ASIAN ALPINE E–NEWS
Issue No. 31 July 2018

High on the South Ridge of Janhukot 6805m above the Gangotori Glacier, Garhwar Himalaya

Contents
MALCOLM BASS & PAUL FIGG

Success on Janhukot 6805m, at last.

Page 2~15

Gangotori Region of the Garhwal Himalaya, IndiHENGDUAN MOUNTAINS CLUB

Future Alpine Paradise in West Sichuan Highlands

Page 16~30

Alluring Rock Peaks “Gangga Massif” and Forbidden Mountains “Kawarori”

1

MALCOLM BASS & PAUL FIGG

Success on Janhukot 6805m, at last.
Gangotori Region of the Garhwal Himalaya, India
There’s a saying in the U.K. ‘If at first you don’t succeed try, try again’.
That was exactly what Malcolm Bass and Paul Figg had to do before succeeding on standingon the summit of Janhukot 6805m in the Garhwal region of the Indian Himalaya, luckily for
Guy Buckingham he managed it on his first attempt. The big day came on the 6th June when
the trio reached the summit after making the first ascent of the mountain via the south west
buttress to the south ridge and then on to the summit.
(The map below shows a part of Garhwal West copies from “Indian Himalaya” of JAC Tokai)

Janhukot lies at the far end of the Gangotri glacier and is reached by two days hard walk fromthe luxuries of base camp at 4500m opposite the Bhagirathi peaks and below Shivling. The
location for base camp couldn’t have been better, situated on a wonderful grassy meadow withfantastic views of the mentioned peaks it was a superb place to relax in comfort and do a spot1

of bouldering but more importantly allowed easy access to Kedar Dome where we spent 3 days
acclimatising to a height of 5600m. Kedar Dome is the ideal peak for acclimatisation being
non-technical, objectively safe and needing minimal effort to gain height.

Janhukot Southwest Buttress – Hamish Frost_Coldhouse
Following a couple of day’s rest enjoying the fantastic cooking from our base camp cookSantabir Sherpa (pizza to pumpkin pie and obviously great curries) courtesy of Rimo
Expeditions, we set off for the two day battle to cover the 19km of moraine and glacier thattook us to Advanced Base Camp below the south west buttress. We were accompanied byPemba Sherpa (High Altitude Porter) and photographer Hamish Frost who would stop there
for a few days to photograph our progress, Anoop Tamang (Sirdar) Liaison Officer Vikram
Ghiyal who returned to the comfort of BC after spending the night and viewing our objective.
Once at ABC around 5000m with a few hours of afternoon light left we took the opportunity
to take a look at the route we had planned to take. This was going to be the same that Malcolm,
Andy Brown and I had first attempted in 2004 and tried again in 2014 by Malcolm and Simon
Yearsley when they reached 6600m. We aimed to ascend the south west buttress until it joined
the south ridge and then continue up this to the top, sounds easy in theory. After a couple ofhours sleep Malcolm, Guy and I set off at 00:30 on 3rd June each of us with our own nervous
and apprehensive thoughts for company heading for the snow slope that would put us onto
the buttress. It was great to be on the mountain after all the months of planning and training
as we made rapid progress soloing up the lower snow slopes and ramps at Scottish grade 2/3.
We were aiming for the bivy spot that Malcolm and Simon had used in 2014 as we knew thiswould be a safe haven with our tiny little 3 man tent protected by an overhanging rock face.
2

By early morning we had made 800m of height gain and at the bivy spot, above here our route
took a line up a funnel that would soon be potentially flowing with spindrift and avalanches
once the sun hit the face, with no wish to risk pushing on through this we sat out the day
resting.

