ASIAN ALPINE E–NEWS
Issue No.16, December 2017

CONTENTS
1. Participation from Asia: Nepal and Japan
International Festival of Alpinism Prague 2017

Page 2~14
Tom Nakamura

2. The12th Piolets d’Or Asia 2017 Seoul Korea
Harish Kapadia and Kazuya Hiraide awarded

Page 15~22
Tom Nakamura

3. UNCCC–COP23 on 14 November in Bonn, Germany
Page 23~26“Community Experience of the Climate Change
in the Himalayas and Solutions”
Ang Tshering Sherpa
4.

A Return to the East Karakoram 2017
First ascent of Lak Kangri and Thrung-ma Kangri

5. New Route on Chola Shan 2017
Shaluli Shan Range–West Sichuan Highlands
6.

1Page 27~32
Derek Buckle
Page 33~37
Dong Ding

Monkey business in the Karnak gorge

Page 38~52

Zanskar – Ladakh 2017

Cosmin Andron

Participation from Asia: Nepal and Japan
In
International Festival of Alpinism Prague 2017
Ang Tshering Sherpa, Founder Chairman of Asian Trekking, Pasang Dawa
Shepa, General Manager of Asian Trekking – Nepal and Tamotsu (Tom)Nakamura, Honorary Member of UIAA and Japanese Alpine Club – Japan
participated in the Festival held on November 23 – 26, in Prague, Czech
Republic. Following is a photo gallery compiled by Tom Nakamura.
(Introduction of “Global Adventure & Mountaineering Conference & EXPO
held on March 23 – 25 at Kathmandu is shown in the last page)1

(from left) Ladislav Jirasko –APLY Event Sponsor, Wolfgang Nairz,
Ang Tshering Sherpa, Peter Habeler, Tom Nakamura, Pasang Dawa Sherpa

23Peter Habeler (right)

Adam Ondra – Czech’s super star free climber
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Urban Novak, Slovenian climber talking on mountaineering career5

Ang Tshering Sherpa, Chairman of Asian Trekking – Nepal
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Ang Tshering Sherpa (center), Ladislav Jirasko of APLY, Sponsor (right end)

Pasang Dawa Sherpa talk about rescue system and practice in Nepal
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Tom Nakamura’s presentation on Piolets d’Or Asia 2017 and Golden Flying
Route over the Himalaya: Aerial panoramas – Kathmandu/Lhasa/Chengdu

910(left) Tom Nakamura (right) Ladislav Jirasko, APLY- Event sponsor
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The Golden City – Prague
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Global Adventure & Mountaineering Conference & EXPO
March 23 – 25, Hyatt Regency, Kathmandu
13The12th Piolets d’Or Asia 2017
Edited and compiled by Tom Nakamura

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WINNER
Lifetime Achievements Award–Harish Kapadia, Himalayan Club
Piolets o’Or Asia 2017 winner –Kazuya Hiraide, Japan

Jury Members: from left – Harish Kapadia, Tom Nakamura, Hiroshi Hagiwara

Event Hall
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Harish Kapadia (right)

Kazuya Hiraide

Kazuya Hiaide, Japan, awarded for the first ascent of Shispare NE face3

Near C1
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Three Candidates
Candidate 1

This climbing was awarded.

5Candidate 2

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Candidate 378UNCCC – COP23 Speech by Ang Tshering Sherpa on topic of “Community Experience of the Climate
Change in the Himalayas and Solutions” on 14 November 2017 in Bonn, Germany.

