ASIAN ALPINE E-NEWS
Issue No 70. July 2020

Unclimbed peaks of Ganggeqiaji immediate south of Yushu town, Qinghai Province

Unknown mountains massif Ganggeqiaji
Qinghai Province in China
Kyle Obermann

1Page 2 ~ 32Expedition Report of First Kora Around Ganggeqiaji
Qinghai Province, China
Kyle Obermann
Introduction

Ganggeqiaji (5,752m) is the highest peak within the county of Yushu in Qinghai Provinceand has not been summited. It lies on the convergence of the Tanggula Mountain’s
southeastern extent and northwestern edge of the Hengduan Mountains along the Batang
Fault in very close proximity to the larger Ganzi-Yushu Fault where the infamously tragic
2010 Yushu earthquake occurred. It is part of the larger Jiangjiaduode Massif just south of
the Batang Fault and Yushu airport, and divides watersheds feeding the upper reaches ofthe Mekong River to the south and upper reaches of the Yangtze River in the north.
The origins of the name Ganggeqiaji are from the writings of a local Tibetan Rinpoche lama
who describes the peak in a book about local beliefs, koras, and customs in the area. The
name Gangeqiaji means “Eight Peaked Mountain” in Tibetan, supposedly from the many
sharp peaks congregated together which makes the true summit hard to discern. Local
herders in the area have different names depending where they live in relation to the summit.
Tibetan herders below the south face call the peak “Zhalongbao” and on the northern sidecall it “Rigaode”.
Directly 10km to the southeast lies another prominent glaciated peak over 5,500m believed
to be the brother peak of Ganggeqiaji. This peak is much more well known by locals aroundYushu and called Jiangjiaduode. For local Tibetan Buddhists, Jiangjiaduode holds animportant spot in local tradition and holy Saiwencuo lake below the south face attracts
groups of Tibetans every year to do a holy kora around the lake. Some even preform a koraaround the peak of Jiangjiaduode itself, taking a complete day from dawn to dusk nearly
entirely above 5000m on rocky terrain. While Ganggeqiaji’s is taller, because of
Jiangjiaduode’s importance to local tradition it seems fitting that this massif, which
unmistakably protrudes from the Batang plans rising higher than anything else in sight, becalled the Jiangjiaduode Massif.
There is one Chinese map that marks the peak Ganggeqiaji as “Baosuose”, but the origin of
this name is unclear, and it is not known or recognized by any of the locals. Therefore for the
purpose of this expedition and respect for the locals who helped us along the way, we decided
to use the local names and to the best of our knowledge were the first time these names wererecorded in Mandarin or English.
The total kora route was 70km with 3,300m of elevation gain over six days.

Ganggeqiaji Kora RouteDay 1: Dirt Road – Suoercuo Lake, 10km +548m
After hiring a car and driver from Yushu, we made the over hour’s drive from our hotel out
past the airport and onto dirt roads that lead into steep mountain valleys to the south.
Following raging rivers and passing tents of nomads we finally turned into the valley thatwould start our trek and the initial ascent to towards Jiangjiaduode.
It was just Phillip and I, my childhood friend from the US who had just graduated from law
school and was looking for an adventure. I had lived in China 3 years by then and was
beginning a year-long photography project throughout China’s greater Hengduan mountains.
I had set my eyes on the peaks of the Jiangjiaduode Massif swirling in the clouds from far off

a year ago while travelling with a friend and hiking the hills of Yushu. Now, after days ofmeticulous planning on Google Earth and acclimatization day hikes – most of which Phillip
had to miss for having an upset stomach after drinking raw yak milk in a herders tent soonon his arrival – we were ready to go.

Yushu (Jekungdo) Jeku Monastery
Once in the main valley directly to the east of Jiangjiaduode we bid farewell to our driver andset off for Suoecuo, the higher of two lakes at the end of the valley that we were planning tocamp at that evening. The weather was fair, classic Qinghai summer weather that threatened
to hail as much as it did beat down the sun’s rays through thin atmosphere burning any
exposed skin. We past a few nomads tents and approached the first lake, Kanzhaocuo, which
to our surprise had a series of incredible cliffs and waterfalls on the far end. After some photos
we skirted around on the more navigable northern side to gain a few hundred meters ofelevation for our first test of ascending with packs on and quickly reached over 4800m andthe first boulder field of many to come.
Out before us stretched the beautiful milky turquoise Suoersuo with a small island in the
middle, surrounded by a few small grassy pastures dotted with late yellow flowers. We
navigated over the boulder field and set up camp on the near end of Suoersuo, looking acrossthe lake to the ridges that adjoined to the massive hanging glacier off Jiangjiaduode. We
studied the ridges as we cooked dinner, trying to plan our route for the next day and spot thepass we would take – we eventually decided on a small notch with a prominent rock spireprotruding in the middle of it above a small glacier on an adjacent peak next to Jiangjiaduodethat we guessed to be around 5400m.

