ASIAN ALPINE E-NEWS
Issue No 86. April 2021
Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima
Translated, supplemented and compiled by Tamotsu (Tom) Nakamura

Contents
The Himalayan Club (India) E-Letter Vol. 42

1Page 2 ~ 40

THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER

THE HIMALAYAN CLUB

Climbing and Beyond...

THE HIMALAYAN CLUBAPRIL 2021  VOLUME 42

Contents - Volume 42
CLIMBS, TREKS AND EXPLORATIONS
Rakaposhi Expedition – New Route 2019........

2

Baljuri 5922m, Kumaon Himalaya: An Alpine Style
Attempt in winter........

9

Doug Scott........

12

Col(retd) Narinder “Bull” Kumar
Chanchal Kumar Mitra
Ashwin Popat........
........

20
23
27

Pakistan’s Ali Sadpara: The climber who never came backfrom K2........

28

Nepali climbers make history with winter summit of K2........

33

High-altitude birds evolved thicker ‘jackets’
Himalayan Tit Bit........

36
39

IN MEMORIUM........

NEWS AND PERSONALITIES........

Front Cover: Top - From Camp 3 l Bottom - Camp 2 to Camp 3 Rakaposhi

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Climbs, Treks and Explorations
Rakaposhi Expedition – New Route 2019
Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima
Translated, supplemented and compiled by Tamotsu (Tom) Nakamura

The route

Rakaposhi (Urdu: ‫ ) یشوپاکار‬is a mountain in the Karakoram mountain
range in the Gilgit- Baltistan region of Pakistan. It is situated in the middleof the Nagar and Bagrote valleys and Danyor, approximately 100 km
north of the capital city Gilgit of the semi-autonomous Gilgit-Baltistan.
Rakaposhi means “snow covered” in the local language. Rakaposhi isalso known as Dumani (“Mother of Mist” or “Mother of Clouds”). It is
ranked 27th highest in the world.
The first successful recorded ascent by non-natives was in 1958 by Mike
Banks and Tom Patey, members of a British-Pakistani expedition, via
the Southwest Spur/Ridge route. Both of them suffered minor frostbite
during the ascent to the summit on June 25. Another climber slipped andfell on the descent and died during the night.

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Notable features
Rakaposhi is notable for its exceptional rise over local terrain. On thenorth, it rises 5,900 metres (19,357 ft) in only an 11.2 km horizontal
distance from the Hunza-Nagar River. There are views of Rakaposhi
from the Karakoram Highway on the route through Nagar. A tourist spotin the town of Ghulmat (located in the Nagar Valley) called “Zero Pointof Rakaposhi” is the closest view point of the mountain. Rakaposhi is the
only mountain in the world which rises straight from beautifully cultivatedfields to the height of 25,550 feet. From many places this wonderfulspectacle can be viewed right from the base to the top.
Foreword
Our first objective was Tirich Mir Main 7,708m. However, we waited for
climbing permit at Chitral, but they did not grant the permit this year. Then
we sought an alternative and changed our course to the south side of
Rakaposhi, which is reputed as beautiful peak seen from Hunza. Hunza
is second home for Hiraide because of his frequent visits and it is one of
his wish to climb the peaks seen from Hunza. Among them Rakaposhi
was most outstanding and attractive. Which is the most challenging
unclimbed route? The south side remained untouched. The south side
was reconnoitered in the past, but nobody could find a feasible route.

At summit3

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Reconnaissance
During waiting for the permit, we entered the south side forreconnaissance. Danyor valley is close to Gilgit, only 40 minutes to thepoint where a jeep is assessible. During summer many villagers comefor pasturing goats, cows and yaks. It is easy to walk on the pasture.
There is less than 20km way from the pasture to the end (as low as
3,660m) of the right bank of Sulgin Glacier. It is likely to be polo ground.
Woods are abundant and there is a water stream. We setup BC here
as loads ferry by animals become difficult from this point. Projectedclimbing route can be looked up from the BC, but to draw climbing routeon the south side is not encouraging as there are many treacherous
seracs in the upper part of the south side. We observed four lines, only
one possible route remained. We tentatively returned to Gilgit,
Meanwhile we waited for news on the permit to Tirch Mir for two nights,
but there was no progress and to our regret our agent told us that
there was an announcement by the authorities that the permit would
not be granted this year. We resigned the first objective and headed to
Rakaposhi. We called back our guides who were in stand-by in Chitral.
With necessary supplies we returned to Rakaposhi on June 16. We lostten days.
Climbing :The weather was rather stable while we were waiting in Gilgit. Threedays after, rain and snow continued for a week. Not losing a chance, we
ascended for acclimatization and reconnoitered for three days. Though
the icefall was likely to be a labyrinth, it was not unpassable. But it was
not comfortable. We stayed at 4,500m, 5,900m for one night respectively
and returned from 6,100m to the BC. We could confirm a route, butacclimatization was not enough yet. We prayed for the good weather.
From the day when we returned to the BC, rain and sleet continued
for six days. The next day was fine but the wall glued with snow andavalanches very often sounded here and there. The weather forecast
told us that 2~3 days would be cloudy, then bad weather and again
it would be fine. We should have passed through the lower part apt
to danger of avalanches and availed ourselves of a narrow chance to4THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 42

