ASIAN ALPINE E–NEWS
Issue No.15, November 2017

Aerial view taken from commercial flight en-route: Lhasa to Kathmandu
1. First ascent of Mount Burke Khang – 6942m
Page 2~12
Khumbu Himal, Nepal
Ang Tshering Sherpa, Asian-Trekking,
2. Against All Odds–Traverse across Glaciers & Mountains Page 13~20
East Karakoram
Divyesh Muni, Himalayan Club

Page 21~31
Tomas Franchinis

3. Minya Konka Massif–Mt. Edgar and Neighboring Peaks
Italian expedition 2017 to Sichuan China

4. New route on the northeast ridge of Mt. Kameilong 5870m Page 32
Genyen Massif, Sichuan China
Russian-Ukrainian team
5. New route on the northeast ridge of Mt. Kameilong 5870m Page 33~37
Genyen Massif, Sichuan China Part II
Russian-Ukrainian team
6. Rangtik 2017 – Slovene climbing expedition
Indian Himalaya

Page38～52
Matija Jost

First ascent of Mount Burke Khang - 6942m (22,775ft)
in Khumbu Himal, Nepal
Asian Trekking's Burke Khang Expedition - Autumn 2017 member Noel Hanna ofNorthern Irland, high altitude climbing Sirdar Naga Dorje Sherpa of Nepal, HAS
Pemba Tshering Sherp and HAS Samden Bhote reached the summit of Mount Burke
Khang (6942m) on 5th October, 2017 at 12:05pm. This is the first ascent of Burke Khang(6942m). The expedition team is led by Bill Burke of USA who is the oldest
person outside of Asia to summit Mount Everest at the age of 72 years old in the spring2014. Bill Burke has climbed Mount Everest from both side, Nepal and Tibet. In
appreciation of Bill Burke's contributions to promoting mountain tourism in Nepal, themountain was named after him by Government of Nepal in 2014.
He made 3 previous attempts to climb Mount Burke-Khang, once in the Fall of 2015 and2016 and again in the Spring of 2017. All three previous expeditions were unsuccessful
because of heavy snow, dangerous conditions and bad weather. Burke Khang is atechnical peak situated between Mount Everest and Mount Cho-oyu in Khumbu Himal,on the border between Nepal and Tibet.The views from this peak are magnificent.
Asian Trekking family would like to extend our hearty congratulations to all members
and Sherpas and safe return.

Ang Tshering Sherpa
Chairman, Asian Trekking, Nepal
Also please visit Asian Trekking Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/AsianTrekking/?hc_ref=ART6QKQnu0o3HOLFn3Uh_BoWML
zIM5wiaSUEap2sXn3FIR8FRtckFiCYImZlg2Tp1hw

Expedition Report
First ascent of the technical peak Burke Khang 6942mts, Khumbu Himal:
Thursday the 5th October 2017 at 1205pm Northern Irish climber Noel Hanna andsherpa’s Naga Dorje /Pemba Tshering /Samden Bhote made the 1st ascent of thetechnical peak “Burke Khang” 6942 mts which borders Nepal and Tibet. There had been
numerous attempts to summit this peak in previous years without any success.
Hanna arrived at Burke Khang base camp on 26th September which had been alreadyset up by sherpa’s and porters from Asian trekking at 5400mts on the Gaunara glacier.
After 1 rest day at basecamp Hanna and the sherpa’s made a carry of ropes (2500mts)
tents and pickets to camp 1 which already had the ropes fixed to and returned back tobasecamp the same day.
On 30th September expedition leader and who the mountain is named after Bill Burke
along with fellow climber Micah Kershner and film personnel Alex and Jeff arrived atbasecamp coming from Gokyo.

