shallow corner ending in a dynamic move over a roof, a demanding undercling flake, and a perfect hand crack slicing immaculate granite on the southwest ridge's prow. In the distance we could just make out Kangchenjunga and Jannu. We laughed, realising some of our friend's were attempting Jannu's immense and frigid north face while we were enjoying total solitude and warm sunshine here on Kusum Kanguru.

As a technical note we utilised a 7 millimetre static rope to haul the leader's pack, and the second jumared a few of the pitches on the rock headwall. That night we contemplated sleeping in the "bat cave" bivouac described by Venables at the top of a huge detached pillar. The cave would be a decent bivouac if it was not for a chockstone wedged in the ceiling which effectively makes pitching a tent impossible. We prefer to call the site the "hell hole," after a parody presented in the hilarious cult film "Spinal Tap." In lieu of taking on the "hell hole" Fred and I fixed our 60 metre lead line and rappelled to moderately sized sandy ledge at the pillar's base. In the morning we jumared back up, and climbed a few more beautiful pitches of rock and mixed terrain before reaching the summit ridge. Here we reached our highest bivouac on 12th November, a little ledge barely big enough for our I-tent at about 6100 m. Then the winds came. Our I-tent nearly ripped apart in the 60-70 knot winds from Tibet that night. The next morning the wind was howling and lenticular clouds speckled the sky. This concerned both of us, because the weather had been perfect for weeks and we felt the region was due for some violent weather. Fred made a very short reconnaissance above, all that was left was the snow of the summit ridge. Unfortunately the winds made the knife-edge summit ridge too dangerous for us to climb — we would have been blown off. After barely managing to get our tent down we decided to descend. This decision was encouraged by our pitiful remaining rations of food and gas — one EPI canister and a few packets of GU. We descended to the route's base in a day and a half, making about 25 sixty-metre rappels in the process, off anchors in good rock and ice. This route is an undiscovered classic of the highest quality.

While alpine style ascents have been made in the Himalaya for some time now, all members of our team were still depressed to find a good deal of large expeditions to this part of the Himalaya. Large groups mean large impacts, and many mountains in the region are strewn with the detritus from numerous climbing attempts over the years. The current state of the art in all alpinism is ''alpine style'' and members of our team are proud to have made ascents in the Himalaya in this style, without leaving more than a few rappel anchors. For those who still chose to climb Himalayan mountains in expedition style, we ask that in the name of all climbers you clean up your fixed ropes, tents, and the like so that others may enjoy pristine mountain experiences like those our team encountered on Cholatse and Kusum Kanguru this fall.

Summary : An ascent of Cholatse and an attempt on Kusum Kanguru.

 

 

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THE MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION were: Jean Blanchard, Herve Bouchet (Doctor), Frederic Gentet, Jean — Luc Canac, Sylvain Frendo, Georges Payot, Christophe Profit and Nicolas Terray (Expedition Leader). Except the doctor we all belong to Chamonix Guides Company.Most of all I have to say a great thanks to our porters and Sherpas from the "Everest Trekking Agency" for their enormous work. The director of this excellent agency Tashi Jumgbo Sherpa is also the president of NMA (Nepal Mountaineering Association).

The 7 October, after 9 days of hiking, starting from Nayapul, the 8 members of the team reached the BC. It was situated at the base of Tilicho at 4300 m on the Annapurna Glacier moraine. It's a very nice place, quite flat with some grass. We met with a Japanese Expeditions which we spent a quite sound time talking about our projects and changing ideas. They left the BC on the 10 October. Our 70 porters have returned to the valley, we rest with our 3 Sherpas, 4 kitchen boys and the liaison officer Surya Bandari. We stayed there from 7 October to 1 November 2000.

The idea of the expedition was to follow the pioneering lead by Maurice Herzog in 1950, 50 years later. My father, Lionel Terray, was a member of the 1950 expedition with his best friend Louis Lachenal. For me it was something special, absolutely unique to realise an expedition like that!

Sunday, 8 October, the Sherpas were very busy to preparing the famous Puja. At 10:00 a.m. we were invited to take places on the side of the "Lama" who was praying for the members of expedition and the staff. It was something "out of the world" and we really enjoyed it. This religious moment made us smile and filled our hearts with joy. In my life I have never been in a situation like that, I felt something superb, magic, and unreal. Next day we were 11 to leave the BC to go to CI (5000 m). For reaching the CI we had to made a difficult ascent in the moraine, walk in the Annapurna glacier and fix ropes on our steeps pillar. After 4 hours of hiking we have finally arrived to the bottom of the North face of Annapurna. So spectacular! There were no words to explain how wonderful it was. I couldn't just imagine that after 12 years of dreaming I was there on the footsteps of my father. I felt a lot of emotion, my heart was beating so fast and then I realised that I had arrived at the end of my dream.

The work of 4 people who carried the materials and the food made it possible that on 12 October the CII (5800 m) was ready. On 14 October, it started to snow, even in the BC, so we were a little anxious for our friends who were sleeping at CII. Annapurna's North face is famous for its huge avalanches. At 8 a.m. I heard Fredric's voice through the radio saying that he didn't sleep from the fear of an avalanche so they leaves CII at 5 a.m. to return to BC. Life in the BC was so nice. We were alone, separated from the world, without any way of communication. It was a great moment, we really loved it. The next days passed without any problems. One night we had an "aperitif' with a bottle of Mercury and some meat slices from Europe. It wasn't a big thing but for us it was something out of ordinary.

During a meeting Christophe told us that they are not going to climb on the NW Pillar neither on the Choux Fleurs Pillar but the E. Pillar in a new route.

Between 17 an 22 October, it was a hard work but with the help of the Sherpas we finally put CIII at 6500 m on the East Pillar. The weather was still good, excepting a strong wind blowing in high altitude. The 25 October, I went with Christophe and Sylvain to 5500 m for the way to CIII. They kept going and returned to BC. In my mind I was sure that they will succeed, I had trust in them.

The next day I met the leader of an American expedition team who was planning to return there next spring to climb the 1950 route (French Route). We've spent a nice day, having a good lunch, speaking about everything except mountaineering.

The 27 October, after 3 nights over 6000 m Frederic and Jean returned to BC. They looked tired but happy to come back to the grass of BC. I made a little interview about their record: they have been for the first time in their life at 7400 m altitude. They seemed to be really proud of their selves.

Christophe, Dorje, Galhsen were in CIII ready for the final assault on 27 October. On 28 October, Christophe and Jorgde with heavy backpacks went to 7100 m to put up C IV. A very strong wind coming from the hurricane from Bangladesh started to blow. We couldn't even imagine how bad in could be at 7500 m where our friends were, Christophe and Dorje spent a night there but I think that it was the hell for them. They haven't slept all night so they decided to return to BC. I think that this was the wisest decision that they could take and God knows how happy I was for it.

Annapurna hasn't been climbed this year, but for the team and myself it has been a wonderful story, between friends.

Summary : An attempt on Annapurna by a French team on the 50th anniversary of the 1st ascent.

 

 

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THE FRENCH PUTHA HIUNCHULI 2000 EXPEDITION took place from 7 October to 6 November.

Putha Hiunchuli (7246 m) is the last summit on the western side of the Dhaulagiri range; it was first climbed by N/NE face by JM Roberts in 1954. Few expeditions climbed on that side since then though or because it is the easiest access. This autumn two other expeditions were there, a Spanish one and another French one.

Our expedition was comprised of 7 persons, 4 women and 3 men, all belonging to the same family, from ages 23 to 55. The team was assisted by 3 Sherpas, Wongchu Sherpa, Mingma Sherpa and Gelu Sherpa.

Our experience of high altitude was rather limited. We had all trekked in Ladakh a few years ago and 4 of us climbed Peak Lenin in Kirghiztan in 1997, and were also fond of climbing in French and Swiss Alps.

Organizing the expedition was a lot of work, during the 6 months before departure, for documentation, equipment, altitude food, authorizations...but we were helped by a Nepalese mountaineering agency, Global Expeditions who were very efficient.

We flew from Kathmandu to Nepalganj, and then to Juphal; from there the approach was via Dunai, Tarakot and Kagkot, along the Barbung Khola and to "German Base Camp" (a camp used by a German expedition to Churen Himal) for 6 days.

BC was settled on the 17 October at 4900m. The following days, we established Camp 1 at 5300m (19 October) at the end of the moraine, one a rocky place. Camp 2 at 5900m (21^st) at the top of gentle snow slopes and Camp 3 at 6400m (25^th) at the foot of the face leading to the summit.

Leaving BC on the 27 October, we reached C3 on the 28 October (we did not stop at C2, because it was not worth sleeping one more night there). On 29 October the whole team, 7 members and 3 Sherpas, left C3 between 4.30 and 5.30 am towards the summit: 8 of them reached the summit around 11:00 am; one member had to stop 200 m below the summit because of a beginning of cerebral difficulties and went down accompanied by another member, a doctor. Everybody went back to BC late on the same day.

The weather remained sunny during all the period, except for a few drops of rain in Dunai at the beginning. The temperature became colder and colder during this month, from minus 10° c at base camp to minus 30° at C3; the wind was usually moderate.

We walked back 4 days from BC to Juphal, in these extraordinary landscapes along Barbung khola; after some delay in Juphal we flew back the same way to Nepalganj and Kathmandu, arriving just in time at the airport to catch our flight to Paris.

This rather "soft" expedition to a 7000m peak was a beautiful mountaineering and human experience for our family, discovering Nepal for the first time. Sure it will not be the last one...

Summary : An ascent of Putha Hiunchuli (7246 m).

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RATNA CHULI IS SITUATED ON THE TIBETAN BORDER in the Peri Himal range, between the Annapurnas and Manaslu. From Koto (4^th day of the Annapurna circuit), the valley by the Phu Khola leads north Phu in 3 days. Two or three more days are needed to reach the BC.

We were 2 French mountain guides (Jean Annequin, Ludovic Challeat) with 9 clients. We had 3 weeks of good weather between the 8 and 28 October 2000.

We made the first French ascent and second ascent. The first ascent was made in 1996 by a Japanese team. A good article on this expedition was written in the HJ 1998, Volume 54, pages 187-194.

Day by day:

8 October: fly Pokhara — Ongre (Manang)

8 to 14 October: walk to Base Camp (around 5100 m)

16 October: Camp 1 (around 6000 m)

20 October: Camp 2 (around 6500 m)

21 October: Summit of Ratna Chuli.

BC woo very comfortable in the grass at the foot of the glacier coming from Ratna Chuli.

We have used the same BC that the Japanese team used in 1996.

C1 was very comfortable on the pass between the secondary summit of Ratna Chuli and another summit.

It is quiet a long way to go to C1. 30 minutes above BC, you discover the summit of Ratna Chuli. From the BC, you only see the secondary summit.

Then, you traverse along moraines before turning on the left and meeting the glacier (5600 m). An easy walk on the glacier leads under the pass. The last slope is steeper 35°. We put 100 m of fixed ropes.

We have used the same C1 as the Japanese team in 1996.

C2 is a very nice place near the secondary summit of Ratna Chuli. Exceptional views of Tibet, Manaslu, Annapurnas and Dhaulagiri.

The way to C2 is the most technical part of the ascent. We didn't follow the ridge like the Japanese expedition; we took a route in the middle of the face. We put 500 m of fixed ropes, the steepest part is around 60.

We put our C2 near the secondary summit of Ratna Chuli, the Japanese put their camp on the pass between the main and secondary summit. This pass lies 200 m below the secondary summit. C2 the secondary summit is behind us.

We left at 8 in the morning to reach the summit at 12:30 am. It was very windy on the pass. Depending on snow conditions, we beware of avalanches going down to the pass.

The last slope is not extreme (40° to 45°), one short section near the summit 50°); the main problem is avalanches if there is a lot of snow.

The last slope can be viewed from the pass between the secondary and the main summit.

Summary : An ascent of Ratna Chuli I by French guides.

 

 

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FIFTY-ONE YEARS AGO, on 3 June, Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal reached the summit of Annapurna, the first eight thousand meter peak to be climbed to the summit and back down successfully.

At the beginning of April 2000, the French High Mountain Military Group (GMHM), arrived in Nepal to commemorate this ascension.

We took a bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara and Beni, the departure of the trekking part. We walked three days on the overcrowded Annapurna circuit to reach the village of Lete. From that point on, part of our luggage travelled to BC at 4300 m by helicopter, the rest went with us on a dangerous path during the next four days. First we crossed the Kali Gandaki river early on a cloudy morning on the Tholobugin pasture path. There was a small village on the other side and we were very surprised that Coca Cola advertisements had disappeared from the houses. We had really left the Annapurna circuit trail! We then crossed a large meadow and cultivated fields before getting down to the river in a rhododendron forest. On the other side of the river, the trail was extremely steep and we walked through a wonderful bamboo forest. That path was very hard for the porters and they arrived late at the camp on a grassy hill. During the night it snowed. The second day, the path was very dangerous, it was forbidden to fall and we had to make good steps into the snow for the porters.

Photos 17-18

We reached a small pass with a chorten just before Tholobugin pasture. A weight dissipated from our minds, but that was not the end of the difficulties!

At the end of the morning, we arrived at Tholobugin pass. The porters were afraid of the dangers that they faced, so, they decided to go on strike. The Sirdar was at Lete with the other part of the equipment and we had to negotiate with them for an hour to be able to continue the trek. In the afternoon, we walked on a thirty centimetre large path to cross very steep snowy pastures. We set up the second camp on a brow near a deep gorge. The next day was still very dangerous for the porters. During the night, the melting snow had frozen and the rock bands we had to get over were awfully slippery. After a small pass, we arrived to the last pasture and began to walk down to the Mirsti khola, wavering between the rocky bands. We were very impressed by the intuition of our famous predecessors who found this route in 1950. The last day, only a few hours of walk along the river were necessary to reach the BC surrounded with 2500 m vertical icy faces. That environment was wonderful and a bit worrying. All day long, we were hearing serac falls and avalanches from everywhere around us, and even above us! Some tents were still at that place because an American and a Spanish expedition were already in residence.

The helicopter arrived with the equipment in the afternoon, but we waited for the next day to arrange everything, very happy to take a rest after the days of hiking. During the first day we took part in the 'Puja' ceremony with the Sherpas and consecrated our ice axes. The day after, we pitched the tents of C1 at 5000 m, in front of the North face of Annapurna, separated by the plateau of the glacier. Everywhere around us, enormous seracs were standing, ready to fall. It was impossible to imagine a safe route to the summit. We were very pessimistic when we came back to BC in the afternoon.