The Peakreach the summit in fine weather.
After one day rest waiting for good weather, we departed in cloudy
weather. Though gears for rocks were left but we carried foods and fuels
for seven days. They were very heavy on our shoulders. The icefall after
one week was full of traces of avalanches and collapse of seracs. We
passed through a labyrinth of the glacier, detoured rock wall from theright then reached snow ridge. Cutting out a ridge at a col after following
a knife edge we pitched a tent of C1 at 5,200m. As it was the sameroute for acclimatization, we could move very fast. We gained 1,500m ofvertical difference.
On June 28 we passed through side of seracs to snow ridge and snow
wall. The previous traces were swept out. We struggled with fresh snow,
sometimes with no loads. We managed to gain 1,000m and pitched C2
at 6,200m. On June 29 we at last reached the south-east ridge. We
ascended belaying with ice screws on ice wall just beneath the southeast
ridge. A panorama of the northeast side suddenly came into sight when
we stood on the southeast ridge. Diran and Kunyan Chhis were viewed.
The summit was as if just in front of our eyes. But altimeter was honest.
Snow on the ridge was not crusted but loose contrary to expectation. We
had to struggle with soft snow on the southeast ridge too. We ascended
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600m. We dug snow and pitched a tent of C3 on the ridge. It snowed onJune 30 and July 1. We stayed in the camp.
As we felt that the good weather would not continue for two days, we
decided C3 to be the final camp for the last 1,000m to the summit.
At 04:00am on July 2, we departed under a skyful of stars. There were
no difficult pushes to the summit ridge. We silently struggled with snow.
We climbed a break of cornices to the ridge. Snow conditions were good
because of the winds blowing from the west. We intently progressed.
Suddenly Hunza came into sight below sheer-drops of the ridge.
We stood atop at 12:00 noon. We were overwhelmed by a 360°panorama.
Shispare that we climbed in the previous year attracted our attention.
Magnificent K2 was seen in far distance. We descended the same route ofascent. We stayed overnight at C3 and returned to BC in the following day.
There were no much technical difficulty, but vertical height from the BC to
the summit was over 4,000m and the weather was unstable.

Camp 2 to Camp 3

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Summiters at Base CampCamp 2 to Camp 3Camp 2 to Camp 3

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Camp 3Camp 1 to Camp 2Camp 1 to Camp 2
Piolets d’Or 2020 Honoured Ascent8

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Baljuri 5922m, Kumaon Himalaya:
An Alpine Style Attempt in winterAnindya MukherjeeTeam at BC after the attempt, 20th December, 2020

During the 2nd and 3rd week of December 2020, a team of 4 climbers (allHimalayan Club Members) made an attempt to climb Mt Baljuri 5922m
in Him-Alpine style by the Baljuri col-North ridge route. The expedition
did not use the services of any HAP or local guide beyond the traditionalbase camp of Baljuri and adopted a fast and light ‘carry, camp and climb’
style. The team reached Dwali (2610m) on 12th December and used
two alternate ferry days via Phurkia (3189m) to station themselves at
the traditional Base Camp (3600m) site of Baljuri on 16th December.
During the approach march, the team encountered fresh new snow froma kilometer below Dwali and half way up to the Zero Point (3750m) theteam found the trail covered in 6 inches to 1 feet of snow. On 17th
December, 3 climbers (Aniket, Rivu and Anindya) started climbing thespur that leads one to the traditional Camp-1 site of Baljuri. The spur
was a mixture of frozen grass, mud and boulders under a thick and9THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 42

Between Camp 1 and Camp 2 (bivi)

deceptive blanket of soft new snow. The trio reached the traditional
Camp-1 (4160m) area after 6 hours of climb. The camp 1 site (4160m)
itself was comparatively free of snow as it faces East and gets a lot of
early morning sun. On 18th December, the three started pushing higher
and very soon they found themselves between knee-deep to waist-deepsnow on a gradient that ranged between 35 to 45 degrees. Signs of loose
snow avalanches (sluffs- both dry and wet) could be seen in number ofplaces. The going became increasingly slow as a result and finally after 5hours of trail breaking and route finding through unconsolidated powder,
the three could climb only 500 meters. The team decided to make aBivi (Camp-2) at around 4600m and dug out a platform accordingly on
the NE face of point 4800m (located approximately 800m SE of Baljuricol). On 19th December, as the three started climbing further up, to theirsurprise they found no change or improvement in snow conditions as
hoped due to overnight freezing. As the team was getting very close(100m) to reaching a comparatively easier angled Névé of the Buria
glacier, they encountered slab formations big enough to sweep themoff the face. It is then the team decided to turn back immediately. The
team cleaned the Bivi site and started a long and slow descent to the10THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 42

On the Spur looking down towards to the moraine ridges of Pindari glaciervalley floor. They reached the traditional Base Camp by 5pm that very
day and over the next two days hiked back to the road head Kharakiya(2253m). Every protocol related to Covid-19 was maintained while theteam traveled through cities, towns and villages en route.
Team: Aniket Mitra, Rivusoumya Das, Ashish Chanda and Anindya
Mukherjee. Duration: 7th December, 2020 to 24th December, 2020.

Our Bivi at 4600m

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In Memorium
Doug Scott
1941-2020

Stephen Venables

Baffin Island 1971 expedition team. L–R: Steve Smith, Ray Gillies, Dennis
Hennek, Guy Lee, Phil Koch, Doug Scott and Rob Wood © Doug Scott Collection

