ASIAN ALPINE E-NEWS
Issue No 60. February 2020

Contents
New president of the Himalayan Club, Motup Chewang Goba
introduced by Harish Kapadia
Page 2 ~ 4Current issue of the Himalayan Club E-Letter 38
1Page 5 ~ 40

I must share celebratory news that our friend
MOTUP CHEWANG GOBA has received the highAward of Padma Shri from Govt of India in
Republic Days Honor's list today.
-- MOTUP CHEWANG GOBA, who will be the next President on the

Himalayan Club, has received PADMA SHRI in this year’s Republic Day
honors list. One of high honour in India. It is a proud day and aremarkable career for him.
Hailing from then remote village in the Nubra valley of Ladakh, as ayoung boy he crossed the high pass of Khardung la on foot many times
to go to Srinagar for studies and back, all on foot. He worked for atrekking agency for few years where he met his wife Yangdu, daughterof legendary Nawang Gombu Sherpa. They both established Rimo
Expeditions and since then never looked back.
He has remained a mountaineer at heart- crossing the dreaded Khumbu
Icefall almost 25 time in one expedition, carrying full loads. He has
climbed and trekked in almost all parts of the Indiana Himalaya andtravelled to many countries in the world. A well-known name in foreignand Indian mountain lovers, he has done lot for his own Ladakhi
Community. Organised Ice Hockey tournaments for Ladakhis andtraining young children of Ladakh for long distance running. In last
Mumbai Marathon, Ladakhi youngsters stood 5th in ranking.
All this growth in one generation, from a village to the world
citizen, Motup is a great achiever. I am proud to call him our family friend.
More strength to you!!

Harish Kapadia

Motup Chewang Gaba 1

Motup Chewang Goba 2

THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER
Volume 38  February 2020

THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 38

Contents Volume 38, February 2020
Climbs, Treks and Explorations
Summary of Mt. Nanda Devi East (7434 m) Expedition 20193

2019 Lachama Khola Expedition

4

First Ascent of South Ridge of Menthosa (6443 m)

14

ArticlesSuru Valley, Ladakh

15

Plant life ‘expanding over the Himalayas’

17

The Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival 2019 - Vignettes

21News and Personalities
Gurdial Singh

24

John Porter

25

Brig. Ashok Abbey

26

The Alpinist Podcast by Amrita Dhar

27

Nirmal Purja

27

Alpinism

28

Ice Hockey

28

RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS	29

Club News
History Recorded and Preserved: Himalayan Club Archives

30

Delhi Section

33

Front Cover: Heavily corniced ridge on the way towards Camp 4 (Nanda Devi East)

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Climbs, Treks and Explorations
Summary of Mt. Nanda Devi East (7434 m)
Expedition 2019
Rajshekar Maity
A four-member Indian
team from South Calcutta
Trekkers
Associationof Kolkata, led by
Rajsekhar
Maity,alongwith 5 Sherpas made a
successful attempt on
Mt. Nanda Devi East
(7434 m), the twin sisterof Nanda Devi, situatedon the outer rim of the
Nanda Devi sanctuary,during August-September
this year.
Since the first ascent in
1939, this mountain had
witnessed only a few
South ridge leading to the summit of Nanda Devi East successes (14 out of 32
attempts till July 2019).
The reason of so many failures are mainly due to the various difficulties
like climbing technicality, brittle and precipitous rock pinnacles, sharpcornices, exposed ridges,strong and cold wind, unpredictable weather
pattern and need of prolonged stay above 6000 meters.
The team took 32 days from Munsiyari to Munsiyari. They reached theBase Camp (4300m) on 26th August. The team climbed along the Southridge of the mountain and had put 7 camps before reaching the summit(7434m) on 15th September.
Pradip Bar, along with Phurba Sherpa, Lopsang Sherpa, Chongwa Dawa
and Palchen Sherpa reached the summit on 15th September 2019 at
10:36 AM. As per the record it was the 1st successful ascent by an Indian
civil team on this peak.
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2019 Lachama Khola Expedition
A report on the exploration and unclimbed peaks of theSouth Lachama Valley in Western Nepal
27th September – 27th October 2019
Derek R Buckle
Supported by the Mount Everest Foundation, the Montane Alpine Club
Climbing Fund, the Julie Tullis Memorial Fund and the Austrian Alpine
Club (UK)

Members
Derek Buckle, Drew Cook, Lorna Earl, Mike Fletcher, Steve Humphries,& Nick King

Summary
Over the period from 27th September to 27th October 2019 our party of
six Alpine Club members travelled to Nepal to explore the south Lachama
Valley in the Changla Himal and attempt one or more unclimbed peaks.

The upper reaches of the South Lachama Glacier indicating the true PK 5822
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The team assembled in Kathmandu on 28th September before taking
two domestic flights via Nepalgunj to the remote hilltop town of Simikot.
From Simikot we trekked north for five days up the Chuwa and Dojam
Kholas following an arduous track, made treacherous by late monsoon
rain and large numbers of descending livestock, to reach a base campat 4,348m at the junction of the north and south forks of the Lachama
Khola. A more convenient advance base camp was then establishedjust short of the complex terminal moraine of the south Lachama Glacierat 4,585m on 7th October. From this camp the team made exploratory
forays both to the pass leading south, to what we had believed was
our objective peak PK 5822, and eastwards in an attempt to accessthe glacial headwall and our secondary objective. During these forays
it became increasingly obvious that the photograph we had been given
depicting PK 5822 (now labelled as False PK 5822) was in fact a lesser
peak estimated from Google Earth satellite images to be ~5,590m. The
actual PK 5822 peak was now believed to be our secondary objective at
the head of the glacial cirque and was relabelled True PK 5822.