The day before our second ascent to C1, a bigger serac fall overwhelmed the area of C2 and the way to go there. We sadly decided to renounce all climbing in these sinister circumstances, and so did the Americans and Spanish climbers. That was so frustrating! But we could not take the liberty to engage 8 climbers and 2 Sherpas under those precariously balancing walls of ice.

Our expedition had many aims and one of them was to form the newcomers of GMHM to Himalayan techniques. We could not think of going back to France if that was not accomplished. The following days, we prospected around BC to find a plausible route on another mountain. NE Nilgiri was chosen because that summit was almost the only safe one. We would not be exposed to those dancing seracs!

On 26 April, a climbing team took the direction of a 600 m south east couloir under the South buttress of Nilgiri. They set up C1 at the beginning of the later under an enormous rock (5000 m). Two days later, C2 was put at the top of the couloir at 5650 m. There was a small pass and we had to dig the thin icy ridge during the afternoon to pitch our two tents.

We fixed one km of rope on the buttress during four days above that camp. There were 60 degree snow and ice slopes to reach a shoulder where we could have put a good camp. Above the snowy shoulder difficult mixed climbing led to other steep snow slopes where it was difficult to put any protections. We pitched one tent at C3 (6450 m) on a flat area under a serac [we like friendly seracs!] At that point we had got over most of the difficulties of the route. On 3 May, after a little rest, we left C3 into the night.

We still had to fix 70 meters of rope on the serac before walking on an easy large ridge. That led us in hour to an insurmountable wall of ice. We tried in many directions, but no solution was found in the dark.

We had to wait the light of dawn, moving constantly because of the very cold temperature. We then discovered a large terrace which led us up and down to the other side of the S E face. On the East ridge, the route was still complex. We tried many ways before reaching the summit (6750 m) at 7.30 a.m. The sky was completely clear, we could see in all the directions many of the nice mountains of Himalaya: Annapurna, Manaslu, Mustang.

The day after, the second team reached the summit at 4.30 p.m. with strong winds and a cloudy sky. Unfortunately for Laurent Miston, it was impossible to take off with his paraglider. He did it from C3 after many attempts. He had to cross a see of clouds making circles to land at BC near the tents. A good rest for his knees!

Happy with that success, we came back to Kathmandu. A helicopter took us at BC, avoiding the problems of another trek across Tholobugin pass. The old timers of Annapurna's first ascent, with primitive equipment and some with horrible and mutilating frostbite would have been happy for the opportunity!

We could admire from the sky, very comfortable, the wonderful Annapurna range.

The return of the GMHM to high altitude after the raids to the North and South Poles was not a resounding success. But we learned a lot for future expeditions.

Summary : A French ascent of Nilgiri in Nepal.

 

 

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SRI KAILASH IS ONE OF THE DOMINATING PEAKS of Garhwal Himalaya. The peak is in a remote corner of Raktavarna glacier and is surrounded by Raktavarna glacier, Sri Kailash glacier and Lambigad glacier to its South, North East and North West respectively. The peak is approximately 35-36 km (earlier information from different expedition was 44 km). NE from Gaumukh and has an unique pyramid shape which makes it totally different from the other peaks in the region.

The expedition consisted of a team of 8 members from 2 Para Fd Wksp led by myself. All the members being first timers were put under rigorous mountaineering training of two months along with the NIM courses prior to the expedition.

On 4 June after the flat off ceremony the team along with the accompanying 10 media persons reached Gangotri, the last road head and spent a night there. On the morning of 5 June team started for Bhojbasa, after performing pooja at Gangotri temple. At Bhojbasa, which is 14 km from Gangotri and at a height of 3500 m from the sea level, many people from the media party started complaining of headache, nausea and vomiting, the signs of high altitude sickness.

On 6 June we started for our BC at Raktavarna, a trek of approx 13 km when one has to walk on difficult terrain and has to cross the Gangotri glacier. The media party accompanied the expedition team upto Gaumukh (3700 m). As the expedition team started from Gaumukh, the sky became overcast with heavy clouds from the western side. Snow fall started by the time the team reached at the Raktavarna BC (4500 m). Camp was established under heavy snow and rain fall which continues for next three days making any further movement impossible. On the both sides of BC one could hear loud sound of heavy rockfall making the atmosphere more dangerous. All the tents were flooded with rain water.

On the 9 June by 1200 hrs the sky appeared to be clearing and an immediate move from BC to ABC was started. On the way to ABC snow fall again started, which made our movement worst as one had to move through 3 ½ -4 ft of soft and fresh snow. It took us 8 ½ hrs to cover the distance of 17 km which normally takes 3 ½ -4 hrs. ABC (5050 m) was established during the dark hours and the chilling cold. It was a horrible experience and at one time I thought the peak is going to be very very difficult if the weather continues like this. The team survived the whole night on only soup and in the morning our hearts leapt with joy to see an altogether different atmosphere with a clear sky. Due to the previous day's hard work and tiredness team was allowed to have a rest day for recouping and regaining their energies.

On 11 June weather held and it was bright sunshine. The team started at 700 hrs for C1. The route to C1 is 6 kms which is full of snow covered moraine and glacier. C1 was established on the higher reaches of Raktavarna glacier at the height of 5600 m. By the evening valley clouds appeared making us apprehensive again but there was no snow fall luckily. The team was divided into 2 small teams. Team A considered of myself, Laxman and four others and team B consisted of Lt. Naveen & two others.

Next day on 12 June we opened the route to summit camp (6300 m) and all the members reached at summit camp by 1300 hrs. It was a flat snow field at the base of the mountain. Summit camp was surrounded by a lot of cracks and crevassed area.

On the morning of 13 June at 0300 hrs Team 'A' started for opening the route towards summit. After a climb of only 100 meters we met with a highly crevassed area which took approx 3 hrs to manoeuvre the distance of only 100-150 meters. After that a magnificent view of mount Sri Kailash appeared in front of us, hence encouraging us to continue the move and forgetting about any tiredness. A gradient of 60°-70°, full of ice and snow appeared after covering a snow field of another 100-120 m. Rope fixing was started on the slope for a distance of about 700 m. We reached buttress around 1200 hrs which was 120 m short of the summit. The slope from the buttress was gradual and at 1250 hrs myself & Sub Laxman Singh reached the summit. After that Pushkar, Lekhpal, Rajinder and Babu Kedari reached the summit one by one. Prayers were offered and puja was done before hoisting the national & corps flags. It was on enthralling experience of watching the panoramic view of Garhwal Himalayas which included beautiful peaks like Satopanth, Bhagirathi Group, Nanda Devi, Kedar Dome & Shivling etc. The team stayed there for half an hour and photography & videography was done meanwhile. By 1330 hrs we started our backward journey and reached the summit camp by 1830 hrs.

On 14 June at 0830 hrs myself skied down from 6300 m for stretch of approx 8-9 km, upto ABC while other members started climbing down from summit camp. The whole team closed in at ABC by 1300 hrs.

By 16 June team reached at Harsil after closing all the intermediate camps and on 17 reached back to NIM Uttarkashi.

Summary : An ascent of Sri Kailash in the Garhwal.

 

 

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OUR TEAM CONSISTING OF SUE NOTT (USA), Laurence Monnoyeur (France), myself (Canada) and our photographer Cameron Lawson, were met at Delhi airport at 11pm, by our agent. We were exhausted from travelling for two days, so it was imperative that we went straight to the hotel. Sleep came with difficulty as we were on our own time zone.

We had one day to finalize any remaining paperwork; this was made more challenging as we had obtained visitor permits rather than the necessary mountaineering visas. Fortunately everyone involved went out of his or her way to assist us and ensure that all the additional paperwork was completed quickly without too much fuss. This included the IMF who were very understanding of our predicament and helped us in every possible way.

The following few days were spent driving, then hiking into base camp, which is more commonly known as Tapovan. This alpine meadow is spectacular with Shivling standing at the head of the meadow in all of its glory. Tiny flowers, the last remnants of summer littered the ground, bringing more colour to the area.

Immediately we began our preparations for the ascent, which meant sorting equipment and then carrying loads to Advanced Base Camp. Our chosen route was the East Ridge, which had seen only three previous ascents, an ambitious undertaking!

On 22^nd September, 11 days after our arrival at Base Camp we left for our attempt on the East Ridge. It took us 2 hours to get to ABC where we spent the night. The following day Sue, Cameron and I broke camp and with heavier loads plodded up to Camp 1 only to find that the critters had decided that our food was a tasty change from their regular menu choices. Around 1.30 we waved our farewells to Cameron, while struggling with packs that weighed too much and began our alpine style attempt. Almost immediately I knocked off a TV sized block of granite down the south side. With my heart in my mouth I continued along until I came to a tricky section of the ridge and I had to ditch my pack. Falling snow and dark came quickly that night, so we had to retrace our steps and bivi on a tiny spot. Over the next 4 days we climbed over gendarmes, rapped down to lower spots and slowly wove our way along the ridge. Each night we made the most of our impossible bivi sites, always laughing as we have a history with challenging sites, which we always manage to "make-do". We seemed to be moving at an impossible pace our packs always seeming to burden us down, each day the snow storms began earlier than the previous day halting progress until the skies cleared once again.

From his description of their ascent Greg Child had described this section of the route as “20 pitches of knife-edge climbing’, he hadn’t bothered to give it a grade as this was reserved for the latter sections! By day 5 on the ridge I felt over my head, it seemed that we were moving too slowly given our supplies so we reluctantly began to rap the south face. The distance down to the glacier appeared shorter than the North side, what we didn’t count on was the extra days walk over the loose moraine back to BC. Our 1st night on the glacier was spent on top a huge boulder frozen into the ice.

Our arrival at Base Camp was greeted with warm hugs from our staff and copious supplies of steaming chai, snacks and a huge dinner. This was quite the change from the freeze-dry meals and the liquid “GU” (a meal substitute in the USA), which I came very close to choking on up on the ridge.

After 2 days of R&R under blue skies at Base Camp we were ready to face Shivling once again. This time we headed in the opposite direction with the help of our Liaison Officer Shaker (whom we fondly referred to as our Lazy Officer) and our Cook, Bombador, Sue and I went off in search of higher ground.

At the advanced Base camp for the West Ridge our 2 friends departed after collecting garbage and we continued on to Camp 1. For some variety we found a site big enough for both of us but just to keep things exciting we used the tent as a big bivi sac.

The West Ridge is the most commonly ascended route on Shivling but it isn’t a walk in the park. The route is mostly a rocky ridge with a crux around 5.8. After the rock is a serac band and finally a long plod up either a snow or ice slope to the top. To make the route more challenging the rock was covered in a foot of snow. Unlike the East Ridge this side doesn’t get the morning sun and as winter was fast approaching the daily temperature was a lot lower than when we had 1st arrived, so the snow stayed put. For this ascent we tried to travel lighter and reached the summit on October 3rd just as the sun went down. Later when speaking to some friends who had made the same ascent told me that they had cramponed to the summit. We had to plow our way through snow that was between knee and thigh deep. In the dark we continued to rap trying to make it back to our snow coffin and single sleeping bag. A dead headlamp battery and jammed rope gave us no other option than to stay huddled together but even that was difficult as space was limited. Sue joke as her boyfriend kept calling Shivling “Shiverling”; we both had a giggled as were endured the seemingly long night sitting on a pack and a small piece of foam.

Daylight showed us to be only 2 pitches above our gear. We spent another full day to get back to Camp 1, which our experience told us to say at and then another full day to get back to Base Camp.

Originally we had planned to attempt other routes but tired feet and a change in the weather made our decision easy. Shiva must have intended for us to climb the West Ridge. From the day we rapped off the East Ridge until the day we arrived back at Base Camp after our successful ascent we had continuous blue skies and calm weather. Our appreciation of being given the opportunity to climb Shivling was reciprocated when we released flower petals from the meadow below high on the mountain.

After a final tea with the Nepali Baba in his newly excavated cave under the largest boulder at Tapovan we left Shivling, already planning our next adventure.

Summary : An ascent of Shivling.

 

 

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From the Banderpunch (6316 m) of West Garhwal region, runs a ridge roughly in the south-east direction. At high point 4648 m., it bifurcates into Pandarus dhar running south-west and Surani dhar running south-east. Bamsaru khal (4787 m) is situated slightly north of high point 4648 m. This pass connects the Bhagirathi valley with Bin Gad/Hanuman ganga valley. The earliest crossing of the pass as on record is that of James Baillie Fraser in 1815, from the western side. In 1937, J.T.M. Gibson, J.A.K. Martyn, Tensing Norgay and other crossed “Bumsar Pass’ after an unsuccessful attempt to Banderpunch. Though the local people may use it more frequently, no other trekking team is recorded to have crossed it since then. In 1994 a team from Diganta (Calcutta) failed to locate the pass in adverse climate. They reached another depression on Pandarus dhar, but could not climb down the other side. In 1998 another team from Calcutta led by B.B. Kahaly came close to the pass, but could not ultimately make it.

On 18th September 1999, a four-member team comprising of Pradip Adhya, Indrajit Chatterjee, Kaustav Som and myself left Calcutta. We reached Uttarkashi on 20th September. A U-shaped depression is seen on the ridge due southwest to Suki. It is called the Suki Top, our initial destination. The sky was gloomy and there were occasional drizzles. We had to cross a stream and then a gradual climb through green meadows brought us to Richa (3450 m), at the base of the Suki Top. The Suki village and meandering bus road could be seen down below. Next morning we reached Suki Top (3550 m) within half-an-hour. To the southwest is the confluence of Chhaian gad and Son gad. Though Chhaian gad could be seen as a silver lining, Son gad is hidden in the gorge to its right. A continuous descent on the other side brought us down to the tree line and to the confluence of Son gad and Chhaian gad (2830 m). Son gad comes from Bartia Kunt bamak in the north, and Chhaian gad comes from Chhaian Bamak. We crossed Son gad over a sturdy shepherd bridge and entered Chhaian gad valley in the southwest. Taking its true left bank we trekked. It was a continuous ascent through deep forest of Kharsu, high above the river bed. It started raining heavily, making the track muddy and slippery. By the time we reached Peri (3350 m), we were totally drenched. It was almost dusk. We may call it sheer luck, that the rain had stopped by then and moon had come out in the cloudless sky. We pitched our tents in its subdued blue light and had a moon lit dinner.