Douglas Keith Scott (29 May 1941 – 7 December 2020)
In a career spanning six decades, Doug Scott was recognised worldwide
as one of the greatest mountaineers of the postwar era. The statistics
speak for themselves: over forty expeditions to Central Asia, countlessfirst ascents all round the world, the first British ascent of Mt Everest …
but what made Doug special was not the height or difficulty or number ofascents; no – for him what mattered was how you made those ascents.
Like all the best people he was a jumble of paradoxes: tough guy
rugby player fascinated by Buddhist mysticism; anarchic hippy witha deep sense of tradition; intensely ambitious one day, laid back thenext. He was as egotistic as any climber, but was also demonstrably
generous and compassionate, admired universally for his philanthropy.
In his Himalayan heyday he resembled a beefed-up version of John
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Lennon; in latter years, presiding over hisgorgeous Cumbrian garden in moleskins
and tweed jacket, he looked more like thecountry squire.
He grew up in Nottingham, the eldest of
three brothers, and started climbing at
thirteen, inspired by seeing climbers at
Black Rocks when he was out walking
with the Scouts. The bug took hold andhe developed into a strong rock climber
and alpinist. Throughout his life he would
staunchly defend the British traditions offree climbing, but he was also fascinatedby the aid climbing pioneers of the Eastern
Alps and by Californian big wall culture. Doug Scott, summit of Everest
By the early seventies he was publishing 1975 © Doug Scott Collection
regular articles in Mountain magazine,
and what an inspiration they were, illustrated with his superlative photos.
I remember particularly his piece ‘On the Profundity Trail’ describing an
early, and first European, ascent of Salathé Wall with Peter Habeler.
There was also an excellent series on the great Dolomite pioneers –research for his first book, ‘Big Wall Climbing’ – and a wonderful storyof climbing sumptuous granite on Baffin Island with Dennis Hennek, Tut
Braithwaite and Paul Nunn.
For an impressionable young student, dreaming of great things, thiswas all inspiring stuff and I lapped it up. But it was only much later,when Ken Wilson published Doug’s big autobiographical picture book,‘Himalayan Climber’, that I realised quite how much he had done inthose early days. As well as Yosemite and Baffin Island, there were big,bold adventures to the Tibesti Mountains of Chad, to Turkey and to Kohe
Bandaka, in the Afghan Hindu Kush. And closer to home there was his
visionary ascent of the giant overhanging ‘Scoop’ of Strone Ulladale, onHarris. Now of course there is a free version. Back then, filmed in grainy
black and white for television, it was a visionary demonstration of aidclimbing craftsmanship, complete with copperheads and RURPs – the13

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art of Yosemite granite transferred to Lewisian Gneiss.
All the while, Doug had been working as a schoolteacher in Nottingham.
I have no idea whether he planned all along to give up the day job andgo professional, but it was Everest that made that possible. The lucky
break came in the spring of 1972, with an invitation from Don Whillans
and Hamish MacInnes to join them on Karl Herrligkoffer’s European
Expedition to the Southwest Face. The expedition failed, but in theautumn Doug was back, this time as part of Chris Bonington’s firstattempt on the face, defeated by the bitter post-monsoon winds. It was
two years later, in India, during the first ascent of Changabang, that amessage came through announcing a surprise free slot in the Everest
waiting list for the autumn of 1975. With little time to prepare another
Everest blockbuster, there was talk at first of a lightweight attempt on

On The Ogre © Doug Scottthe regular South Col route, but Doug was instrumental in persuading
Bonington that they should go all out for the Southwest Face. That was
the great unclimbed challenge. Why repeat a well-trodden route when
you could be exploring the unknown?
The rest, as they say, is history. I can remember the palpable excitement
at the end of September 1975 when the news came through that14THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 42

they had done it. It seemed inevitable that Doug should have beenchosen for the first summit push with Dougal Haston. In a team of big
personalities, he was the biggest personality of all. Perhaps, like Hillary– who incidentally, had reached the top on Doug’s twelfth birthday in1953 – he wanted the summit more than the others; in Bonington’seyes he clearly had that extra something – that sheer bloody-mindedstrength, determination and ability to push the boat out.
The BBC stated in its obituary notice this week that Scott and Haston‘got into difficulties’ in 1975. Complete piffle. Supremely confident, they
made an informed decision to continue right to the summit, even though
it was almost dark and the oxygen was nearly finished. On returning to
the south summit and seeing how dangerous it would be to continue
down in now pitch darkness, they agreed very sensibly to bivouac rightthere, higher than any other human being had ever previously spent anight, and wait for the morning. It amazes me to this day that Doug was
not even wearing a down jacket, yet still managed to avoid frostbite.
‘The quality of survival’, as he put it, was exemplary.
Success on Everest was achieved on the tip of a beautifully constructed –and by all accounts very happy – British-Nepalese human pyramid. Even
its architect, Chris Bonington, seemed at times slightly embarrassed by
the sheer scale of the operation. Both he and Doug realised that theway forward lay in scaling things back down. For Doug, surviving anight in the open, without oxygen, at 8750 metres above sea level,
opened a huge door of possibility. Ever curious, now he could really findout what humans might achieve at altitude.
To my mind, his finest climb was Kangchenjunga in 1979, with Peter
Boardman, Joe Tasker and, initially, Georges Bettembourg. It was only
the third ascent of the mountain, and the first from the north. For Doug
the historian it was a vindication of prewar predictions that the North
Col might be the best way to the top of the mountain. Ropes were fixed
judiciously on the lower, technical face. Up above, they cut loose andwent alpine style, without oxygen. Messner & Co. had already shown it
was possible to climb to the highest altitudes without oxygen, but they
had done it on well-known ground with other climbers around should
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things go wrong. This was a big step into the unknown and Doug’s
photos of the summit day are some of most evocative mountain images
ever made.
It would take too long to list all the other Himalayan achievements, but
it’s worth mentioning some themes. What was impressive was the way
Doug was always re-thinking expeditions. It was his idea to transfer theconcept of the extended alpine summer season to the Himalaya, withloosely connected teams roaming far and wide on multiple objectives,with the family sometimes coming along too. It was he who introduced
new young talent to the Himalaya, bringing Greg Child’s big wall
expertise to the beautiful Lobsang Spire and East Ridge of Shivling, andStephen Sustad’s stamina to the gigantic Southeast Ridge of Makalu.
They didn’t quite pull off their intended traverse of Makalu with Jean
Afanassieff, but, my goodness, what a bold journey it was.
In fact, despite several attempts, Doug never quite summited Makalu,
nor Nanga Parbat, nor K2. But that is not the point. He didn’t give adamn about summits for their own sake: unless they were attained in
an interesting, challenging way, they held little appeal. Or he might justdecide that the omens – or the I Ching, or his particular mood that day,or whatever – were not right, as happened in 1980, when he left theslightly exasperated Boardman, Tasker and Renshaw to continue on
K2 without him.
When the mood was right there was no stopping him. Amongst all theclimbs I would most love to have done (and had the ability to do!), thefirst ascent of The Ogre in 1977 must be the most enviable: HVS and
A1 rock climbing on immaculate granite, 7,000 metres above sea level,at the heart of the world’s greatest mountain range – the Karakoram.
Less enviable was the epic descent with two broken legs, with Chris
Bonington, Mo Anthoine and Clive Rowland. Another visionary climb
was the 1982 first ascent of the Southwest Face of Shishapangma,
with Alex McIntyre and Roger Baxter-Jones, beautifully executed, withacclimatising first ascents of the neighbouring peaks of Nyanang Ri and
Pungpa Ri, in the process scouting out a feasible descent route, before
committing to Shishapangma itself, discovering the most elegant direct16