The team (almost) ready for action at ABC (from left: Derek Buckle {leader}, Steve
Humphries, Lorna Earl, Drew Cook, Nick King, Mike Fletcher)5THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 38

Guarded by extensive and complex boulder fields, access to the glacierproper was awkward and time-consuming, with the preferred route being
the true right lateral moraine. Closer inspection of the ice-fall leading toTrue PK 5822, however, questioned the wisdom of attempting this peakwith the limited time at our disposal, leading us to focus on establishing acamp on the pass due south of advanced base camp and beneath False
PK 5822. Having made this decision, the party relocated to a high campat 5,120m just below the pass on 14th October after several reconnoitresto find the optimal route over the intervening complex boulders. Onceat this pass it was difficult to see a reasonable route up the west face ofFalse PK 5822 so we elected instead to attempt one or more of the rocky
outcrops on the ridge leading westwards from the pass. Snow-covered
boulder fields made even this simpler approach time-consuming, but
once on the ridge proper a steep snow-plastered wall defeated ourattempts to reach the highest point. We aborted the attempt at 5,320m,
just 20m below the summit.

Introduction
Having visited various parts of the Indian Himalaya numerous times overthe last ten years it was time for a change of scene and several friends
suggested that we should go to the Nepalese Himalaya. The problem
was that I did not know the country that well and was undecided wherebest to focus our approach. Fortunately, Julian Freeman Attwood, afrequent visitor to Nepal with an abundant fount of knowledge, generously
provided a number of suggestions based on areas that he had visited in
the far west of the country. A recent publication by Julian has summarisedsome of his experiences.1 After talking with Mick Fowler, who in 2015
successfully made an impressive ascent of Gave Ding from the north,2
we decided to explore a region of the Changla Himal centred on thesouthern arm of the Lachama Khola. Julian had visited this area in 2011
when his team were defeated by poor weather while attempting Gave
Ding from the south.3 As a result of this visit, however, he was able toprovide us with a photograph of a peak labelled as PK 5822 on the south
rim of the Lachama valley that appeared to be a reasonable objective
for our party. A more detailed analysis of Google Earth satellite pictures
supported the feasibility of this objective and indicated the plausibility ofa second objective at the head of the glacial cirque (see Appendix 1b).
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Itinerary
The journey to and from Base Camp via the Chuwa and Dojam Kholas:
The 45 minute flight from Nepalgunj in a 12-seater Twin Otter was aninteresting affair. After attaining a height of about 3,600m we essentiallyhugged the mountain tops of the Himalayan foothills before hardly
descending to the short, sloping
runway at the hilltop town of
Simikot. On arrival with our Sirdar
around midday on 1st October wewere united with the rest of the
support team; two local porters,
the two muleteers and the twelve
mules that were to carry all of
our food and equipment to our
The Twin Otter at Nepalgunj.

base camp in the Lachama Kholavalley. Before leaving the UK we
had predicted that this would be afour day trek, but a late monsoon
and local herders descending
from the high pastures with theiranimals made the well-defined
track slippery and treacherous. As
The team leaving Simikot.
a result the time increased by afurther day. Leaving Simikot aftera brief lunch we began the trek along a well-defined path to make asteep, 500m descent to the Ghatte Khola before climbing to a campsite
at 2,829m by the side of the track overlooking the village of Kharpunath.
It was not one of the marked camp sites on the route but at least it wasclean and adequate for a one night stay.
Leaving relatively early the next day we descended another 500m to the
Chuwa Khola before once again climbing uphill parallel to the river on avery muddy track. En route we passed many small encampments and were7THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 38

slowed by numerous local herders
bringing their animals down fromthe high pastures before the onsetof the winter snows. Eventually wehalted at another improvised campsite at ~2,950m where it proceeded
to rain for much of the night. It was
not a very salubrious site and wewere pleased to get away early
the following day. Climbing steeply

One of several bridges en route.