Next morning we continued our trek. Coming down to the Chhaian gad, it was crossed over a shepherd’s bridge and we entered the narrow valley of an unnamed right tributary of Chhaian gad coming from southwest. We may call it Bareti nala. Moving upstream along its true left bank, soon it was found that two rivulets flowing from southwest and south meets to from Bareti nala. Our route is supposed to be in between the two rivulets. But we avoided it due to the dense shrubs present there and took a longer detour along the true left bank of the southwest stream. Passing Talota bugiyal (3400 m), it was a steady climb. The hanging glacier of Chhaian bamak is to our right (northwest) and Srikanta (6133 m) peeping over the eastern ridge. We were trekking through bugiyals. We crossed the rivulet (3900 m.) and reached Chauru Bugiyal (4200 m), due southeast where we camped for the night. It is a beautiful spot with peaks like Gangotri I (6672 m), Srikanta (6133 m), Kalanag (6387 m), Banderpunch (6316 m) and numerous unnamed ones encircling us in the east, north and west. To the south runs a rocky ridge which we would be crossing the next day and from the ridge top we would view the Bamsaru khal for the first time. Next morning was very cloudy and within less than two hours of trek, visibility was brought down to a few feet as clouds had engulfed us from all directions. We decided to call it a day and camp among the beds of bramhakamal and phenkamal. This created confusion among porters and one of them (Bishen Bahadur) departed us without intimation. The other two assured that the extra load would be carried, only we should be trekking in shorter spells.

From its base (4300 m.), it took about quarter of an hour to reach the ridge top, next day. The last phase was over scree zone. We may call it Bareti Ainch pass (4500 m), after the high point named Bareti Ainch Top (4691 m), which lies on the ridge. Bamsaru khal was seen to the west-southwest and snow peaks like Jaonli and Gangotri groups were due southeast, though partly covered by clouds.

The track goes down through rocks on the southern slope. Now we were in Kanauria gad valley, trekking westward. It is the land of bugiyals (alpine meadows) and we found no problem in finding a camping spot. It is called Gidara bugiyal (4300 m), we were told by Balbahadur, but the Gidara ki gad, a right bank tributary of Kanauria gad is situated further south. Peaks like Jaonli (6632 m), Gangotri group etc. were seen in the east, and glimpse of peak 5548 m. was due northwest. Next day we crossed Kanauria gad and there had been a continuous climb. While crossing a thin stream en route, a member slipped on the rocks but was safe. It took less than three hours to reach at the base of Bamsaru khal (4600 m) but the sky was overcast with clouds. Should we reach the Bamsaru khal, 62 years after Gibson, just to view the encircling clouds — we asked ourselves and the answer was negative. So we decided to try our luck the next day. Bamsaru khal was to our west. To its north, the slope is full of loose boulders, but the pass itself is devoid of it. At least that is that what we guessed from the eastern side.

Next day the six members started for the ultimate goal. The ascent was short, but steep and demanding. There had been minor stretches of scree, but it did not create any real problem. At 8.30 a.m. on 29 September 1999 a trekking team reached Bamsaru khal (4787 m) for the first time from Bhagirathi valley. A cairn marked the pass. The eastern distant snow peaks were covered by clouds, but the north and the west was much clearer. Bandarpunch (6316 m) was to the north-northwest, with snow capped high point 5548 m to its east and Bandarpunch West (6102 m) was to our northwest. Bamsaru khal has derived its name from a lake situated to the left of the route (‘Bamsaru’ — ‘Bam Sarowar’ — ‘Lake on the left side’). We had collected this information from the villagers of Suki, but now we could see no lake, to the right or left, from the pass. We located another cairn, down the western slope and began to descend. The western slope was equally steep as eastern, with the added disadvantage of big loose boulders on which we were to trek. From the cairn mentioned, we could see the lake down to the southwest. It is not situated exactly beside the route. Leaving our luggage, we made a short trip to it to have a closer look. It is of moderate size, but quite shallow. It may be mentioned that maps show this lake as an unnamed one. However, another lake namely Kana tal that lies 40/50 m. higher than the route to our right was missed by us.

As we were to regain our trek, we found a brown bear along with cub approaching us. Bear is the animal which the hill folk are so afraid of for its unpredictable ill temperaments. But these two suddenly turned back and vanished in the rocks. Naturally we trekked down at a much quicker pace, through the green bugiyals. An unnamed river coming from Bamsaru tal (We may call it ‘Bamsaru nala’) was flowing to our left. A steep descent brought us down to a thin rivulet flowing from north. Soon we crossed Bamsaru nala over stepping stones to more to its left bank and continue our trek down stream. Another river coming from Jakhai bamak in the northwest is seen to have met the Bamsaru nala. From the confluence the river is known as Bin gad and in farther down it is called Hanuman ganga. Initially Bin gad flows towards south, then takes a turn to the west to meet Jamuna at Hanuman chati. The Bin gad valley is decorated with lush green bugiyals on both banks and our today’s camp was at Bin thatch (3800 m), a green piece of land, dotted with multi coloured alpine flower. Next morning the beauty of sunlit Bin gad valley stole our time. The meandering river, the green meadows, colourful flowers and above all, the mighty Banderpunch in the north - it can be a possible destination for many a trekker.

We started late. Soon we came to a small left bank tributary of Bin gad. A faint trail mark was seen along this stream, crossing it over boulders and ascending the Pandarus Dhar. We decided to take it with a guess that there might be a possible trail for Darwa pass situated further south of the ridge, along the top of the ridge itself. There was none. From the unnamed pass (4200 m) on Pandarus dhar, the route had descended down the eastern slope. It was drizzling. Giving up the plan for Darwa pass, we descended along the route which gradually turned to be a wide ‘gujjar highway’. It started raining heavily and we took shelter at Sarchauki (3700 m). There are two deserted gujjar huts. One had already been occupied by a number of Jaributiwalas (people collecting Himalayan herbs of medicinal value; often against the law, but this time they had permission, we were told). Another hut, where we took shelter, was originally meant for buffaloes. But it was a heaven for the six drenched men. Soon after we left Sarchauki next day we came down to tree line. It was a deep forest. Langurs and brightly coloured monals were seen. We were travelling for Dodital. A steep descent over a well defined track brought us down to the banks of Dodital. After having the lunch, we trekked along the ‘Chhe-phuti’ (six feet wide) road for Sangam chati and spent the night at Manji. Next day it was a continuous descent to Sangam chati via Agoda. At Sangam chati, the motor head, our trek ended and a jeep took us back to the busy township of Uttarkashi.

Summary : A visit to Bamsaru Khal (4787 m) in the Garhwal.

 

 

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The upper Okhimath valley in the Garhwal Himalaya is usually not frequented except by those who like some adventure and uncommon travel in high mountains. The solo access from Okhimath (Rudraprayag district) to Kalpeswar (Chamoli district) is through some high passes. Survey of India’s maps shows a trail from Okhimath to Nandikund via Madmaheswar & Pandosera. But there is no route beyond Nandikund. In 1937 a European survey team went to this region when bad weather prevented them from any further exploration. No fruitful survey was made after that.

Earliest known travellers were Prabhat Kr. Ganguli and Barun Kr. Ghosh (W.B.), Calcutta in 1982 who made some exploration work in this region. On 5 September 1999 Anjan Ghosh, Debashis Bardhan, Mrinmoy Banerjee and myself, members of Mountaineers’ & Climber’s Circle, Calcutta reached Okhimath with the intention to trek Kalpeswar from here. Okhimath is a beautiful green valley and is the winter worshipping abode of both Madmaheswar and Kedarnath.

We left Okhimath on the 7th with four porters and spent that night at the well developed village of Ransi, famous for its Rakeswari temple. Next day we followed the pilgrimage route, crossed Markendya Ganga and reached Bantoli, a delightful place embellished by evergreen coniferous forest on the confluence of Madmaheswar Ganga and Markendya Ganga. It was a favourite haunt of Late Uma Prasad Mookerjea, the famous traveller who with the assistance of Kamal Kr. Guha and Ajoy Chatterjee built a trekkers, hut which is now in a dilapidated condition. We moved further and reached Madmaheswar, (3496 m), the 2^nd holiest pilgrimage among the Panch Kedars. A heavy downpour continued till midnight.

We set out on the 10th amidst drizzling at 9 a.m. on a faint track rising steeply upwards behind the temple through dense forest. The weather became worse and thick fog rambled the entire area. It started raining and we were forced to camp at Nand Barari Kharak (3993 m), fully drenched at 2 p.m. There was no water source. We collected rain water dripping through the outer sheet of our tents. On the following day we were confined to the tents by bad weather.

As is was raining on the 12^th, we started rather late and laboured up the gully humps one by one, on the south face of Madmaheswar Dhar.We gained Kashni khal (4279 m) in two hours and camped 4240 m at a few metres below Kashni khal. Next day the weather worsened and visibility became poor due to fog. Throughout the day we were marooned in our tents.

On 14th the weather improved a little bit at 10 a.m. We quickly wound up our camp and marched out. We traversed the rock buttress and crossed a number of boulderzones along with some dry nalas. The water source had dried up everywhere. The steepness of the ridge and the nature of the rock formation meant a complete lack of running water on this ridge. We advanced further, climbed the tedious slopes of Dwari khal dhar and made the difficult descent to Dwari gad. The stream splashing down on a massive flat boulder is the most spectacular scene of the entire trek. As the time was 5 p.m. and the stream was fierce, we fixed a rope to cross the stream Dwari Gad and camped on a clearing amidst wild bushes.

After two hours of trekking on the 15^th, we entered the Pandosera valley (3740 m), a vast flourishing green meadow. It is believed that while on their way to Swargarohan, the Pandavas stayed there and cultivated crops. ‘Sera’ means paddy and hence the name ‘Pandosera’. There were several caves for shelter, one of which we used for 2 hours, while smart shower lashed the area. After a tea break, we resumed the trek and crossed Pando Khola over a log bridge. Finally we came at the end of the valley and pitched our tents. Deserted but peaceful, the green plants and the blooming flowers of Pandosera might have been the most exquisite spot in this area.

We began a long day early at 7 a.m. on the 16^th. It was a steep and strenuous climb along the right bank of one of the main sources of the Madmaheswar nala. The blooming brahma kamals on the route was a fantastic relief. We noticed a different species of pink fenh kamals, with a crown on its head. 5 hour’s of tough approach took us to Nandi Kund (4353 m), a beautiful large holy lake, the home of mother Goddess Nanda Devi. Performing some rituals, we moved along the lake bank and turned north northeast towards Ghiya Binayak Khal (4998 m). We climbed up the steep rock buttress over a series of precipitous slopes. It was strenuous and difficult with loose scree & slate gendarmes guarding the pass, Ghiya Binayak. The pass was reached at 4 p.m. Descending on the other side was more difficult and dangerously greasy downwards over unstable scree forcing us down on hands and knees. We reached a small basin, Barma Bailtarini (4755 m) at 6 p.m. Anjan and Debashis quickly erected tents by the side of a tiny lake taking no care of chilly cold raindrops while Mrinmoy and Rajendra (LAP) served us hot cups of tea. The night was very cold.

Next day the sky was speckless and the sun peeped over Dunagiri (7067 m) ridge, directly opposite the pas. The chirping of the cheerful birds, like river chats, redstarts, flower pecker, wagtail and monal was envigorating. We set out at 8.30 a.m., climbed down to Kailu Binayak, a decent camping site and gained a ridge which turned south. Moving along its top, we abseiled down to the bed of the river Barma Gad, which drifted from south-east to south. We forded the stream and found a faint shepherds’ trail from here. It took us to a steep gully. While traversing the slopes of Manpai Dhar, we could see on the west i.e. on the opposite side, a series of gorges which lead to the holy shrine of Rudranath temple. We crossed the Gour Sanga Khal (3920 m) on Manpai ridge and descended to Manpai Kharak where tents were pitched.

We marched out at 8 a.m. on 18th and descended to the bank of the Kalapani Gad. After crossing the river Kalapani over a long bridge, we entered a dense forest. The western slopes of Achar Dhar range rises steeply upwards about 640 m. Blisters and cuts slowed us down. We reached Dogla camping ground at 11 a.m. and rested for half an hour. The remaining 190 m slope was of 55 degree gradient with occasional boulders. In 1998 two trekkers from West Bengal and three HAPs died in a snow blizzard while negotiating this slope. We moved very cautiously and reached atop Achar Dhar pass (3932 m) on Manua khal dhar at 2 p.m. On the other side, the path goes straight downwards to Bansi Narayan (3639 m) where we pitched our tents, while rain gushed in the region. Here there is a stone temple of Lord Krishna and a fair is held annually.

19 September , Dunagiri, 7067 m, Changbang, 6864 m and other peaks sneaked through the monsoon clouds. In three hours of downward journey we reached a vast open valley, Molley, a grazing ground and a virtual bird sanctuary, all rolled in one. We had our lunched here and trekked to Kalpeswar, (2100 m) the 5th pilgrimage spot of Panch Kedars at 6 p.m. The night was spent in the house of our porter Debendra Singh at Debgram, just 1.5 km below Kalpeswar.

20th September. The traditional route from Kalpeswar took us to Helang. We managed a jeep and went to Badrinath via Joshimath for a hot bath to overcome such an arduous trek.

Summary : A trek from Okimath to Kalpeswar in the Garhwal.

 

 

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Three members (advanced party) arrived in New Delhi on 30 July. Next day we visited the IMF and the Japanese embassy. Mountain equipment that is fix ropes, rock piton, snow bar, dead man and ice tube, screw piton were bought at New Delhi. We rented climbing rope and walkie- talkies from IMF. We bring the mountain equipment (C1 tent, camp 2 tent, cooking sets, sleeping bag and karabiners) and food and C2 food that is dry food). We departed for Manali on 1 August chartered jeep. This jeep took three members, L.O., agent person (one man) and driver. It took about 13 hours to Manali. We checked food (BC food, activity food) and mountain equipment (tent), cooking equipment etc.) that was prepared by our agent at Manali. We meet our high porters, cook and helper at Manali. We depart from Manali to Sissu on 3 August. We passed the Rohtang Pass and ate a meal at Khoksar, then arrived Sissu 5 hours later. We camped near the Chandra river at Sissu. Next day our baggage was brought by eight ponies to camp. We approached was BC along the Sissu Wala (south side of the river). On the way to the BC, we camped at a height of 3670 m, as we wanted to acclimatise. The BC was set up on a flat place close to the route to the C1. The BC is near the lake, flow this lake is melted glacier from Gepang Gath glacier. Blue poppy bloomed near this glacier. Mr. Sumio Uesugi and other trekking members (three member) arrived to BC on 7 August.