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route to any 8,000 metre summit.
Several of my friends have been on expeditions with Doug and knew
him better than I me. I only climbed with him once, when we were bothspeaking at an Alpine Club symposium at Plas y Brenin. We were noton until the afternoon and it was a beautiful sunny morning – far too
good to be shut indoors – so we sneaked off over the Llanberis Pass fora quick jaunt up Cenotaph Corner. Doug said the first time he had done
it was on his honeymoon. It was now 1989, so he must have been 48 –middle aged, but definitely still in his prime. He led with powerful easeand then suggested we continue on the upper tier of the Cromlech,up that brutal creation of his old mentor Don Whillans – Grond. In theabsence of large cams to protect the initial off-width, he grabbed alarge lump of ryolite, explaining cheerfully, ‘This is how we used to do
it, Youth,’ shoved it in the crack, hitched a sling round it and clipped in
the rope. As soon as he moved up the chockstone flew out of the crack,
narrowly missing my head, but Doug carried on regardless – blithely
calm, assured and fluent, supremely at ease with the rock.
There were other meetings, occasionally sharing a lecture platform,
once having the unenviable task of having to keep Doug confined
to a strict timetable dovetailing with the arrival of the Queen for an
Everest anniversary. Conversation, like his lecturing – or indeed his
expeditioning – could be enigmatic, discursive, elliptical, often veering
off the beaten track into untrodden side valleys, but always with anundercurrent of humour. And never pulling rank: he was a humble,
approachable man, happy to talk with anyone. The meeting that madethe biggest impression on me was in 1987 in the village of Nyalam, inTibet. It was the end of an expedition and we had just put a new route
up Pungpa Ri, which Doug had climbed five years earlier. Also staying
at the Chinese hostel were members of Doug’s current team who had
been attempting the Northeast Ridge of Everest.
Doug himself turned up later, just back from a gruelling road journeyfrom Rongbuk, across the border to Nepal, then up to Sola Khumbu,
then all the way back across the border to wind up the expedition in
Tibet. The reason? A young Sherpa man who had been helping his
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expedition had been killed in an avalanche near base camp during ahuge storm two weeks earlier. Doug had taken it on himself to travel all
the way to the man’s family in Nepal, to tell them personally what had
happened and to ensure that they received financial compensation.
That empathy with the people of Nepal came to fruition in his remarkablecharity, Community Action Nepal. There was a precedent in Ed Hillary’s
Himalayan Trust, but what I like about CAN is that it does not concentrate
its efforts exclusively on the most popular region of Sola Khumbu,
but also has projects in other regions such as the Buri Gandaki near
Manaslu. Most impressive of all is the way Doug financed it over thelast two decades. At an age when most people in his position would
be happy to rest on their laurels, perhaps accepting the occasional
lucrative guest appearance, Doug travelled the length and breadth ofthe country on gruelling lecture tours – often only just out of hospital,
after yet another operation on the old Ogre injuries that had come backto haunt him – pouring all the proceeds into his charity. Lecture fees
were topped up by sales of Nepalese crafts and auctions of Doug’s
most classic photographs. Doug the auctioneer was a force to behold,as he mesmerised and cajoled audience members into donating evermore astronomical sums for a signed photograph.

Doug Scott at the Climbers’ Club dinner in 2009 © Mick Ryan
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As if running a charity were not enough, Doug also managed in recent
years to complete a fine history of The Ogre, and finally to publish thelong-awaited autobiography for which Hodder & Stoughton first paid anadvance in 1975. His history of Kangchenjunga will be published next
year. For a man who had once been a bit wary of institutions, he madean enthusiastic and much liked Alpine Club President. He also stood forelection to the BMC presidency, asking the journalist Steve Goodwin
to help with his manifesto. Steve phoned me in despair to say that the
opening paragraph was all about Doug’s compost heap. Myself, I also
have a profound relationship with my compost heap, and I can see
exactly where Doug was coming from. But in the shiny corporate worldof modern convenience climbing it wasn’t going to be a vote winner.
Alas, Doug did not get the presidency. A great loss to us all, in myopinion.
He was a man of principle – visionary and adventurous, but in someways quite conservative, rooted in traditions which he valued. One ofthose traditions was the notion that if we climbers are going to spend
our lives doing something that has no ostensible practical purpose,then it is important how we carry out that pursuit. And for Doug, if I
have understood him correctly, paramount in that ‘how’ were notionsof curiosity, personal responsibility, risk and a willingness to embrace –even seek out – uncertainty.
It is always inspiring to see someone happy in their work. Despite thefrenetic pace he set himself and his devoted third wife Trish, Doug
seemed in recent years to have achieved the kind of contentment thatmany people only dream of. He had a genuine sense of purpose andan assured legacy. He was a man who seemed at ease with himself
and the world. He will be missed hugely here, in Nepal and all roundthe world, but most of all by Trish and by the five children of his first two
marriages. I feel honoured to have known him and glad that if I should
ever have grandchildren I will be able to tell them, ‘I climbed Cenotaph
Corner with Doug Scott’.
Courtesy: www.ukclimbing.com

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Col(retd) Narinder “Bull” Kumar- One Of The Most
accomplished Adventurer In The Country.
Manik BanerjeeColonel ( retd) Narinder “Bull” Kumar