past many small encampments weagain encountered large numbersof descending animals, adding to
the feeling that this was a mass
exodus from the upper valley.
Eventually we camped on a muddy
area at 3,560m having coveredsome considerable distance sinceleaving Simikot. Indeed, the total
journey is some 45km and by now
Nick at the entrance to the Lachamawe were a little over half way.
Khola.
Once more it rained a lot just after
setting up camp and this persisted for much of the night. Fortunately
the weather was considerably better when we awoke on the 4th
October although initially the path
continued to be steep and muddy
as it meandered through trees.
Eventually the valley openedout with the path becoming lessundulatory and more level as
we reached the entrance to the
Lachama Khola Valley where we
made our fourth camp at 4,017m.
This was by far the best camp site
Lorna making the awkward river crossing so far and a marked contrast to
those that had gone before.
near ABC.
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It remained fine overnight, albeit
rather colder now that we were alittle higher, and there was no cloud
cover. With only a short day ahead
we had a lazy start before trekking
up the right bank of the Lachama
Khola to where it branched northand south. It was our intention tocontinue further at this point, butwith the muleteers having arrived
ABC with False PK 5822 left of centre.
in advance of the climbing party
the mules were already unloadedby the time that we arrived and the main tents were already erected. It
was a fait accomplis so this was to become base camp at only 4,348m.
While it was a comfortable spot at the confluence of the two Lachamarivers we would need an advance base camp considerably further up thevalley in order to carry out any effective exploration.
After spending thirteen days at or
above base camp we began our
descent to Simikot. Again we choseto do so over five days, which inretrospect was a good decision
as this allowed us to fully enjoy
the now changed environment.
The track was dry, there were no
animals descending and the sun
shone throughout. It was sheer
delight and a relaxing end to the
Climbing steep moraine to the 5,201m
expedition. It also allowed us to pass.
return by a variant of the route ofascent in that before making the long descent and re-ascent to Simikot
we followed close to the Chuwa Khola to reach the village of Kharpunath
where we made our final camp just west of the habitation and a little way
above the river. From here a rising, well-defined track led almost directly
to Simikot some 800m above.

Exploration and climbing in the South Lachama Valley
It was evident from the photographs that we had been given that basecamp ought to have been higher in the valley, but it was not to be. Thus,on the 6th October we continued further up the southern Lachama valley
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Derek with one of the many cairns on thepass.

High camp just below the pass.

to what was clearly Julian’s earlier camp site. Nevertheless, on the 7th
October we chose to go another kilometre or so beyond this site to place
our advanced base camp at 4,585m just beneath the terminal moraine.
This camp gave a full view to what we later referred to as False PK
5822 (as it soon became clear that
this was not the peak marked as
5822m on the Finnish map) 4 andthe pass leading to its west face,
as well as offering the potential to
explore routes to the southern armof the Lachama Glacier.
Our first foray was to explore
possible routes to this pass,which lay due south of advanced
base camp. The initially complex
moraine slowly made way for easierboulder fields so that over a periodof days we eventually cairned an
optimal route to the 5,201m pass.
A plethora of cairns bore witness
to the earlier presence of othersat this pass, although presumably
they had not had to contend withunstable snow-covered boulders
when they did so. It also seemedComplex boulders leading to the ridge.
10THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 38

unlikely that domestic animals
had made this ascent, though bycontrast, bear and snow leopard
prints showed that wild animals
certainly had.
It was not until 14th October,however, that with the help of ourhigh altitude Sherpas we eventually
established a high camp at 5,120m
in a snow scoop some 80m or so
Nick eying up the 20m impasse at
below the pass. Once established
5,320m.
in this camp we eventually decided
that any attempt on the west face of False PK 5822 (later identified as PK5703) 4 would be lengthy and unlikely to succeed under the prevailingconditions. As an alternative we considered attempting one or other ofthe rocky peaks lying on a prominent ridge to the west of the pass. On the
15th October therefore, four of us set out to investigate this option while
Drew and Lorna decided to return to ABC. Once again it was not easyterrain, comprising snow-covered boulders all the way up to the ridge
itself. At this point we unfortunately reached an impasse below the final
tower when a short impending wall overlain with snow stopped progress
at 5,320m, just 20m short of the summit. Following this disappointment
we returned for another cold night at high camp prior to relocating backto ABC.
Before finally establishing a high camp below the pass, various membersof the team spent several days investigating potential routes to the south
Lachama Glacier. One attempt to follow close to the glacial outlet itself
bore little promise as it was convoluted and hard going for over 2-3km
without getting sufficiently close to clean glacier to assess whether it
did indeed offer a way forward. An alternative approach via the true
right lateral moraine (which terminated at 5,100m) offered greater
promise, and even the chance of a camp site high up in the ablation
valley. However, from neither high viewpoint did a realistic attempt onwhat we now believed to be True PK 58224 (see Appendix 1b) appear
viable on account of the multiple ice-falls that we would have to navigate
in order to site a camp within striking distance of the snowy summit.
Reluctantly we decided to abandon any attempt on this peak and11

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concentrate on those potentiallymore accessible from the passmentioned above.
Now that both objectives that we
had considered prior to leaving
the UK had been investigated, anddiscounted, time was beginningto run out and our options were
becoming limited. On 12th October,Complex ground beneath True PK 5822.
as part of our acclimatisation
regimen, we had attempted to get as high as possible on the rocky
peaks to the north-east of advanced base camp, but this too ended in
failure when it became clear that any potential summit was still a longway off and involved considerable distances over difficult terrain with no
obvious places where a high camp could be sited.
As a result we all returned to base camp just as bad weather was forecast
to find that one of the mules had succumbed to what was thought to be
a combination of the cold and eating poisonous plants. It was a sad end
to our climbing and time to return to Simikot.

Mike & Nick high on NE slopes above ABC.
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Conclusion
Far West Nepal remains a remote area to which only a limited number ofmountaineers have ventured. Julian Freeman-Attwood is by far the mostauthoritative exponent who has a wealth of knowledge based on twelve
expeditions over the last decade or so. His review1 is a must for anyone
planning a visit. During our visit we were compromised on the approachmarch by the late monsoon and the return of herders and animals fromthe high pastures, but our return to Simikot was in sharp contrast. The
track was then dry, there were few herders and the sun shone. Under
these conditions the Dojam valley is beautiful and the trek a delight.
Once at our advance base camp we found the climbing opportunities
limited for a party with modest aspirations and manoeuvring over theinterminable moraines was arduous in the extreme. This is not an area
for the faint hearted.