We must cross over the Sissu nala, because this river flows very rapidly and water level increased in the evening. The rock bridge is the only method to cross over the river. The HAPs set up fixed ropes to cross the rock bridge safely. We went around the rock cliff on right side and climbed left. Then we climbed rocky steep slopes to the first valley. This slope was crumbly, so we are tired. We cross this valley and climbed to the opposite side rocked the cliff, to the right side.

Next we went down to the right on the rocky and slippery slope and then we arrived end of glacier. We climb a little to this glacier and then find the moraine. We decide this is the place for C1. It takes about 6 hours from BC to this place. We set up the C1 on 8 August.

At the centre of the glacier there are many big crevasses, so we decided to climb to the left. We go left, but this route is dangerous, because we find to many crevasses. Next we climb to the rocky ridge to our right and then we arrived at the end of the steep glacier. Big crevasses are found at this point, so we cross carefully beside these big crevasses. Next we reach the centre of the glacier, at this place the glacier turns to left 90. We climb the gentle glacier, then find big crevasses, so we set the fix rope so that we can come back safety. We fix C2 at the end of gently sloping glacier. Because the glacier is steep from this point and the day’s weather is bad (foggy and drizzling) we want to put C2 higher than this place, because it takes a long time reach the peak and it takes time from the C1 (3 hours) to C2. We set up C2 on 10 August.

We climb the steep glacier to the next little flat pitch and reach the place at right side near rocky ridge. (look at camp 2 picture, there is this rocky ridge). At this place we had big crevasse and the ridge is steep, so we set up two fix ropes here. On the ridge we can see the KR 4 (we climbed four years ago), Mr. Mulkila and others. We reach the first snow wall on the ridge. This snow walls height is about 50-70 m and right side is hanging on the ridge. Next we can see the next snow wall on the ridge. This wall is big and hanging and a little broken (look at the picture). We decide to go back from this place, because we don’t have any more days for climbing and the night’s weather is snowing, so we departed from C2 late to climb back to BC.

Summary : An attempt by a Japanese team on Gepang Goh, Lahaul.

 

 

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Three members of the Irish Mountaineering Club made the first ascent of Khangla Tarbo I, 6315 metres, at 11.00hrs on 9 Sept, 2000. The approach to this peak in western Spiti was from Mikkim at the foot of the Pin valley, along the right -hand bank of the Parahio to Thango, and from there to Thidim where the Khamengar river joins the Parahio. The Khamengar was crossed by a new footbridge and was then followed along its left bank to small lakes at Chokum. A tributary then led to Base Camp at 4300 metres.

A series of reconnaissance outings led us to dismiss various routes to the summit, including one to the col between Khangla Tarbo I and Khangla Tarbo II, which seems to have been the line followed by two previous attempts by Indian parties in 1996 and 1999. Eventually a route was chosen which entailed a slog up a long rubble-covered glacier (which we unimaginatively dubbed The Long Glacier), the snout of which was about 1 Km. from base. A camp was established at 4800m on the south face, almost 180 degrees on the far side of the peak from base. A purgatorial and time-consuming struggle up unstable scree led to abandonment of our first summit attempt from this camp and to a decision to launch the next attempt from a bivouac just below the snowline at 5800 metres.

Photos 19-20

The summit party of Geraghty, Owens and Reynolds left this bivouac at about 0500hrs on 9 Sept and were quickly on steep, pocked ice which was unrelenting all the way to the summit, but never dauntingly so. The weather deteriorated as they descended, occasionally abseiling, and they did well to reach the upper camp as night fell.

On the 11^th, the entire party began a transfer to the Debsa nala. A Base Camp was established on the 13^th, near the junction of the streams which flowed from the two glaciated upper branches of the Debsa. From there it was planned to explore the western branch and to establish if a route existed from there across the Himalayan divide to the ParvatiParvati valley; to also check on the existence of a herding route for nomads which was thought to exist between the upper Debsa and either the ParvatiParvati or the Pin valley; to complete the first crossing from the Spiti side of a route through the eastern branch which leads to ParvatiParvati and Kullu; and, finally, to ascertain if a Bengali group which crossed a col from ParvatiParvati in the mid-nineties used the col first crossed from the Debsa by Snelson in 1952 (H.J. XVIII, p.110).

River crossings caused us some difficulties but all our plans, but one, were completed. O’Leary, O’Hanlon and Burns were probably the first outsiders to penetrate the western Debsa and to establish, from a viewpoint on its glacier, that no col exists which would lead across the Himalayan divide to Parvati (although a col between the western and eastern branches does exist). Burns and O’Leary satisfied themselves that no herding route provides access to the upper Debsa, other than the one which leads up the valley from Thidim; their explorations included three glorious days in a lovely, isolated, glaciated, hanging valley which leads westward from the western Debsa. O’Hanlon and Reynolds crossed the divide to the Parvati valley, and on to Kullu, through the col used by the Bengalis, but were unable to establish if this is Snelson’s Col.

The entire party met again in Manali on the 21 September.

Summary : The first ascent of Khangla Tarbo I (6315 m) (Spiti) by an Irish team, on 9 September 2000.

 

 

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ZANSKAR RANGE IN THE HIMALAYA has always lured mountaineers and travellers from all parts of the Globe with its features which are so different from the rest of the Himalaya — barren and dry, it presents Himalaya at its' harshest form.

Dr. Tridib Basu of NATMO, Calcutta suggested a peak (6127 m) lying on the Jammu-Himachal Pradesh border at the outskirts of the Zanskar range. This peak (32°54'44"N, n009'30"E) had been attempted by Climbers' Circle, Calcutta last year and though the summit was not reached, they provided us with valuable information regarding the route and the peak.

Calcutta to Rarik (Roadhead) — A hurdle race

The team started from Calcutta on 29 September and reach Keylong and Jispa in Lahaul.

We had taken three HAPs from Manali (to be more precise, Jagatsukh) with us. As there was no horses available in Jispa, the next morning, we went to Darcha (7 kilometres ahead) to get them. There we met a man who said that he could provide us with four horses the next day. We paid him some advance and asked him to meet us the next morning by 8.30 am with the horses at Rarik (6 kilometres away), which was the starting point of our trek to base camp. Then we went to the police outpost at Darcha and submitted a list of the members and the copy of the approval from IMF. We took a bus to Rarik, pitched tents for the night and prepared the loads for the next day.

In Rarik, to our utter frustration, we found that there are quite a few horses roaming around freely and on enquiry found that we could have easily hired the horses from this place. That would have saved us one precious day and money also as then we need not have spent the night at Jispa. From Manali, one can come directly come to Rarik in one day, with a break at Keylong.

Trek to base camp at Chhuminangpo (4650 m)

4 October dawned with a clear blue sky but even that was not able to remove the glum from our faces — it was 10 a.m. and there was no trace of the horses from Darcha. Finally we decided to hire again from Rarik and were on our way within half-an-hour following the lankar nala. Later on we came to know that the horses from Darcha had reached Rarik at 11 a.m. Hardly after 15 minutes, Shankar — one of our HAPs declared that he was very ill and would not go dny further. Sonam was still at Rarik for loading horses, so we sent Shankar back to Rarik with some money for the treatment and his return journey. We crossed Palamou at 1 p.m. Finally we pitched our tents at Buta Girgir.

5th morning we were out by 8.30 a.m. Our destination was Chhuminangpo, which was to be our base camp. We reached lankar Sumdo by noon, crossed the river and turned right to follow lankar Sangpo. This is the popular trek route for Padum. We had to stop for the day at Ramjak named after the towering Ramjak peak (6318 m).

On 6th, we reached Chhuminangpo early in the afternoon and established our base camp. Though it was sunny, the wind was very cold and at night, everything outside used to get frozen. This day also we saw for the first time since reaching Rarik, a small white cloud littering the otherwise spotless blue sky.

We were running out of time. So we decided that Shubho, Gambhi, Indra, Siddharta and myself along with Thakurji shall go for the summit attempt in alpine style, with Sonam going with us for loadferrying up to camp — I and will come back. Sumita and Prasanta would remain at the base camp for support.

Camp-I and Summit attempt

There were two alternative routes in front of us — one was to turn left into a glacier from below Shinkun la (5080 m), then cross the ridge between two peaks to the slope of our peak. The other was to turn left earlier and avoid crossing the ridge but the distance was greater this way. After discussing among ourselves and with Thakurji, we decided on the latter route and started packing equipments and food accordingly.

7th morning saw the five of us along with Thakurji and Sonam moving towards Camp I slowly with heavy loads. From a high point a little before Shinkun la, the peak is partially visible to the left. We left lankar Sangpo and turned westward towards the peak. The route was through boulders and moraines and the slope was 45° - 50°. After nearly four hours since leaving base camp, we reached the Camp 1 site. There was a small stream flowing past the site from the glacier ahead and the peak was in full view.

A dull and gloomy sky greeted us when we came out of the tent on 08th morning. We finished our breakfast and started packing everything. To reach the summit from the campsite, there are two possible routes. The first one is to cross the glacier to the left, then climb a wall to reach the col and then attempt via the South-West ridge or move in the Northern direction to gain the col below the East ridge and attempt from there. As the glacier was full of open crevasses, we decided not to take the former route.

We traversed northwards through the moraine for three hours keeping the glacier on our left. From there, to reach the col, we had to climb through the steep slopes (70°) of the adjoining mountain for one more hour. At noon, when we reached the col (5940m), the weather had already become nasty with snowflakes starting to fall intermittently. The ridge leading to the summit, to our dismay, was not continuous. There was a break in the ridge and there were some crevasses on the northeast (right hand side) face, but it was climbable, provided rope was fixed for the entire length. The weather was deteriorating fast and we had only one more day left to complete the attempt and reach basecamp, which seemed unfeasible under the situations. Fixing rope for the entire length itself would take one full day, if not more. So we decided to turn back from the col, not even a 300 m from the summit. We moved down straight to basecamp and by 5 pm all of us were home though soaking wet due to the snowfall, which became quite severe from the afternoon.

We were back in Manali on the 11th.

Summary: A seven-member team attempted Peak 6127 m. (32°54' 44"N, 77°09' 30"E).

 

 

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It was probably the beginning of 1999. We met at Barrackpore by the side of river Ganges while taking lunch on a sunny winter day being invited to show the slides of Black-Peak expedition 1998, Mr. Rabin Banerjee kindled us in dreaming of conquering a new peak in Lahaul-Spiti region of Himachal Pradesh. Never had we thought of an expedition to a virgin peak with our limited experience and resources.

With our earnest will the dream started sprouting. Rabinda poured the water of informations and Dr. Tridib Basu of National Atlas & Thematic Maping Organisation, Calcutta gave the way for the light with necessary maps.

The peeping top of the peak attracted attention of Mr. Rabin Banerjee while travelling along Manali-Leh highway and he attempted to open the route in 1995. Camp-I was established but abnormal snowfall for few days compelled him to come back. No other attempt to the peak had been made since then.

The mission started on 10 August 1999, with nine members after passing few hectic days of arranging matters. We reached Manali on the 12th. After all other arrangements the team left Manali on 15 th and reached Bharatpur (road head), just 5 kms away from Barlacha la by jeep after a night halt at Darcha.

'Bharatpur town', as was heard from some local people, had 4 seasonal motels dhabas and 2/3 tents of the workers of GREF by the side of Manali-Leh highway. On the eastern side of the highway a huge lake (almost dry) could be identified as 'Yunum Tso' as mentioned in the map of survey of India. A stream from west is feeding the lake. Our proposed route was along that stream towards west.

On 17 th, the Base camp was established on the southern bank of the stream about one km away from the highway at a height of about 4800 m. The weather was very fine. It was only the cold speedy wind which was causing sufficient hindrance.

Three of our team members became sick probably due to rapid height gain within a short period in such a dry area without having the trace of greenery. We had no other alternative but to send them back. The rest of the members were insufficient for manning BC and higher camps and as such we decided to wind up BC and establish ABC.

Next day Dhruba, Teja and myself made the first ‘recee’ for ABC along the southern side of the nala almost upto the 'snout' but no suitable place could be located. Moreover it was found difficult to cross the nala at late hours of the day.

The other side of the nala was chosen for ‘recee’. On the way along the nala we negotiated two big hillocks, first one through its top and another through the base nala bed. After 4 hrs trek, we were able to locate the small lake as noted in the map at the height of 5239 m. and established ABC there. After dumping our load in a tent we returned to BC. Next day ABC was occupied by the team with all loads.

The proposed site for the next camp was on the northwest near the col between the selected two peaks. A rocky top of about 5450 m was found to the north of the lake. We decided to go to the top to find out the route of the next camp. But from the top the southwest ridge of the peak (proposed route for summit) could be found with rocky projections and full of scree-zones and the route up to the ridge could not be marked properly.

What else we found from that top was beyond our dream. A gentle ridge came up from the east upto the base of southeast face of the Peak. The face was partially covered with snow having an average gradient of 60 degrees. A narrow stream came down from the lower snow patch through a gully.

I asked Dhruba, ‘does the face looks too difficult to climb?’

Dhruba said, ‘not at all’.

I added, ‘The stream will take us to the base of the face.’

The dream started gaining height.

Two teams comprising of three members in each were selected for two consecutive attempts of summit on 23 rd and 24 th. Accordingly, next day, three of us, Dhruba, Jagabandhu and myself along with Teja and Jagat left ABC with necessary equipment and food. We started moving upwards from the north side of the lake and came near the stream through boulderous eastern side of the rocky top (5450 m) and again climbed along the stream towards northeast. A continuous three and half hours climbing took us at the base of southeast face of the peak (6118 m) where summit camp was established at a height of about 5600 m.

That was 23rd August, we left camp at 05.30 hrs being well equipped for the summit. Dhruba was leading. Compact, hard, long horizontal snow patch covering the comparatively down middle portion of the face was avoided by taking the northern rocky edge of the face to get more gentle slope. A big ice wall in the midway was felt to be the main hurdle towards summit.

Jagabandhu was not feeling comfortable and was sent back with Teja who accompanied him upto the safe zone and returned. Dhruba changed his position with me.