Map of Survey of India 1: 150,000 (Swiss Foundation)
The following morning in good spirits we set off, this time roped up leaving the easy groundbelow us for hard ice buried under a layer of snow, the pace slowed and we only managed
300m of ascent, possibly due to the altitude but probably due to our combined ages of 150.
Climbing as a three at least meant you had someone to talk to whilst the leader made slow
progress. After an uncomfortable night’s sleep on a ledge that was far too small, why is it
ledges always look bigger than they actually are? we were on the move again working well asa team swinging leads heading toward the junction with the south ridge. Once on the ridge
the difficulty of the climbing eased but the seriousness increased. The weather started tochange with threatening clouds rolling in, ahead of us was a 300m long narrow ridge of soft3

snow that offered no chance of protection other than throwing yourself off the other side of theridge if someone did take a fall. Guy bravely took the lead and after an uncomfortable traverseof the ridge we were rewarded with what proved to be an amazing find, a 50m abseil placed
us in a snow bowl below a rocky buttress. No longer would we have to spend hours choppingout a ledge for the tent, only for it to still be too small, or be tied to the mountain whilst we
slept, we could put the ropes away for the night and sleep in comfort. After hot drinks andfood, we were off to sleep and planning for an early start the next day, hoping to reach thesummit.
With the summit only 300m somewhere above us in the cloud it was going to take more thana bit of snow fall to put us off, we’d planned to set off at 5.00 a.m. but woke to light but wet
snowfall the first of the trip and poor visibility. Unsure of the route above we sat it out in thetent, at 7.00 the weather improved so leaving the tent behind and with light sacks we made a
traverse below the south ridge, avoiding the technical climbing involved in ‘The Castle’ that
had been encountered on the 2014 attempt. Weaving a way through the many buttresses were-joined the ridge, high above, through the clouds we could see the summit or so we hoped,
but didn’t want to be too confident in case we were disappointed. All we needed to do now wassafely get past this last obstacle, yet more unprotected climbing along the heavily corniced
ridge. The climbing had never been technically difficult anywhere on the 1700m high face but
it had certainly tested our nerve with the result of a fall on the unprotected sections having
serious consequences.
Malcolm came close to this as we neared the summit taking a short fall through the corniceand taking a good look down the 800m high east face, visibly shaken the only option was toquickly put it to the back of your mind and carry on. As we neared the summit snow conditions
improved, and ice screw protection was available as Malcolm took the lead for what we hoped
would be the final pitch that would take us to the summit. There was no doubt that Malcolm
had reached the summit when Guy and I could see arms being excitedly waved about, it wasvery fitting that it was Malcolm was first to reach the summit, it was his third attempt andthe driving force behind the expedition. We were all soon on the summit together sharing
emotional hugs as the clouds briefly cleared to reveal magnificent views in all directions.
Summits are no place to linger and with the time at 5.00 p.m. we needed to start descending,heading back to the comfort and security of the tent below and much needed food and drink.
Carefully retracing our route along the corniced ridge, keeping well away from the edge thistime all that was needed was a few abseils and a short fall into a bergschrund by Paul and wewere back at the tent.
One feature of the expedition that helped psychologically was that Malcolm knew a safe andquick way down that he and Simon Yearsley had used in 2014 that descended the shorter east
face. After a good night’s sleep in the snow bowl, with Guy leading the way and efficiently
setting up abseil anchors we were soon back on flat ground with only a long walk in front of
us to reach a deserted ABC for a night and then back to Base Camp. None of us were looking
forward to the walk back to BC, we were keen to do two day walk in, in one day back to BC.
Snow conditions on the glacier had changed we regularly sank up to our thigh’s in the soft
snow. We all hoped that we’d meet the team from BC coming up to meet us but didn’t want to
be too optimistic in case we were disappointed and would have to carry the heavy loads all theway to BC on very tired legs. Much to our relief Hamish, Vikram and Anoop appeared half
way down the glacier with chapattis and potato’s but more importantly to share the load
carrying. The climbing on the route might have only been five days but the two day approach
and walk to BC had certainly worn us all out physically and mentally.