Bibliography & Notes
1. Julian Freeman-Attwood, American Alpine Journal, 61, 82-103, 20192.	Mick Fowler, Alpine Journal, 3-12, 120, 2016
3. Julian Freeman-Attwood, Alpine Journal, 107-116, 117, 2013
4. Following discussions with Julian Freeman-Attwood on our return to
the UK we now both conclude that Google Earth satellite images andthe 1:25K Finnish terrestrial maps convincingly show that the peakoriginally assigned as PK 5822 (now labelled by us as False PK 5822)
is, in fact, PK 5703. True PK 5822 lies higher in the glacial system andwas originally identified as our secondary objective (see Appendix 1b).

Sponsors & Supporters
The expedition was supported by the following sponsors to whom weare especially grateful:Montane Alpine Club
Climbing Fund

Mount Everest
Foundation

Austrian Alpine
Club (UK)MontaneAsian Alpine News e issue no. 58
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Appendix

1:150,000 map showing the route to PK 5822.

Google Earth satellite image of the South Lachama Glacier with False andTrue PK 5822 marked (note orientation of north)14

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First Ascent of South Ridge of Menthosa (6443 m)
Rushad Nanavatty
Menthosa, in Lahaul, was the alternative we chose after the Ministry ofHome Affairs revoked our permission to climb our initial objective in theeast Karakoram.
We are happy to report a successful trip to Menthosa (6,443m). We madethe first ascent of the south ridge, and the first complete traverse of themountain (to our best knowledge).
Some highlights/ technical details: 1,300m vertical relief of total climbingover about 8km, with proposed grades of ED, M6/M7, 90 degree ice.
We climbed in alpine-style -- spending 4 days on the south ridge ascent,1 full day waiting out bad weather on the summit, 1 day to descend thestandard route on east ridge. The sustained difficulties were traversing
the upper mountain on the western aspect of the south ridge.

Courtesy IMF Newsletter.
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ArticlesSuru Valley, Ladakh
Tenzing Zamyang
Team graviT first explored the boulder fields of suru valley in the fall of2012 and realized the potential that this area holds for the future of outdoor
sports in Ladakh. Over the years we went on several short rock trips tothe area with friends but it was only in 2016 that we organized the firstsuru boulder fest. The idea had been formulating since the first trip but wecould never get our heads around to understanding the logistics and theformat for the festival. We had made up our mind to create an event solely
for the outdoor enthusiast where only the real perspective of the various
sports will be made available for the participants and also promote theculture of learning through peers. Through the years of us organizing thefest we realized that it wasn’t just boulderers that were coming to the fest
but people from different sport backgrounds. Ever since we have been
inviting many experts to the festival to help participants get better at theirsport and learn other disciplines from the experts also.
Organizing the fest has been a challenge from its inception due tolack of funds and unavailability of the right gear but because of our

Naveen Torres on a highline.
16THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 38

dedication we got noticed by
Gipfel climbing equipment andTata motors. Gipfel is an outdoor
equipment company based out of
India and they manufacture someof the best outdoor equipment
available in India, they provided all
camping and climbing safety gear
to us. Tata motors contributed as
our transport partner and gave us
several Tata cars to use during
the festival. The festival also got
T.V coverage by WION traveler
and also many travel magazines
Svenja on mudball.
wrote about us and finally we havearrived at a stage when Surufest has inspired many other groups aroundthe country to organize similar festivals.
I came across the UIAA climbing festivals award on the UIAA website
a couple of years ago and realized how winning this award could help
Surufest gain international recognition. I referred very closely to theprincipals of UIAA and keeping that in mind implemented various goodpractices at Surufest. We started proper waste management, creating
employment opportunities, educating locals about the outdoors etc andthese values helped us attract the UIAA panel to consider Surufest for theaward. 2019 was the year for Asian festivals to apply for the award andhence we did so and all our hard work paid off and we won out of many
participants from across Asia including South Korea and Kazakhstan.
It’s a great achievement for not just the Surufest team but for the entire
climbing community of India as now our movement has been highlighted
on the global scene. I’m sure many strong climbers will travel to India toclimb and seek projects and in the process many of our different areas
will get highlighted. I run a small bouldering gym in Leh and one of themain problems we face is the low footfall of climbers but hopefully thisaward will help many climbers consider India as an option.
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Trad climbing workshop by Karn Kowshik.

Looking ahead we would like to establish Surufest as one of the mostprominent outdoor festivals in the world and help more Indian athletes
make it to the bigger scene. We also want to build a climbing wall at the
local high school so the many more locals take up the sport and it could
be a career option for them. Right now apart from people coming for thefest no one else comes to the area and we would like that to change, wewant to promote the potential of the place through the festival and hopethat people would visit otherwise also.