On behalf of Climate Alliance of Himalayan Communities, UIAA and myself, I would like to extend my gratitude
and appreciation to UNFAO, Mountain Partners and UIAA for giving me this opportunity to express my views at
the side event of UNCCC –COP23 here in Bonn, Germany. My name is Ang Tshering Sherpa. I am a community
leader from the Khumbu Region of Nepal which houses the world’s tallest peak, Mount Everest. Ihave beenworking in mountaineering and tourism for last forty three years, and have been a witness to the vast changes
to the lives and livelihoods, as well as the mountain over the last 5 decades. I have the following to report.
Mountaineering and Tourism in general has done wonders to the lives of communities in the Mount Everest
Region by bringing economic benefits and development opportunities denied to us for centuries due to ourisolation. However, in recent years, climate change has been creating massive problems to our ecology, andpotentially to our cultural heritage and lives. Of course, we mountain communities across the Himalayas areconcerned- very very concerned.
People living in the Himalayas may have similar pains and pleasures, but they are very diverse in terms of theirethnicity, languages, cultural and traditional values. It was important therefore to bring together all these voices
under one organization. I therefore co-founded Climate Alliance of Himalayan Communities. I have the privilege
to lead this organization as its Chairperson. Rest of my speech would capture my own experience and theexperiences of my fellow mountain people from across Nepal’s Himalayas.
Thousands of small and big glacial lakes have come up across Himalayas. Many of them have now become
dangerously big. One of the biggest of them- IMJA lake, situated at 5010m - I saw developing in front of my own
eyes since my childhood. This huge glacial lake came about literally on a playground where I and my friends used
to play while grazing our Yaks. Let’s note that all of the Himalayas are sitting on one of the most unstable andseismically active ecological landscape with earthquakes a regular phenomenon. You can only imagine thedanger under which much of the mountain communities in the Himalayas live with literally millions of tons ofwater held back by fragile moraine walls that can break even with a small avalanche or earthquake. Indeed,
many such tragic events have already taken place in the mountains that seldom gets reported in theinternational press.

