ASIAN ALPINE E-NEWS
Issue No 56. October 2019

Contents

Lamo-She Sichuan 2019, Tomas Franchini

Page 2 ~ 8

The Karakoram anomaly, Nathan Dahlberg

Page 9 ~52

1

RACCONTO LAMO-SHE, SICHUAN
Tomas FranchiniIn the last period, I realized that what really makes me happy and growing is venturing
in new and unexplored places.
This time the adventure has been more intense and adventurous as usual, but as always,
the mountain hasn’t let me down and through the fatigue has given me great emotions
and satisfactions.
Enjoy the read.
Well, let us assume that I left for a place of which I couldn’t found much information, as
it is a place that had never been visited by climbers neither tourists. Only a local tribeof herbalists had been there before.

1The wall, that along with my climbing partner, we were planning to climb was acompletely unclimbed wall, therefore we didn’t get any information about it.
To complicate the adventure: the difficult weather conditions. For days we have been
waiting for good weather, due to the monosomic season. And it is for this difficult
weather conditions that a certain point of the expedition, my partner Pietro, with whom
I got on very well, decided to go back home.
So, I found myself alone for a month, in the middle of nowhere, in a remote place,completely isolated and totally wild.
Due to the complexity of logistics and the situation, the difficulty of the climbing has
increased significantly but anyway this didn’t stop my enthusiasm and the desire oftrying,And so, taking advantage of the only mid-day of good weather, I managed to climb theunclimbed east face of Lamo-She.
Which material I brought with me? This time nothing. I tried to be as fast and light as
possible.
I went up and down in a totally free- solo style, getting at an altitude of 6070 meters, ina single push of 21 hours from the tent to the summit.
I cannot deny that I’m really satisfied and happy of what I have done.
After the departure of Pietro, I’d given up hope of getting to the top and I thought that
I would have just explored the area.
In the following days, I also managed to climb two more ascents on some unclimbed
peaks in the lagoon created by two big ridges of Lamo-She.
On the east ridge I climbed a peak of 500 meters that is detached from the big wall of
Lamo-She. I named it Picco’s Pietro, in honour of my climbing partner Pietro.
The second peak is located on the north face, the first fore summit at a height of 4200
meters. I called this peak Jiyue Shan, in honour of my Chinese friend who helped us
with the organization of the expedition.
I warmly thank my fellow traveller Pietro. I think that without him I couldn’t have doneit; in the fisrt part of the trip we had to discover the place, install the base camp andtransport all the food and material. Without a cooker, we also had to organize all thethings in great detail in order to make the base camp a comfortable and nice place.
At the end, I would like to thank all the people who support me, all those who sent me
a message before leaving or have congratulated me when I came back.
I apologize if I have been out of touch for a month but sincerely: it’s nice being out ofworld for a while.
And after any adventure, being back to the city is really hard.
2Tent Lhotse 43

4

East face of Lamo-She

One of the vertical icy steps
5

Summit ridge

At the top of Lamo-She
6

Tomas and villagers after climbing adventure

7

The Karakorum anomaly

Climate change is a major issue nowadays and by climate change we are speaking not of Climatechange itself which has been an ongoing feature for at least 3.5 billion years - the estimated durationof our planets atmosphere but rather the warming of the atmosphere in the last 120 years after theend of the little ice age in the 19th century. Religious texts aside (like the account of the flood andNoah's ark in the Bible) changes in the climate historically have been ascribed to natural causes
outside of human influence however the current warming phase has been regarded by many as theresult of human activity to one degree or another. One of the major indicators of changing climatesis glacial area, volume and mass throughout the World– especially the Antarctic ice cap which now
date’s back over 15 million years , before the beginning of the current Ice age.Taking ice coresamples from them has become one way of determining climate changes during this last 15 plus
million years (its thought that glaciers began to appear in Antarctica over 30 million years ago – inthe Northern Hemisphere much more recently at an estimated 3 million years). Observation andsamples from these glaciers are one of the indicators that during the current Ice age there havebeen at least 7 periods of large scale glaciation during the last 650000 years with shorter intervals
called inter - glacial's between - the one of which we are currently in has been named theHolocene ( start -approx 11,650 years ago).