4Jahukot History
Janhukot has attracted challenges from as far back as the 1980s when it seems to have been
attempted by an Indian team from West Bengal; details are scant. In 2002 it was tried by anAustrian team; heavy snowfall prevented much progress. Malcolm Bass and Paul Figg madetheir 1st attempt in 2004 along with Andy Brown reaching 6000m on the SW buttress. Pat
Deavoll and Marty Beare from New Zealand on the same expedition reached 6400m via themain couloir on the west face. A group of American and Indian climbers led by Bryan Hylenski
and Anindya Mukherjee then made attempts in 2010 and 2011 from the east side.
Malcolm returned for his 2nd attempt in 2014 with Simon Yearsley, making the best effort todate via the south west buttress to reach a high point of 6640m amongst hard mixed climbing
high on the crest of the south ridge, an area they dubbed “The Castle”. Strong cold winds
forced them to retreat after 14hrs of climbing on their hoped for summit day, and Malcolm
Bass suffered some frostbite to his hands during their descent to their bivouac. In 2016
Hylenski was back, but found the mountain in exceptionally dry and dangerous post monsoon
conditions which turned him and his partner back on the west face couloir.

SummaryFirst ascent of Janhukot 6805m, Gangotri Region, Garwhal Himalaya, India.
Via south west buttress to south ridge. 3000m, 1700m vertical. ED1. Scottish IV.
Descent via south ridge to south east ridge to couloir into eastern glacial basin.
3 June to 7 June 2018
Climbers: Malcolm Bass, Guy Buckingham, Paul Figg

Expedition Members
Mr Malcolm Bass (Leader)
Mr Paul Figg (Climber)
Mr Guy Buckingham (Climber)
Mr Hamish Frost (Photographer)
Mr Vikram Ghiyal (Liaison Officer)
Mr Anoop Tamang (Rimo Expeditions Sirdar)
Mr Santabir Sherpa (Chef)
Mr Pemba Sherpa (High Altitude Porter)
Mr Hari Singh (Cook’s assistant)
The climbers would like to thank their sponsors and supporters without whom such trips
would not be possible:
PERTEX [http://www.pertex.com/]
RAB [http://www.rab.com/]
The Mount Everest Foundation[http://www.mef.org.uk/]
The Montane Alpine Club Climbing Fund
The Thomlinson Trust
MontaneLa Sportiva
Petzl

Janhukot has been referred to as Jannuhut and Jankuth in previous reports however
according to Anindya Mukherjee (Indian Mountaineer and Explorer) Janhukot is the more
acceptable and usual spelling.
5Pictures and Area Information

From Russian Topographical Map 1: 200, 000

Paul Figg, Malcolm Bass, Guy Buckingham – Guy Buckingham

6

Approaching the South Ridge – Guy Buckingham

High on the South Ridge above the Gangotori Glacier – Guy Buckingham

7

Guy Buckingham soloring the lower slope

Guy Buckingham on the upper ice slope day 3

8

Malcolm Bass and Paul Figg celebrating reaching Summit of Janhukot – Guy Buckingham

Descending from the Summit – Guy Buckingham

9Garhwal Division
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Divisions of Uttarakhand
Coordinates:

30°30′N 78°30′E / 30.5°N 78.5°E / 30.5; 78.5 Garhwal (IPA: /ɡəɽʋːɔɭ/) is thewestern region and administrative division of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand which is hometo the Garhwali people. Lying in the Himalayas, it is bounded on the north by Tibet, on the east by
Kumaon region, on the south by Uttar Pradesh state, and on the northwest by Himachal Pradesh state.
It includes the districts of Chamoli, Dehradun, Haridwar, Pauri Garhwal, Rudraprayag, Tehri Garhwal,
and Uttarkashi.

The people of Garhwal are known as Garhwali and speak the Garhwali language. The administrative
center for Garhwal division is the town of Pauri. The Divisional Commissioner is the administrative
head of the Division, and is a senior Indian Administrative Service officer. As the administrative headof the division, the Commissioner is overall in charge of the 7 districts in the Garhwal region of
Uttarakhand, and is aided in his duties by an Additional Commissioner and the District Magistrates.
Vinod Sharma is currently the Divisional Commissioner of the Garhwal Division.

Garhwal is the land of many 'garh’ or forts. This region was made up of many small forts which wereruled by chieftains. Therefore, the history of Garhwal before the dynastic rule of the ‘Panwar’ rulers
is very obscure. Kanak Pal was the first ruler of the state of Garhwal in 823 AD.
10History
The Garhwal Himalayas appear to have been a favorite locale for the voluminous mythology of thePuranic period. The traditional name of Garhwal was Uttarakhand. Excavations have revealed that it
formed part of the Mauryan Empire.