24th May 1960. Three members of the first summit party of maiden
Indian Everest Expedition set out from their last camp to reach the
top of world’s highest mountain . But Capt Narinder Kumar, Nowang
Gombu and Sonam Gyatso had to abodone their attempt when they
were just about seven hundred feet short of their coveted goal becauseof extreme bad weather.
During a visit to Darjeeling as part of my journalism study tour I met(then) Lt. Col Narinder Kumar, the fourth principal of the prestigious
Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI) in Darjeeling for the second
time. He invited me to act as honorary instructor at the ensuing Adventure
Course and this time I was to interact with him closely during my three
weeks stay there. He received me warmly and a bond was establishedwhich remained intact until the legendary mountaineer passed away on
December 30 at the Army Research & Referral Hospital in New Delhi,bringing an end to an illustrious and impactful career in mountaineeringand allied sports spanning more than six decades.
Col Kumar, popularly known as ‘Bull’ Kumar among his friends and inadventure sports circles, was perhaps the first Indian adventurer who
excelled in various adventure activities. Besides being a fine climber
he proved his organising capacity as the deputy leader of the firstsuccessful Indian Everest expedition in 1965 and then leading the first20THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 42

successful Indian Army Expedition to Kangchenjunga in 1977.
In administration too he showed his mettle as principal of HMI, Darjeeling,
and of the Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering (IISM), Gulmarg,
and as Commandant of the High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS).
He was the first to organise a successful rafting expedition on the
Teesta in Sikkim, the Indus in Ladakh and the Brahmaputra in Assamand Arunachal Pradesh during the 1960s, ’70s and later years. He also
led the first successful Indian skiing expedition which skied down fromthe summit of Trisul (7120 m) in 1976.
Perhaps his finest hour was his leadership of the 1977 Indian Armyteam which made the first Indian ascent of Kangchenjunga (8586 m),
climbing by its uncharted northeast spur on the Indian side. For this he
was awarded the PVSM, becoming the first Lt Colonel to receive it. He
also led an expedition which made the first ascent of Chomolhari, thehighest mountain in Bhutan during 1970.
But the country will also remember him most for his pioneering
exploration of the Siachen glacier, during which ascents of Teram Kangri
II (7407 m) and Sia Kangri (7442 m) were made in the late 1970s andearly ’80s. It was Col Kumar’s exploratory work that helped India secure
the strategic Siachen glacier. In recognition, there is a battalion HQ on
Siachen Glacier named Kumar Base, a key forward logistics post at
4880 m.
During his tenure at IISM, Gulmarg he, on behalf of IMF, organised theInternational Mountaineers’ Meet Climbing Camp at Lidderwat, Kashmir,in 1973 . Top international climbers including Chris Bonington (UK),Jean Coudray and Maurice Jiquel of EMSA, Chamonix, France andothers demonstrated the latest advancements in climbing techniqueand gear.
Early in his mountaineering career, he had several toes amputated due
to frostbite during the expedition to Nilkantha which he led in 1961.
His subsequent accomplishments took place despite this.
Born on December 8, 1933 in an illustrious family of Rawalpindi inundivided India, the strong and stout Narinder had an affinity for the21

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Col Kumar (Principal) with Adventure Course students, at HMI
Tenzing Norgay and Chanchal Mitra are also in the picture.

outdoors from a very young age. At 13, as a schoolboy, he went to Parisin 1947 to attend a Boy Scouts Jamboree, representing India.
Following in his elder brother’s footsteps, he joined the Joint Services
Wing which is now called the National Defence Academy. At Military
College, now the Indian Military Academy, he participated in cycle polo
and boxing. Here he was given the nickname “Bull” for charging likea raging bull during boxing bouts. He was commissioned in Kumaun
Regiment in June 1954.
Col Kumar was conferred the Padma Shri and also the Arjuna Award forthe Indian success on Everest in 1965.
He was awarded the Kirti Chakra, Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) and Ati
Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) for distinguished service to the IndianArmy.
In 2010 he received the MacGregor Medal awarded by the UnitedServices Institution of India for the best military reconnaissance,
exploration or survey in remote areas. He also received the Indian
Mountaineering Foundation Gold Medal.
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He served as IMF vice-president and member of the governing council
for several years and headed the Winter Games Federation of India
from 1996 to 2006.
Col Kumar is survived by his wife, Mridula, and daughter, Sailaja. Sailaja
represented India in the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988 in alpine
skiing — the first Indian woman Winter Olympian. His son, Akshay, awhitewater sports enthusiast and adventure travel professional, died in
September 2020.

Chanchal Kumar Mitra(1934 – 2020)
Manik Banerjee

Chanchal Mitra

October 9, 1966. The expedition organised by Himalayan Associationof Kolkata and led by Chanchal Kumar Mitra made the first ascent of
23,210 feet Tirsuli in Kumaun Himalaya. A day earlier the leader saw
the summit party off from camp four after overseeing the spot forcamp five and the subsequent route to the summit there after. Insteadof joining the summit party, Mitra preferred to go down and organise asecond summit team which in case of emergency would be able to act
as a support to the first party.
Tirsuli used to be known as a killer mountain and thwarted back three
expeditions inluding one by a Polish team in 1939 and the pre-Everest
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expedition organised by Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF)
and led by Commander M S Kohli in 1964. While two of the Polishmembers died in an avalance in 1939, several tents in a higher campwere destroyed , also by an avalance, during the pre-Everest attempt.
Luckily all the members were out of that camp at that time.
Mitra’s decision proved to be very correct as one of the members of thefirst summit team sustained frost bite while returning to the last camp
after the ascent of the peak . The second summit party had to forego
their attempt but helped bring the frost bitten member safely to hebase camp.
Ascent of Tirsuli in 1966 is still considered to be a land mark event
in Indian mountaineering as this was the first civilian expedition in