Large scale changes to glaciers are a reference to possible changes in climate and atmosphere andmany of the worlds ice mass’s have been observed to be contracting over the last 120 years .
Generally this contracting behavior has been increasing with a higher rate in the last 30 years. The
Karakorum anomaly – now extended to the Pamirs and some other ranges in Western Himalayas
and Asia is called an anomaly because the Karakorum glaciers seem to be either stable or growing
during this last 30 year period . This anomaly is not exclusive to these mountains but these are thelargest geographical area’s currently anomalous to the general trend of contraction outside of thepolar circles .

Why are the Karakorum's important ?

The Karakorum's , Pamirs and Western Kun Lun mountains are all considered part of the anomaly
and these 3 ranges constitute some of the largest glacial ice areas/volumes outside the Poles. The
Baltoro Glacier is an example. This one Glacier (second largest) in the Karakorum has a surface areaof just over 800 KM squared , that is an area roughly comparable to the entire Glacial area in theSouthern alps of New Zealand . However the ice volume of the Baltoro is estimated at variously
between 100 and 260kms cubed , compared to a cubic value for the whole Southern alps of just 40
kms . ie the Baltoro Glacier is 2 ½ to 6 ½ times larger by volume. At the figure of 260kms cubed a 15
per cent decrease in the ice present in the Baltoro would equate to the loss of all the glacial are in
the Southern alps. However the Baltoro is just one Glacier of many in the Karakorum whose total ice

area is variously estimated at between 2500 to over 3000 km’s cubed in an area of just under 18000
km squared. Thus the area of the Karakorum is 22 times greater and ice volume estimated as 75
times greater than the Southern Alps – a very small decrease of 1.5per cent of the Glacial volume of
the Karakorum thus equates to the loss of the entire volume of the Southern alps. (Thus far there
are no accurate definitions/measurements to what actually constitutes the area of various glaciersthat make up the Karakorum and what there actual depth is so figures are a guide only concerning
the Karakorum.)The study of Glaciation in the Karakorum

Glacial observations have been made in Europe since the 16th century but scientific studies only
began in the 19th century. The mid 19th century was also a “cold snap” that reinvigorated GlaciersWorldwide back to their maximum extent during what is known as the “little ice age” – a period of
Global cooling between the 14th and 19th century's. This cooling in the Karakorum lead to several
rapid Glacial advances called surges which and created ice dams and blocked rivers. When some ofthese collapsed they caused catastrophic floods in what was than British India. This lead to some of
the first research into Glaciers in the Karakorum which paralleled the efforts of the explorers thatstarted penetrating the regions and mapping them. During the 1920’s and 1930’s in the late British
imperial period much of the Karakorum was surveyed and the Glaciers observed and moreaccurately measured. Kenneth Mason in particular cataloged and photographed them in detail. To acertain extent these observations still remains the best source of information on the Glaciers in the
Karakorum.

Glaciologist's were some of the toughest scientists , trekking alongside explorers and mountaineersand field research was the primary way of gleaning knowledge although Aerial photography began
to enhance their explorations especially after the Second World war. The real leap in the study ofGlaciers was satellite photography starting in the 1970’s. No longer did a Glaciologist have to leave
his office and rough it!

The Glaciers in the Karakorum remained very understudied after 1948 and the dissolution of British
India – even more so than the glaciers in the rest of Central Asia being nether part of the Russuianor Chinese spheres of influence . Another Kenneth - Kenneth Hewitt ,a field researcher by nature,published the somewhat seminal work in 2005 “The Karakorum Anomaly? Glacier Expansion and the‘Elevation Effect,’ Karakorum Himalaya” in which he bought to attention the widespread Glacial
expansion noted since the 1990’s in the Karakorum. This paper along with an increasing number of
Glacial surges causing Glacial dams and potential floods has made for a large increase in research
into the Glaciers in the Karakorum region in recent years. The Western Himalaya , Pamirs , andWestern Kun Lun also all tend to exhibit the same general trend of stable or increasing ice mass asthe Karakorum and this has just begun to be studied. Most of this research has been in the form ofinterpreting satellite pictures and maps.

The importance of field research

Although interpreting data from Satellite images has lead to a wealth of new information on Glaciers
there is especially in remote and difficult regions a real lack of in depth of on the ground fieldresearch – like having a great map – it’s an indication of the the territory, not the territory itself.