The earliest reference regarding Garhwal and its pride spots are cited in the Skanda Purana and the
Mahabharata in the Van Parva. Skanda Purana defines the boundaries and extend of this holy land. It
also finds mention in the 7th-century travelogue of Huen Tsang. However, it is with Adi
Shankaracharya that the name of Garhwal will always be linked, for the great 8th-century spiritualreformer visited the remote, snow-laden heights of Garhwal, established a Joshimath and restoredsome of the most sacred shrines, including Badrinath and Kedarnath.
The history of Garhwal as a unified whole began in the 15th century, when king Ajai Pal merged the
52 separate principalities, each with its own garh or fortress.
For 300 years, Garhwal remained one kingdom, with its capital at Srinagar (on the left bank of
Alaknanda river). Then Pauri and Dehradun were perforce ceded to the Crown as payment for British
help, rendered to the Garhwalis during the Gurkha invasion, in the early 19th century.
The earliest ruling dynasty of Garhwal known is of the Katyuris. The Katyuri Raja of Uttarakhand(Kumaon and Garhwal) was styled 'Sri Basdeo Giriraj Chakara Churamani'. The earliest traditions
record that the possessions of Joshimath Katyuris in Garhwal extended from Satluj as far as Gandaki
and from the snows to plains, including the whole of Rohilkhand. Tradition gives the origin of their Raj
at Joshimath in the north near Badrinath and subsequent migration to Katyur Valley in Almora district,
where a city called Kartikeyapura was founded.
Katyuris ruled Uttarakhand up to the 11th century and in certain pockets even after their decline. In
Garhwal their disruption brought into existence 52 independent chiefs. One of the importantprincipalities in that period was that of Parmars, who held their sway over Chandpur Garhi or
Fortress.[2] Katyuris ruled Uttarakhand up to the 11th century and in certain pockets even after theirdecline. Kanak Pal was progenitor of this dynasty. Raja Ajay Pal, a scion of the Parmars in the 14th
century is credited with having brought these chiefs under his rule.[2] After his conquest Ajay Pal's
domain was recognised as Garhwal owing to exuberance of forts. It is possible that after annexing all
principalities, Raja Ajay Pal must have become famous as Garhwala, the owner of forts. With thepassage of time his kingdom came to be known as Garhwal.

Garhwal Kingdom
Garhwal Kingdom was founded by Rajputs. Nearly 700 years ago, one of these chiefs, Ajai Pal, reduced
all the minor principalities under him and founded the Garhwal Kingdom. He and his ancestors ruled
over Garhwal and the adjacent state of Tehri-Garhwal, in an uninterrupted line till 1803, when the
Gurkhas invaded Kumaon and Garhwal, driving the Garhwal chief into the plains. For 12 years the
Gurkhas ruled the country with an iron rod, until a series of encroachments by them on British territory
led to the Gurkha War in 1814. At the termination of the campaign, Garhwal and Kumaon wereconverted into British districts, while the Tehri principality was restored to a son of the former chief.

11The British district of Garhwal was in the Kumaon Division of the United Provinces, and had an area of
5,629 sq mi (14,580 km2). After annexation, Garhwal rapidly advanced in material prosperity. IN 1901
the population was 429,900. Two battalions of the Indian army (the 39th Garhwal Rifles) wererecruited in the district, which contained the military cantonment of Lansdowne. Grain and coarse
cloth were exported, and salt, borax, livestock and wool were imported. Trade with Tibet wasconsiderable. The administrative headquarters was at the village of Pauri, but Srinagar was the largest
city. It was an important mart, as was Kotdwara, the terminus of a branch of the Oudh and Rohilkhand
railway from Najibabad.
During the turn of the 19th century, the Gurkhas attacked Garhwal and drove the rulers of Garhwal
down to the plains (Rishikesh, Haridwar, DehraDun). Pradyumna Shah died fighting at the battle ofKhurbura. Thereafter the rulers of Garhwal took the help of the British forces in India and regained
their kingdom. The rulers of Garhwal gave away 60% of their kingdom for the support the British gavethem in driving back the Gurhkas.
During the Second World War, the Raja Narendra Shah contributed his troops and aircraft to the
British war effort. In recognition for his services, the British gave him the title of "Maharaja", madehim a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India (KCSI) and knighted him. Thus his full title
was Sir Maharaja Narendra Shah KCSI.