On reaching the base of the ice wall a narrow rocky passage along the north edge of the face was noticed. We turned right towards the edge. Though the 60-70 degree edge needed serious climbing at some places. An hour of climbing took us above the ice wall. A,1ead way a long gradual slope full of boulders and after that at about 50 m hard compact snow band of 60-70 degree gradient existed. We became roped up and started climbing with running belay.

We were moving with deep breathing over the soft snow covered slope. It was 11.15 hrs when we noticed that there was no way ahead; we were on the summit as the first team. We were on the top of the region. Our dream turned into reality and we were overwhelmed by our achievement.

Successful second ascend was made by Khan and Tushar along with Teja on the 24 th at 12.30 hrs through the same route and on the same day they returned to ABC after winding up the summit camp in heavy snow fall.

The proposed second peak (5835m) was on the northwest of ABC. We took a direct attempt of summit from ABC on 25 th as only two of us were fit for the same. Teja also accompanied us. In the first phase we came up to the northern ‘lateral moraine’ of the glacier and reached at the bottom of the ‘Col’ between two peaks (6118 m and 5835 m.) A rocky wall of about 30-35m. became the only way towards the ‘Col’. With our best efforts we could only reach upto half of the wall by fixing rope at 13.00 hrs. It was impossible to cover the other half as well as the snow covered last phase of about 300 m by that day. Moreover, the weather was deteriorating very rapidly. Teja also felt sick. Considering the pros & cons the attempt was abandoned and we returned to ABC in heavy snow fall.

Next morning we wound up ABC leaving behind the dropped bud of bloomed dreams. Following the same route we came to the northern bank of nala but the same could not be crossed as it was in full spate. As such we were compelled to climb the top of the hillock of 4882 m and found a ‘bugial’ with a stream there. From there a trail took us to the Manali-Leh highway at 14.30 hrs.

Summary: Ascent of peak 6118 m near Baralacha la.

 

 

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We made a plan to climb a mountain in Spiti in summer 1999 and got permission of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) to climb Lhakhang (6250m). At the same time, another party of our Tokai Section of the Japanese Alpine Club got permission to climb Umdung Kangri (6643m) in the same area. It was decided that two parties would go together to our base camp of Lhakhang.

Four members of advance party of Umdung Kangri left Manali for Kaza via Rohtang Pass on 18 July. K. Kikuchi, a manager of the Lhakhang team accompanied them to make arrangements for the advance party. He went to Kaza and returned to Manali via Rohtang Pass in the early morning of 22 July after many difficulties, and reported that a part of the road between Kaza and Manali had been completely destroyed by heavy rain.

We had already reached Manali with three members of Umdung Kangri. According to his information, we gave up the route via Rohtang pass and got going to Kaza via Shimla and Rekong Peo. Eventually we arrived in Kaza on 25 July.

On 28 July, we left Kaza by jeeps and reached Kibbar, the highest permanent settlement in the mountains at a height of 4200 m.

On 29 July, a caravan march started going up to the BC with ponies.

We passed through desolate plains over 4200m high. After having descended 200m to the wide gorge of Parilungbi river, we went up the river and reached Borogen on 31 July surrounded by steep rock mountains. It was pretty cold at Borogen in an altitude of 5100m. We had been suffering from continuous rain on the way to Borogen.

Panorama F
Colour Plates 23 to 30

As the route Parang la was completely buried in deep snow, we had to spend all day making a path to Parang la on 1 August. Then we crossed the pass (5580m). The north side of the pass was covered with glacier and deep snow. We were tired out and at last we reached Kharsa Gongma (5100m) on 2 August where we established BC.

Since ponies could not cross the pass due to deep snow, we crossed in the cold night without sufficient equipment and provisions. The caravan of ponies reached BC on 3 August.

On 4 August, we went up the trackless path along Pakshi Lamur river. A flat riverbed saved us much trouble. We set up ABC on a river bank at a height of 5200m. Furthermore I went up alone to a glacier and looked for our peak in the east. I could not find it clearly but two peaks were only faintly to be seen owing to clouds. I judged the closer peak to be Lhakhang and decided to set up summit camp on the glacier to make ascents to the summit.

On 5 August, we established summit camp on the glacier at a height of 5600m. It was not dangerous to walk around on the glacier because it was flat and stable, and there were no icefalls or crevasses. We were careful only when we crossed the stream on the glacier. An avalanche swept away our fixed ropes while we were making routes on the snow ridge of the north face. Ropes were fixed again on the right side of the scratches of avalanche for the first ascent scheduled on the following day.

On 6 August, M. Tanabe, A. Yamaguchi, Anil K. Sharma (LO) and three high altitude porters started climbing to the summit in spite of nasty weather. They reached a snow-covered peak after climbing north face and suffered from deep snow. The weather was breaking and visibility was getting poor. They judged this peak to be the summit of Lhakhang and started going down. The altimeter registered 6100m.

On 8 August, as the weather was improving, I decided to dispatch the second party to the summit. M. Tanaka, T. Shiga, (Ms) K. Watanabe and I left from summit camp for the summit with three high-altitude porters and a low-altitude porter. The average age of the four Japanese climbers was over 60 and M. Tanaka was 70 year old.

We climbed up the snow face and ridge along the tracks of the advance party and got to the snow-covered peak. However it was not the summit but one of the peaks at the western end of the broad plateau. It seemed a wise judgment for the advance party to have stopped climbing on 6 August. It would be dangerous under the nasty weather because of the broad plateau.

The plateau became higher and higher toward the southeast and we finally got the summit after pleasant 1km walk from the peak of 6100m. The summit was gentle and broad, and the altimeter registered 6200m.

We were very much impressed by beautiful sight of Parilungbi, Umdung Kangri, Gya and innumerable unnamed peaks in Spiti and Lahaul.

However, we saw a peculiar domed summit in the direction of the south at interval of 1.5km with deep col from the summit. That must be the summit which I had seen the picture introduced as the summit of Lhakhang in the Himalayan Journal Vol.44 by H. Kapadia. We realized that the summit we reached was not the peak of Lhakhang but another unnamed peak.

We have looked over some documents over and over again since we returned to Japan, and we came to the conclusion that the summit we climbed was not Lhakhang. As Lhakhang signifies “house of god” in the local language, we would like to name this peak “Dhhun” which signifies “guardian” because the peak seemed as if it guarded Lhakhang.

There are two glaciers in the headwaters area of Pakshi Lamur river and they are surrounded by attractive eight peaks of 6000m height such as Lhakhang and Dhhun. Seven peaks except Dhhun are still unclimbed.

Thus our expedition in Spiti came to an end at last and we returned to Manali on 13 August.

Orgallised by: The Japanese Alpine Club – Tokai Section

Members Tsuneo Suzuki (leader), Keiichi Kikuchi, Moriyuki Tanaka, Tsutomu Shiga, (Ms) Kumi Watanabe, Motoyoshi Tanabe, Atsushi Yamaguchi, Hisamitsu Ono (doctor).

Summary: An ascent of a 6100 m peak in Spiti. The team climbed this peak mistaking it to be Lakhang. They namcd it 'Dhhun'.

 

 

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I had made the first ascent of Kula (6546m) as climbing leader of Tokai Section of the Japanese Alpine Club in the Rupshu valley area of Ladakh, India in 1997.

From the summit of Kula, we could see the mountains of northern part of Spiti area and we were attracted by a beautiful snow-covered mountain with two peaks on the west side of Gya. Since then, I made up my mind to climb this mountain in the near future.

In summer 1998, Kirti, the liaison officer of the Kula expedition 1997 went scouting with his friend in order to find a caravan route to the mountain which we saw from the top of Kula. Taking his report into consideration, we made a plan to go to the above mountain.

We applied for the climbing permit of this mountain to the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF). As our peak was located at the back of Umdung, a campsite along Pare Chu, we applied to IMF for Umdung Kangri and they gave us permission.

The advance party consisting of four Japanese members and three high-altitude porters from Darjeeling led by Y. Masui reached Manali on 17 July and two Manali high-altitude porters joined them. They got to Kaza on 19 July via Rohtang pass. Soon after they passed, this road was completely destroyed by unexpected heavy rain.

The main body of members for Umdung Kangri and Dhhun arrived in Manali on 20 July. Due to the suspension of traffic through Rohtang Pass, we were forced to change the route for Kaza. Eventually we returned to Shimla and reached Kaza on 25 July via Rekong Peo.

We reached Kibbar from Kaza by jeeps with six Dhhun team members and Indian staff on 28 July, and started caravan of ponies.

Colour Plates 21-22

We passed through desolate plains to Thalda via Dumla, and reached Borogen on 31 July at a height of 5100m surrounded by rock mountains after having gone down the deep gorge of Parilungbi river and gone up a steep slope along the river. It was very cold there. We had been suffering from continuous rain on the way to Borogen.

The route to Parang la was completely buried in deep snow. We spent one whole day to make a path removing snow to Parang la on 1 August.

On 2 August, we crossed the Parang la (5580m). The north side of the pass was covered with glacier and the snow lay deep. We were tired out and at last we reached Kharsa Gongma (5100m).

Since ponies could not come across the pass due to deep snow, we had to cross in the cold night without sufficient equipment and provisions. We took a rest while waiting for ponies on 3 August.

On 4 August, we hurried on the way to BC along Pare Chu river to recover lost time and reached BC in one day. It was very dangerous to cross the river near BC due to swollen waters caused by evening thaw. We were seven days behind schedule at the moment.

The advance party had already established BC at a dry riverbed near Umdung campsite at a height of 4800m on 29 July. At first, they reconnoitred the north ridge but could not find the route there because the lower part of the ridge seemed to be fragile. Then, they reconnoitred two glaciers on the north face but it was turned out that it would be difficult to ascend in short term due to rough conditions. Eventually, they had opened the route on the west ridge which was narrow and fragile but gentle. C1 had been set up by the advance party at a height of 5370m on 2 August. This was the only terrace on which two tents were available.

C2 was established as summit camp on the snow ridge at a height of 5800m on 5 August. We had more rainy days than clear days after arriving BC until that day.

At 3:00 a.m. of 6 August, Y. Masui, T. Yanagihara, (Ms) E. Masui, D. Kirti (LO) a climbing guide, and three high-altitude porters started climbing to the summit. But the dense fog prevented them from climbing. They had to return from a height of 6400m.

At 5:15 of 8 August, S. Aoto, H. Yamaguchi, S. Tamura and I who had reached BC on 4 August begun climbing to the summit tracing footsteps of the advance party with four high-altitude porters. H. Yamaguchi and S. Tamura returned from the peak of 6400m with two high-altitude porters because of fatigue. It was fine weather, and S. Aoto and I continued climbing with two high-altitude porters. Once we went down to the col and started again going up the snow ridge to the summit. It was not steep but we were troubled by deep snow. At 1:26 p.m., we finally reached the summit.

We could see Gya in the east. We also saw the peak of 6400m in the south with snow ridge at interval of about 1.5km from the summit and we named the peak which we passed as “S Mt.” “Umdung Kangri South”.

We enjoyed the beautiful sight to the full at the summit Mr. Umdung Kangri. We could also see innumerable unnamed peaks in Ladakh, Spiti and Lahaul. It was a really wonderful time for us.

On 9 August, Y. Masui made the second ascent to the summit with a high-altitude porter and thus our expedition in Spiti came to an end.

On 15 August, we returned to Manali via Rohtang Pass which was reopened and shared the pleasure of success with the party of our JAC-Tokai which made the first ascent of Dhhun.

Unclimbed peaks of 6367 m, 6365 m, 6415 m and so on around Umdung Kangri still attract us. This area is somewhat difficult to approach but full of interest to us.

Organised by: The Japanese Alpine Club – Tokai Section

Members : T. Mizuno (leader), Y. Masui (climbing leader), H. Yamaguchi, T. Yanagihara, S. Aoto, (Ms) E. Masui and S. Tamura.

Summary: First ascent of Umdung Kangri (6643 m) and Umdung Kangri South (6400 m).

 

 

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Our Science University of Tokyo Alpine Club and the club’s Alumni Association decided to send an expedition to the Indian Himalaya, on the occasion of 50th anniversary of club founding, in 2000.

Our first object to climbing was a nameless peak at a height of 6222 m in Spiti, which is shown as 6265 m on the map of the Himalayan Journal Vol. 51(1995) pp. 98 – 99, which was made by Arun Samant.

However, to climb this rocky peak from the Lungba Tokpo glacier side seemed difficult for our climbing route, so we changed to adjoining a snow peak (6140 m) located between PK 6222 m and Logbhor che (5980 m), with the permission of the liaison officer.

First ascent of the unnamed peak (6140) was made by a summit party under the leadership of A. Kuroe via North face route on 5 August 2000. The first summit party composing of A. Kuroe, Kaneko, Anahara, Nakamura, Yamaguchi, Otsuka, Sato, LO, four guides and a high-altitude porter started from C2 at 4:30 a.m., we went up 50 m and moved 50 m along the glacier. Then we used fixed rope on the North face, and traversed 150 m above a crevasse, and again used 3 pitches of fixed rope and then climbed up on gentle slope for about 40 minutes. Finally we reached the summit of peak 6140 m. (Please see: Route Map)

On 7 August, the second summit party (Kato, M. Kuroe, Hidaka, Maruyama, Funabashi, Yokomizo, Otsuka, four guides and a kitchen boy) departed from C2 at 5:30 a.m. This time we went up on the north-east ridge route. There were some crevasses on the way. Finally we reached the summit at 11:48 a.m. Soon we dissembled to C1.

Photos 21-22

After we finished the expedition, we discussed about naming of this unnamed peak, and then we reached a conclusion. We would like to name it as “Dawa Kangri”.

Summary of the expedition:

16 July 2000: Advance party (Kato, Nakamura, Kaneko) departed from Narita.

20 July: Main party (the other ten members) departed from Narita.

21 July: All members and liaison officer arrived at Manali from New Delhi.

24 July: Our team (All members, Liaison officer Guides, High porters, Cook, and Kitchen boy) arrived at Chhota Dara by seven jeeps.