Kenneth Hewitt explains why field research is essential to Glaciology in the paragraphs below“However, most evidence for the expansions detailed here is not readily deduced from available
satellite coverage. The ice-margin features, processes, and purely vertical shifts identified withthickening—or thinning—are too localized, or masked amid debris-covered ice of the termini andlateral margins”

It should also be said that the difficulties of identifying most of these changes on satellite imagery
apply equally to past and on-going thinning, retreat, and stagnation. These changes cannot be
deduced from comparisons of 1980's, 1990's, and 2000 LANDSAT imagery. Again, the problem foravailable technology is identifying purely vertical changes of less than 10–15 m, and heavy debris
covers that tend to mask horizontal changes.”

There are many reasons for the lack of field research in the Karakorum. Undoubtedly one is theresearchers them selves – one doesn’t necessarily become a scientist to make one self
uncomfortable by going out on the field when one can sit, coffee in hand behind a screen analyzing
data. This is just one limitation. (Conversely, one could say the average mountaineer or trekker has
no interest in scientific research on the field or otherwise). Too succeed in being a field researcher
one needs a blend of scientist and outdoors man – a blend not often found.

Field research here in New Zealand , indeed in the Alps of Europe or Japan , even in North or SouthAmerica is relatively easy. Access is not a formidable problem, most mountains are close totowns/cities and advanced forms of transport such as aircraft and helicopters are used. Glacial areas
are small generally and easily observed and extreme weather / altitude conditions rarer or non
existent.

Field research in Central Asia is altogether different. Although being on the ground would seem
evidently far superior for gathering “real” information this is not necessarily true. Long spells of bad
weather , roads and routes that are washed out and just the general nature and vast size of theterrain not to mention extreme’s of weather and high altitudes can make field research all but
impossible for long periods of time. Naturalist George Schaller in his book Wild Tibet notes thatsome of his trips on the Chang Tang plateau revolved around pure survival and that often he spentdays observing little or anything. This lead’s onto the number 1 problem of field research in Central
Asia – cost – any scientific field expedition is going to require major funding as opposed to satellite
imagery which is practically free. In the heyday of mountain of Himalayan exploration and climbing(1890’s thru 1960’s)scientists accompanied most expeditions and indeed reports from expedition
non scientific members would be presented and published in scientific and geographical journals –these days are long over.

Observing Glacial change
I used the diagram and information below as a my criteria for any judgement on glacial changes.
Generally large scale changes both growth and contraction are much more easily observable thanstagnant or near stagnant conditions.

Kenneth Hewitt’s criteria for advancing Glaciers is listed below –1. Well-defined line of shear between active ice and passive margin.
2. Continuous sections of ice cliff rising steeply to the glacier surface, or over-riding and overhanging
the glacier margins.
3. Fresh ridges of lateral moraine beside the line of shear,
4. Supraglacial debris and ice blocks shed from overhanging ice onto the valley side flank of lateralmoraines and into the so-called ‘ablation valley’ trough.
5. Reduction or closing of crevasses except on icefalls where they may increase6. Closing of ice margin conduits to subglacial drainage and ponding of water at the ice edge.

Observations– in photos. whilst travelling in the Karakorums in July , August 2014,2015,2019

2014
Western Karakorum
Below - Effects of a Glacial dam burst. This is the Gulkin Glacier above the KKH near Passau which
has seen several burst’s over recent years . I arrived there hours after the Glacier burst on the 27th
July 2014 closing the Karakorum highway for 10 days. These type of Glacial dam burst’s go entirely
unreported outside of local circles although most residents in the Hunza valley live in constant threatof them – especially in the last 20 years with the big increase in Glacial surging and dams. Currently
the rapid advance of the Shispar glacier has formed a glacial lake which threatens the whole valley.
(https://www.dawn.com/news/1464135)
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145038/surging-glacier-creates-a-new-lake

The entire highway was wiped out for a stretch of approx 1km by ice and rock debris.

A digger attempts to rescue Chinese road worker trapped mid flood.

The Barpu Glacier – showing signs of advance onto old lateral moraines.

The Barpu from above.

The Glacier below 6294m (Above the Barpu)– this one showed high old terminal remants and a
glacier that has retreated – the only evident ongoing retreat noticeable in the time I took pictures in
the Karakorum

The Pasu Glacier – high moraine walls suggest significant retreat from past high’s from this long
Glacier – it is the only large glacier I have seen in the Karakorum with such high old moraine walls.

Reports say the Pasu is fluctuating presently. Studying the ice close up below its hard to say excatly– perhaps a retreat with stable or growing conditions at time of photo .

Pasu Glacier – the ice goes right up to the moraine walls which suggest that the glacier is in a growthphase – despite the high moraine walls meaning it has lost substantial mass sometime since the last
major glaciation 13’000 years ago if not much more recently – since the little ice age perhaps.