Day 1 – Kanzhaocuo (1) above (2) below

Day 1 – Kanzhaocuo (3)Day 1 – Suoercuo (1)Day 1 – Suoercuo (2)Day 1 – Dir Road valley

Day 2: Suoercuo Lake – Witch’s Spire Pass – Yak Pass – South Face Camp, 14.5km +790m

Day 2 – Dawn (above) South face camp (1) (below)

Day 2 – South face camp (2) (above) To Yak Pass (below) To Yak Pass (below)

Day 2 – Witch’s Spire (1) (above) Spire (2) (below)

We woke up and left before dawn with the knowledge that it would perhaps be our longest
day and we needed stable morning weather to navigate and get over the first pass. In thedark we navigated with headlamps around the south side of Suoercuo, and the sun rose as
we left the grass for the rocky scree terrain scattered around the foot of Jiangjiaduode. Slowly
we picked our way up a boulder field to the terminus of the small glacier we had seen thenight before at around 5100m to find another small lake that had been iced over on Google
Earth. We skirted to the right of the glacial lake, and although we didn’t have crampons theglacier’s grade was not steep and we opted to hike up the glacier rather than take on moreboulders. Finally, at around 5200m we left the glacier and scrambled up the last of theboulders up to the pass and spire we had seen before.
We measured the pass at 5230m, and although we were excited to have our first climb behind
us and discover that there indeed was a path down the backside, our hearts sank at the sightof more boulders. The scree was not easy, fun, nor “soft”, there was no easy way down but topick a slow route down to the bottom of the valley. The rock spire we had seen the day before
was a clear marker for the pass, but ominous sticking out in the grey sky resembling a witch’s
hat made of rock, so we named the pass “Witch’s Spire Pass.” After a quick lunch andrainstorm we made it back down into the next valley on the west face of Jiangjiaduode andslowly climbed up to a low, grassy pass of 5010m that showed clear signs of many yak tails
being herder across this terrain.
Finally, as we crossed Yak Pass we left the valleys of Jiangjiaduode and got our first sights
of Ganggejiaqi’s stone south face. The south face was sheer, with some very steep glaciershanging to the cliffs, but it was mostly dark grey cliffs against an even darker sky asafternoon thunderstorms brewed overhead. We made our way across bumpy fields broken bymultiple boulder patches, setting up camp at 4850m below Ganggejiaqi’s south face just as ahail began to fall.
Day 3: South Face Camp – Blue Sheep Pass – West Valley Camp, 15.4km +588m
We woke up to a brilliant sunrise and clear sky. Hastening to pack up and move out towards
our next pass before the afternoon storms built again, we headed off early towards aforebodingly steep granite ridge with a few dips that could hardly be called “passes” but would
have to service. This pass looked the most challenging on Google Earth, but it was the only
way to avoid a massive detour around a 50km valley to the north side of Ganggejiaqi.
As we approached the pass we saw several white-lipped dear and group of blue sheep jumping
along the cliffs above us. Blue sheep are the favorite prey of snow leopards and with the rocky
terrain we speculated there might be several in the region. As we approached the pass it
quickly became apparent that these would be the biggest boulders of them all and it was slow
climbing, often requiring both hands to navigate up, over, and around large rocks. Finally,
after hours of scrambling like this with heavy packs we reached the pass at 5271m. Uponreaching the pass we were dismayed to realized we had actually climbed to the wrong one –we had originally intended to go to one more pass to the north but in the boulders we hadsomehow mixed up our direction and climbed to a higher pass which dropped down into acurving valley that would add a few more kilometers to an already long day.

Day 3 – Blue Sheep Pass (1) (above) (2) (below)

Day 3 – Blue Sheep Pass (3) (above) To Blue Sheep Pass (below)We had little choice, however, and picked our way down the treacherously steep scree on thebackside through more rain and hail, and finally reached the swampy valley bottom that was
grassy and soft but mired by bog and mounds of protruding grass that threatened to sprain
our ankles or soak our shoes at every step. Finally, after hoping through the mounds andswamp we saw our first Tibetans since we started at a small summer camp with a dirt road!
We pitched camp around 4520m.
Day 4: West Valley Camp – Jipucuo Holy Lake, 7km +200m
This was a welcome easy day after the last three days of climbing. With the road right outside
our camp all we needed to do was follow it to the main valley to the north of Ganggejiaqi andturn back in towards the east to begin the final stretch of the kora. Unfortunately, I thought
we could take a short cut and cut through some bushes and over a small rise which ended in
nothing but a bunch of scrapes, wet clothes, wasted time, and more marshy terrain. Afterthat mistake we still managed to get back on the main road, trek past some bewildered
Tibetan camps, and finally reach the end of the road that drifted off towards the large lakeat the end of the valley at the foot of Gangejiaqi.
Initially, we were shocked to find that the last local Tibetan family before the lake wanted us
to turn around and refused to let us pass. However after a lot of bargaining, explaining,
showing of route maps and past articles about my expeditions and work they finally let us
through and we were able to continue to the lake without being turned back so close to ourgoal. The lake was a gorgeous turquoise color, and we passed to it to make camp at 4508m at
the end of the valley below Ganggejiaqi’s dwindling glaciers and at the foot of the beginningto our last ascent the next day.