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1st October see’s Hanna / Kershner and the 3 sherpa’s head back up the mountain tocamp 1 negotiating the extremely dangerous couloir dodging numerous rocks and ice
raining down on them. Their objective was to prepare the route / fix ropes and establish
higher camps.
The team was forced to stay put at camp 1 on the 2nd October as bad weather with wind /snow and zero visibility made it impossible to move up the mountain. 3rd October saw
the return of good weather so Hanna and the team moved above camp 1 to establish theroute and fix ropes to camp 2 at 6600mts negotiating open crevasses and razor sharp
ridges before returning back to camp 1 where Kershner was resting.
While Hanna and the team were working higher on the mountain Burke was making his
climb up the mountain to camp 1.
The whole team Burke /Hanna / Kershner and + sherpas were all now at camp 1
preparing for their next assault of the mountain.
Weather forecast received via sat fone on the morning of the 4th October was not thenews that the team wanted to hear – the weather was changing – the forecast now wasreading only 2 good day before strong winds and heavy snow was due from the 6th for 4
days.
After a discussion between the team it was agreed that Hanna /Kershner and 3 sherpas
would move up the mountain immediately and establish camp 2 and the following day
try and push as high up the mountain as possible. Burke would move up to camp 2 thefollowing day.
After a long day with carrying 1000mts ropes /pickets / tents the team had arrived andset up camp 2. Above camp 2 there was a very wide crevasse with only 1 snow bridge tocross it. Sherpa Bhote belayed Hanna out and successfully crossed and fixed an anchor
which left the route good for the next morning.
After a cold night at camp 2 6600mts Hanna and the 3 sherpas left at 0600 on route to
the steep head wall some 300mts away. Hanna and the 3 sherpas worked together as aperfect team and were soon on the summit ridge but were met with 2-3 feet deep snow.
After traversing the ridge and climbing 80 degree slopes and climbing around cornices
the team reached the high point on the mountain only to realize that it was a false
summit and that they still had another 100mts of deep snow to trek through to get to thetrue summit.
Finally at 1205pm having worked as a team Hanna and the sherpas reached the summit
together where they celebrated with a bottle of Moet champagne.
After photos / video and Hanna leaving ashes belonging to his 2 German Sheperd dogs
on the summit the team started their route back down of the mountain.
When Bill heard the news of a successful summit he returned back down to camp 1.
As the weather deteriorated the team made their way back down to camp 2 andcontinued on down to camp1 and base camp.
After 1 day back at basecamp the team helicoptered out to Lukla and onto Kathmandu
where they all celebrated a very successful expedition.

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Noel and Naga on the top of Burke Khang

Map of Burke Khang
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Photo Gallery

Base Camp

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Burke Khang 6842m

Start of gully 6500m

5Camp 2 6600m – from hear Everest and Lhotse are seen.

Crampon point 6800m

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Summit Ridge of Burke Khan g

10Pembe and Sonam on the summit

Bill Burke

Bill Burke tean –(left end: Ang Tshering Sherpa, right end: Steven Dawa)

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Against All Odds – A traverse across Glaciers and Mountains of the East Karakoram.
Divyesh Muni

Team at Khardung La : From Left – Huzefa, Divyesh, Rajesh, Vineeta, Ashish and Sonali

When our six member team ofmountaineers from “The Himalayan Club”,
accompanied by a cinematographer, set
out from Rongdo, a quaint village inLadakh , we had no idea of our finaldestination of where we would eventually
land up. We had on a map, an audacious
plan to traverse the Eastern Karakoram
mountains a remote area of which there isalmost no existing information.

Rongdo Village

Forty-eight days after we left Mumbai on July 5, we returned to our homes, having
completed more than a 100 kms of the traverse that took us across pristine glaciers andmountains. We crossed three high passes (two first crossings) and ascended an unclimbed
peak.

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Karakoram ranges are the most forbidding mountains in the world with a large number ofpeaks higher than 7000 m. The North-western extension of the Himalaya, this range, spansthe borders between Pakistan, India and China. It has some of the largest glaciers outside
the polar ice caps, flowing through these immense mountains giving birth to some of thewildest rivers in the world. The topography is characterized by craggy peaks and steep
slopes. Owing to its topography, the Karakoram is much less inhabited than other parts ofthe Himalaya. Rarefied air, intense solar radiation, strong winds, and great diurnal ranges oftemperature make it all the more tough to explore these massive mountains.
The exploratory trek started
from Rongdo on the South
Eastern end of the East
Karakoram range and went
through the Rongdo valley, up
steep and winding paths,
along lush green meadowsand grazing grounds, throughbroken glacial moraine until
we established Base Camp at
an altitude of 5000 meters.