2015
Central Karakorum, Baltoro

the Goodwin Austin , just below Broad Peak , Glacier is stable and probably growing – noevidence of past glacial action above the glacier suggesting it is at a high piont.

Looking down Broad peak to the confluence of the Goodwin Austin and Savioa glaciers –Savioa to left which also shows growth.

The Goodwin Austin Glacier as it Curves NE between K2 and Broadpeak – it is full.

The Yernanandu Glacier with Masherbrum behind.

This glacial lake was very noticeable in 2015 , I never saw it this year , just some small ponds
in same location.

2019
Central Karakorum , Baltoro , Vigne, Gundergoro glaciersTerminus of the Baltoro Glacier - this has not changed since 1984 – the oldest Google earth
sat images I have.

where there was a glacial lake is now just a few ponds .

The terminus of the Yernanandu Glacier that comes from Masherbrum and descends onto
the Baltoro. seems to be growing. 5 years ago the trekking route was underneath theterminus – this is now cut off – however glaciers are dynamic in many ways so the reason
may not necessarily be growth of the glacier.

another view the terminus of the Yernanandu Glacier that comes from Masherbrum –highest mountain in the picture.

Looking over the Baltoro up the Biange glacier towards the Mustagh Tower – the Biange
looks full.

Hanging Glacier showing rapid growth – opposite Paiju camp – True left of Baltoro Glacier

Another rapid growth hanging glacierabove the Baltoro.

The Baltoro is vast and I noticed no real differences over several years but there was far less waterrunning on the surface this year. In 2015 the hot, humid monsoon had reached the Karakorum
making for much warmer conditions than 2019. The monsoon doesn’t often penetrate so far.

This ice river was still presentDrone photo - looking down the Goodwin Austin glacier to Concordia - note the full appaerance

Drone photo – looking at Goodwin Austin glacier below Broad peak – ice is hard up against mountain.

Drone photo – looking at Goodwin Austin glacier below Broad peak – ice is hard up against mountain.

Drone photo – looking at Savio Glacier belowK2– ice hard up against mountain wall to left and thevast arc of recent rubble pushed hard against the mountain wall on right of picture.

Drone photo – looking at Savioa Glacier below K2– ice hard up against the mountain’s suggestive ofvery recent Glacial growth..

Looking over the Terminus of the Vigne Glacier – the Vigne is showing a fairly comprehensive
advance. (Mountains in back ground include K2 , Broad Peak , Gasherbrum 1 , 2 and 4)

The Vigne is smooth , crevasse free and the ice rises smoothly to the sides of the mountain walls.

Drone shot of small Glacial lake just north of Ali camp on the Vigne glacier. An ice dam blocks theoutlet – I thought this maybe a recent feature due to growth of Vigne but it has been there somedecades in Satellite photos. In satellite photo’s it seems the Vigne has grown but again with suchphotos difficult to say – actual field observation is superior.

On the Gundergoro Glacier – the Gundergoro Glacier was interesting , showing growth as in picture
above but also some older moraine walls that suggested in one stage in recent past it was larger –whether that was just 120 years ago in the little ice age or thousands of years ago was all conjecture
for me. Laila peak in back ground.

Camp Khuispan at the Confluence of the Gundergoro Glacier and a glacier Khursipan?? Big moraine
walls have been pushed up by each glacier at the convergence .

Hanging Glaciers on the mountains true left that rise over the Gundegoro Glacier

Looking back upthe Gundergoro from the same piont – the moraine walls are growing having beenbulldozed up over the green vegetation .

The confluence of the Gundergoro and glaciers coming from the Masherbrum group to the North.

Just before Saitcho camp – Descending the large moraine wall to camp , evidence of much larger
previous glaciers can be seen on the mountain walls of this now ice free part of the valley.

Descending to Saitcho below , it’s hard to tell how long the valley has been ice free.

Bondit Glacier in Central Karakorum , tributary of Apobrock river going to
Hushe valley. 2019

Terminal moraine of the Bondit glacier below Bondit peak. It appears to be advancing but
satellite photos indicate no change in position since 1984.

Drone picture , flying over the true left of the Bondit Glacier , recent moraine debris and a full
Glacier.

The active Bondit Glacier – upper mountain section and hanging glacier on the peak to the rightwhich we called unknown mountain. Both provided constant excitement!!