Chanchal Mitra ( standing just behind Prime Minister wearing black blazer andalong with Tirsuli ‘66 summiters Shyamal Chakraborty ( standing extreme left
and Nirapada Mullik ( extreme right) with Hon. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
during 1967 Republic Day Parade in Delhi.
24THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 42

the country which made the first ascent of a peak of such magnitude.
The expedition was very highly acclaimed and its leader Chanchal
Kumar Mitra received accolades from various dignitaries including
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi , IMF President Harish Chandra Sarin andvarious mountaineering organisations and clubs in the country for his
excellent leadership. Mitra and other members of the expedition werealso invited to take part in the 1967 Republic Day Parade in Delhi where
IMF put up a tableau.
As a student of class VI he visited Kurseong and Darjeeling in 1944. He
was so overwhelmed by the magnificent view of Kangchenjunga that hemade three more visits to Darjeeling within next four years. A bond wasmade between Mitra and the Himalaya which lasted throughout his life.
Mitra, popularly known as Chanchalda by his juniors in mountaineering
fratrnity , began his trekking in Himalaya during 1958 when hevisited Kedarnath, Badrinath and Mana covering a distance of about
two hundred miles from Rudraprayag. This was followed by a trek
to Yomunotri, Gangotri and Tapovan in 1961. The same year hebecame a member of Himalayan Association, Kolkata –the pioneer
mountaineering club in eastern India and participated in their venture
which made the first ascent of Nilgiti Parvat in Garhwal Himalaya in
1962.
He completed his basic and advance mountaineering training fromHMI, Darjeeling in 1964. He then took part in Himalayan Association’s
first attempt on Tirsuli led by K P Sharma in1865. The venture made avaliant attempt but was turned back by extreme bad weather. Earlier inthe year Mitra was one of the main organisors for holding the first Rockclimbing training course at Sushunia Hills under Bankura district ofWest Bengal.He also acted as one of the instructors there.Then came
Himalayan Association’s second attempt on Tirsuli with Mitra as theleader.His unique success on Tirsuli not only proved his mettle as afine leader, it also propelled West Bengal at the forefront of Indian
mountaineering.
After Tirsuli, Mitra led a couple of more expeditions - both in Kumaon
Himalaya. One was to Hardeol which was the first attept on the25THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 42

23,460 feet high peak. The other one was to Panchachulli I and II
through Darma Valley in 1970 which was the first NCC ( Naional Cadet
Corps)) expedition in the country. Shri Mitra , beside being a college
professor , was a NCC officer with a rank of Captain. In 1974 he joined
Himalayan Association ventuure on Nital Thaur in Kumaun which was
the maiden attempt on this mountain. During 1975 Mitra along NIM
instructor Harsh Muni Nautiyal made the first ascent of a 20480 feethigh unnamed peak in Kalindi Khal area of Garhwal Himalaya. The
team which also included two other members Anil Deb Roy and Ashish
Roy Chowdhury then reached Badrinath after crossing Kalindi Khal
Thereafter Mitra mostly concentrated on trekking in different parts of
Himalaya including Green Lake in Sikkim. After about three decades heagain participated in a venture in Himalaya as a member of the West
Sikkim The Himalayan Exploration organised by Kolkata section of The
Himalayan Club during 2003.
I had the opportunity to be with him during four of the expeditions including
Tirsuli ’66.His planning of the expeditions used to be immaculate.
As a leader he could genarate team spirit and comradrie among themembers. He was a very good photographer and took fine photos of the
expeditions and trekkings he participated. His reports on his different
ventures were accurate and informative which proved to be very helpful
for the others.Mitra had a vast knowladge on mountaineering literatureand had edited first two volumes of Himalayan Association Journal.
Chanchalda was born in 1934 and beloinged to noted Mitra family ofnorth Kolkata but shifted home to south Kolkata in latter part of his life.
He remained a bachelor but was close to his cousins, nephewes andnieces. For the last few years he was not keeping well. Since October
2019 he was staying with his nephew Shri Shivaji Dam . Even during
February 2020 he attended the Himalayan Club AGM . I met him duringthat time . But little did I know that it would be our last meeting as thedoyen of West Bengal mountaineering left for his heavenly abode on
December 4, 2020 leaving a big void amidst mountaineering fraternity.

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Ashwin Popat
Harish Kapadia(1943-2021)

Ashwin Popat was a Life Member of The Himalayan Club. In a closeknit trekking community loss of a companion is always sad. He was
my long-standing trekking friend, though ailing for a while, still till theend he was thinking of hills. Weakened by medical treatment, looking
almost a skeleton, first thing he did was to climb a hill near his house.
The hill may be small but the spirit he was showed was high.
We first met on a trek in the local hills and we got on fabulously, went fortreks into remote areas, climbed many hill forts in a span of almost four
decades. Those were the fun-days when we simply packed rucksackwith some food and branched off to a fort of Shivaji in the hills near
Mumbai, walked through villages, climbing steep trails in sun and sleep
in a cave. There were no other groups and the entire fort just belonged
to us. There were chats about mountains, family, business and life
between our close group of friends.
Ashwin was a different person. He was a successful architect who
developed many high buildings. It was a high-pressure job though he
was very creative. Ultimately tired of the world of finance and buildings,
which was never straight forward, he decided to wind up his businessand devote more time to life in nature and travelling. With his family he27

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travelled to the Arctic, Antarctic, Amazon Forest, Northern Lights, Tibet
and Nepal; thoroughly enjoying various aspects of nature. During all
this while his love for the Himalaya remained supreme. He made trips
to the forest of Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal, Uttarakhand and several
areas with different companions. He was a romantic at heart, joking
with friends, loved good food and enjoyed a walk every morning to ahill near to his house.
Likes of him are nowadays rare who would give up many material things
for nature and concentrate on enjoying life. He will be sorely missedby all of us. His daughters Urmi and Jasmine are very capable andlooked after the entire family during his sickness. He enjoyed with his
grandson Arrav. Our condolences to them and his wife Shankuntala
whose loss is the greatest.
I’m sure his heart would be living in hills wherever he is.