Subsequently Mt. Everest has major effect on the livelihood of not only the mountain communities of Nepal but
the majority of the population of Asia. Everest is regarded as Goddess Mother of the Universe in Sherpa folklore.
She is the guardian in whose shadow Sherpa children grow up. We think of Everest as massive, solid, unchanging,strong, lofty, mighty and unable to be hurt. The truth is, few people know that the home of “Sagarmatha”
Mother of the Universe, “Chomolungma” Goddess Mother of the Universe is one most endangered place on theearth. There were about 3000 glaciers in the high Himalayas and in the last 50 years, almost as many glaciallakes have been formed. Less immediately noticeable at lower altitudes, the urgency is in the high Himalayas,
now emerging as one of the worlds most vulnerable and quickly disintegrating areas due to the impact ofclimate change.
Unfortunately Glacial Lakes are not the only problem. Temperature increase has brought about whole lot of
problems for us the mountain people in the Himalayas. The mosquitoes that used to limit to tropical andsubtropical areas have moved up bringing diseases to the communities that were never exposed to them. Flashfloods, avalanches, landslides, forest fires have become much more common and intense. Massive amount ofimmigration is happening to low-lands and to neighboring countries because of all these problems. Climate
Change which we hardly made any negative contribution towards, is threatening our very culture, very identity.
If something is not done big and quick enough, the millennium old heritage from which the whole world could
have benefitted would be totally lost. Coming out of mountaineering business community, and having known
almost all the famous mountaineers of the world, I would also like to share, that because of global warming, theentire mountaineering sport is in currently endangered because it is increasingly becoming dangerous anduncertain.
The image of iconic Mt. Everest has been affected by a series of consecutive disasters. The death of sixteen
valiant high altitude climbing Sherpas on Khumbu icefall avalanche of Mt. Everest on 18 April 2014, an
unprecedented natural catastrophe of heavy snow fall and avalanches that occurred on 13th and 14th October
2014 in Annapurna, Dhaulagiri and Dolpo region, killed 41and rescued 532 trekkers and climbers of various
nationalities, and the devastating earthquake triggered a massive avalanche from the flank of Mt. Pumori thatkilled 18 and 71 injured climbers at Everest Base Camp on 25 April 2015 which were rescued immediately from
EBC to Kathmandu are some of the worst climbing disasters in Himalayan mountaineering history. The
devastating earthquake on 25 April, 12 May 2015 and its aftermath tremors have brought us unspeakable grief
and devastation.
The question is what could be done. How can we the local people, the mountain communities help thesituation? More importantly, how can the wider world; people in the audience help this situation which isgetting out of control. I will take 3-4 minutes to make some of my recommendations.
One, we, the mountain people must come together, share experiences, and raise our voices, locally, regionallyand globally. With this in mind, the organization I head “Climate Alliance of Himalayan Communities” isconstituted. We also did a first of its kind research on “Community Perspective on Climate Change in the
Himalayas” and shared the same with visiting IPCC scientists in Kathmandu recently. I would be glad to share a
copy with you, should you be interested in one. We need institutional support from across the world to build
our own capacity and be able to do the awareness and advocacy work that we are pursuing.
Two, we, based on our limited knowledge, have come with a model of promoting “Climate Smart Villages in the
Himalayas”. The model is built around three pillars- climate awareness, climate adaptation, and mitigation of
GHG emission. We have chosen a few sites to pilot such projects. We need the technical and financial support of
the global community to make that happen. Our idea is to propagate this idea across Nepal’s Himalayas on the1555 KM long The GREAT HIMALAYA TRAIL. Such community based development models have been very
successful in Nepal. Just to share an example, “Community Forest” model was piloted only at a few places in
Nepal, and after it became successful, it was spread across Nepal. The initiative was so successful that it ended
up increasing the overall forest cover of the country itself.
Three, there is a lot for the world to learn from the mountain communities. The weather systems in the
Himalayas have always been erratic- the mountain community knows a lot how to deal with them. It is anothermatter that the severities of climate-induced problems are just too much for them to handle. And yet, the world
can learn a lot from the mountain communities in terms of how to deal with climate change. In my way oflooking the Himalayas can be a living laboratory on climate change. My sincere recommendation is the scientificcommunity and foundation should look at the possibility of setting of a world-class climate research facility in
the Himalayas.We the mountain communities would love to collaborate on these and bring our government onboard to support such an initiative. Thanks for your kind attension.
Ang Tshering Sherpa
Chairperson, Climate Alliance of Himalayan Communities
Honorary Member, International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA),
IP President of Asian Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UAAA) and NMA
Chairman of Astrek Group of Companies(Increase sympathy): “We are vulnerable. You might describe us to your friends as a strong mountainpeople – but we are the same vulnerable flesh and blood as our brothers and sisters in the island
communities. We also suffer severely from Climate Change, just in different ways”.
(You need us): “Our mountain glaciers are the frozen water tank for billions of people in China and India.
Without this reliable, consistent water supply, BILLIONS of people will suffer from thirst. A 4 degreeincrease in global temperature means there will be no glaciers left.”(Scare people): “But until all the glaciers are melted, imagine every year a growing number of Glacial
Lakes breaking their ice barriers, allowing terrifying Vertical Tsunamis to race down high mountainvalleys - drowning, destroying and sweeping away everything in its path – cows, people, temples, homes,
topsoil – building momentum and destructive power, knocking down community after community likedominoes until they reach sea level”.
(Invisible threat): “If that violent threat hanging over our heads in Nepal was not enough, at anotherscale, a silent, invisible, DEADLY threat is moving in the other direction - UP the Himalayan mountains, as
the climate warms at an ever-increasing rate – disease and pestilence – invades territories andcommunities that have no natural immunity, no naturally evolved resistance to diseases carried bymosquitoes and other disease vectors. In Nepal the climate is changing faster than our ecosystems andour people’s ability to adapt.”

“Just as the arctic regions are the ‘Canary in the Coal Mine’, the third pole, the Himalayas, is changing
more rapidly than more temperate and tropical zones. What happens UP in our mountains directly
affects you at sea level. We are completely interdependent – but it is not about our nations – it is about
people and our habits. The only way we are going to turn this around, like SDG Goal #12 is through
RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION … This is why we must work together to bring the BILLIONS who will beaffected by our mountains to respect each other, respect the planet, and take action to reduce ournegative impact.
(We need your help): “They say that the mountain people of Nepal are strong and resilient – I like tothink so – but after the earthquakes, avalanches and political upheavals, we are reaching our limits ofenergy, capability and adaptation – now, like our brothers and sisters at sea level, we need your help tobring the world back into balance.”