Plant life ‘expanding over the Himalayas’
By Navin Singh Khadka
Environment correspondent, BBC World Service
Vegetation is expanding at high altitudes in the Himalayas, including in
the Everest region, new research has shown.
The researchers found plant life in areas where vegetation was notpreviously known to grow.
A team used satellite data from 1993 to 2018 to measure the extent ofplant cover between the tree-line and the snow-line.
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Earlier research had shown expansion of the tree-line at lower elevations (Karen
Anderson)

The results are published in the journal Global Change Biology.
The study focused on the subnival region - the area between the tree-line(the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing) and thesnow line (the boundary between snow-covered land and snow-free land).
Subnival plants are mainly small grasses and shrubs.
“The strongest trend in increased vegetation cover was between 5,000
metres and 5,500 metres altitude,” said Dr Karen Anderson, from Exeter
University, lead author of the report.
“At higher elevations, the expansion was strong on flatter areas while atlower levels that has been observed on steeper slopes.”
Using Nasa’s Landsat satellite
images, the researchers divided
the heights into four “brackets”
between 4,150m and 6,000m.
It covered different locations in the
Hindu Kush Himalayas, ranging
from Myanmar in the east to
Shrubs and grasses in the Khumbu valley
Afghanistan in the west.
(Karen Anderson)
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1.9 billion people rely on
natural ‘water towers’High Mountain Asia’s glaciers
put the brakes on

Spy satellites reveal rapid
Himalayan glacier melt

Saussurea gossypifera at the Ngozumpa
Glacier at 4,800m elevation (Elizabeth A.
Byers).

In the Everest region, the study
found a significant increase invegetation in all height brackets.
Other researchers and scientists
working on glaciers and water
systems in the Himalayas haveconfirmed the expansion ofvegetation.
“It (the research) matches theSome locations high up in the Himalayas expectations of what would happen
have flowering plants like these (Elizabeth
in a warmer and wetter climate,”
A. Byers).

said Prof Walter Immerzeel, withthe faculty of geosciences at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who
was not involved in the study.
“This is a very sensitive altitudinal belt where the snowline is. A withdrawalof the snowline to higher altitudes in this zone provides opportunity forvegetation to grow.”
The research did not examine the causes of the change.
Other research has suggested Himalayan ecosystems are highly
vulnerable to climate-induced vegetation shifts.
“We have found the tree-line expanding in the subalpine regions of
Nepal and China as the temperature rises,” said Achyut Tiwari, assistantprofessor with the department of botany at Nepal’s Tribhuvan University.
“If that is happening with trees at lower elevations, clearly the plants at
higher altitudes will also be reacting to the rise in temperature.”
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Somescientists
regularly visiting theHimalayas
haveconfirmed
thispicture of expanding
vegetation.
“Plants are indeedcolonising the areas
that
once
were
The extent of vegetation in 1993 (blue) vs 2017 (red),
glaciated in some ofderived from Landsat data in the region around Mountthese Himalayas,”
Everest (Dominic Fawcett).
said
ElizabethByers, a vegetation ecologist who has carried out field studies in the
Nepalese Himalayas for nearly 40 years.
“At some locations where there were clean-ice glaciers many years ago,
now there are debris-covered boulders, and on them you see mosses,
lichens, and even flowers.”
Little is known about plants at these even-higher altitudes, as mostscientific studies have focused on retreating glaciers and expanding
glacial lakes amid rising temperatures.
The researchers said detailed field studies on vegetation in the highHimalayas were required to understand how the plants interact with soils
and snow.
“What does the change in vegetation mean for the hydrology (theproperties of water) in the region is one of the key questions,” said Dr
Anderson.
“Will that slow down the melting of glaciers and ice sheets or will it
accelerate the process?”
The Hindu Kush Himalayan region extends across all or part of eight
countries, from Afghanistan in the west to Myanmar in the east. Morethan 1.4 billion people depend on water from this region.

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The Banff Centre Mountain Film andBook Festival 2019 - Vignettes
Nandini Purandare
It was Thursday, 31st October 2019. The Eric Harvey Theatre backstage
was abuzz with authors, volunteers, jury members and Banff hosts
chatting and sipping coffee and beer. The temperature outside wasprobably -11 °C but here is it was warm and cosy, like a party. The theatre
up front was full to the brim – over 800 people waiting for the stars. Those
who had not got tickets for this theatre were in the Margaret Greenham
theatre where the programme would be simulcast. I found myself beside
Reinhold Messner and tried to find the courage to broach the subject ofcoming to India. But that’s another story.

Full auditorium

Founded in 1933, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity,Alberta is anorganization built to encourage excellence in artistic and creative
development. What started as a single course in drama has grown tobecome the global organization leading in arts, culture, and creativity
across dozens of disciplines. From its home in the stunning Canadian22

THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 38

Rocky Mountains, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity aims to inspire
everyone who attends this campus – artists, leaders, and thinkers – tounleash their creative potential.For nine adrenalin pumped days, filledwith stories of remote journeys, ground-breaking expeditions, andcutting-edge adventures told through the eyes of adventurers, authors,
photographers, and filmmakers from around the globe, the Banff Centre
Mountain Film and Book Festival has come to be known as one of themost exciting mountain festivals in the world. 1
In early 2019, the Centre invited me to be part of a three-person book
Jury to select the books and articles most deserving of the prizes indifferent categories. My co jury members were Helen Mort from the UK,a poet, runner and mountain enthusiast and Paul Mcsorly, a well-known
Canadian professional climber and guide.
Over the next few months we received over thirty books. The pile looked
formidable and the task at hand was not easy. There were seven categories(approximately four to five books in each), namely adventure travel, mountainand wilderness literature, mountain environment and natural history,
mountain fiction and poetry, mountain image, mountain guidebooks andfinally mountaineering articles. Additionally there was a climbing literaturecategory. We had several guidelines on which to judge these books suchas quality of writing, editing, content, production etc. We also had to decidea grand prize from among the winner – the best of the best! Finally we wereallowed one or two books for special Jury mention – books that impacted
us but did not make it as the winning book.
And so I began my journey into these books, and some of them took
me to the wildest, most beautiful and most enchanting places on thisplanet. Others made me cry out in disgust at what all of us our doing toour mountains, plants and animals and our rivers, seas and fish and...
the list goes on. Yet others fascinated me and got me to think about
our relationships with each other as communities, living beings, in fact
as molecules on Planet Earth. There were too many experiences andemotions to list out but all I could say at the end of the reading experience
was – I am truly privileged and humbled by this experience.
1

Referenced from https://www.banffcentre.ca/
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Next was the experience of being a guest at this very lively festival.
The Banff campus isspread over 42 acresof land on the west
sideof
TunnelMountain and just a
few blocks fromdowntown
Banff.
One of the nicest
afternoon walks is ahike up to the summitof this mountain.
From most parts ofthe campus, you see
themountainindifferent moods andhues – it gives Banff
its amazing evening
skies, ranging fromdeep red to a salmon
pink and dark mauveWith the great Reinhold Messner

to turquoise and sometimes black and angry.
The campus has studios for the different arts that it supports, libraries,
hotels, restaurants, a fitness centre with a climbing wall as well as all
kinds of training workshop facilities, recording studios, and performance
spaces set in alpine forests. It would definitely be a creative person’s
inspiration and drive people like me to poetry!
And so we embarked on our action filled week – met up with friends like
Bernadette McDonald and Steve Swenson and Joanna Croston; madenew friends like Reinhold Messner, Sharon Woods, Helen Mort, and somany others, saw films, went for book readings and discussions andwalks and parties and after-parties.
Two things struck a deep chord inside me – One, that a small town of Banff
could attract so many people from near and far who were here only to
enjoy adventure in different ways. Two, what a quiet, almost unnoticeablefootprint they left in their wake. So much to learn – no plastic, no garbage
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at all - the festival is working towards a zero waste situation and they arealmost there. 35% less garbage than last year - steel tumblers everywhere
for water and drinks, very little packaged food…
And so here we were on 31st October. Not a pin dropped when Messner
mesmerised audiences with his life story and a film he had recently
made. Throughout the history of mountaineering, the imposing Cima
Grande in the Italian Dolomites has been a favourite destination for thebest rock climbers in the world. Reinhold Messner made a film on thishistory, with the help of re-enacted climbing scenes, using materials andhistoric equipment of thattime. Sharon Woods, Everester and motivational
speaker and the darling of every Canadian, read from her recent bookRising which analyses her experiences on climbing Everest way backin 1986. Then it was time for us Jury to take stage. We talked about
each book and why we had chosen it for an award. We made special
mentions and gave away the grand prize. Every audience member heard
and enjoyed every moment. What sheer joy it was to be there.

News and Personalities
GURDIAL SINGH
This doyen of mountaineering is now
96 years in age. He is one of oldest
members of the Himalayan Club(now Hon. Member). He is known for
his early expeditions – in fact to start
the mountaineering as a sport inIndia. As the British left India in 1947,
it was feared that the sport ofmountaineering may not survive inIndia, particularly in the turmoil of thePartition.

Gurdial Singh.

But in 1951 Gurdial was part of thefirst Indian mountaineering expedition
to Trisul. This small expedition
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from Doon School, climbed Trisul, the first major peak climbed by the
Indians, specially after the freedom of the country. On the summit Gurdial
performed the Yoga pose of Shirshasana- Head-stand. He said in aninterview later that it was spontaneous pose and half of his head wasunder snow! All this at above 23,000 feet! But it was history as the sport
picked up in India and today it is flourishing.
Here is wishing Guru a Century of Life at least!
Geeta Kapadia

JOHN PORTERJohn Porter, President of the
Alpine Club, visited Mumbai few
months back. He gave anenergising lecture at a Mumbai
gathering of climbers, recallingincidences
from
his
vast
experience. He has created manyrecords and done major first
ascents in the Himalaya. His FirstJohn Porter, President of the Alpine Club,
Ascent of Chong Kumdan (7071
at HC office with HC Logo.
m) in remote corner of Eastern
Karakoram is recorded in history as a great achievement.
When in Mumbai, he also addressed vast audience in the world by wayof a Web Broadcast. The sponsor Shapoorji Pallonji, a leading Realty
firm, organised the broadcast to all their offices and mountaineer’s world
over.
Porter also visited the office of the Himalayan Club and signed thevisitor’s book. He looked at various material and pictures displayed at
the office. He looked at the material which were recently scanned tocreate the Himalayan Club Archive. He also gave a long interview for theOral History collection.
Harish Kapadia