25 July: Arrived BC (4400 m) via Kunzum la by bus.

26 July: Reconnaissance to Lungba Tokpo glacier.

28 July: BC place decided

29 July: Established BC (4400 m)

31 July: Camp 1 was established (4800 m)

1 August: Arrived at site of C2 (5400 m)

2 August: Established C2

5 August: First ascent of the summit via North face route.

7 August: Second ascent of the summit via Northeast ridge route.

8 August: The second summit party returns from C1 to BC

12 August: All members arrived Manali.

15 August: Arrived New Delhi from Manali.

16 August: Arrived Narita from India.

Members Ms. Takako Kato (leader) (52), Atsushi Kuroe (deputy leader)(58)

Kenzo Funabashi (70), Tadaharu Maruyama (69), Yuichiro Kaneko (65), Yukio Hidaka (65), Takeshi Yokomizo (65), Mitsuo Sato (61), (Ms.) Masako Kuroe (56), Toshio Nakahama (53), Yasuo Anahara (51), Tatsuya Yamaguchi (30) and Takeshi Otsuka (30).

Organized by: The Science University of Tokyo Alpine Club Alumni Association.

Summary: The first Ascent of Dawa Kangri (32 22’15”N, 77 43’31”E) located in the Lungba Tokpo, Spiti. Peak climbed on 5 and 7 August 2000.

 

 

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The Masherbrum expedition was specially organized by the Mountaineering Association of Toyama, which consists of nine alpinists with Kawahata as the leader.

Satoshi Kawahata, the leader, is quite an experienced alpinist with over 30 years of climbing. He was a member of the Broad Peak (8047 m) expedition in 1988. Masashi Saeki, chief of climbing, is both a qualified mountain guide of the Japanese Alps and an experienced climber. He climbed several mountains of 8000 m’s such as Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I and he also climbed Mckinley in Alaska solo. Koichi Jodo, the manager, was also a member of the Broad Peak expedition.

The other 6 members also have experience in climbing high mountains. Sekino and Maenami climbed Mont Blanc (4847 m) in France and Yoshii climbed Kilimanjaro in Africa. Okumura supported us as a doctor. Honma and Omori are college students. They have little experience, but their youthful power was enough to cover it. Ms. Hirooka was the only female member in the expedition; she was very attentive to take care of us.

On 7 June, 1999, the main party started from Tokyo for Pakistan and joined the advance party there. After some procedures, the whole party moved to Skardu, in the northern part of Pakistan, and completed the packing of the equipment. The party went forward to Fushe village, 7 hours from Skardu by jeep, where we started the caravan from the village, located in the area of the lower part of the Masherbrum glacier, 3000 m above the sea level. It has a population of about 800 people and 150 houses. We hired porters there, and got ready for the caravan.

On 15 June, the party and about a hundred porters left the village at 6.15 am. Porters were carrying a 25kg rucksack each on their back. The whole weight of the equipment and food including high-altitude porter’s bags was about 2500 kg. After a day and a half of waking under the burning sun, the caravan reached the BC.

BC was made at 4100 meters above sea level, where it was quite comfortable with grass, flowers and a pond too. We carried the equipment and food, which would be needed afterwards to the point of 4200 m, where the Masherbrum glacier and the Serac glacier joins together.

Masherbrum is a mountain which has the advantage of having approach by a deep place jeepride and the BC in a half more day by caravan. This means, however, that we have not enough time to adapt our bodies to the altitude. In fact, two of the members got altitude sickness and were forced to go down to the Fushe village the next day when we arrived BC.

The expedition has three stages. The first stage is the route making from BC to the Serac glacier, the second stage is the setting up the ABC, C1 and C2. The final stage is the attempt to the peak of Masherbrum.

Route making from BC to ABC 17 June to 27 June

We went over moraine from BC to the joint point of Masherbrum glacier and Serac glacier. We attached the crampons to our plastic boots there. We took a route to almost the centre of the glacier and went forward, paying attention to crevasses in the maze-like serac.

According to our first plan, we scheduled to set up ABC in the snowfield at a 5600 m height. But we changed the plan because we thought it would be quite difficult to go over big crevasses on an upper area around 4900 m. We took a new route to the left and set up ABC at the 5200 m on the snowfield which spread out below a hanging glacier.

The Serac glacier had three blocks including the snowfield, and it looked wider towards the upper part. The surface of the glacier covered with snow was very hard during the night and morning. During the daytime, however, the sunlight melted the snow and it became very tough to walk on. So, we tried starting climbing at 4.00 am in the morning and ending by noon.

It had been good weather those days. Only a few days, we had some snowfall and bad visibility.

ABC to C1 and C2 28 June to 10 July

There was a round dome replaced peak in front of ABC. It had two big hanging glaciers on its face which looked as if they would fall at any moment. We attacked its steep face of 60 degrees, then went forward to the centre of the glacier. 500-600 m higher than the area from ABC, we could enjoy a good view. We could see the mountain range against Masherbrum II. The slope around there was gentler. Going under a pyramid-shaped serac, we climbed around to the back of it. Then, we reached the flat snowfield.

Here, the story becomes a little interesting. When three members were developing a route around the serac, a very huge ice block fell off from the southeast face of the glacier and it caused an avalanche with a big rumbling sound. The snow and ice feel into the Masherbrum glacier. The influence of the avalanche came over beyond the dome, and struck the ABC and the serac. The dome and the serac got covered with snow and disappeared in it. Our members escaped from the disaster by hiding under the serac in an instant. We gave a sigh of relief when we made sure of their survival.

We reached the top of the dome after climbing up a gentle slope from the large snowfield, where we set up the C1, 6100 meters from the sea level. From there, we could see the SE side of Masherbrum in front of us, and the peak of the serac behind us. Chogoriza and the Indian Himalaya were also within our sight.

We went across an almost flat snowfield, heading to the right. We reached another snowfield after climbing 300 m up. We went forward to the erecting point of a Southeast wall, caring of crevasses. We set up C2 at the saddle between there and a mountain with a 7163 m peak. The Baltoro glacier, K2 and other mountains in the Karakoram were within our sight there.

Attempt on Masherbrum and climbing down, 11 July to 26 July

The weather was getting worse when we were preparing for the attack to Masherbrum at the C2. 11 July, it started to rain around BC and to snow around ABC and the higher areas. The snow lasted for three days and lay more than 50 cm at C1. Next day, 14 July, the snow stopped but the sky was hazy with the mist. We came together at BC. Three members at 1 climbed down to the ABC. We decided 19 July as a first attack day, and chose Jodo, Yoshii and Omori as summit members.

15 July, three attack members and two support members climbed up to ABC from BC. They moved to C1 the next day. 17 July, they re-found the route to C2 which was once equipped but covered with snow afterwards. They reached C2, 18 July. The weather was on our side for these four days. All of us were convinced of the success of the attack.

At 1.40 am, on 19 July, the attack group started from C2 to the peak. We received the notice of their departure at BC. A crescent moon was lighting Masherbrum in the dark sky. An hour later, it begun to rain and to blow hard at BC. It rained hard for a while, then stopped. It continued to rain in intervals. The attack group could not move in whiteout under thick clouds. They were forced to bivouac at the 7100 m.

The weather did not recover even after the sky got bright, and the rain changed to a snowstorm. Three of the attack members climbed down to C2 at 7.40 am. The weather got much worse and blocked them to come down to C1. It was 4.15 pm when they finally reached C1.

It continued raining and snowing until 23 July. There was more than 1 m of snowfall at C1 and the upper area. There was no hope that the weather would recover. The time left for us was limited. We gave up another attack. We began to descend the village. We collected the tents and ropes next day. All equipment was carried to BC on 25 July.

All members and the porters climbed down to Fushe village 27 July. Ironically, it was very nice, sunny weather on that day. We looked back to the mountain again and again. In the village, we were treated to dinner. It was the first dinner we enjoyed after two months of mountaineering. We felt at ease and some kind of satisfaction.

Summary: An unsuccessful attempt on Masherbrum.

 

 

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We had two permissions; one for East face (Yasushi Yamanoi and Wojciech Kurtyaka) and the other permission for for South-southeast rib, SSE – rib (Taeko Yamanoi and Kazuo Tobita). By the information from Ministry of Tourism of Pakistan, there were no other team for East face and SSE – rib except us. But one Korean team was on SSE – rib and on June 26, our reaching day at K2 BC, they summited via SSE – rib. Their leader and the liaison officer asked us US$500 per person as the rental fee for fixed ropes on SSE – rib. We could not agree to their demand. They demanded that we do not climb SSE – rib until next two Korean teams which might use their ropes on SSE – rib finished their climbing (but actually, both these Korean teams had permission for southeast ridge (SE ridge). So, Taeko and Tobita decided to climb SE ridge to acclimatize for high altitude after getting the permission of all other teams on SE ridge.

East face team (Yasushi Yamanoi and Wojciech Kurtyka)

June 28 to July 9, they tried reconnaissance on East face and reached 6500 m, but they gave the climb because snow and weather condition were very bad. They decided to climb SSE –rib as a detached team from Taeko and Tobita. July 10, Yamanoi and Kurtyka went and stayed C2 (7100 m) on SSE – rib and returned BC on 11. 18, Yamanoi went up and down from BC to C2 (6900 m) on SE ridge in a day to acclimatize for high altitude. 19, Kurtyka left our BC. He had no interest to climb up via SSE – rib anymore because he had been up to shoulder via SSE – rib. 21 to 22 Yamanoi went up to C2 on SSE – rib with Taeko and returned to BC after touching 7500 m alone. 28 July 12.30, Yamanoi started from BC and reached C2 22.30. 29, C2 to C3 (8050 m) on shoulder, On 30 July started from C3 in midnight and reached on the summit at 12.25 without oxygen solo. Same day, Hwang Ki-Yong, Korean, also got the summit via SE ridge. Yamanoi returned to BC next day via SSE - rib with Hwang and Lee In - Sik who gave up his climb just below the summit because he ran out of oxygen.

SSE – rib team (Taeko Yamanoi Kazuo Tobita)

July 5-6, they went up and down from BC to C1 (6300 m) on SE ridge. 21 to 22, Taeko went up C2 on SSE – rib with Yamanoi and returned to BC after touching 7200 m. 21, Tobita went up C1 on SSE - rib and next day returned to C1 from just near C2 due to a storm. He returned to BC on 23. 27, Taeko and Tobita went up to Cl and on 28 to C2. 29, Tobita returned C2 to BC, Taeko went up to 7500 m and stayed at C2. 30, she returned to BC. 31 to 3 August, weather was very bad. Midnight on 5, Tobita started from BC, but he found broken fixed ropes on SSE – rib due to avalanche. Tobita and Taeko discussed about their climbing. Tobita stopped his climbing on K2. He had no interest for SE ridge because he has been on a ‘Bottle Neck’ in 1987. Taeko wished to climb SE ridge because she wanted to try to climb K2 once again. She asked Korean team whether she could use their tent and other things. They gave permission to her willingly to use everything including food and sleeping bag. But she couldn’t find sleeping bag in their C1 and C2. So, Gary Pfisterer, leader of International team, helped her at C1 and Hidetosi Kurahashi, member of other Japanese team, at C2. On August 9, she stopped her climbing due to bad conditions.

In this connection I may add that we found two bodies and one rucksack at end moraine near BC. The rucksack was left by late Peter Mezger who died on K2 1993 after reaching the summit. The bodies were buried on the ridge between SSE – rib and south face.

Members : Yasushi Yamanoi ,Wojciech Kurtyka (Polish), Kazuo Tobita ,Taeko Yamanoi (Mrs.) and eiko Terasawa (Mrs.).

Summary: An attempt on K2 by a Japanese team in 2000.

 

 

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We have been planning our expedition to the Karakoram mountains for a long time. Our goal was just a little point printed on the map. Just names and numbers without an image. We were looking at a strange name hidden in the middle of the highest mountains of the world. Muchu Chhish was an unknown world, an unclimbed summit over seven thousand meters high.

We got the first picture of the mountain just one week before our departure to Pakistan. A small and old black and white photo from our polish friend Jerzy Walla. Some letters and drawings from our friend would be the only information about our objective.

After 4 days of walking, on the Muchichul glacier, under rain we discovered the mountain of our dreams, or nightmares. Batura Wall stood in front of us, almost four thousand meters of rock and ice, falling from a long ridge near eight thousand meters.

In the next days we searched for a possible way across this mountain, avoiding difficulties and dangerous. One of the most obvious problem was the continuous avalanches of snow and ice falling many times a day from all the faces of the mountain.

We set up our base camp at four thousand meters on a green moraine, a small island in the middle of a huge ice sea. Six team members, one cook and helper and the liaison officer. The weather in the next ten weeks was good, so we didn’t spend much times resting in base camp. We were all day climbing and exploring. We didn’t need many days to decide to change our original plan. The risk of avalanches was too high, we decided to go for the ridge climbed in the 1983 by a Polish expedition to the Baturas.

Photos 23-24

Our new plan is to go up by this route and try to reach the summit later by a long ridge over seven thousand meters. We know this plan has few possibilities of success but it the only way.

Quickly we are going up to our new target. The plan is to set up two high camps to acclimatise and recognise the mountain, then rest two days in the base camp and try the climb in alpine style, without fixed rope, carrying every thing over our shoulders.

In the next ten days we reached two high camps. The first over 4600 meters on a comfortable plateau. From this point the technical difficulties were increasing and to set up tents we had to cave in the snow. After sleeping a few nights here everything was ready for the summit.

We met at base camp. Two days resting were enough. Our days in the mountain were ending and now we had just one try.

So far we had been enjoying excellent weather, but we now we had to stay three days at camp 1 because of heavy snowfall.

At last sunshine was out, the weather improved and our trip continued.

The toughest journey was from camp two to camp three. We had to climb many meters of mix terrain, to cover only 600 meters but 16 hours non-stop climbing. The route did not go up vertically was a long traverse. The climb down could be very dangerous if the weather changed.

About 1 am we reached the only place where we could put up two tents (6300 m), in the rib of a crevasse hanging over thousands of meters on the glacier.

The next day we had to rest all day, now we just had a small chance to try to reach the summit. There were too many meters yet, and we would need to need sleep another night in a fourth camp, but the departure date was coming, and the porters were waiting for us in the base camp. Our air ticket had a fixed return date.

12.00 am, we woke up in a cold night. We knew about our few possibilities to get to the top, but in the middle of a clear dark night we began the trail. But reality struck us and time ran out, we had to go down. We made a dangerous descent down the steps ice and mix terrain of the Batura Walls.

