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In early October, after a five-day trek from Botang (1,850m) via Panch Pokhari, Javier Guzmán, Mikel Inoriza, Iker Madoz, Rubén San Martín, Ander Zabalza, and I established our base camp at an idyllic site around 4,200m. The weather was perfect, the conditions on the south face of Dorje Lhakpa excellent, and the cold of autumn had yet to arrive. We made an advanced base at 4,900m and then, to acclimatize, climbed the northeast ridge of Lingsing Himal (a.k.a. Linsin Himal, the 6,074m summit on the watershed ridge between Dorje Lhakpa and 6,143m Urkinmang) to a small point at approximately 5,900m (2810'17.89"N, 8544'38.75"E). We bivouacked at 5,300m on the way up and again at 5,600m on the way down. It was a beautiful ridge: snow with a few rock steps of grade V. [It is not clear if this ridge has ever been climbed in its entirety.]
Once we were down, five consecutive days of bad weather left 1.5m of fresh snow on the glacier. We then received a weather report that promised a short window with a sharp drop in temperature. Afterward, the wind at altitude would become very strong. Inoriza, Madoz, and I would try the south face of Dorje Lhakpa, while Ander, Javi, and Rubén would try the southwest wall. To 5,800m, our routes would coincide.
Making a trail up the glacier proved painful. My team bivouacked at 5,700m, the others 100m higher at the foot of the face. We set out at 4 a.m. on the 25th in biting cold. A little later we saw the other team back on the glacier: The cold had been too intense and the conditions too poor. We three continued upward, opening a deep track. When I checked the satellite phone, I saw a message that next day the wind on the summit would be 80km/h and would not decrease in the coming days. We quickly decided to go for the summit that day.
Local people have long worshipped Panch Chuli. The massif is named after the five Pandava brothers: Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva. They are the central characters of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. They were the sons of Pandu, the king of Kuru.
Approaching from the east and examining possible climbing routes, Ruttledge concluded that the sharp ridge of the north arete might be climbable. However, it would be decades before anyone climbed any of the Panch Chuli peaks.
In 1950, a Scottish expedition led by W. H. Murray attempted a climb from the east. They tried to reach the north col and follow the northeast ridge. Because of the tricky terrain, they did not progress far.
Twenty days later that same season, British climber Kenneth Snelson and South African J. de V. Graaff targeted the northeast summit ridge of the massif, but huge cliffs blocked their route. Snelson and Graaff then considered the south ridge but finally abandoned their attempt on the southeast face after just 122m.
One year after Murray, in 1951, Austrians Heinrich Harrer and Frank Thomas approached the massif with two sherpas and a botanist. They approached through the Uttari Balati Glacier, bypassing three icefalls. For the time, it was a pioneering adventure.
Reaching the Balati Plateau and examining the north and west ridges, Harrer decided to attempt the west ridge. But the team gave up after one of the sherpas fell and injured himself. Nevertheless, their 16-day expedition showed subsequent parties the best way to approach.
One year later, more attempts came from the west when two parties reached the Balati Plateau. In 1953, Indian mountaineer P. N. Nikore claimed a solo ascent but could not provide any evidence of his climb.
Another Indian attempt came more than 10 years later. A party led by Captain AK Chowdhury attempted Panch Chuli II, the highest peak in the massif. They then claimed to have ascended Panch Chuli III, IV, and V within two days.
Repeating the same route, an Indian team led by Mahendra Singh managed to summit the highest peak of the group, 6,904m Panch Chuli II, in 1973. The 18 members of this team topped out on May 26 after fixing almost 3,000m of rope on the southwest ridge.
The team was stacked with experience and natural talent: Bonington with his high-level first ascents and new routes; Kapadia with more than 20 first ascents; Saunders, the hesitant architect who made some amazing climbs and first ascents (and who wrote about them with such humor in his books); and Venables, who, after ascending Everest without supplementary oxygen via a new route, decided not to take part in 8,000m peak collecting.
Four days later, the group established a glacier camp above the first icefall at 3,900m. The problems started just after, as the terrain became more and more complicated. There were still two very dangerous icefalls to get through.
The four men wanted to ascend the difficult south ridge. According to Bonington, the approach to the ridge was complex and dangerous. After bypassing the third icefall via a different gully, the small group stopped at 5,400m on a col at the foot of the final ridge because of snowfall. The col was precariously situated on a corniced crest.
