Arrived in Leh

The flight to Leh from Delhi was a bit protracted because when the plane arrived over the airport there it couldn't land due to weather or some problem with the airport. So we circled overhead for about 30-45 minutes waiting for conditions to improve. The nice thing about this was we kept getting a 360 degree panorama of the Karakoram all the way from K2 to Sasser Kangri II. It was exciting to keep seeing our soon to be climbing objective poking its head above the clouds. We were not able to land so we had to go back to Delhi where they refueled and we went back and landed this time without a hitch.

Karakoram from the air - K2 is in the upper left corner - Sasser Kangri II is just out of the picture on the right

In Leh we rested on July 6th and walked around town.  Leh is an interesting mix of Muslim but mostly Tibetal Buddhism culture.  In the photo you can see the town mosque with the monastery in the background.

 

On the 7^th we visited some monasteries. I believe the two we visited were built in around the 16^th century and have been well preserved. Much of their longevity is due to the very dry high desert climate that keeps things from rotting. I don't think these buildings would have lasted 100 years in my home climate in the Pacific Northwest.

At one of the monasteries some Indian workers were doing a photo shoot that seemed like an odd juxtaposition of cultures. But then given that Buddhism seems to be a religion that is open to all sorts of activities, everyone there was curious and no one seemed to mind.

Inside a couple of the monasteries there were beautiful golden statues of the Buddha.

Today we will drive over the Kardung La to the Nubra Valley where we will stay for two days. I've included a couple of pictures from 2009 along the drive.

We will likely stay at this guest house again in the Nubra valley that is run by a very nice Tibetan family.

On July 9^th we will begin our three day trek to base camp. The first day climbs 3000 feet up a hillside to where we will traverse along a steep hillside above the gorge below. This first day is a difficult and treacherous walk and we need to take good care of ourselves and our porters who are very heavily laden. Again I've attached some photos from our 2009 attempt that shows some of the terrain along the steep traverse above the gorge on the first day.

I will not have internet access after today when I leave Leh, so my next blog posts on our expedition will be in late August or early September. Watch for some new posts then!

Back to Sasser Kangri II

Welcome back to my blog after a period of inactivity. I'm going to get back into it with some stories of my latest alpine adventure – our second attempt to climb Sasser Kangri II in the eastern part of the Karakoram Mountains of Kashmir

 

Southwest Face of Sasser Kangri II

Kashmir is a beautiful mountainous region where China, India,and Pakistan come together. Control of Kashmir is disputed between India and Pakistan, as well as between India and China . Several wars have been fought between India and Pakistan over Kashmir and once between India and China. China wrested control of an uninhabited part of Kashmir called the Aksai Chin claimed by India and the Shaksgam River valley north of K2 was given to them by Pakistani in a border treaty. So the Chinese seem happy now with their borders in the region. But the disagreement between India and Pakistan over most of Kashmir, like the Middle East, is one of the world's most intractable conflicts and drives much of the political instability across South Asia. The Indo-Pak Kashmir Conflict has resulted in a military and political stalemate so that Kashmir is now split between both sides along the Line of Control. The LOC is heavily militarized and the northern portion of it runs right through the Karakoram Mountains making it the highest battleground in the world.

Army trucks going over the Kardung La

About three quarters of the Karakoram Range, including K2, is on the Pakistan side of the LOC, but there are a number of spectacular peaks on the Indian side as well. Our objective – Sasser Kangri II -  lies on the Indian side of the LOC. This area, known as the Eastern Karakoram, has seen little climbing activity compared to the Pakistan side because the Indians only opened it recently and permits from India are difficult to obtain. But this also means the area has not been fully explored and many of the peaks are unclimbed.

Sasser Kangri II is nearly 25,000 feet high and the west summit was climbed by the Japanese in the early '80s, but the higher east summit has not seen an ascent making it one of the highest unclimbed mountains in the world. To get to SKII we will fly from Delhi to the town of Leh in the area of Kashmir called Ladakh.  From Leh we need to travel north to the Nubra Valley where we begin our trek to base camp.  But the only way we can go north from Leh is up and over the Kardung La pass.  This is because the Shyok and Indus Rivers that drain the eastern part of the Karakoram flow west over the LOC into Pakistan so that the approach to this most norther tip of India is not politically possible up these river valleys. To access this area the Indian's have constructed a road over the Kardung La, an 18,000 foot pass. The Indians can only keep this pass open in the summer so all the supplies to support their troops along the LOC in the Karakoram mountains must go over this pass during those months. After we drive over the Kardung La we will stay at a small hotel in the Nubra Valley before starting our trek to Base Camp.

Elevation of the pass is more like 17,600 ft - still pretty high

The Karakoram Mountains are one of the most spectacular and challenging places to climb and attracts mountaineers from all over the world. Due to security concerns along the LOC, the Karakoram has been open and closed to climbing over the years. But currently both India and Pakistan have been issuing climbing permits to promote economic development in the region and as a way to garner international recognition of the territory in Kashmir that they control



Indian soldiers headed for the LOC



The conflict continues to take its toll

In 2009 I attempted Sasser Kangri II with Americans Mark Richey and Mark Wilford, and a British climber Jim Louther. From the Nubra Valley we spent three days trekking to a beautiful small meadow that we discovered for our base camp at 17,000 feet. From here we had to find a way up one of several side valleys that would take us over a 20,000 ft pass and onto another glacier that drains the southwest side of SKII that we wanted to climb.



Base Camp

Fortunately the valley behind our base camp led to a snowy pass whose crossing involved glacier travel but no real technical climbing. We made numerous trips over this pass to acclimatize and to find a suitable climbing route up SKII.

Route climbs right side of big couloir - traverses right at half height and then up the wall

After spending over a month at or above base camp we made a serious attempt to climb the Southwest face of SKII and reached about 22,500 ft before retreating in bad weather. By then it was late in the season and our time had run out. I felt we had accomplished a lot with our reconnaissance of a completely unexplored area and getting fairly high on our route. I walked away convinced that we found a safe, but challenging, way to the summit. The route consisted of steep ice and surprisingly good granite and with the work we had put into it I wanted to return to finish the job.


Returning from the wall

At the base of the wall

1st Bivouac

Leading up the ice face at around 22,000 ft

Traversing right into the mixed climbing

2nd Bivouac

Descending to site for 3rd Bivouac

3rd Bivouac chopped out of hard ice

Retreat

It took a couple of years to arrange the team and get the necessary permits from the Indian Government. Yesterday I flew from Seattle to Newark and met up with my climbing partners Mark Richey and Freddie Wilkinson so that we could all fly to Delhi together and begin our second attempt on Sasser Kangri II. I will post several blogs about our expedition this year as far as Leh and maybe as far as the Nubra Valley. But after this my internet connectivity will be nonexistent and I will post what happened when I'm connected again in late August or early September.