We took the path over the glacier to the Hunza valley. It began raining and the sky grew dark. Across the clouds we see Muchhu Chish for the last time. This wasn’t the end of our trip, just the middle of the expedition, now there is another side, the north face, to explore and climb. Walking down on the glacier I’m thinking about a new expedition to this hidden corner of the world.

Members : Luis M. Lopez Soriano, Cristobal Real Gil, Javier Selva Serrano, David Cejudo, Inaki Ruiz Peribanez and Manuel Martinez Vallvey.

Summary: Attempt on Mucchu Chish by a Spanish team in 1999.

 

 

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This expedition to Broad Peak that took place last year, was comprised of six members, Xabier Rozas, Pablo Rozas, Joxemi Aranzadi, Mikel Arana, Jose Luis Martin and Josu Pereda.

We left the Basque Country on 13 June and on 25 June, after crossing the Baltoro glacier we got to the BC (4800 m).

After spending one day preparing this camp, we started working for the higher camps.

On 28 June, we had already prepared a provisional camp at the height of 5700 m and the 30 of the same month, the first Camp (C1) at 6300 m was established with 2 tents and different materials to be used at that place.

On 2 July, another provisional camp was created at the height of 6700 m with a lone tent and which would have been used as a deposit. Finally on 5 July we prepared the tents at 7000 m with another two tents.

Once all these camps were equipped we were ready to start our progress across the Broad Peak.

The mountain was in perfect condition, at least until 7000 m with very good snow to walk. The weather until these dates was quite good, 3-4 days of nice weather followed by 3-4 days of bad weather.

The first attempt on the mountain was made by Pablo and Xabier Rozas. They left the BC on 14 July and after nine hours walking, they reached the height of 6700 m. Next day, 15 July they continued their route towards the top arriving at 7000 m and their strength and good acclimatisation allowed them to continue even further reaching the 7300 m and having to prepare a small camp to spend the night.

On 16 July, they met some German and Austrian people and together they started walking towards the top of the mountain, at 2 a.m. in the morning. The night was clear and warm but they had to work hard due to the depth of the snow. Just at midday the whole group reached the first top. From this point, the group was divided, the Xabier Rozas, with a German and an Austrian, led the way to the top. At 2 a.m. in the afternoon they were on the top of the Broad Peak. His brother Pablo, started his way back and waited for Xabier on the mountain. At six p.m. in the afternoon both arrive together to the camp they had prepared the night before at 7300 m. They spent the night here and next day they got down to the BC.

On 19 July, Jose Luis Martin and Joxemi Aranzadi started their way to the top at 1 a.m. from the 7300 m camp. The night was also bright and no cloud could be seen, but just a few metres before the pass, at 6 a.m. a strong wind, the fog and the snow falling shattered all their dreams. They insisted on continuing but only for half an hour, finally they had no other chance than returning. They arrived to the BC at 9 p.m. in the evening after a very hard way down with a non-stop snow storm. Next 10 days we had very bad weather and there were two members of the group who had no tried to climb the mountain yet. Mikel gave up due to the stomach problems he had been suffering during all the expedition. But Josu Pereda wanted to try it and he did it with Carlos Soria and Jordi Bosch (from Cataluna). The 29 of July they moved from the BC. On 30 July they reached the camp at 7000 m. The idea was to try the final attempt from this camp but the weather changed suddenly that night and snow started falling again. Then, as it happened some days before to Joxemi and Martin, their illusions to reach the top were inverted into a sad way down. On 31 July we got to BC and we had no days left to stay there, so we started our way home, through the Gondogoro pass arriving at Hushe within 3 days. After this, we had known that there had been no more chances to reach the top due to the bad weather.

Summary: An unsuccessful attempt on Broad Peak.

 

 

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A small group of five members was exploring and climbing some unknown summits of the Shuijerab Pamir mountains. Near the Shimshal pass, a broad gap between Pakistan and Sinkiang, there are some glaciers with unclimbed mountains, over 6000 m. This range is one of the most beautiful and quiet places on these mountains.

We followed the yak route from Shimshal village to the highs Pamir passes. We walked six days, from near Passu, by steep cliffs and crossing many rivers until Shuijerab. Here we set up BC.

From Shuijerab we carried everything without porters to explore and climb the Shuwerth Yaz Glacier.

We walked to Shuwerth, a summer settlement in a dreamland. A small group of stone houses in the heart of the mountains of Central Asia, on the Sinkiang side.

At this point we meet our two friends Koke and Susana. They came some days before us, and now they were climbing two peaks in the Shuijerab Dest glacier.

We needed two days, from Shuijerab, to reach the end of the glacier, and set up ABC.

Photos 25-26

From our ABC we explored the Shuwerth Jaz glacier and reached the summit of two unclimbed snow peaks.

We come back from the BC in Shuijerab, by a different route, crossing three passes, Spodin pass 5150 m Boesam pass 4800 m and Chapchingol pass 5050 m, until the Karakoram highway, close to the Khunjerab pass.

Shuijerab Dest Glacier

The first group was just two members, Koke and Susana. They reached the Shuijerab Dest moraine on 17 July. Set up a small camp in this place and began to explore the glacier.

They reached the first summit, an unnamed peak over 5650 m in a easy and fast snow climb and named this mountain like the Rui Peak (face in wakhi).

After some days of rest they went again over the ice and set up a high camp under possible the highest peak on the glacier. In another stage they climbed by 45°/60° snow slopes, a narrow ridge over this mountain. They named this top Dest Sar 6050 m.

Shuwerth Yaz Glacier

25 July both groups met on the Shimshal pass and set up the final BC in the Shuijerab settlement and prepare a small group, without porters, to reach the Shuwerth Yaz glacier. In two days walk we got the end of the glacier.

Going up over the ice we are seeing many mountains, but when we finished our trip on the glacier, we discovered a very nice snow pyramid hidden from the nearest mountains. We fix our eyes on this beautiful peak, and decide without doubt to try this target.

On dramatic moraine, we clean a very small place to set up one tent. This will be our ABC for the next few days.

Yaz Sar

The sky is very clear and we want to climb as soon possible to our peak. We start to make breakfast 4.00 a.m. in the morning.

In one hour we are ready to go. Koke, Susana and me (Luis Miguel) are looking for all possible ways, by the different faces, to go up the snow pyramid.

The most directly line to the top was an ice and snow gully ending in the upper ridge. Quickly, the three members climbed the gully. We meet an ice step to the snow ridge. Climbing some sections over 60°/65° we reached the snow slopes to the summit.

Following the last sections, over 45°/50°, we get to the highest point of the peak. In a wonderful day we discover a unique landscape. Thousand of snow and rocky mountains. The Pakistan Karakoram, Sinkiang and Pamir meet in this point.

We decided to name this mountain Yaz Sar (Icy peak in Wakhi).

From the summit of the Yaz Sar we discover a new icy pyramid. In front of our eyes stands a nice snow covered mountain.

There are many crevasses and seracs in this side of the new target, but we can see, a more or less, clean line across the snow face.
We have not reached the ABC yet, to rest and we have a new dream.

Tarin Sar

Our days in these mountains are ending. After half days rest we start our new climb 4:00 a.m. again, wake up from the warms sleeping bags and after a small breakfast we walk up the glacier.

Now Susana decided to rest in the tent. Koke and me will try the new route.

The angle of the first slopes are increasing from 350 to 650 on hard ice. Following the steepest sections we reach an easier place.

After sunrise the snow is getting soft. We must cross some crevasses, covered by light snowbridges and take the edge of a ridge over a big serac.

Climbing the last ice wall, to reach the cornice of a new serac and get a too flat ridge, we walk the last meters, we go up a rocky pinnacle. We are on an other unnamed summit.

We enjoy looking from this place the sea of glaciers and mountains under our feet. Very near from us Yaz peak draws a nice line with the clouds.

We must look for a new name to our new summit. After spending many hours, talking with the porters, we find a nice wakhi word for beautiful peaks. Tarin Sar (Freedom peak).

We go down, slowly in dangerous soft snow with the glacier bridges broken. After rest in the ABC we keep the tent and carry everything over our shoulders.

In two stages we arrive at the Shuijerab BC and joint with our friends Jesus and Mari Angeles.

All together we go back to the Hunza valley. We take a different way and need seven days, across three passes over 4500/5000 m, to reach the Karakoram Highway, near of Khujerab pass.

Summary of the expedition

Glaciers explored: Shuijerab Dest Gl. and Shuwerth Yaz Gl.

Passes: Shimshal pass (4500 m), Spodin pass (5150 m), Boesam pass (4800 m), and Chapchingol pass (5050 m).

Summits climed:

- Rui peak (5650 m) 18 July. Susana Elosegi, Koke Lasa and Horban
- Dest Sar (6050 m) 20 July. Susana Elosegi and Koke Lasa
- Yaz Sar (6010 m) 27 July. Susana Elosegi, Koke Lasa and Luis M. Lopez
- Tarin Sar (5880 m) 28 July. Koke Lasa and Luis M. LoAll peaks were recorded on the maps as unclimbed and unnamed.

 

 

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This year we aimed at a 6000 meter peak which seemed possible to climb by senior members. Five members of average 61 years old challenged Dir Gol Zom (6778 m) which lays at the top of the Upper Tirich Mir glacier adjacent to the main peak of Hindu Kush Himalaya in Pakistan and finally three of us reached the summit.

Minamii and Mr. Ikeya visited Pakistan four years consecutively and Mr. Hirani visited three times.

After a briefing at the Mountaineering Department of the Ministry of Tourism, registration at the Immigration office, meeting with the Liaison officer, contract with aviation company for emergency flight and so on, we left Islamabad by cars on 11 July for Uthur village spending one night in Dir and two nights in Chitral.

As soon as we arrived at Uthur in the morning of 14th, we left to cross Zani-pass and went up along the Tirich Mir valley to our base camp at about 4800 meters high with 45 porters. During the 3 day march to Shakhniyak the narrow path was very comfortable to walk as it was used by local people for their daily life. But after 3 days we were very exhausted as the path sometimes was on the slippery blue ice of the Lower Tirich Mir glacier and the Upper Tirich Mir glacier, or on the big rocks and debris in their moraines.

20 July, we set up Base Camp at 4800 meters on a moraine of the left bank of the Upper Tirich Glacier. During the time it was snowing, we went up crossing numerous crevasses and tried to acclimatize to the high altitude by cultivating the way-up route on the Upper Tirich Glacier which had several ice falls in the middle. Camp 1 at 5300 meters and Camp 2 at 5800 meters were established on the glacier.

After 2 days rest at Base Camp, we left to attack the summit spending one night at Camp 1 and Camp 2 respectively. We established Camp 3 at 6300 meters from which we set out next day on 4 August, to the summit. We went up on the Upper Tirich Glacier until a saddle and then traversed on the ridge toward the summit. A lot of time was needed to go up avoiding hidden crevasses. And on the ridge just under the summit, we spent a lot of time to deal with slippery ice and soft powder snow. At 3 pm Mr. Minamii, Ikeya and Yokochi reached Dir Gol Zom with 3 high porters.

We could not see Noshq and Istor-O-Nal two giant peaks in the area as they were located behind the Western Tirich Mir range which lay just in front of us. But we could enjoy the endless mountain scenery of Afghanistan from the summit.

After a half hour, we began to descent. We joined Mr. Kinoshita who gave up scaling the summit only 100 meters below it and arrived at C3 at just before 8 pm helped by the light of the evening glow. It was an extremely long day for seniors.

You may understand by reading the map, we could not see Dir Gol Zom itself until near Camp 2 as it is located at the end of the glacier which bends like a bow. The distance to the summit because very long because the way of the caravan to our Base Camp was extremely long and then the zig zag climbing on the Upper Tirich Glacier to avoid numerous creases and ice-falls made it longer than we expected. Several times we had to go up and down to reconnoitre the route. It was very hard work requiring patience and exhausted us but this seemed consequently very effective for our acclimatization.

Duration: 7 July to 21 August 2000.

Members: Hidehiro Minamii (leader, 64 years), Ken Ikeya (deputySub leader, 62 years), Yoshio Hirai (61), Shuzou Kinoshita (60) and Yasufusa Yokochi (59).

Summary: Ascent of Dir Gol Zom by a Japanese team.

 

 

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The West Kunlun Mountains lies in the northwestern part of the Changtang Plateau. The total length about 350 km from east to west, and it divides two latitudinal ranges – the North and the South range. Mostly of the peaks are covered with massive glacier ice and snow, unfortunately there is only one peak over 7000 m. The Yulunkash River in western part of the mountains flows down between the North and the South ranges, the Keriya River in central part, flows through both ranges from the south to the north. The second highest peak of the mountains rises on the east end of the South range and east bank of the Keriya River. It is called Chong Muztagh (6962 m).

Peaks of the North range could be climbed from villages along with Silk Road. Peaks of western half of the South range could use a military road which links Kashgar and the southwestern Tibet via Karghalik. This range includes the highest 7167 m peak which is easy to approach. Consequently five or six Japanese climbing parties are already there. Whereas Chong Muztagh rises behind the oasis villages at the north foot of the ranges, and in addition there is no accessible road around the mountain.

When we got a permit for climbing Chong Muztagh from Sinkiang Mountaineering Association in March 1999, nobody known how to approach to the mountain. For this reason we decided to send two persons for a reconnaissance of three weeks’ duration in May 1999. Hiroaki Kino and Hideki Inaba chose an old caravan route which connected East Turkestan and Ladakh. Then went down into the Achik Kul basin named after one of salty lake’s there, at height of about 4500 m. Passing through barren and waterless desert they climbed two passes and they reached the Keriya River. In spite of bad weather and a lot of donkey-problem, reached 25 km from the mountain. Nevertheless, we had to abandon this old caravan route as hopeless.

In September I attempted to search another approach to the foot of the mountain. I intended to trace a route which followed a hundred years ago by Captain Deasy. According to the satellite image map of the West Kunlun, there is a great garben(??) which extend for a long distance westward. It was proved that Deasy also passed through that garben(??) for a suitable route.

On 4 September I left Khotan for Karasai with an Uigur interpreter and a young cook by 4WD car. From Niya to Karasai we crossed on road less sandy gravelled desert, took more than nine hours. Karasai is the last permanent village, situated at the foothills of the eastern part of West Kunlun. I made a contract with three villagers as guides and donkey driver. An elder of the village said that till 1970’s shepherds frequently went to a pasture in the high valley called Yepal Ungur.