News and Personalities
Pakistan’s Ali Sadpara: The climber who never came back from K2
By M Ilyas Khan, BBC News, Islamabad ,15th Feb,2021

Missing climber Mohammad Ali Sadpara and two others who went
missing earlier this month while attempting to scale the world’s secondhighest mountain have been officially declared dead.
But Sadpara will be remembered as a versatile climber by the international
community of mountaineers, and a hero in his native Pakistan.
He is the only Pakistani to have climbed eight of the world’s 14 highest
mountains, and he made the first ever winter ascent of the world’s ninth
highest peak, Nanga Parbat.
On Friday 5 February, he went missing along with two others - Iceland’s
John Snorri and Chile’s Juan Pablo Mohr - while trying to climb K2, theworld’s second highest peak at 8,611m (28,251 ft) and also reputedly
the deadliest.
His son Sajid was also a member of the team and the idea was forthe father-and-son duo to summit K2 without oxygen, a feat never28THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 42

done before in winter. But Sajid had to turn back from a spot called the
Bottleneck - also known as the “death zone”, some 300 metres from the
top - after he felt sick.
Afterwards, he helped military-led rescue teams scour the mountain forsigns of his father and the other two men.
On Thursday, the search was officially called off - and all three climbers
declared dead.
“K2 has embosomed my father forever,” Sajid told reporters at a press
conference, according to a report by the Express Tribune.
“Pakistan has lost a brave and celebrate climber, while our family has
lost a loving and caring head.”
How did Mohammad Ali Sadpara start climbing?
Mohammad Ali Sadpara was born in 1976 in Sadpara, a village in one of
the river valleys of the Himalayan Baltistan region in Pakistan’s extreme
north.
Livestock farming is the main source of livelihood in the region, andthe area’s youth also work as porters with Western mountaineers andadventure tourists who frequent the region each year.
Sadpara finished middle school in the village and his father, a low-grade
government employee, later moved the family to Skardu town, where
Sadpara studied up to higher secondary school before moving onto
climbing.
Nisar Abbas, a local journalist and relative and friend of Sadpara fromtheir village days, describes him as being extraordinary right from hischildhood.
“He had the physique and the habits of an athlete, and was also good in
studies. He never failed a class. Since his elder brother never did well inschool, his father was keen to get him a good education and that’s why
he moved him to Skardu.”
Given the family’s financial constraints, he moved to climbing in around2003 or 2004.
“He was an instant success with tour operators because the expeditions
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he led were mostly successful. He
earned worldwide fame in 2016 whena three-man team he was a member ofbecame the first to summit Nanga Parbat
in winter.
Hamid Hussain, a Karachi-based tour
operator from Skardu who has known
Sadpara since 2012, has similar
memories.
Left out to freeze on K2
K2 climber aborts solo winter ascent
Irish climbers conquer peak within 24
hours of each other

Hamid Hussein“He was brave, and pleasant and very friendly,” he says. “And he was so
physically fit. We trekked together on many occasions, and while there
were times when we would run out of breath and collapse, he would
still jog up the steep slopes and then shout back at us, asking us to bequick.”On one occasion in the winter of 2016, during a trek from Sadpara valley
to the Alpine planes of Deosai, when freezing winds caught them in asnow-filled gorge and sent shivers down their spines, they saw him climb
smoothly up the slope and start dancing over the ridge.
Ali Sadpara had been in tight spots before, and he knew the risks.
“I have lost 12 of my 14 colleagues in the mountaineering business. Twoof us remain,” he said in a 2019 interview. “So my friends now often ask
me, Ali, when are you going to die?”Why summit K2 without oxygen?
One theory is that he was working as a high-altitude porter for John
Snorri and had to comply with the agreement he had signed with him.
But that was just a ruse, Nisar Abbas says. Weeks earlier, Sadpara had
openly expressed his keenness to make the attempt after a 10-member
Nepalese team led by the famous Nirmal Purja became the first-ever to30

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Ali Sadpara playing drums on a jerry can with a Dutch group during a K2 trek in 2012

summit K2 in winter.
And in order to set a new record, Sadpara wanted to do it too - but without
oxygen. And he also wanted his son to be there when it happened.
Sajid, his son, told the media that they had started out with some 25 to
30 climbers, local and foreign, but all of them turned back before hitting
the 8,000-metre point.
Sajid’s own condition worsened when they hit the Bottleneck.
“We had carried an oxygen cylinder in our emergency gear. My father
told me to take it out and use some. It will make me feel better.”
But while Sajid was setting up the cylinder, its mask regulator sprang aleak.
Meanwhile, his father and the two foreigners continued to scale the
Bottleneck. His father then looked back and shouted to Sajid to keep
climbing.
“I shouted that the cylinder had leaked. He said, ‘don’t worry, keep
climbing, you’ll feel better’. But I couldn’t gather the strength to do it, anddecided to turn back. It was around noon on Friday. That was the last I
saw of them.”
When asked why Sadpara insisted that he keep going, Sajid said: “The31THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 42

Nepalese had done it weeks earlier, and he wanted to do it too, because
K2 is our mountain.”
What could have happened?
Sajid says he saw the three men climb over the bottleneck at the top,which means that they probably did make it to the summit.
Experts say most accidents happen while descending, as even a slight
loss of balance can send one crashing down into an abyss.
Those who knew Sadpara doubt he would have made such an error.
People in his village still recall more than one occasion when a goat
Sadpara was tending in the mountains got injured, and instead of slitting
its throat, as others would, he’d haul it over his shoulders and walk all
the way down to take it to the village vet.
They suspect that he probably failed to make it back because one orboth of his partners met with an accident and he stayed on trying to finda way to save them.
We will probably never know.
People in the area had been awaiting a miracle.
But given the hostile environment, low oxygen and winter temperaturesdipping to as low as -80C, there’s little chance the men could havesurvived a week at over 8,000m, his son had said.
“This hasn’t happened in climbing history, so we can only hope for amiracle,” Sajid Sadpara had earlier told the BBC.
On Thursday, after his father’s death was officially declared, Sajid vowed
to continue following in his footsteps.
“To all the climbers... who look up to him. I promise I will carry on his
dreams and mission and continue to walk in his footsteps.”
Courtesy BBC News32

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Nepali climbers make history with winter summit of K2 mountain
By M Ilyas Khan, BBC News, Islamabad,16th Jan,2021