The Rongdo Valley

From Base Camp we explored a route to cross ahigh pass to allow access to the East Phunangma
Glacier. Advance Base Camp was setup at 5500 m
and a Camp at the high passes (now named as
Rongdo La) at 5800 m.
Advance Base Camp 5500 m

Unfortunately while climbing towards the high camp
Divyesh slipped on a loose rock and was knocked
unconscious. The resulting internal bleeding on his forehead
left a sizable bump. The blood settled towards his left eyeand he looked a character from a horror movie. The injury
required him to trek back to Rongdo village and travel backto Leh along with some of the team members, to consult adoctor before we continued our expedition. We were backat Base Camp in a week, ready for adventures ahead.

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Team on the summit of Nga Kangri (6165 m )From the Rongdo La Camp, the team made the first ascent of“Nga Kangri” (Ladakhi for “Snow Peak Five”) 6165 m.

Nga Kangri (6165 m.)

A gradual descent from the Rongdo Labrought us to the junction of the East
Phunangma glacier and the South Argan
Glacier. After several hours of searching,
we finally found a safe route to accessthe South Argan Glacier through a huge
icefall of the glacier.
Camp at the Junction

Crossing the Argan La

We camped below the high pass that would allow us to crossthe ridge coming down from Arganglas Peak. Fortunately wefound a safe crossing of the Argan La (5950 m), that involved
a 200 m climb, a traverse of a narrow ridge and a 100 m
descend into the North Argan Glacier. This was the firstcrossing of this pass.

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The North Argan Glacier started as agentle glacier from the Argan La butthen turned into a highly broken anddangerous icefall. While negotiating theglacier, the snow caved in and Divyesh
was dangling over a deep crevasse.
Fortunately he could extricate himself intime. The icefall posed a challenge inroute finding. Eventually a tricky but
safe route was located and the team made their way to the South Shukpa Kunchang Glacier.

A scenic campsite provided the muchneeded rest and recuperation for thenight before the team started its upward
journey on the giant glacier over skidprone gravel and loose boulders.

Camp of the South Shukpa Kunchang Glacier

It took us two days to trek up the South Shukpa Kunchang Glacier. The upper section of theglacier was broad and flat and easier to walk on. The landscape was astounding with theformidable Saser Kangri II dominating the horizon.

We now made the first crossing of the high pass wenamed Zamoriyon La (5860 m) across the Zamoriyon
Glacier to enter the Sakang valley.

Crossing the Zamoriyon La

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The
Zamoriyon
Glacier
descended gradually for the firstfew kilometres and thensuddenly turned into a maze ofloose rocks and boulders down asteep slope.

Rocky slopes of Zamoriyon Glacier

After a few days of badly needed
rest, the team trekked to the head of
the Sakang Lungpa Glacier.

The Sakang Lungpa GlacierWe decided to end the expedition at thehigh point on the glacier below Plateau
Peak.

Plateau Peak at the head of Sakang Lungpa

We descended the Sakang valley which
proved to be the sting in the tail. The
entire route was broken due to thecloudburst in the previous year and theteam had to cross large sections of
exposed mountainside on a nonexistent trail.
Exposed traverse on the broken route5

The expedition team had to overcome several hurdles and delays, the theft of ourequipment, an injury, erratic stormy weather and extreme cold. We returned satisfied athaving pushed our limits- both physical and mental. It was an experience of being out andon the edge amidst the most rugged and breath-taking mountains in the world!

The expedition celebrates 90 years of
The Himalayan Club.

Team – Divyesh Muni (Leader), Rajesh Gadgil, Vineeta Muni, Huzefa Electricwala, Ashish
Prabhu and Sonali Bhatia.
Cinematographer – Aditya Kulkarni
Support – Pasang Bhote, Pemba Bhutia, Sanjay Thakur, Sunil Thakur, Dinesh Thakur, Ajit
Soni and Vipin Sharma.