Geography
Nanda Devi is the second-highest mountain in India.

Above picture was taken from a commercial flight from Ali (West Tibet) to Lhasa
12

Valley of Flowers National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
The region consists almost entirely of rugged mountain ranges running in all directions and separated
by narrow valleys, which in some cases become deep gorges or ravines. The only level portion of the
district was a narrow strip of waterless forest between the southern slopes of the hills and the fertile
plains of Rohilkhand. The highest mountains are in the eastern Chamoli district, the principal peaks
being Nanda Devi 7,816 m (25,643 ft), Kamet 7,756 m (25,446 ft), Chaukhamba 7,138 m (23,419 ft),
Trisul 7,120 m (23,360 ft), Dunagiri 7,066 m (23,182 ft), and Kedarnath 6,940 m (22,769 ft).

The Alaknanda River, one of the main sources of the Ganges, receives with its affluents the whole
drainage of the district. At Devprayag the Alaknanda joins the Bhagirathi, and thenceforward theunited streams bear the name of the Ganges. Cultivation is principally confined to the immediate
vicinity of the rivers, which are employed for irrigation. In June 2013 a multi-day cloudburst centeredin the mountainous valleys of the area resulted in widespread damage and over 5,000 deaths.[4] It
was India's worst natural disaster insofar as death toll since the 2004 tsunami.

Garhwali people
Garhwalis are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group who primarily inhabit the Garhwal Himalayas. Any
person who has ancestral Garhwali roots or lives in Garhwal and has a Garhwali heritage is called a
Garhwali. They include all those who speak the Garhwali language or any of its dialects.
The culture of the present Garhwal is an amalgamation of influences from the indigenous population
coupled with traditions superimposed by immigrants who settled in the region. A majority of thepeople are involved in the agriculture, tourism and the defense industry.
Garhwali people are divided into three castes: Garhwali Brahmins, Garhwali Rajputs and Shilpkars.
Their surnames are based either on the names of their villages (Simalti,Raturi, Kotiyal, Sati, Khanduri,
Gairola, Butola, Kharola, Jakhmola, Naithani, Maithani, Chamoli, Bahuguna, Mamgain, Bhatt, Dhyani ,Pant, Hatwal, Dabral Juyal, Uniyal, Pokhriyal, Dobhal, Semwal, Nautiyal, Thapliyal, Painuly (Painuli),
Dimri, Dobhal,Kaintura, Kanswal, Badoni, Ghildiyal, Belwal, Nainlwal, Kathait, Bagiyal, Barthwal etc.)
or according to their professions (Bisht, Bhandari, Negi, Rana, Payal, Joshi, Kothari, Aswal, Rautela,
Chauhan, Kandari, Gosain, Panwar, Patwal, Rawat, Kuthi, Koli, Tamta etc.)
Shilpkars, on the other hand, are composed of sub-castes and are classified as Scheduled Castes in theConstitution of India. Even with the wave of migrations, the ancient culture survived and was adopted
by incoming people.

Garhwali language
The Garhwali language (गढ़वाली भाषा) is a Central Pahari language belonging to the Northern Zone of
Indo-Aryan and is native to Garhwal.
Garhwali is one of the 325 recognized languages of India,[5] spoken by over 2,267,314[6] people in
Tehri Garhwal, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Dehradun and Rudraprayag districts of
Uttarakhand.[7] Garhwali is also spoken by people in other parts of India including Himachal Pradesh,
Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
UNESCO’s Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger designates Garhwali as a language in the 'unsafe'
category and requires consistent conservation efforts.
13

Garhwali Art & Sculpture
Garhwal was known for real art of stone carving which is died later but still you can experience
woodcarving art. You can experience this art on every door of the house and on Hundreds of temples.
The places where you can experience more architectural beauty are Chandpur Fort, Pandukeshwar
near Badrinath, Temple of Srinagar and the Devalgarh Temple.