The buttress above camp was 200m of steep rock broken by snow and ice slopes. Their map showed that it was a kilometer from the top of the buttress to the top of the peak. Bonington, who eventually decided not to push for the summit, promised to wait for the others at this precarious camp.
Sustad described the upper part of the buttress as some of the best and hardest mixed climbing he had ever experienced in the Himalaya. On June 20, Venables, Saunders, Sustad, and Renshaw reached the summit.
At 3:30 am, Sustad, Saunders, and Renshaw had rappelled down and Venables removed the backup anchors, which might be needed later on. At that moment, he was relying on a piton driven into a horizontal crack of rock. The piton pulled out, and Venables hurtled down almost 100m.
Venables was lucky to be alive. He severely damaged his right knee, broke his left ankle, and injured his chest. The team started to assist him down the mountain to a tent, but from there they needed a helicopter.
Kapadia and the others formed a Plan B. If the chopper could not pick Venables up on the third day, they would go up with a 20-person party, including a doctor and all the support required to get him down safely.
Kris has been writing about history and tales in alpinism, news, mountaineering, and news updates in the Himalaya, Karakoram, etc., for the past year with ExplorersWeb. Prior to that, Kris worked as a real estate agent, interpreter, and translator in criminal law. Now based in Madrid, Spain, she was born and raised in Hungary.
I peeped out of my tent and could hear Chris snoring loudly. It was the radio. BBC was broadcasting an interview with Chris Bonington. We were at ABC (4840 m). This must be surely a record of sorts, listening to an interview at this height, with the interviewee snoring in the next tent!
Our expedition had come a long way already. When Bonington and the others arrived at Bombay on 7 May 1992, we were ready with all the last minute preparations. A super fast train took us to Delhi ('British rail can learn a thing or two from this). A two day bus ride with half a day's rest at Ranikhet followed. ('Solving the case of the missing "tempo" with our all expedition luggage'). Finally everything was in place at Munsiary, the roadhead.
By this time we were learning the diplomatic charms of Bonington. If he paid you a compliment, he wanted something done. His adaptability was amazing. In a jacket, so to speak, he was a great diplomat shaking hands and smiling for hours, enough to disarm a formidable bureaucrat. Once in a bus, or on the mountains, he was totally different.
Starting on 15 May, we walked 3 days in an amazing virgin forest, halting at Domol, and Balati. Base camp (3200 m) was at the snout of the Uttari Balati glacier, one of the lowest BCs in the Himalaya. In fact, the height difference from BC to Panch Chuli II (6904 m) was 3700 m,,more than on most high mountains, including Everest.
'Shit, how are we going to go through this?' It was exclaimed looking at the three icefalls of the glacier. The first one was by-passed and the Glacier Camp (3900 m) was established. Victor opened a route on the (true) left of the glacier. It was a maze of collapsing crevasses, and stones bombarded the fixed ropes after 7 a.m. We christened it 'Victor's Terror' and very reluctantly moved in.
We were discussing the legend of the Panch Chuli peaks. Folklore has it that the five Pandava brothers cooked their last meal on these peaks and proceeded to heaven. These peaks were the hearths from which the sun-rays rose towards heaven, every morning and evening.
We found two gullies, leading up and by-passing the second and third icefall. This was the route followed by all the earlier teams. But it was highly exposed. All the difficulties we had faced on the left route on snow and ice, were present here on scree and rocks. We fixed a rope and on the first run I almost lost my rucksack. After crossing it once, Victor got even with me.
He almost proved right. Later on in the expedition Vijay slipped in one of these gullies and almost fell down the rocks. Sundersingh literally slid after him and stopped him at the last bump. Vijay broke an ankle and that's when the helicopter flew for the first time, to pick him up.
We set out at three o'clock the following morning, picked our way across the glacier and then made an endless-seeming plod, lit by the small pools of light from our torches, up the slopes leading to the spur. It was good moving without the weight of a heavy rucksack. I could even keep up with Graham, taking my turn out in front. One of the problems of climbing with people nearly twenty years younger is that all too often they are tiny dots disappearing over the horizon, or tugging insistently out in front on the rope.
Night changed to the grey of the pre-dawn and, as we gained height, the skyline of the Balati glacier took shape, ridges and snow slopes becoming defined, then etched in the golden light of the sun, as it lit the tops of the peaks. Opposite and behind us was Rajrambha, a big sprawling peak, whose steep crenellated face fell away sheer to the glacier. At the head of the valley was undimbed Nagalaphu, with twin rocky peaks and steep walls.
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