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Acknowledgements:

PVK Mohan
Allied Safety Equipments Pvt. Ltd.
Ravi and Paula Mariwala
Kalyandas Memorial Sports Foundation
Y R Kapadia Family
Premal and Nandita Parekh
Triguni Foods Pvt. Ltd. – Eze Eats
Anandini Himalaya Tea Pvt. Ltd.
Dinesh Korday
Ratnesh Javeri
Nikunj Vora
Kaizad Kapadia

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Tomas Franchini’s expedition 2017
Minya Konka Massif – Mt. Edgar and Neighboring Peaks
SICHUAN, CHINA
I discovered the Minya Konka massif looking Tom Nakamura’s fantastic book “East of theHimalaya: Mountain Peak Maps”…the east face of Mt. Edgar, in the picture spellbound myself and I decide to visit the Minya Konka massif and his mountains.
I started from Italy the 25th september with my partners: Matteo Faletti, Fabrizio Dellai fromTrentino and Francois Cazzanelli, Emrik Favre and Francesco Ratti from Val d’Aosta.
I decide to enter in the Nanmengaunggou valley for attempt the East ridge of Mt. Edgar. We
had positioned the base camp at 3850m, far away from the glacier and the mountain but was
the only good place for living about 30 days…there was water and flat ground. We started our
acclimatisation, climbing and enjoing the lots of peak around the base camp, all the mountains
were unexplored and without name!Something of fanastic for me…
With my partners Matteo and Fabrizio I climbed one mountain below Mt.Edgar, and we call it“Little Edgar” 5060m, we opened a new rock climbing route with the name “Buon compleannoToni”. After this, we went to see the west side of Mt.Edgar for understand and study thedifficult approch that it has…to see it, was very important for our descent to the top of themountain. We spended one long day for equiped belay near the slabs of the glacier for reachthe plateu, where we positioned the high camp: “Campo degli Italiani”5250m. The day after
we reach the Col between Edgar and one no name Mountain that I, Francois and Emrik
climbed and called it “Twenty Shan”6174m.
During the descent I continued to watched the west face of Mt.Edgar…the mountaincontinued to call me.During the night I decided to venture my self on the west face below thelight of a big moon. I climbed from a goulotte sistem finded tecnical sections and thin ice until
the difficult ridge of inconistent snow. At the 6.15 I reached the top of Mt.Edgar signing thefirst ascent of the wall and the third ascent of the peak.I called the new route “The Moon’s
Power”; I am very soddisfated for this…
After this fantastic experience and a bit of resting days at the base camp, with my climbing
partners Faletti and Dellai, climbed others new route and new mountains: “Tridente Trentino”,“Leonhard Shan” and “Peter Shan”.
The Valdaosta’s team climbed: “Welcome tu the Jungle” on the Pillar Joel Deanoz, “ Il Pillier
Gerard Ottavio” and “ Valee Shan”. After this they opened in two times “La cresta Delle Tre
Sorelle” with 3 unclimbed peak : “PuntaBarbara”,”Punta Elisabetta” e “ Punta Patrizia.
I and Matteo Faletti climbed a new very long and estetic ridge on the Jiazi Feng, a very
impressive mountain. “The White Line of Jiazi Feng”. Our ascent is the third of the peak.
Finally we decided to try our project, me, Matteo and Fabrizio attempted the east ridge of Mt.
Edgar and Francois, Emrik and Fracesco tryed the North-West ridge. I spended 2 days in themountains with my partners to reach the point of 5840m, after the wall was very difficult,without safety lines. The temperature was very hot and so the third day we decided to descentdown and leave there the project for the future.

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The valdaosta’s team did an attempt until the altitude of 6450m…tecnicals difficult and very
dangerous inconsistent snow blocked them.They reached a Pillar on the ridge and they called
it “Piller de l’Espoir”. They descended down with more of 25 abseil.
After our attempt I did another free solo ascent…this time on the rock, I climbed “Animal” on
the “Campanile dei Pensieri”, a fantastic granite line with a difficult around 6b french grade.
In the last good weather window we decided to go another time toward the west side of themountain. I, Francois and Matteo, opened a new route on the North West face: “Colpo Finale”,
and Emrik, Francesco and Fabrizio climbed the Corean Ridge.
At 13 o’clock of the 25th october we are all togheter on the top of Mt.Edgar! Mt.Edgar is a very
difficult and complicated mountain. Is tecnical, dangerous, is far away and is high! To ascentit, is a very good experience, adventure and exploit!!
This trip in China was a great success for us…we dicovered a fantastic valley with someincredibles unclimbing peak…we didn’t see nobody during all the time, there wasn’t track andhuman signs…we were only us and the nature!
“The cerry on the cake” for me was climbed the inviolate west face of Mt.Edgar… It was adifficult, tecnical and psycologic ascent…with this Solo ascent I felt the real sensaction to be
one animal…I was there,me, the moon and the mountain…nothing else!