14

HENGDUAN MOUNTAINS CLUB

Future Alpine Paradise in West Sichuan Highlands
Alluring Rock Peaks “Gangga Massif” and Forbidden Mountains “Kawarori”(Text and pictures by Tom Nakamura)
Political situation in Tibet is uncertain and sensitive. Since no foreigner is allowed to enter remote areas of
my field, eastern Tibet, in 2012, instead I organized an elderly survey team from the Hengduan Mountains
Club (Tom Nakamura, Tsuyoshi Nagai, Tadao Shintani) to visit West Sichuan Highlands and Yunnan fromlate September to late October.
The main objective was to photograph, map out and identify peaks of the Gangga massif and least-known
Kawarori. The Gangga massif is just south of Ganzi town and the Yalong Jiang, a northernmost extentionof the Shaluli Shan range. Kawarori is a sacred mountain of the Gongkara Shan range which is locatedeast of the Gangga massif and Yalong Jiang, northwest of the Daxue Shan range in the West Sichuan
Highlands.

The Yalong Jiang is one of the large tributary of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang).

Reconnaissance of the Gangga massif was made only one time in 2005 by a Japanese party from the Nagano
Prefecture, but less results.

Gangga I Group: Central Peak 5670m (left), North Peak 5650m seem from Ganzi

1

The Alps of Tibet, mountains in eastern Tibet, is the final frontier in the greater ranges of the world. About
260 peaks over 6,000 meters high remain untrodden in Nyainqentanglha East, Kangri Garpo and Gorge
Country. On the contrary, unclimbed mountains exceeding 6,000 meters are only more or less 10 summits
in the West Sichuan Highlands, a region of Tibetan inhabitants too.
Nevertheless, if you focus on peaks lower than 6,000 meters, you will come across many fascinating andchallenging peaks that attract and enchant climbers seeking for unfrequented targets. Climbers have beenrushing to rock peaks in the Qonglai Mountains of now popular Siguniang and currently several climbers
have started an attempt on alluring rock peaks in the Genyen massif north of the Litang Plateau. However
the Gangga massif and Gongkala Shan are still behind climbers’ attention. The Gangga massif is not alarge mountains group and heights is 5,300 – 5,600 meters, but provides fantastic rock peaks. Kawaroni
are holy mountains guarded by Tibetan monks and villagers. Note: the highest peak was climbed by Bruce
Normand party.

2

Our team arrived at Chengdu on the 26th September. Sichuan Earth Expedition Inc. arranged for our tripas usually and Zhang Jiyue joined the team. We left Chengdu for the mountains on the 28th September.
We followed a newly-built highway Chengu-Xichang making a detour of Erlanshan Tunnel passage.
Acceleration of highways construction in West China is amazing. We left the highway at Ximien and drove
northward along Dadu River, and then crossed a pass Xuemenkan 3948m down to Kangding new town.
The pass divides Minya Konka massif to southwest and Lamoshe massif to northeast.

Panorama picture of the central part of the Gangga Massif east face, Shaluli Shan
I must mention two unusual factors of our survey trip. One is an extraordinarily bad weather in late
September to mid October and the other is a political situation. During our travel in two weeks, only one
and a half days were considerably fine weather (but not perfect blue sky) though I could take advantages ofa narrow chance to photograph the mountains necessary for peaks identification. We stayed at Ganzi town
only three nights during the good weather.
On the 30th September we ascended to a pass Lazika 4,000 meters of the Sichuan-Tibet Highway for taking
a panorama view of the Gangga and Kawarori. From this pass Erich Teichman viewed Kawarori in 1918.
On the 1st October we enter a valley just south of Ganzi town and ascended to a high pass Zhuodana 4820
meters leading to Baiyu County for reconnaissance of the central part of the massif. Remaining one week
were spent for visiting interesting places including a village with famous stone towers in Danba County and
Mt. Siguniang. It was a keen interest in going to the largest monastery and school with 20,000 monks andstudents in Seda, but I regret that there was no time.
The other problem was a restriction imposed on foreigners due to political uncertainty in the region. The
areas of Ganzi and adjacent counties were closed to foreigners in principles since spring of 2012 when
Tibetan monks’ fire suicide happened.