Speaking notes, written for Ang Tshering Sherpa in Bonn, Germany the day after the COP23 Climate
Change Conference, November 18, 2017 by Philip McMaster, World Sustainability Project,
www.Sust10.com Republic Of Conscience and the BLOCKCHAIN to EVEREST / SDG to EVEREST expedition– www.17PlusONE.com
Philip McMaster is co-founder of Explorasport and the MCMASTER INSTITUTE for Sustainable
Development in Commerce, and developer of the www.SDGtoken.com Philip will participate in the
Global Adventure & Mountaineering Conference and Expo in March 23-25 2018 In Kathmandu and withthe leadership of the Sherpa of Nepal, will accompany the Nepali people in bringing the SDG token
Banner to the Top of the World with the (20th?) Eco Everest and SDG to EVEREST Expedition in April
2018.
Philip.McMaster@hotmail.com PhilipMcMaster@gmail.com

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DEREK BUCKLEA Return to the East Karakoram 2017
After a highly successful expedition to the lower Rassa Glacier in 2016, during which ourteam accomplished the first ascent of two 6,000m peaks, Lak Kangri and Thrung-ma
Kangri1 I was keen to return to the East Karakoram in 2017. This time, however, weparticularly wanted to explore the upper reaches of the Rassa Glacier, but approach it fromthe north rather than the south. In 2014 a team led by Divyesh Muni had previously
completed a south to north traverse of the glacier - approaching by way of the Tirit nala anddescending into the Sumur Lungpa2 - so we anticipated that we could access the glacier by
reversing the route of their descent (via the East Rassa col). In the event that we were notable to do this our back-up plan was to explore the upper reaches of the complex Sumur
Glacier, an area that had seen few, if any, mountaineers.
Man has inhabited the valleys of the Nubra, Indus and Zanskar for millennia and there isabundant evidence of his passing in the petroglyphs that he has left behind. These areespecially prominent in the rocks surrounding the Sumur Lakes where we established ourbase camp. A study of the more major areas has linked these drawings to the steppe peoplesof the Bronze Age and they are widespread throughout Ladakh and Tibet. Subsequent tothis, the Sumur Lungpa was reportedly used as an important trade route between the
Nubra and Shyok Valleys, although this must have been an arduous journey which, due toglacial recession (and modern transport), is no longer viable. An ancient fort dominates thevalley entrance, presumably designed to protect against invaders from the east. Today, local
villagers still use the Sumur Lungpa for summer grazing, but it is noticeably less travelledthan the more fertile Tirit nala.
Despite previously visiting the Nubra Valley, we again suffered the inevitable anguish of notknowing whether we would be granted a permit to return again in 2017. Eventually, withjust enough time to organise the requisite mountaineering visas, approval was forthcoming
and our five-man party was ready to depart. Leaving the UK on 31 August 2017 we
assembled in Delhi for the obligatory visit to the Indian Mountaineering Foundation and tomeet our Liaison Officer, Sandeep Varma. We then flew to Leh, which at 3,500m is an ideal
place for acclimatisation. Four days later we crossed the 5,370m Kardung La pass to spend afurther two days in Sumur village before starting the walk-in to base camp.
The Sumur Lungpa starts pleasantly at the Samstanling Gompa where we were cordiallygreeted by the Geshe (head teacher). From here we began the steep and strenuous climb tothe hillside fort before the gradient lessened somewhat as we traversed high above thetorrent below. Gradually the view became more impressive as the valley widened and at
4,840m we established an intermediate camp (camp 1) where the Lungtung Valley joins themain river. The climb was tough for us, but it was more of a challenge for the local porters,
many of whom were forced to drop their loads before reaching the camp. While this caused
us some inconvenience, our permanent support staff rescued the day by retrieving someessential supplies, notably kerosene, to add to our comfort. The thought of cooking ourevening meal on yak dung lacked a certain appeal for those more used to modern fuels!