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BRIG. ASHOK ABBEYBrig Abbey, a past President of theHimalayan Club, is a well known namein Indian mountaineering. For decades
he is actively climbing and leading
expeditions. He has been interested inmany rare areas like some in Kashmir,and to high mountains including Everest.
Professionally he is celebrated soldier
who commanded many posts in the
Indian Army. He was the Commandantof the famed High AltitudeMountain
Brig Ashok Abbey after election as Warfare School, one of the prime training
President of IMF.
Institutes of the Indian Army. Here fit
soldiers are turned into well-qualified tough mountaineers too.
He was President of The Himalayan Club at times which were changing.
Old guards were retiring and young had less time to work. He initiatedseveral reforms hoping to pass on the activities to young membership.
Though he did not manage to do so fully, but it was a beginning for
health of the Club.
In November 2019, he was elected as the President of the Indian
Mountaineering Foundation, the controlling body for mountaineering inIndia. Thus, he has been the President of two of the most prestigious
Institutions in India. With his vast experience he will be a major influenceon the sport for years to come.
Harish Kapadia

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The Alpinist Podcast by Amrita Dhar
The Alpinist, is a leading magazine
published form USA. They recordand circulate podcasts frommountaineers and historians. In
the last episode they have covereda Member of The Himalayan Club,
Amrita Dhar. She is a researcher
andprofessor
atAmerican
University. She had climbed andtrekked in Indian range.
Here she talks about an interesting
subject
titled“Rethinking
Mountaineering Histories”. She
considers many aspects of theAmrita Dhar.
sport, its history and how ideas
and thoughts have progressed. She also suggested what course studies
should take in future. Very interesting Podcast, available freely on
http://www.alpinist.com/p/podcast
Harish Kapadia

Nirmal Purja becomes the fastest climberto summit the world’s 14 highest mountains
Nirmal Purja a 36 years old Nepali
became the fastest climber tosummit the world’s 14 highest
mountains on Tuesday. Nirmal
Purja
climbedMount
Shishapangma at 8,027 metres(26, 335 feet) in Tibet.
Mingma Sherpa of the Seven
Summit Treks agency said that
Nirmal Purja was accompaniedby three Sherpa climbers to the

Nirmal Purja.
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Shishapangma summit. After climbing Mount Annapurna I, the tenthhighest peak, starting off his ‘Project Possible’ on April 23rd, Purja
climbed Mount Dhaulagiri (8000 metres). After that he climbed Mount
Everest, Mount Kanchenjunga, Mount Lhotse and Mount Makalu in thefollowing month, said agency.
He then went to Pakistan to climb Mount Nanga Parbat, Mount Gasherbrum
I, Mount Gasherbrum II, K2 and the Mount Broad Peak. Purja climbed
another two peaks in Nepal Mount Cho Oyu and Manaslu. Of the world’s
14 highest peaks eight are in Nepal, five in Pakistan and one in Tibet.
Seven Summit TreksNews Stories
Alpinism
Mountaineering and climbing in the Alps is officially intangible cultural
heritage. Unesco has approved an application from three Alpine countries.
Alpinism is not the first sport to make it onto the list.
Der Deutsche Alpenverein hat seine Bergunfallstatistik 2018 veröffentlicht.
Alpinism is officially a World Heritage. This was decided by Unesco
at a meeting in Bogota, Colombia. Together with 13 other forms of
traditional skills and knowledge, mountaineering and climbing in the Alps
was included in the list of intangible cultural heritage at the request of
Switzerland, France and Italy.
“Climbing and hiking in the mountains is based on a diverse knowledgeof nature and weather conditions as well as one’s own physical abilities,”
explained the German Unesco Commission in Bonn. Alpinism emphasizes
the “values of togetherness and a responsible approach to nature”.

Ice Hockey
An ice hockey coaching camp and tournament was organised from 20
December to 29 December in Kaza sub-division of Lahaul Spiti in Himachal
Pradesh. 45 students were trained in this camp. The ice hockey rink islocated at an altitude of over 12000 feet from the sea level, making it thehighest ice hockey stadium in the world.
Courtesy ANI
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Recently Published Books
1. The Last Englishman: Love, War ad the End of Empire by
Deborah Baker
	A book of fiction writing but based around real mountaineeringcharactersand event. innovative writing.

2. Himalayan Rapture by Hari Dang
Hari Dang has done many climbs and venture into the Himalaya.
He has special affection for the Uttarakhand, specially Nanda Devi.
The book covers his trips to Chiring We, Janoli and Bandarpunch as
enjoyable adventures. Of course, there is a trip to Everest but in days
when it was not crowded.

3. Wild Himalaya by Stephen Alter	It is aptly sub-titled as “A Natural History of the Greatest Mountain Range
on Earth”. The author is well known writer and has vast experience of
not only trekking in the range but enjoying all aspects like flora, fauna,legend and people. A compelling read.

4. Queen of the Mountaineers. The Trail Blazing Life of Fanny
Bullock Workman. By Cathryn J. Prince.
	Book about the explorations and climbs by Ms Workman, a pioneering
women climber of her generation where very few ladies were climbing
high mountains. The book tells about how she developed her love forthe mountains and urge that led her to explore Karakorams including
two trips to the Siachen Glacier.