As after the spring, fire suicide took place intermittently, theauthorities became nervous about foreign visitors. Under such circumstances we could manage to travel3

through the officially restricted areas with no difficulty and without any problem thanking to Jiyue’s carefulattention. We met only a couple of westerners and no Japanese throughout the trip. We returned toChengdu on the 10th October and flew to Kunming on the 11th for traveling south Yunnan and north Laosto retrace footsteps of the 19th century French Mekong River expedition. This is another story.

4

5

Mountains of Kawarori were first reported by an early British consular officer and explorer, Eric Teichman
who traveled through the highlands in 1918.
[Passing Joro, the trail tops a rise and emerges on to rolling grass-lands now patched with snow. Here we

saw many gazelle. A long pull up hill with occasional short descent brought us to the top of the She Chu –Yalung Divide, only about 13,000 feet high. As one tops the last rise, the great range beyond the Yalungbursts into view, a glittering mass of ice, snow and rock, culminating in the snow-clad mass of Kawalori(“peak of everlasting snow”), a sacred mountain of Nyarong, and one of the highest peaks in Eastern Tibet.
This great range is here pieced by the Yalung, and glimpses of it are occasionally caught from the She Chu
valley below Driwo.](Travels of a Conslar Officer in Eastern Tibet Erich Teichman, Cambridge 1922).

Kawarori II 5928n (left), Kawarori I 5992m (right) southwest face – Photo: Takao Ohe
Kawarori of the Gongkara Shan range is located 30 km southeast of Garzi. Two principal peaks Kawarori-I
5,992m and Kawarani-II 5,928m remain unclimbed. Local Tibetan pronounce it “Kawaruori” but in thisarticle “Kawarori” applies. Reconnaissance was first conducted by a Japanese party, Yamanashi
Mountaineering Federation in autumn of 1999 and then a British party first attempted on climbing inautumn of 2005. They set up the second camp at 4,800m. However hostile monks of a lamasery forcibly
opposed the British to continue climbing for religious reason because of Holy Mountains. They could not
help to abandon the attempt. Another British party came to Kawarori in 2007 but a climbing permit could
6not be obtained.
The Tohoku University Alpine Club planned to climb Kawarori in summer of 2011 in a hope that a climbing
permit would be issued. After getting an official permit of the Sichuan Mountaineering Association, they left
Japan on 24th July. To their great upset, however, their plan was turned down by a senior official, Deputy
Director of Sports Administrative Department, Garze Tibetans Autonomous Region at Kangding.

Heexcused that Kawarori was holy mountains to local Tibetans and would oppose anyone to climb themountains. Supposedly there might have been the other reason of recent sensitive and uncertain situation
as monks’ fire suicides, though the official was silent.

In fact, the public security bureau (PSB) was

cautious and nervous about foreigners to contact local villagers in Khamba territory.
However, Kawarori I was finally climbed by Bruce Normand (British climber) party with no permit.

Panorama of the central part of Gangga massif seen from Lazika 4000m east face – Photo: Takashi Shiro

Eastern rim of Gangga massif Pk 5690m (left), Pk 5241m (central) east face – Photo: Takashi Shiro

7

Gangga I Group: (from left) Main 5688m, Central 5670m, North 5650m east faceA flock of flying hawks
8Gangga: (from left) 5429m, 5400m, 5286m northeast face

Gangga 5429m (left), 5826m (right) east face9

Gangga Pk 5318m west of Gangga I NE face (above)
Gangga 5241m east face (below)

10Gangga II 5582m east face (above)
Gangga Peak 5241m north face (below)

11Gangga (left) 5567m (right) 5690m west face

Kawarori I 5992m (left), Kawarori II 5928m (central), Pk 5568m (right) northwest face
12

Kawarori I 5992m north face (Takao Ohe)

Kawarori II 5928m north face

13

Kawarori I 5992m (left), Kawarori II (right) northwest face – Photo: Takao Ohe

14

Chunglu village stone tower in Danba

Danba girt in the valley of beauty
15