Asian Alpine E-News2
The next day was spent consolidating the intermediate camp, but not all was well andsupplies were still spread out lower down. In contrast to the Tirit nala, where horses could
transport supplies, the broken terrain of the Sumur Lungpa necessitated human porterageand the locals were finding this a tough proposition. One could not help but be sympathetic,
but time was marching on and we needed to get to base camp. Eventually, with the help of
our high altitude porters, we established an embryonic base camp (camp 2) on an idyllic spotby the Sumur Lakes at 5,160m on 10 September. This strategy allowed us to further
acclimatise while exploring the complex moraines leading to the glacier proper.

Annotated Google Earth satellite image of the complex Sumur Glacier indicating base camp,
the major glacial arms, Nya Kangri and the high points reached. The East Rassa col lies
immediately above the letter C. (Note the direction of north)
The first objective was to investigate Glacial arm D (see annotated Satellite image) which weplanned to use both for acclimatisation and as a potential access to the upper Rassa Glacier.
Preliminary exploration indicated that climbing the true left lateral moraine led easily onto
the glacier so on 15 September camp 3 was established on the glacier at 5,500m in sight of
the tremendous north face/ridge of unclimbed Nya Kangri (6,480m). More interesting to us,
however, was the more approachable peak to its left, which we subsequently attempted on
the 16 September. Climbing poorly consolidated snow, we post-holed easily southwards tothe WNW ridge where the angle steepened markedly to about 40°. After only a shortdistance, however, the threat of avalanches forced a retreat to safer ground. On 29
September Derek, Drew and Rafal returned to complete the first ascent of this 5,991m
mountain by the same route under considerably more favourable conditions. The snowy
summit offered superb views in all directions, especially towards Nya Kangri. We chose tocall this peak Sumur Kangri and graded the climb at Alpine AD.

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Before returning for the second attempt on Sumur Kangri (5,991m), a fourth camp wasestablished higher on the glacier at 5,743m from which Derek, Drew, Howard and Rafal
post-holed arduously up the glacier on 18th September to make the first ascent of what weoriginally thought was a defined peak (ca. 6,032m) at the glacier head. On climbing the easyangled south face, however, this ‘peak’ turned out to be simply the convergence point of threeridges rather than a mountain per se. As a result we chose to call it Deception Point (6,068m
by GPS). Disappointingly, not only was it not a mountain, but it also appeared to offer little
opportunity to access either of its more impressive neighbouring peaks or cross into theupper reaches of the Rassa Glacier. One consolation was that it did offer some impressive
views.
After a short sojourn to enjoy the luxury at base camp we then established camp 5 at 5,680m
on Glacial arm C. From this camp, Derek, Drew, Howard and Rafal climbed the south face ofthe twin-headed peak at the glacier head, climbing first to the small, rocky summit of thesouth peak (6,071m) before traversing easily to the slightly higher snowy north peak
(6,078m) on 25 September. Once again we post-holed the whole way to make the first ascentof this peak, which we subsequently called Tsagtuk Kangri (Ladakhi for Twin Snow Peak).
It was graded at Alpine PD.
Before dismantling camp 5 we ploughed a trail to the foot of the north face leading to theEast Rassa col to check the viability of using this approach to the Rassa Glacier. We were
not optimistic, however, since we already knew that all north-facing slopes were highlyavalanche prone. Their instability was reinforced by the frequent large snow sloughs that we
had seen. A snow pit was sufficient to convince the party that this face was too dangerous toattempt under the present conditions, so the idea was abandoned. We therefore returned tocamp 3 for the second attempt on Sumur Kangri, (vide supra), before returning home on 7
October.
Summary:
From three high camps on the Sumur Glacier, members of a five-man Alpine Club party
made first ascents of Deception Point (6,068m, Alpine grade F, 18 September 2017), Tsagtuk
Kangri South and North (6,071m and 6,078m respectively, Alpine grade PD, 25 September2017) and Sumur Kangri (5,991m, Alpine grade AD, 29 September 2017).

