On Lampak North

Vinay Hegde

'If you visit the same valley one more time, the locals would bestow a green card status on you.' This is how my friends criticised my proposal, for the umpteenth time attempt the elusive peak of Ranglana in the Obra valley. There was a need to change the focus, and in retrospect what a good idea it turned out to be.

After mulling over the various options, we selected the peaks in the Kalla Bank, near Malari in Uttarakhand. The region offered quick approach till base, hard climb till the top and possibly stunning views of the giants such a Nanda Devi, Changabang, Tirsuli and Dunagiri.

The region is not much frequented and the records show only three or maybe four visits since 1950. The first foray was by the Scottish team lead by W.H. Murray in the 1950's. There is no record of any ascents during this trip. After a gap of four decades a small team from Mumbai visited this glacier in 1990 but could not climb any peaks. They were followed, more than a decade later, by the large Punjab Police team lead by Dr. P. M. Das in 2003. They claim to have climbed two peaks marked as Lampak I (South) and Lampak II (North) on the maps. There is one more noting of a team from West Bengal, having claimed to have climbed Lampak II in 2005, but no report of this expedition is available nor do the locals confirm any visit from the West Bengal team, but more of this issue later.

We were four from Mumbai. Cyrus Shroff our brave and fearless leader, Bupesh Ashar also brave but not so fearless, Sanjay Khatau not so brave or fearless. And myself falling somewhere in between. We had a wild card entry in the form of Rajal Upadhyaya from Kenya via London who also professed to be brave and fearless, but in western style !

We left Mumbai on 10 May 2009 and reached Joshimath on the 12th where we met our Sherpas Nima and Dawa, who were to lead in upper sections and played a major role in our success. We had the good fortune of engaging the services of Narinder Singh running a trekking Agency in Joshimath, for arranging porters till base camp and for managing the kitchen during the expedition. Over the years young entrepreneurs have cropped up at virtually all popular expedition/ trekking roadheads, who take care of all the logistics till the base camp, providing porters, cooks, helpers as required at modest fees. Gone are the days when one had to haul everything from Mumbai and fret for the porters or haggle with them. Apart from making the trip hassle free for the expedition it is also doing wonders for the local economy albeit at a micro level, given the size of our group.

32. and 33. Peak 6504 m (below) as per the Survey of India Map/GPS reading and reference to HJ Vol 47 and 52. The same peak is wrongly mentioned as ‘Lampak South (6325 m) (above)’ by Dr. P.M. Das in his article.

32. and 33. Peak 6504 m (below) as per the Survey of India Map/GPS reading and reference to HJ Vol 47 and 52. The same peak is wrongly mentioned as ‘Lampak South (6325 m) (above)’ by Dr. P.M. Das in his article.




Our walk-in began on 14 May 2009, just one kilometre ahead of Jumma village on the Joshimath-Malari road. Lampak II dominates the view to the northeast from this roadhead, and during the course of the entire walk to the base camp. We crossed the Dhauli ganga which drains Siraunch and other glaciers. Walking on the left bank we reached the quaint village of Ruing (2843 m) within no time. The next day was again a pleasant walk through canopied forest and along the left of river draining Kalla Bank, till Gharpak (3299 m) the last village in the valley. En route we crossed the confluence of Dunagiri river draining the Bagini Bamak.

The third day's walk brought us to the grassy plateau of Kalla Kharak (3993 m) and we had the treat of spotting a large herd of bharals. There are several trekking options in this area. There is a route from Malari which climbs steeply and descends directly to Kalla Kharak, from where one can continue all the way to Dibrugheta and entrance of the Rishi Gorge, the guardian of Nanda Devi or one can visit Dunagiri base camp and then descend to Ruing village.

We were well above the tree line by now and the walk to the base camp on the fourth day was a little desolate compared to the lively surroundings we had encountered so far. The route from the roadhead follows more or less a straight line till the base walls of Lampak II and there it takes a sharp right turn to west, leading into the Kalla Bank. At the head of this glacier was the stunning 6504 m peak, which, to the best of our knowledge, remains unclimbed till this day.

Base camp was at 4700 m on the medial moraine of the glacier. The Kalla Bank is a short glacier and about eight kilometres length wise and about a kilometer wide. On its right bank are the Lampak group of peaks; Lampak II (6181 m) and Lampak I (6325 m). At the head of the glacier was the unnamed 6504 m and on the left, on the divide between Kalla Bank and Bagini glacier, were several unnamed peaks of heights varying from 5200 to 5700 metres. The valley itself is unspectacular but provides splendid climbing opportunity within short approach from the road.

View towards Bagini Bamak en route to summit. L to r: Nanda Devi, Kalanka, Changabang, Purvi Dunagiri and Dunagiri. (Rajal Upadhyaya)

View towards Bagini Bamak en route to summit. L to r: Nanda Devi, Kalanka, Changabang, Purvi Dunagiri and Dunagiri. (Rajal Upadhyaya)



On 18 May we went on a lazy acclimatisation climb, starting quite late in the morning to our ultimate regret. Snow which was crunchy and firm by 8.00 a.m. became impossibly mushy and un-climbable by 10.00 a.m. and we were forced to abandon our foray. Worse, we could not even discern the route to our next camp on Lampak II, which we had chosen as primary objective.