On 7 September we left Karasai with 12 donkeys, 6 for baggage and 6 for riding. We marched along a gravelled dry valley flowing northward, and up a sandy slope to a small pass named Ulesh Dawan. Remarkable fault formation appeared here and it continued as far as 300 km southwest. We passed Ulesh Dawan and down into a barren valley. Plenty of Hill Pigeons and Yellow Billed Choughs settled on the high cliff. Next day my caravan crossed the Kuyak river and entered into a Selektuz valley, which means Yellow Straight valley, it represents the existence of the tectonic line. In the valley bottom are deposited massive volumes of alluvial sediments cut apart by a narrow stream. We entered into a deep gorge country, height of both side walls was about 100 m. Ascending a steep cliff from the valley bottom, we could see a wide stretch of the sky and the broad expanse of pasture. There were many kinds of grasses and burrows of marmots.

The series of terraces continued up to 4000 m, streams disappeared into the ground, massive talus deposits and fluvial glacial deposits covered almost the whole riverbed. The landscape has changed to cold desert, it seem like there is no sign of life, but a few plants occur in this zone, may be less than ten species. A small shrub belonging to the family Chenopodiae, Ceratoides compacta – whose indigenous name is Yapkak, is a principal plant in this area. I also observed a few of the typical scenes of the bird’s high desert habitat, such as flock of Snow Finches flying around sand dunes and solitary Redstart resting on the whitish gravel. We ascended the wide dry valley, with which glacial moraine forms a longitudinal parallel line. The valley becomes a narrow basin between rolling hills and a lake shaped like Arabic numeral “8” accumulates ground water from the glacier covered mountains. 200 to 300 Ruddy Shelducks are feeding on the lakeshore, they have flown from Siberia, and after a stop over here they will fly toward Peninsular India. The local name of this lake is “Gangutluk Kul” meaning “The Lake of Many Ruddy Shelduck”.

On the sixth days after departure we reached a desolate pass, 5141 m high, it was the highest point throughout our route. After crossing the pass we could see the great basin, extending 80 km wide from east to west and 20 km wide from north to south. We could see a chain of brilliant white peaks on the right hand side. A salty lake exists in the middle of the basin, named Shor Kul, 4500 m high. A fresh water spring on the north bank made streamlet flow into the salty lake. Along this streamlet some kind of cushion plants and many foot prints ungulates, birds and a kind of Feridae (a cat). We went ahead 25 km on the sandy/gravelled plain from Shor Kul, turned south, ascended toward the gap and across a corridor like pass which is called “Chap” by locals. The landforms surrounding Chap area have undergone deformation, rufous coloured flat-topped ridges ranging in all directions.

Descending Chap area, we entered the region drained by the Keriya river. For a short while we went along the eastern most tributary of the Keriya which was filled with gravel. A small stream appears again near the confluence where three tributaries of the Keriya converge and unite, here is Yatokogan. Vast volumes of deposit make up a wide riverbed, it continues toward upper confluence. When we advanced toward left bank terrace, we saw a big Wild Yak on opposite bank that ran down leaving clouds of dust.

In this area the landscape changed from arid forms to priglacial(??chk) forms, because the latest mass of ice had remained here until several hundred years ago, and mean temperature keeps on low rate. Entering into the wide tributary which joins from the southwest direction, when we draw water from little streams I noticed that the water contained some fine soil and some flowering grasses grew at places between the streams. I think that permafrost which is buried in the ground is the principle source of water supply. Because there are bare rock faces around this valley and no glacier covered mountain near here. Upper part of this valley, bends like a bow in profile, here graminaceous(?? word means like grass!) grasses come out, on which the ungulates and hare feed. Here is Selukluk Boyan – yellowish nape – called by donkey driver, originate from colour of the grasses and shape. Divide area between east and southeast tributaries of the Keriya is as flat as plain. A small salty lake exists here and a herd of Kulan (wild ass) feed around the lake.

We could see a splendid view of the mountains – Chong Muztagh on the left. This is the first time I have seen it. Eight days have passed since I left Karasai. Captain Deasy had been here, but he could not see such panoramic view and take any photograph of Chong Muztagh because of bad weather. He wrote in his book “Then we climbed the long ascent to Kumboyan, where, close to the head of the pass, we found antelope, abundance of grass, and, by digging, a sufficientry(??) of water. Descending the slope on the other side, we crossed a tiny tributary of the Keriya river system, a mere brook, quite shallow and less than ten feet broad. In crossing this stretch of country we had had to contend with heavy rain and sleet, but now, at Yepal Ungur,” (In Tibet and Chinese Turkestan, p176-77).

We descended toward the riverbed of the Keriya River and pitched out tents on the wind - swept place – Sarkunchi. We could see the great Keriya valley depression and the great white mountains. Next two days I made reconnaissance’s into the untouched area.

The meaning of Chong Muztagh is “ice and snow covered great mountains” in Turkish/Uigurish, highest peak of this mountains in 6962 m peak – a rock peak with ice and snow. On the right side (west side) of highest peak linking toward the twin peak 6740 m, on the left (east) side, the highest peak and 6845 m peak a big gap in between and linking toward second highest 6942 m peak. If you want to climb the high peaks, you have to take north-facing ridges with heavy snow, the north faces or north facing glaciers cannot be climbed because of crevasses and avalanche danger. Chong Muztagh is surrounded by vast volumes of glacial moraine which heap up old and new deposits. The foothills of Chong Muztagh are a heavenly place for ungulates, I observed solitary bull Chirus and a herd of Wild Yak on the moraine, the Picas inhabit near his nest and also carnivores. The basecamp could be among moraines, donkeys could bring the baggage to upper part of the moraine.

In the summer of 2000 we sent the climbing expedition to Chong Muztagh led by Shin Yamada. Yamada take up the tale:

We started the approach march from Kyantokai (just before Karasai) on 23 July. The caravan consisted on 90 donkeys, 61 for baggage and 29 for riding, 17 donkey drivers and us. Rainy weather of this summer affected the 220 km approach march. The rushing torrents of rivers forced us to stay on the bank for two days. It took twelve days to reach the Base Camp (4850 m) at the northern foot of the mountain, crossing the high altitude desert.

We made the advanced Base Camp at 5200 m. Baggage’s were carried there on the back of donkeys. Then we pitched Camp 1 at 5900 m and Camp 2 at 6400 m, both on north ridge of Chong Muztagh by 12 August. The ridge was broad and covered with deep snow. On 15 August, Eiho Otani, Hiroaki Kino and Yasushi Tanahashi started their summit assault from Camp 2. They fixed some pitches of ropes on the steep of the “Snow Dome” (6650 m) in order to avoid the risk of avalanche. Changeable weather often forced them to stop going forward. Snowstorms shut the visibility. They reached the bottom of rock ridge near the summit at 12.00 (Sinkyang time) when it began to snow fiercely. They stayed there for two hours waiting for clear view. They started again to climb at 14.00. It was the most difficult part of the route to climb. They choose the route along the contact line of rock ridge with cornices and steep snow slope where they fixed 50 m of static rope. The final section to the summit was steep snow slope. At 15.30 they reached the summit. The poor weather continued. At 19.00, Otani decided to bivouac beside the large rock on the saddle between the summit and the junction peak to the West peak (6740 m). They went back to Camp 2 next day at 10.30

On 18 August the second ascent party – Shin Yamada and Hideki Inaba and West Peak ascent party – Kenji Shiratori, Kanae Watanabe and Tsuyoshi Yamada left Base Camp and reached Camp 1 and 2. Next day each party climbed up toward the summits but they had to return from the Snow Dome because of bad weather.

Members: Reconnaissance on May 1999; Hiroaki Kino, Hideki Inaba Reconnaissance on September 1999; Shigeru Kodama Expedition on 2000; Shin Yamada (leader), Takaaki Narikawa, Kenji Shiratori, Eiho Otani, Hiroaki Kino, Hideki Inaba, Yasushi Tanahashi, Kanae Watanabe, Tsuyoshi Yamada, Takuya Nakashima, Kazuhiko Haruno and Tetsushi Arimura.

Summary : Waseda University Alpine Club of Tokyo sent two reconnaissance parties in May and September of 1999, and to the climbing expedition in summer of 2000 to Chong Muztagh, the West Kunlun mountains, Sinkyang, China. They made the first ascent of Chong Muztagh (6962 m) on 15 August 2000. Twelve-member expedition including 5 students and 2 over sixty year old climber was led by Shin Yamada.

 

 

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In the fall of 1998, I went to check Gangkar Punsm (7570 m) with S. Nakamura, A. Yamamoto, and two of the pressmen of Yomiuri Newspaper, A. Ihara, and E. Miyasaka. In February 1999 when we have only two months to leave for the expedition, there was an unavoidable incident which prevented us from the expedition.

However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in China and some other related officers gave us the permission of climbing Liangkang Kangri which is located 3 km north of Gangkar Punsm, because they consider this expedition as the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the China and Japan climbing friendship.

Liangkang Kangri is 7535 m and the second highest of unclimbed peak in the world. On 9 May and 10 in 1999, all of the ten members except myself had reached the top of the Liangkang Kangri. We all appreciated the cooperation of Chinese mountaineering Association and it was such a great pleasure to celebrate the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of our relationship.

Climbing Report

On 18 April 1999, ten members with Leader Itami left Lhasa with a big loaded truck. After 10 hours, we arrived at Yojitsontso, a village 4500 m above sea level. From there, it took two more days to get the BC (4750 m) with 2.5t baggage using horses. We finished setting up the BC on 21 May.

After spending one day there for preparation, we started the climbing from 23 April. On 25 April we set up C1 (5350 m). We were lucky to have great weather and also last years preparation, everything had been very smooth to C1.

To set the C2, there was an ice-hall of 300 m, K. Suzuki, M. Kadoya, K. Takahashi fixed the rope 11 pitches within two days. On 27 April, we reached the C2 (6200 m). On 30 April, we moved out from Camp 2 and unloaded. On 1 May, S. Nakamura, A. Yamamoto and H. T. Takeuchi reached 6520 m and set up the summit Camp. Spending two more days to unload, we finished the preparation for attack.

Colour Plates 31-32

We rested for two days at BC and members were separated into two groups. Each left on 6 May and 7. On 9 May, 5:00 a.m. (Beijing Time) the first team left the summit camp at 11:15 a.m., K. Suzuki, M. Kadoya, H. Takeuchi, K. Takahashi, and Y. Kato reached the summit of the Liangkang Kangri. They took the pictures of the summit of Gangkar Punsm (7570 m).

The next day, 10 May, S. Nakamura, A. Yamamoto, N. Kobayashi, J. Takahashi and D. Sato reached the top, too although their tent was destroyed by the very strong wind in the middle of the night. In spite of sharp wind and snow when we climbed down, we all came down to the summit camp safely. On the same day, the first group left the camp. On 11 May, we removed the C2 including the fixed ropes and came back to the C1. Some members climbed down to the BC. On 15 May, we removed the BC and arrived at Lhasa at 12:00 midnight.

We spent 26 days to climb above the BC. In 17 days we reached the summit from BC. Since all of the members had experiences of expeditions in Himalaya, we did not have any problems with adaptation routing load ferrying etc. We had been able to finish climbing fairly quickly.

We all have carried back not only the fixed ropes and snow-bar, but also all the garbage we had, including the papers for toilet. We disposed them in Lhasa. We only left the footsteps of 11 members on Liangkang Kangri.

Members: Tsuguyasu Itami (leader), Susumu Nakamura (deputy leader), Atsushi Yamamoto (climbing leader), Kiyoshi Suzuki, Kazuhiro Takahashi, Michihiro Kadoya, Yoshinobu Kato, Naoyuki Kobayashi, Junichi Takahashi, Hirotaka Takeuchi and Daisuke Kato(interpreter).

Summary : An ascent of Liangkang Kangri (7535 m) by a Japanese team.

 

 

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From summer to autumn of the last year of 20th Century, we explored unclimbed peaks in unknown areas of Tibet, China.

In my first plan, our target was Ruoni (6610 m), the main peak of Kangri Galpo mountains and situated to the east of Namjag(Namcha) Barwa (7782 m). I’ve been interested in this mountain since I saw one photograph in the Glaciers of Xizang (Tibet), which was published in the autumn of 1986 in China. In 1987, the next year, we applied for the permission to climb this mountain to the Chinese Mountaineering Association (CMA), and at last we got it after an interval of 13 years.

In the summer of 2000, we had a heavy rainy season in Tibet. We could not go near Mr. Ruoni, because the road to it was broken at many places, thus we gave up. We changed the aim to Talha Ri (6777 m), which is located to the east of Kula Kangri (7538 m) near Bhutan and has no climbing records. Its height is described as 6614 m in the Mountains of Central Asia (MCA) and it lies towards the south of Lhasa and a big mountain range of six is 6000 m peaks from the north to the south.

Losa (3850 m), the main base, is one day journey from Lhasa by car. We established BC at Yayu Co (River) over Darai La from the west side on 8 August. However, we could not advanced because the condition of the glacier from Yayu Co to the ridge of Tarlha Ri was very bad. We gave up this route and changed objective to Zhemazhenyon (6480 m), the north-end peak. On 14th, we made new BC at 4800 m near Cu Chu. We ascended up and made camps at 5400 m and 5800 m. On 25th, A. Nozawai and Y. Ota made the first ascent of this peak. Also the next day, they made the first ascent of Maisha Kangri (5993 m) to the north of Zhemazhenyon.

We returned to Lhasa via Mendan because a bridge across Cu Chu was washed away by heavy rain.

At Lhasa, Nozawai and I joined H. Iwazaki and M. Suzuki, who made the ascent of Spantik (7027 m) in Pakistan and went to the north foot of Kula Kangri again, and established BC on 11 September. Three members except me attempted to climb the new route on the north face in alpine style, but gave up at 6750 m because of dangerous snow condition.

After our expedition, Iwazaki and I rode over horseback and went for the exploration of Tongshangjabu (7207 m) on the border with Bhutan. From Chucuo, we went west to Lozaxiong Chu and at the village of Nai went north and at last reached Tse La (5275 m). After descending down from the pass, there were six Kaluka on a vast and dreary plateau and we could see many mountains on the border across a lake. We managed to take photographs of the north face of some unclimbed mountains, such as Tongshangjabu, Teri Kang (7125 m), Kangphu Kang (7202 m) and Jejekangphu Kang (6825 m) for the first time.

Summary : Ascent of Zhemazhenyon by a Japanese team on 25 August 2000.

 

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