Photo Gallery

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Russian - Ukrainian team

New route on the North East ridge of mt. Kameilong (5870m)
NorthEast ridge of mt.
Kameilong New route "On the way to
Amsterdam" ED+, 6b A3 for
the N Wall and ED 6A A2 for
the East ridge.
 BC 4850m Top 5870m.
 2 members ascent: Kopteva
Maryna (Ukr), Chibitok
Galina(Rus) Alpine style (7 nights/8days) GritRock woman's project2017
 Located in Genyen massif,
South of the Sichuan-Tibet.
First ascent (2012): Dave Anderson and Szu-ting Yi climbed the 3,500ft south ridge to the summit andrappelled the east face returning to their high camp in an18 hour round trip push. Anderson and Yi named
their route Joining Hands (V, 5.10, M5).

Russian - Ukrainian team
New route on the North East ridge of mt. Kameilong (5870m) – Part II
China, Sichuan, Mt. Kameilong (5873m) Ukrainian-Russian team. Kopteva Maryna - Chibitok
Galina. New route "On the way to Amsterdam" North East ridge. Alpine style 7 nights/8 days.
1020m of height difference, ED+, A3, 6b. Started climbing on October 5 and reached the top in
the morning of October 12.
The route could be logically divided into three parts. The first one goes through the mixed snow
and ice couloir that is approximately 150m long. It has a moderate technical difficulty, although
there is a high danger of the rock falls. The climb continues with the second part to the sheer
North wall of 250m. ED+ A2-A3. (2 nights/3 days) The third part is a 600m long shattered ridgeof ED, A2, 6b difficulty climbing. 6 nights/5 days) Due to the lack of space most of the nightsfeatured sitting bivouacs. Descent took us 20h. We used anchors for making some belay stations.
The weather was good in the first part of our ascent but in the 3 last days it became bad, thickfog and snowfalls.

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Kameilong East and North faces

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Rangtik 2017 – Slovene climbing expedition report
Introduction
We were a team of three climbers from Slovenia and we spent our summer holidays in the mountains
surrounding Rangtik Tokpo in the Haptal mountain massif. The mountains west and southwest of the Dodariver (also referred to as the Stod river) are rarely visited by mountaineers and provide a great potential for
alpine style ascents of all sorts and of all grades. Summits in this area rise up to 6400 m and the dimensionsof faces are similar to those in the Alps. Also approaches from villages along Kargil – Pensi La - Padum roadare not too long, so most of the mountains can be reached in a day. Our idea was to climb rock routes to theprobably virgin summits in light alpine style, with using as little aid or “big wall” tactics as possible. The
village of Tungri was our point of departure, but we couldn’t resist the comfort of a BC so we set one in
Rangtik Tokpo (GPS: 33°28'30" North, 76°45'13 East, 4926 m). After 18 days spent there we managed toclimb to the top of Remalaye (6278 m, aka H5), Chokdor Ri (6193 m, aka H8) and Jamyang Ri (5800 m)
mountains. We would like to thank the Alpine association of Slovenia for financial support.

From right: Matija Jošt – Matic,
Sonam Rabgas, Matjaž Dušič,
Lobsang Gonbo, Lobsang Rinchan,Tomaž Žerovnik in Rangtik Tokpo
BC. Rocky peak in background is
Jamyang Ri (5800 m). Foto Manu.

Team
Matjaž Dušič (32 years)
Matija Jošt – Matic (46 years), maticjostsp@siol.net
Tomaž Žerovnik (49 years)
Lobsang Rinchan (30 years, manager, Tungri)
Lobsang Gonbo (38 years, cook, Tungri)
Sonam Ragbas (31 years, assisstant, Tungri)
We cooperated with the local agency Skitpo Travel (http://www.skitpotravel.com/ ). Skitpo Travel employs
local people mostly from the Tungri village and they provide us with an excellent service and a very nicecultural experience as we were also introduced well to their traditional way of life.