Team:
Derek Buckle (leader), Drew Cook, Jamie Goodhart (who departed early on in the expedition
due to a family bereavement), Rafal Malczyk and Howard Pollitt
Acknowledgements:
The team are grateful for the support of the Mount Everest Foundation, the Montane Alpine
Club Climbing Fund, the Austrian Alpine Club (UK) and Duffler of Sweden
References:
1. D. R. Buckle, Himalayan Journal, 250, 72, (2017)
2. D. Muni, American Alpine Journal, 310, 57, (2015)

Asian Alpine E-News

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Photo Gallery

Team at base camp. From L to R, Drew, Howard, Jamie, Derel & Rafal. Photo: Drew Cook

Sumur Kangri climbing route. Photo: Derek Buckle

Asian Alpine E-News

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Climbing moraine to camp 3. Sumur Kangri in the centre of the frame. Photo: Drew Cook

North Ridge of Nya Kangri 6520m. Photo: Derek Buckle

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Derek Buckle on the first ascent of Sumur Kangri. Photo: Drew Cook

Derek, Howard & Drew on the summit of Tsagtuk Kangri South. Photo: Rafal Malczyk

Asian Alpine E-NewsDONG DINGNew Route on Chola Shan 2017
Shaluli Shan Range – West Sichuan Highlands
At noon on August 9, 2017 (at 12:20), Gao Jun, Liu Junfu and Zeng Shan Shandong
successfully stood atop of Chola Shan I East Peak 6168m via new route shown on theattached map.

Chola Shan I, East Peak, 6168m. Chola Shan was first climbed by a Japan-China joint
team of the Kobe University and Wuhan College of geology in 1988. Chola Shan II 611
9m in the west was first climbed by an American Charlie Fowler in1997. This was asolo ascent.

Chola Shan has two summits of I (East) and II (West) in a distance of about 450m betw
een two summits. The two summits have such different feature as below.
Chola Shan II (West) is intuitive and safe. It has an ice slope of 60 degree angle leading the ridge that reaches the summit in 70m.
Chola Shan I (East) summit is 100m long with a fiercely windy ridge which has sheer
drops in both sides to the glacier’s 100m cliff. Technically difficult climb continues tothe summit: vertical ice wall, windy edge ridge with many protection in rocks, badsnow conditions------. .

Chinese TeamNew Route on Chola East (6,168m)▶ Chola Shan I East Peak
▶ New route▶ Memberst: Gao Jun, Liu Junfu, and Zeng Shan Shandong▶ Alpine Style (3nights & 4days)▶ Located in the northern sub-range of the Shaluli Shan in Sichuan, China

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COSMIN ANDRON

Monkey business in the Karnak gorge
Photography: Cristina Pogacean, Jonathan Parker, Cosmin Andron

Ladakh 2017
We arrived in Delhi mid-August, hopeful and with loads of luggage. Cristina
and Nasim (her partner) were aiming for H17 in the Zanskar valley, an
unclimbed granite monolith. I was to join them as logistical support but I
also had plans of my own: last year, during our T16 expedition, I noticed, ona side valley, a stunning mixed couloir that I wanted to attempt once thegirls were up on their wall and if conditions were allowing.
A day later we were in Leh where we spent half a week running after
supplies, getting the luggage overland from Delhi (thank you Jaggi, Prerna
and Gopal) trying to organise transport (with the help of our Ladakhi
friends) and getting ready for departure. When Nasim arrived in Leh wewere ready and we set off the next day towards Padum.