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5. Nanda Devi (Nanda Davi Exploration andAscent Book 1)
by Eric Shipton, Stephen Venables, et al.
Kindle Edition - ₹ 209.30 Save ₹ 104.65 (33%)

Digital Books on mountains:
Like in most fields now, many mountaineering books
are now available in the digital format of E book or
Kindle by Amazon. This is welcome as one gets
access to books that are out of print for long time. These books arecheaper than the printed edition and in one go a climber carry numberof books to read- a special boon for those vising remote areas and highmountains. This is perhaps the way of future and becoming popular.
Harish Kapadia

Club News
History Recorded and Preserved:
Himalayan Club Archives
Harish Kapadia
The Himalayan Club, since its inception in 1928, has moved to various
places. Unfortunately, in all these movements, a large part of the material
was scattered, damaged or even lost.
However, since 2006 the club took over the responsibility of handlingand managing all related affairs and resources including most papers ofimportance like the original documents of the first Committee minutes,
Memorandum of Association, Rules and Regulations and list of members.
The Himalayan Journal has always been the main activity of the clubin its 90-year history. Production of HJ has generated large amounts ofpaper before the digital age. More than 100 articles were received foreach HJ volume. The editor selected about 40 articles and Notes to beprinted with photographs. Soli Mehta (10 HJ Volumes) and later Harish
Kapadia who edited the HJ for more than 37 years gathered all thematerial received, whether used or not. These papers and photograph31

THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 38

albums were stored as “Editors papers of the Himalayan Journals”. Each
HJ volume generated almost four such hardbound volumes.
In those days the editors
kept in touch with
contributors and editorsof other Journals of theworld, by post (nowsnail-mail!). All these
correspondences weresystematically stored inalbums. With advent ofemails, further material
took a digital shape andwas stored on hard
Scanning in progress.
disks. However, thepapermaterial
amounting to more than 200 albums needed to be looked after for
historical importance.Finally,in the year 2018, the club first discussed
scanning and digitising all this material. It was a major project and after
considering many factors
It is intended that the Himalayan Club archives will be, in addition, will
also be a major source of all Indian documents and reports related to
the Himalayan activities, specially in the Indian Himalaya. Hence other
Journals like Himavanta, some Club bulletins, Indian Mountaineer,
Himalayan Mountaineering Journals, and few others containing valuable
information were also added. It is sincerely hoped that all researchers,
climbers and history buffs will use this digitised material freely for mountainrelated reference, making the whole exercise and labour worthwhile. Thatis, after all, what the Himalayan Club is all about.

The Himalayan Club Digitisation project, Items scanned
1.

Various expedition reports of more than 200 expeditions.

2. The Himalayan Club Newsletters: (1928 till 2000): Nos 1 to 61
3. Himalayan Journals Volume 1 to 73 (1928 to 2018)32

THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 38

4.

Indian mountaineer (1978 to 2019), volumes 1 to 54.

5. Jagdish Nanavati study papers: more than 35 expeditions expedition
reports with sketch-maps, photos and comments.
6.	Several map catalogues of Survey of India.
7. The Sahyadri Bulletin no 1 to 5
8. Himavanta, published from Kolkata.
9.	Editor’s Papers- For each Volume: correspondence by each editor,
articles and reference. More than 150 albums.
10. Unpublished books like Shaksgam valley, Planes flying across the
Hump, reports by F. M. Bailey, Climbers Club Bulletin, and many more.
11.	Articles of special interest to the Himalaya from The Geographic
Journal, and many other sources.
12. Hundreds of pictures received for the Himalayan Journal and as gifts
from members are scanned. They are being classified and captioned
which will be ready in years.
In addition to the above there are items of interest for the Himalayan
club: (A) Founding papers, (B) Managing Committee minutes from 1928
onwards, (C) Annual Reports and Accounts of the club for several years,(D) Copies of the Application forms made by members to join the clubin hundreds.

One of the many albums scanned
33THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 38

Delhi Section
Rama Goyal
1 November 2019Illustrated talk: ‘Expeditions with Sir Edmund Hillary’Speaker: Peter Hillary
On the occasion of Sir Edmund Hillary’s 100 birth anniversary and in his
memory, the Himalayan Club, Delhi Section organised a special event at
Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre on 1 November 2019. The historicfeat of climbing the highest mountain in the world in 1953, a feat neveraccomplished till then, made Sir Edmund Hillary and his climbing partner
Tenzing Norgay household names and mountaineering icons. In his talktitled ‘Expeditions of Sir Edmund
Hillary’, Peter Hillary, Sir Edmund Hillary’s son, accomplished mountaineer
and Everest summiteer and adventurer, shared details of his father Sir
Edmund Hillary’s climb of Mt Everest in 1953 and various expeditions hisfather had been on. Peter also spoke about the work done by Sir Edmund
Hillary to improve the lives of the mountain community of Sherpas bybuilding schools, hospitals, and medical clinics. In addition, Peter shareddetails of his own expeditions and carrying forward the legacy of Sir
Edmund Hillary.
14 November 2019

Talk: ‘Wild Himalaya’Speaker: Stephen Alter
Author Stephen Alter introduced his most recent book ‘Wild Himalaya: A
Natural History of the Greatest Mountain Range on Earth’.

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Edited by : Nilay Chakraborty

Email: nilay24@gmail.com
Published for the Himalayan Club
Himalayan Club Centre, 314, Turf Estate, Shakti Mills Lane,
Off Dr. E. Moses Road, Mahalaxmi [West], Mumbai 400011, India.
Phone: [91-22] 24912829

www.himalayanclub.org
If you do not wish to receive the e-letter, please let us know at info@himalayanclub.org(For private circulation only)

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