Short climbing history of Rangtik Tokpo, mapping and naming the peaks
In 2008 Spanish climber Sergi Ricart who spent several months in Ladakh and Zanskar also visited the Haptal
area and reported in AAJ. At that time he also visited Rangtik Tokpo. He and Luc Pellissa made the first
ascent of Shawa Kangri (GPS: 5728 m, 33°27'46 North, 76°44'07" East) on 16th August 2008. They named
their approximately 500 m high route “Rolling Stones” and graded it D+, ice 65°, rock UIAA V+. They also
named peak itself. The summit block looks like horn so they named it Shawa (Shawa means horn in the
Ladakhi language).
In 2012 Japanese senior expedition explored in the area. Their Leader Kimikazu Sakamoto reported about
their activity and also made better mapping of the area and the identification of many peaks. He issued themap of the area and marked peaks with H1, H2 etc for Haptal Tokpo, and with M1, M2, etc for peaks in
Mulung Tokpo.
In 2016 Anastasija Davidova – Nastja and me (Matija Jost – Matic) repeated route “Roling stones” up to
Shawa Kangri (5728 m). We also made an acclimatization climb in the south slopes of Remalaye (H5, 6278m). We reached prominent point on the west ridge of the mountain (Remalaye west, GPS: 6266 m,
33°28'50" North, 76°43'33" East). It was obvious that the main summit is higher and also some ridge
gendarmes leading to the main summit looked higher than our standing point. During that we were also
exploring Shimling Tokpo and Denyai Tokpo and made a topographic sketch map “Rangtik & Shimling
Tokpo”.
This year I made some update of “Rangtik & Shimling Tokpo” topographic sketch map. I used the same peaknames and heights as Sakamoto did where it was possible but I also used peak names I had gotten from local
people. Sometimes they are not sure and don’t care much about that. So in 2016 they said that P5800 m is
Phobrang, but a mountain with the same name also exists in the nearby Haptal Tokpo. In 2017 theysuggested new name for P5800 in Rangtik which one now became Jamyang Ri. Local people also suggested
name for P6193 which one now became Chakdor Ri (aka H8).

Chronology of the expedition
12th July 2017: Departure from Slovenia.
13th July 2017: Delhi – Manali.
14th July 2017: Manali – Leh.
15th July 2017: Leh.
16th July 2017: Leh – Thang.

17th July 2017: Thang – Tungri.
18th July 2017: Padum. We visit H.H. Dalai Lama teachings.
19th July 2017: Tungri – BC in Rangtik Tokpo.
20th July 2017: Base Camp.
21st July 2017: We start ascent of Remalaye (6278 m). From BC to bivy at 5900 m.
22nd July 2017: from bivy spot to Remalaye (6278 m) summit and back to bivy.
23rd July 2017: back to BC.
24th July 2017: BC.
25th July 2017: Tomaž and Matjaž carry equipment to upper Rangtik glacier to 5400 m. Matic stays in BC withfever.
26th July 2017: Descent to Tungri village.
27th July 2017: Visit to Kharsha monastery.
28th July 2017: Back to BC.
29th July 2017: BC.
30th July 2017: from BC to upper Rangtik glacier where we set high camp.
31th July 2017: we start climbing up the south east ridge of Chakdor Ri to 5850 m.
1st August 2017: from bivy at 5850 m to Chakdor Ri (6193 m, aka H8) summit and back to bivy.
2nd August 2017: from bivy back to BC.
3rd and 4th August 2017: BC.
5th August 2017: Ascent of Jamyang Ri (5800 m).
6th August 2017: BC – Tungri.
7th August 2017: Visit to Sani Monastery. Nesjal Festival.
8th August 2017: Tungri.
9th August 2017: Trek to the base of Starikatcan (5904 m) east face.
10th August 2017: Back to Tungri village.
11th to 13rd August 2017: Tungri.
14th to 17th August 2017: Treking Pidmu – Yulchang.
18th August 2017: Leh.
19th August 2017: Leh – Manali.
20th August 2017: Manali – Delhi.
21st August 2017: Delhi.
22nd August 2017: Delhi – Ljubljana – and back home.