The Nepali climbers are the first to summit K2 during its dangerous winter season

A team of 10 Nepali climbers has set a new world record by becoming
the first to reach the summit of K2, the world’s second highest mountain,
in winter.
Mountaineer Nimsdai Purja, a member of the group, said they reached
the peak at 17:00 local time (12:00 GMT).
Dozens of climbers have been on the 8,611m (28,251ft) mountain thiswinter hoping to achieve the same feat.
But one Spanish mountaineer has died after suffering a fall this weekend
while descending.
K2, which is only 200m shorter than Everest, is part of the Karakoram
Range that straddles the Pakistan-China border.
One of only 14 mountains higher than 8,000m, it is widely considered
the most demanding of all in winter.
It has long been referred to as “the savage mountain”, a name that stuckafter US mountaineer George Bell said of his own attempt in 1953: “It isa savage mountain that tries to kill you.”33THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 42

Among the most treacherous sections is the notorious “bottleneck”, acouloir liable to icefalls. Eleven climbers were killed there in an avalanche
in 2008.
Left out to freeze on K2
K2 climber aborts solo winter ascent
Irish climbers conquer peak within 24 hours of each other
The Nepali climbers were initially spread across three of four competing
teams - in all, totalling 60 people. But the 10 Nepalis later formed into a

Source : Alex Gavan

single group to claim the historic achievement in Nepal’s name.
Mountaineer Nirmal Purja - a former member of the UK’s Special Boat
Service - shared an image of the group celebrating their achievement,
which was confirmed by expedition organiser Seven Summit Treks.
“We are proud to have been a part of history for humankind and to showthat collaboration, teamwork and a positive mental attitude can push
limits to what we feel might be possible,” said Mr Purja.
Since the first attempt in 1987-1988, just a handful of winter expeditions
have been attempted on K2. Until now, none has reached higher than
7,650 metres.
Nepali guides, usually ethnic Sherpas, are considered the backbone of34

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the climbing industry around the Himalayas, and regularly help foreign
mountaineers on expeditions.
News of the group’s success on Saturday has been praised on social
media and sparked joy within the Nepalese climbing community - often
left out of the spotlight.
“For decades, Nepalis have assisted foreigners to reach the summits ofthe Himalayas, but we’ve not been getting the recognition we deserve,”
said Kami Rita, speaking to AFP.
“It is wonderful that today on K2 10 Nepalis have made history and shown
our bravery and strength,” added Mr Rita, who has climbed Everest a
record 24 times.
As news of their success broke, it was also confirmed that anotherclimber, Spaniard Sergi Mingote, died after experiencing a severe fall.
Mr Mingote, 49, was based with another team and had been descending
to K2’s base camp when he slipped and fell.
An experienced mountaineer, Mr Mingote had previously climbed sevenof the world’s so-called “8000ers”, including Everest.
He had been attempting to summit K2 without oxygen but became
severely fatigued, forcing him to abandon the expedition.
Courtesy BBC News35

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High-altitude birds evolved thicker ‘jackets’
Victoria Gill, Science correspondent, BBC NewsThe Smithsonian has one of the world’s largest bird collections, with specimens
dating back to the 1860s

A study of 250 species of Himalayan songbirds has revealed how theirfeathers evolved for higher altitudes.
The birds in colder, more elevated environments had feathers with more
fluffy down - providing them with thicker “jackets”.
The insight reveals how feathers provide the tiniest birds with such
efficient protection from extreme cold.
It also provides clues about which species are most at risk from climatechange, the scientists say.
Traffic noise impairs songbirds’ abilities
Ivory from shipwreck reveals elephants’ decline
How the blackest fish in the sea ‘disappear’
The study, in the journal Ecography, was inspired by a tiny bird leadresearcher Dr Sahas Barve saw during an icy day of fieldwork in the36

THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 42

Himalayas, in 2014.
“It was -10C,” said the researcher from the Smithsonian National Museumof Natural History, in Washington DC.
“And there was this little bird, a Goldcrest, which weighs about the sameas a teaspoon of sugar.
“It was just zipping around catching bugs.”
Dr Barve’s fingers went numb as he tried to take notes.
But he remembers being “blown away by the little Goldcrest”.
“To survive, this bird has to keep its heart at about 40C,” he said.
“So it has to maintain a difference of 50C in that little space.

Victoria Gill

“I was like, ‘OK, I really need to understand how feathers work.’”
Fortunately, Dr Barve’s home institution has one of the largest bird
collections in the world.
Examining the feathers of nearly 2,000 individual birds, in microscopic
detail, he noticed a pattern linked their structure to their habitat.
Each feather has an outer part and a hidden downy portion.
And Dr Barve’s measurements revealed those living at higher elevations
had more of the lower fluffy down.
37THE HIMALAYAN CLUB E-LETTER VOLUME 42“They had fluffier jackets,” he said.
Smaller birds, which lose heat faster, also tend to have longer feathers
in proportion to their body size, revealing the little goldcrest’s secret.
Dr Carla Dove, who runs the museum’s Feather Identification Lab andcontributed to the study, said she was excited to use the Smithsonian’scollections in a new way.
“Having them all in one place, as opposed to having to go to the Himalayas
and study these birds in the wild, obviously makes a big difference,” shesaid.

Aditya Chavan

Dr Barve said: “It would take me a decade to go out, find the birds andstudy their feathers.
“We’ve been using down jackets for a long time.
“But we haven’t understood how those feathers work on a bird.
“We don’t know what discoveries our specimens will be used for down
the line.
“That’s why we have to maintain them and keep enhancing them.
“These specimens from the past can be used to predict the future.”
Courtesy BBC News38

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Himalayan Tit Bit

There are many reminiscent and memoir of Sir Francis Younghusband
on the trail of his famous British expedition to Tibet in 1904. One suchis a board beside the Kupup Lake on the Jelep La trail, which is given
below.

Edited by : Nilay Chakraborty

Email: nilay24@gmail.com
Published for The Himalayan Club
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