Back in the base camp we had a long debate on the best options available. Finally it was decided to take the direct approach, climb the lateral moraine on right and generally aim in the direction of the southwest flank of Lampak II and hope for the best. We were rewarded in our endeavor when after climbing a particularly horrid scree slope above the moraine we could see a camping area for advance base camp and also a feasible route up the Lampak II. The ABC was set up at 5100 m.

The route from here presented three levels of difficulties. The first was a short but steep icefall at the base of the southwest face. Next was the main head wall and lastly the corniced and exposed ridge till the top. We started early on 21 May from the ABC with the hope of fixing ropes till as far as possible and finding a suitable site for the summit camp. The icefall, though short, took considerable time to fix and left us quite exhausted at the end of the day. We had dumped our loads above the icefall and just below the start of the main head wall intending to place our summit camp 5491 m at this point the next day.

Descending the the corniced ridge from summit. (Cyrus Shroff)

Descending the the corniced ridge from summit. (Cyrus Shroff)



Sanjay decided to support the team from ABC. The remaining four, and two Sherpas, reached the summit camp in good spirits on the 22nd and the spent a cramped night in a single tent. Starting at three in the morning we made steady progress climbing the South west wall of Lampak II over mainly ice and tightly packed snow with gradients varying from 50 to 70 degrees and after crossing a nasty bergshrund on the way we reached the summit ridge at around 8.00 a.m.. The summit ridge was heavily corniced on the Siraunch glacier side with ugly looking cracks. We had fixed five rope lengths till the ridge and since further fixing was out of question, we decided to climb roped up till the summit. The weather which was somehow holding up till date, though with some degree of uncertainty, looked like it was getting ready to pack up for a long time to come and we hurried across carefully along the sharp and exposed ridge ignoring the blasts of icy wind on our face reaching the gentle domed top of Lampak II at around 10.00 a.m.. This incidentally was the only level place during the entire day where we could stand and even sit without the fear of toppling over one way or the other. We were blessed with beautiful views of Nanda Devi, Changabang, Kalanka and Dunagiri to our south and these peaks were our constant inspiration during the climb till the top. The view in other direction was however obscured and the future looked quite ominous.

Exhausted as we were the descent was quite dicey along the exposed ridge till the fixed ropes more particularly as the wind had picked up and was threatening to blow us across to the Siraunch side. The descent on the ropes till the summit camp was a lumbering affair in our tired state. No sooner did we reached the summit camp the weather broke and we counted our blessings for a safe journey up as well as down. The next day we dragged ourselves down to the base camp for a well deserved rest. The weather broke up and the prospect of putting in any further climbs looked doubtful. We decided to call it quits and headed back to reluctantly to civilisation.

Note on past Lampak acents

One controversy with regard to the first ascent of Lampak II (North) requires to be mentioned. There appears to be a discrepancy in the account of (late) Dr. P.M. Das who in the article appearing in HJ Vol. 60 claimed to have climbed Lampak I and II during the course of their expedition. In his article Dr. Das had also doubted the contentions of 1990 expedition as reported in HJ Vol. 47 with regard to the true locations of these peaks. Given this background we had taken care to take GPS readings at each stage of the expedition, commencing from the roadhead till the summit and had compared the same with the coordinates on the Survey of India map. The GPS readings coincided with the coordinates of the map and we had no doubt that we had attempted and climbed Lampak II, 6181 m. The report and the pictures appearing along with the article of the 1990 expedition confirms that they were also on the same peak.

The description of the terrain till the top of Lampak II as given in the report of Dr. P.M. Das nowhere matches the terrain we actually encountered, but conversely the details of the terrain matched perfectly with the 1990 account. The photographs in HJ Vol. 60 claimed to be that of Lampak I (South) is in fact that of Peak 6504 and not of Lampak I. We are fortified in our view by a photograph taken from Tirsuli (West) by Martin Moran (HJ Vol. 52 p. 61) of peak 6504 m which coincides with what was seen visually, the photographs taken by us, the map and the GPS as well as the photographs taken by the 1990 expedition.

It is difficult to say as to what exactly was climbed by the 2003 Punjab Police expedition, but it was definitely not Lampak II (North) 6181 m nor could it be of 6504 m, going by the details of the climb available. Ours could have been the first ascent of this lovely mountain Lampak North, but at the end of the day it really does not matter as we had a jolly good time and a fantastic and demanding climb.

Summary :

Ascent of Lampak II also known as Lampak North, 6181 m, by a team from Mumbai. The peak was climbed on 23 May 2009. The other peaks in the Lampak group are Lampak I (also known as Lampak South), 6325 m, and Unnamed peak 6504 m. The expedition was sponsored by the Himalayan Club.