Another overflight over the Bondit moraine showing very recent uplift of moraine walls (caused by
the glacier bulldozing the rock’s from underneath)Aerial view of lower Bondit glacierAerial view of upper Bondit Glacier feed by several ice streams off Bondit peak.

Another view down Bondit towards Hushe valley – with the mountains around Nangma valley in the
distance.

Looking directly up the icefall. note moraine center left which is only suggestion I saw on Bondit that
ice may have covered a larger region in past.

Large ice walls and serac’s are very active on the NE face of Bondit.

Looking up from Bondit base camp at the two valleys rising approx 500 -600 vertical meters west ofcamp - both lead to small glaciers below peaks of 5200 to 5400m in height. The valleys themselves
had been more heavily glaciated at one time in the past – the glaciers on top were both full andactive.

drone picture - note figure center picture and the pilot (myself)for scale. This is the small glacial
valley directly above Bondit Basecamp on the left side of the previous picture. The white ice starts at
approx 4800m – the Glacier levels off to a flat basin at approx 4900m. Rocks were being pushed
down the valley while we were there!!

Findings
Specific Conclusion
During the last glacial maximum – over 11’500 years ago the Karakorum was covered by an immense
ice sheet at a far higher altitude than any present glacier. Therefore any evidence of past glacial
action that can currently be observed on the field regards ancient moraines , scouring on mountainwalls etc must be within the 11’500 year time frame – indeed the dynamic nature of the glaciers –not to mention geological movement and action means many observations about Glacial change are
more in the region of 100’s of years not 1000’s.

My observations would be:1) Glacial regression was observed in the Western Karakorum's in more than one glacier – thePasu in particular had very high moraine walls indicating a much larger Glacier sometime in the past(past meaning this last 11’500 years). The Pasu is possibly fluctuating or even growing but from alow point.
2)

The Baltoro seems stable in the central Karakorum.

3)

All the other glaciers observed seemed to be stable at high point's or growing.

4) Satellite pictures and ground based stations indicate that recent winters in the Karakorum have
had heavier precipitation , summers are cooler with more cloud cover (some studies mention up to 2
degrees lower.) Local observations agree with the heavy winter snowfalls. (locals told me in 2014,2015 and again 2019 that there had been extremely heavy snow falls that winter) Glacial Surges
have (dramatically) increased tending to indicate general glacial growth . Both field and satellite
observations show the majority of Karakorum's glaciers as stable for the last 30 years and in manycase’s growing.
My own layman's field observations would tend to confirm the current scientific assessment that
the Karakorum glaciers are mainly stable or in growth phase’s.

General conclusion
My own knowledge of Glaciers is limited so I restrict myself to observation . Theory’s about why andhow there is an apparent anomaly of the Glaciers in the Karakorum I leave to others.
I have two things to say about enhancing field observations though.
Even with my limited piloting skill and a small drone it was very useful in taking video film andphoto’s. I would dare to suggest that in the near future a small low cost expedition equipped with adrone could potentially garner far more information in a far shorter period than even the mostelaborate expeditions of the past.
With the Karakorum being such a vast reserve of ice and “climate change” being such a major
scientific and political issue one would expect to find the area crawling with investigative field
scientist’s – this is clearly not so and I don’t see any change to that in the future. However the wholearea see’s many trekkers, mountaineers and general adventurers not to mention locals who visit theglaciers every year. With modern digital photography, GPS and drones (and computer analysis tosubsequently define mass’s of data) these people are a vast so far unused resource for fieldobservations. Even if a small percentage of these people in the group above sent in photo’s andobservations of the places they visited it would be far more than any likely present or future
observation's by the limited pool of field researchers. The system would work somewhat akin to theworld of amateur and professional astronomers – where the amateurs collect mass/ raw data andthe professionals analyse that data and do in depth field studies on areas of particular interest.

Information Sources
My own layman's field observations would tend to confirm the current scientific assessment that the
Karakorum glaciers are mainly stable or in growth phase’s.

The last 5 years has seen a large increase of Scientific literature on the Karakorum anomaly available
on the internet – most articles can be accessed free although some are only available by payment or
if you are the member of a scientific institute. Back issues of the Himalayan , Alpine , andGeographical journals – all available on the internet have a vast amount of literature on the glaciersof the Himalayas – very useful for researching before 1940.

There are also a wide range of satellite pictures available – Google Earth ones are generally goodback to about 2000 , before that images are hazy at best. Probably better images are available for
institutions or by pay.