Mountains above Rangtik glacier as seen from west face of Jamyang Ri. From left Shawa Kangri (5728 m),
P6085 m (aka H2), Chakdor Ri (6193m, aka H8), Remalaye (6278 m, aka H5).Red line indicates the route offirst ascent of Remalaye west (6266 m, left) and Remalaye (6278 m, right) Foto Matija Jost - MaticAscent of Remalaye (6278 m, aka H5)
We made our acclimatization climb up the south slopes of the mountain. We started 21st July 2017 from BC
and on the first day we walked up to a good bivy spot at 5900 m. Next day we followed Davidova-Jost route
towards the west summit but at approximate 6000 meters we turned right over good ledges and reached agully which lead directly to main summit. To gain the East Ridge just bellow summit we climbed through aridge window (M5+). This was a delicate, attractive passage and Matjaz lead it free, but Tomaž and myself
used some aid (A0). Shortly after we reached the summit we realized, that it was possible to bypass it. It was
22nd July 2017 and we believed we made the first ascent of Remalaye (6278 m, aka H5). We didn’t name orroute and we think an overall grade would be D+. We descended to our tent at 5900 m the same day. We
did some short rappels due to high afternoon temperatures resulting in wet snow and roten ice. After
spending one more night in bivy, we descended to BC at 23rd July 2017.

Matjaž Dušič ascending south slopes of Remalaye (6278m), behind is P5820m. Foto Matija Jost - MaticTomaž Žerovnik ascending towards east ridgeclose to the summit of Remalaye (6278 m). Foto
Matjaz Dusic.

Tomaž Žerovnik in Matjaž Dušič on
the summit of Remalaye (6278 m),
rocky peak in the background is
Chakdor Ri (6193 m, aka H8). Foto
Matija Jost - MaticAscent of Chakdor Ri (6193 m, aka H8)
A handsome peak at the head of Rangtik glacier is Chakdor Ri (6193 m, aka H8). It is somehow hidden from
Zanskar valley, but you can see it from Cerro Kisthwar or Chomochior, it looks like prominent rock mass. We
started from BC 30th July 2017 and we set our camp at upper Rangtik glacier (5400 m) where Matjaž andTomaž had already cached some climbing equipment some days ago. Next day (31th July) we began climbing.
Snow-ice ramp (up to 550 ) provided a logical entry to reach south-east ridge of the mountain. After 100 m
we took off our ice-climbing gear and continue in rock shoes. Climbing was enjoyable. Sunny calm weather
with warm temperatures and easy climbing up to V+ (UIAA grade) were highlights of that day. East and south
faces of Chakdor Ri are steep but interrupted by several good ledges. We used one of them to set up our
bivy at approximately 5850 m. Good weather continued and we started second day of climbing. We
searched for a logical line of ascent on the right side of the southeast ridge (pillar). Climbing was on good
granite in pictures scenery with constant difficulties from V+ to VII- (UIAA grade). We used mostly friends forprotection, sometimes we used nuts and we hammered in 5 pitons (2 on belays, all left in place). High on theroute we moved on the sunny left side of the ridge (pillar) and just below the top we traverse to a goodledge over the north side from where we climbed short distance to the summit. We reached it
approximately five o’clock in the afternoon, it was 1st August 2017. Then the weather dramatically changed.
A small storm rolled in and within ten minutes or so it started to snow hard. Precipitation was accompaniedwith strong static electricity. When we reached our highest point we were not sure if we actually stood at
the highest point of the mountain. Summit ridge is quite horizontal, sharp but easy to climb. There was a lotof tension in the air so we left immediately. Just before dark we managed to get to our bivy tent at 5850 m;
seven rappels brought us down to the comfort of dry sleeping bags and a warm meal. Next day (2nd August2017) we rappelled further down to the Rangtik glacier. It was still cloudy with some snow-rain and wereached our BC in the afternoon. We named our route »Treasure of Zanskar«, height of the route is 750 m
and we think the overall grade is ED+. Matjaž and I climbed entire route free (flash), Tomaž used aid (A0) two
times. Rock quality is mostly good.

Tomaž Žerovnik on the summit of Chakdor Ri (6193 m, aka H8). Foto Matjaž Dušič

Photo is taken from summit of Remalaye west (6266 m), red line indicates route »Treasure of Zanskar«.