For my part Leh gave me a rather unpleasant parting shot: a two-day
disabling food poisoning (my first since I began coming to India) followed bya most annoying chest infection that still accompanies me now, three weeks
later, while I write this in Manali…
After the two days bone-re-setting journey from Leh to Padum we landed in
the same guest house like last year. I took a day off to tend to my lungs;
Sadly Nasim promptly fell ill with similar ailment. Cristina did the last
shopping. In the next days we tried to hustle porters, then Cristina and I
went to check out the intended BC site. Nasim visited the local hospital andcame back with unfortunate recommendations. Our recce of the BC brought
mixed news: a problematic river crossing to reach the BC for the girls, dry
conditions on the wall which was well received but also inexistent ice on myintended line which made it unfeasible. At the local doctor’s recommendation,
Nasim had to leave the expedition. For us (Cristina and I) this also meant1

we had to rethink the whole plan. We spent a few days in the Suru valley,bouldering and trying to fix my chest infection. The first part of the planworked out perfectly; the second not at all.
We were hoping to find on the outer rim of Zanskar something feasible but,unfortunately, it was not the case. Nun and Kun proved to be a logisticalnightmare that was not guaranteeing any outcome other than expenses; therock faces around Beyul were crumbling only at the sight of wishful climbers.
We decided to try our luck in Himachal which was on our route back,overland, to Delhi, in a place where in 2013 I saw some worth attempting
granite faces. We left for Leh where we were blessed with a lucky encounterand a total overhaul of our plans.

A chance phone call with Sukrit made us improvise further. The 4Play.inteam were in the area filming what Sukrit called “a big wall project”.
Nothing specific; nothing more. He asked if we want to join the caravan. We
said yes and next afternoon we were resetting our bones again in a truck,
this time over the Tanglang La (5328m). Few kilometres into our trip we
decided to ask the obvious question: “where are we, actually, going?”
As it turned out Kumar Gaurav and Madhu Raj were heading to the Karnak
Valley (Ladakh) to attempt a repeat of “Samsara is Nirvana” a route opened
by Giovanni Quirici, Guy Scherrer, Claude Chardonnes, Ellie Chevieux andPhilippe Chabloz ten years ago. I knew of Giovanni, I knew of the route; I
had no clue where Karnak valley was nor how it looked and the researchtime had long ago expired.

The 4Play.in crew was accompanying the climbers to document the climb; wewere hitch-hiking on their expedition. Cristina and I thought that if all else
fails will have a go at “Samsara” ourselves when the guys are done.

2The 13 Km from the Lamasery where the truck dropped us to the spot below“Samsara” where we set up BC were made easier by finding some ponies half
way through. Nevertheless, Cristina and I, decided to pack the minimum atthe lamasery: a double set of camalots C3 and C4 from # 000 to # 2, a handfulof Russian soft pitons, a 10mm/60m Tendon climbing rope, a 6mm/70m
Tendon Aramid tag line, a Latok Base tent from Rab, a week’s supply of
Lyofood, some lard, a stove, two sleeping bags, the clothes on our backs andthe hopes for something good.

The hike along the river was great. At 4100 – 4200m altitude the river-bed
was flowing through magnificent and huge limestone walls. The rock and theambience reminded us of the Taghia Gorge in the Morrocan Atlas, but ‘just’over 2000m higher… It was a hidden limestone paradise in a granite country.
We were a bit worried that our rack intended for a granite wall may not takeus very high on these ones and will have to fall back to attempting therunout but bolted Samsara.

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The first two days in BC, for our team of two, were days of restlessness (for
Cristina) and almost futile attempts to recover (for me). Since each day at 12
at noon the rain showers would start we were in a rather gloomy mood.
Kumar and Madhu oblivious to the conditions were hurling themselves attheir project and the 4Play.in team was shooting from all angles.
On 3rd of September, to gage if I am out for good or I still have a fighting
chance, I hopped on the first pitch of “Samsara” and the outcome was thatnext day we should go up… We spotted a line that we thought might go on
the wall to the right (West) of the “Samsara” wall. We called it the“Hanuman wall”. Only if the weather would cooperate… but there was noway to know so we trusted in our good Karma.

