CORRESPONDENCE

Bart Jordans
Geoff Cohen

To,
The Editor,
Himalayan Journal

Dear Mr Kapadia,

Thanks a lot for the Himalayan Journal Volume 62. It arrived here in Hanoi (via Denmark)!

Small remark: in the review it says that ' ... would make many Indians envious (trekking in Bhutan is very expensive and restrictive),' I believe that Indians don't have to pay the daily tourist tax; and I would also say that there are no restrictions. Restrictions in Bhutan used to be like only so many tourists per year but that is not the case anymore. Well, restriction now is actually the amount of seats on their flights coming in and out of Bhutan.

Besides the fact that Indians don't have to pay the daily tourist tax for travelling in Bhutan I do have to agree that trekking is not cheap in Bhutan. Even when we lived there and I did a lot myself it is still expensive to hire pack animals and a small kitchen staff if you want.

It is always very interesting to have a Himalayan Journal in your hands. I read them from cover to cover. I happen to have copies of Volume 1 to 12 and then a couple more from later. Great references.

I could read that you have been through Bhutan recently.

Tashi Delek, hope to meet you once in the beautiful Himalaya or at the Himalayan Club Centre in Mumbai

Bart Jordans
Hanoi, Vietnam

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The Editor,
The Himalayan Journal

Climbing in the Miyar nala in the 1980s.

In HJ 2005 (Vol. 61 p.139 ) Jim Lowther says that the first recorded climbing in the Miyar nala area was in 1992, by an Italian team. This is incorrect. Unfortunately the mistake was repeated in an article in the Alpine Journal 2005, page 134.

In HJ Vol. 41, pages 184-186 there is a note of a visit made to this area in 1983 by Sue Brener, Barry Owen and myself. That note also mentions evidence of earlier Japanese visits. Our 1983 visit was inspired by the Pinnacle Club expedition of 1980 (HJ Vol. 39, p. 69). An earlier visit was made by a British school expedition (King's School Ely) in 1978 (mentioned in HJ Vol. 58, p.87). In 1985 there was an expedition to the upper part of the Miyar nala by an Edinburgh University team (Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal 1986, p.380).

A comparison of the sketch map of our visit (Vol. 41, p.185) and Lowther's visit (Vol. 61, p.143) shows close similarities. Peaks A and B which we climbed, and estimated to be 6020 m and 5990 m respectively, are given by Lowther as 6120 m and 6150 m respectively. [I am doubtful about the latter height as peak B appeared to be lower than peak A.] Peaks 1,3 and 4 on our map agree to within 100 m with the altitudes given by Lowther. The exact altitudes on our sketch map were taken from the trekking map available at that time; the approximate altitudes were estimated by altimeter on the peaks we climbed, and by eye otherwise.

Geoff Cohen

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