Day 4 – To Jipicuo Holy Lake (1)Day 4 – To Jipicuo Holy Lake (2) (above) (3) (below

Day 5: Jipucuo Holy Lake – The Notch – Glacier Peak – Red Rock Pass – NE Valley Camp,
8.3km +861m
We originally planned to wake up well before dawn to attempt the last pass ahead of us that
we could barely make out form our camp. Instead, we woke up to thunder and rain in thedark. The terrain above looked too unknown to do in poor weather, so we went back to sleep
hoping for better luck in a few hours.
When we next woke we found that the rain had gone, but fog was covering the peak andglacier around the pass that we had seen the day before. Not wanting to turn back or test ourrations, we decided to try to make for the pass and see if we could cross.
Slowly the thick shrubs and bushes of the low elevation that concealed the threat of bears
gave away again to scree slopes – this time the rock with a notable red tinge. The slopes here
looked much more unstable than the others around the kora, and it seemed that they had
likely all significantly collapsed during the 2010 earthquake. All of the scree was wet andslippery from the rain, and below the scree seemed to be a layer of slippery dirt and sand thatmade the slope even more dangerous and unstable.
We ended up ascending up a small but cascading stream, soaking our shoes in the process,but we found that the stream bed held the most stable rock of the slope.
Following the cascade we eventually reached the huge white glacier and ice sheet that we
could see on Google Earth which spread out at around 5100m. However in the fog and spitting
rain we could only see its terminus and decided to make for the ridgeline directly above it to
the northeast as it looked like safer terrain that would lead us to a possible peak and way
down. After another short rocky climb we reached a notable rocky notch surrounded by cliffs
and rock spires that marked the beginning of the ridge which lead off into the fog. The notch
was already at 5290m, our highest point yet on the kora.
We followed the ridge upwards and to the east, and eventually found ourselves on the narrowsummit of an unclimbed peak at around 5421m. As luck would have it, the clouds soon began
to part and much to our elation we soon got views of the whole ice sheet, one of Ganggejiaqi’s
knife sharp glaciated peaks, and even a navigable route down to the next valley (in the fog
all the routes down had seemed impossible).
After spending a good amount of time celebrating and bathing in the views on top of this highpoint, we descended the peak to the eastern extent of the glacier, cutting along the top of theglacier to reach the small pass we had witnessed in the fog break. This was the steepest screedrop yet, and below lay a sea of red rocks that spread down into the green valley far below.
The red rocks were no easier to descend than the days before, but we knew at last we haddone it an accomplished the last challenge of the kora.
It took longer than expected to descend to the valley, complicated that much of the slope wewere on suddenly ended in cliffs, but when we finally reached grass we collapsed in our tent
at 4727m just as another hail storm rolled in over Ganggeqiaji once more.

Day 5 – Red Rock Pass (above) To the Notch and Glacier Peak (below)

Day 5 – To the Notch and Glacier Peak (1) (above) and (2) (below)

Day 5 – To the Notch and Glacier Peak (3)Day 5 – View of the Surrounding Mountains from Glacier PeakDay 6: NE Valley Camp – Hot Springs – Dirt Road, 15km +300m

The Final Day of Journey

Day 6 – Hot Spring

The final day of our route was an uneventful slog down the last long valley back out to theeast with the hopes of finding a Tibetan with spare motorbikes, driver, cell service, orwhatever came first. Along the way we passed the entrance into another small valley at thebase of Ganggeqiaji that seemed to hold another incredible lake worthy of exploring.
Half way down the valley we also passed some incredible natural hot springs on both sidesof the valley that the Tibetans made pools of for bathing. Out of tired foolishness, or hunger,
we skipped these, and it remains a great regret! Finally, after 15km of single track wereached a dirt road with a Tibetan camp who had a van that would take us back to Yushu fora few hundred RMB. We gratefully hopped in the van, and after a long bumpy ride back tocivilization found ourselves back in the bustling and lit up lights of Yushu once more, aseeming metropolis compared to the stunning and fierce mountain wilderness that lay only
less than 50km away.

Day 6 – Looking back towards Unknown Mountains (above) Valley Out (below)Supplements by Tom Nakamura
Nakamura visited south of Yushu, Qinghai Province, three times, first in summer of 2018, andthen in Autumn of 2018, in summer of 2019. He accessed to the Ganggeqiaji massif from west andeast but could not reach the heart of the mountain massif where unknown and unclimbed peaks
are clustered. These were unveiled by Kyle Obermann. Photos taken by Nakamura are shown in
the following pages at random.

Aerial views of snow cladded 5000~5700m Ganggeqiaji S face south of Yushu, late NovemberAerial views of snow cladded 5000~5700m Ganggeqiaji S face south of Yushu in summer

Center of Yushu town

Newly refurbished historical Jeku Monastery in Yushu

King Kesal statue in Yushu

Yushu Batang Airport at 3850m

Tibetan mastiffs in breading house near Nangqen

Road to Ganggeqiaji from Yushu

Ganggeqiaji massif north face

Ganggeqiaji north face (above) west face (below)

Additional Pictures

Meconopsis – Blue poppies