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Monkey Business, 14 pitches, 6a+ (approx 4200 m alt to approx 4700 m alt)
4 sept 2017, Hanuman wall, Karnak Valley, Ladakh, India

We had a lazy start on the morning of the 4th September. Kumar and Madhu
were already up while Cristina and I were not sure how to read the weather.
Procrastination over, by 9:30 am Cristina started the first pitch. We werecarrying two 30L backpacks with sleeping bags, food, water, rain gear andshoes. The leader would haul hand-over-hand his/her backpack on the
tagline; the second would climb with his/her backpack on. We decided to leadin short blocks and Cristina was off.

The first two pitches were a beautiful and compact face. Throughout thewhole route, we had very difficult choices to make between the best climbing
available (and there was lots of it) but on compact faces protectable only bybolts (of which we carried none) or more protectable options on mostly friable
and loose rock. We went for the best (for us) compromise.

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From pitch three I took over and I belayed from a massive cave on the N /NW aspect of the face. This gave us hope that we might find somethingsimilar higher up if the rain was to catch up with us. Next two pitches moved
us on the Western aspect of the face and alongside a chute running down it.
On pitch 5 I attempted an overhang for purely esthetical reasons. At the lip
massive unstable blocks made me reconsider my priorities and after
down-climbing a few moves I pounded in a piton and lowered off to the belay
then moved leftwards on a crimpy face.

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From pitch 7 Cristina took over again, leaving the chute and back onto the N
aspect of Hanuman wall. The delicate set off from the belay stance leftburied two pitons that I could not take out on a tricky slab. Cristina led with11

the pack on and I was happy it was her and not me. Next pitch although
crumbly in parts was enjoyable and we passed another small cavern to which
we could retreat if need be. By now we were seeing our little tent down in thevalley and we were thinking about the soon approaching sunset. From hereon the character of the climbing changed. Progressively poorer rock meantmuch more care in route finding and in not dropping blocks over the belayeror the rope. By pitch 10 Cristina was leading in the dark.
My last two pitches were both loose and unenjoyable. We were trying toreach the top of the face but I had to stop four or so meters below theridge-line when a hold crumbled in my hands and made me fill my pants. We
decided to call it a night, put a good percent of our rack into a hopeful anchor
and abseiled to the first prayer of a ledge. A few good minutes with thehammer in the rubble meant we could sit in our sleeping bags and if overly
ambitious pretend we could also curl down a little bit. The fire down in thevalley made us wonder what we were looking for up there. I spent the night
coughing and spitting.

12Morning did not shine on fresh faces and we were both grateful for good
weather (except a few snowflakes in the night) and keen to get going. Bones
wanted otherwise… We went back to the high point and Cristina took thelead to finish the last pitch. Two meters below the crest we valued more ourpersonal physical integrity above anything else and we called it good. We
started building anchors and descend. Five 60m abseils later our lead rope
got stuck; no matter how much tugging and shaking we applied to it, it
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refused to release. We had to cut it from where we could safely reach leadingon the Aramid tagline and count our blessings. We continued our way down
on 35m abseils on the tag line and some down scrambling. We followed thechute on a shorter path down that the ascent line. The wall did not want to
let us off the hook so easily and orchestrated a last mischief. The
penultimate abseil halted about 10 m above the ground on an overhanging
chossy dihedral and we had to build the largest abseil anchor of the wholeroute…

Lunch was sweet at our little tent and we were wondering again about ourgood karma that granted us two days of good weather. Just perfect for someMonkey Business!

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On this trip Cristina was supported by a grant from Grit & Rock Foundation,
essential financial help from SC Cubic SRL, apparel and equipment fromRab and ready-meals from Lyofood. I was (as have always been in the last
four years) supported by Tendon.
Special thanks go to our Indian extended network of friends some of whom
are truly our far-away extended family: Jaggi and Prerna in Delhi, Jami in
Leh and Suru, on the road and Manali Sukrit and the 4Play.in crew
(Abhijeet, Goli, Prashant and Praveen), Kumar and Madhu for letting us
cruise with them and to Jonathan for the stimulating BC conversations andwarm support.

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