Photo is taken from upper Rangtik Glacier.

Tomaž Žerovnik and Matjaž Dušič ascending snow ramp at the bottom of Chakdor Ri (6193 m , aka H8)
south east ridge. Foto Matija Jost – Matic

Lower part of the route »Treasure of Zanskar« south east ridge of Chakdor Ri (6193 m, aka H8). Foto
Matija Jost – MaticMatjaž Dušič climbing upper part of the route »Treasure of Zanskar« south east ridge of Chakdor Ri (6193 m,
aka H8). Foto Matija Jost – Matic

Matjaž Dušič is delighted with high quality rock in the upper part of the route »Treasure of Zanskar« south
east ridge of Chakdor Ri (6193 m, aka H8).Foto Matija Jost – Matic

Matija Jošt - Matic close to the summit of Chakdor Ri (6193 m, aka H8). Foto Matjaž DušičTomaž Žerovnik descending in the lower part of south east ridge of Chakdor Ri (6193 m, aka H8). Route»Treasure of Zanskar« goes close to the right side of the pillar above his head. Foto Matija Jost - MaticAscent of Jamyang Ri (5800 m)
Jamyang Ri is a rocky spire one can spot from main Kargil – Pensi La – Padum road and somehow guards theentrance to the upper Rangtik Tokpo. In the morning of 5th August Matjaž Dušič and me leave BC. Tomaž
helped us carrying rucksacks to the foot of the west face and at around 8:30 we (Matjaž and Matic) started
our climb. The first half of the route was dirty and dusty. We climbed up the cracks and chimneys with big
jammed blocks to the right of a snow gully. At mid height a short traverse turned into two full 60 m pitches
because we didn’t find a suitable direct line. Higher up rock became cleaner but sometimes far from perfect.
We reached south-west ridge and we climbed some delicate “boulder problems” on exposed arête to thesummit. Difficulties of the climbing were constant from V to VII- (UIAA grade), upper half of the route is
steeper and we think the overall grade is ED. For protection we used exclusively friends and nuts and weboth managed to climb route free (flash). We named our 650 m high route “Čunka”. There were a lot of daw
birds around us during the climb and “Čunka” means daw bird in Ladakhi language. For descent we hadchosen direct line of rappels down the center of west face. This time we were forced to use pitons and wehammered in two of eleven anchors. Tomaž and Sonam waited for us at the glacier. We arrived to BC ataround 10pm and together with our Zanskar friends, Manu and Caroline (originally from French but almost
Zanskar residents, not tourist) we celebrated the great day.

Matija Jošt – Matic climbing first pitch of
the route »Čunka«, west face of Jamyang
Ri (5800 m). Foto Matjaž Dušič

Matjaž Dušič climbing 11th pitch of the route »Čunka«, west face of Jamyang Ri (5800 m). Foto Matija Jost –Matic

Matija Jošt – Matic on the summit of Jamyang Ri (5800 m), Foto Matjaž Dušič

Finances
Outcome:
Air tickets
Extra baggage
Other transport expenses
Indian Visas
Insurance
Agency fee
Hotels, hostels
Other (tipping, gas, additional food)Subsume €:IncomePersonal contribution
Alpine Association of Slovenia support
Subsume €:€1418,46
160,00600,00138,18590,56
9000,00
300,001500,00
13707,20€
10457,20
3250,00
13707,20

View from
Remalaye south
slopes towards
south east
direction.
Chhoge Tokpo(T16, T13) and
Gompe Tokpo, in
front is Jamyang
Ri (5800 m). Foto
Matija Jošt Matic

Conclusion
For 4th volume of Asian Alpine E News I wrote: “Unspoiled fragile nature, friendly people of Zanskar, heritageof Tibetan Buddhism and of course great mountains to climb is main attributes to visit the area. There isplenty of room for pristine alpinism as its best. Dimensions of mountains are more like Alps than the
Himalaya, just with higher altitudes. Every expedition is pollution somehow. One of possible ways tominimize the pollution is to operate in small teams with modest comfort. We must try to climb clean andleave mountains as nice as we find them.” And I haven’t changed my opinion after this year’s trip
Bodrež 7th September 2017

Matija Jošt - Matic