It had been almost 10 years since my old school friend, and noted Antarctic climber, Damien Gildea and I had been on a climbing trip. He had almost 6 weeks available and he and I were keen to catch up for part of that time in Ladakh for some time in the mountains.
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| Our destination Honupatta. A view from our walk up the drainage opposite the village |
Damien had been doing his research and had identified the Chomotang peaks as a likely objective. These peaks were listed on the Olizane maps of Ladakh at just under 6000 metre although these maps are notoriously unreliable when it comes to exact heights. What made the area interesting was that a new road had just made access much easier. Over the last three years a road had been pushed through to the once isolated villages of Honupatta and Photoksar. This made they area more appealing for a quick hit and run mission. This was important as I had my usual time constraints.
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| Chomotang to the left and Nuigutse South to the right from Sirsir La |
We met in Leh, the bustling capital of Ladakh which was just in the build up to prime tourist season. The centre of town was being paved and it was dusty with all the local shopkeepers looking like bandits with their nose and mouths covered with bandannas and buffs. I was only in Leh for a day and we stocked up on food from the local shops; mostly pasta, noodles, oats, nuts and really great dried apricots. We then met the driver who Damien had organised through a friend they seemed good and the price of about $125 was good for the 160 km journey to drop us off in Honupatta.
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| The new road to Honupatta and Photoksar near Pharjila |
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| An Machu Kangri 6000 metre peak just behind Photoksar from the Sirsir La. It had its first ascent in June 2015 |
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One of the villager in Honupatta in her traditional dress walking through
the village spinning her prayer wheel.
How much will the road change her life? |
India has a program of linking all villages by road by 2020 and wherever you go in Ladakh you see evidence of this program. Road gangs from the Border Roads Organisation with some heavy equipment and many labourers from place like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh struggle in tough conditions to make this commitment a reality. The road from Honupatta was blasted through some rugged country and the Border Roads Organisation will be busy keeping it open in the future.
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Given the lack of English spoken in Honupatta
we were surprised when we met the girls from Photoksar
with perfect English. The benefit of an education in Leh |
We drove past past our drop off point at Honupatta to visit Photoksar which was over a 5000 m pass, the Sirsir La. It also enabled us to get a good look at our objectives. Photoksar has a significant Gompa with some great murals on the internal walls. Unfortunately the monks were not home so we couldn't get inside. We chatted to some local girls who had great English, the result of an education in Leh. They spend the winter in the village where temperatures average -20 deg C before walking out 50 km to Phonjilla to catch the bus to Leh to attend school. I am always impressed by the commitment of Indian families of all class and cultural background to the education of their children.
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People share the shepherding duties and each night the
returns to be divide up and sent home to their pens. |
After a brief visit Photoksar we returned to Honupatta which was at 3800 m. We wanted to stay there as part of our acclimatisation schedule and we needed to organise some support to move our gear and food into the mountains.
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A lot of the rock in the area was choss but
behind Honupatta there was a significant cliff
of what looked like clean granite |
Honupatta is wonderfully little village of about 40-50 people who carve a life from their terraced fields where they grow a a type of local spinach along with barley and millet. There main income is derived from their goats, sheep and dzo which are the hardy but temperamental Yak/Cow cross breed favoured by the locals.
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| Our hosts Lobzang and Diskat |
We stayed in a small guest house run by Lobzang Dolma and her small daughter Diskat Angmoo. We occupied what is normally a single room which is normally the living, sleeping and cooking area of a traditional Ladakhii house. Meals consisted of curried egg and chapatti for breakfast, rice and curried spinach and tsampa gnocchi with green vegetables.
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| Tashi's sons proudly showing off their dzo calf. |
We took a day at Honupatta and walked up the drainage on the opposing side of the valley to 4400m to help acclimatisation. On our return we negotiated with Tashi, who was responsible for the village donkeys. After a negotiation using our very limited Ladakhii and Tashi's limited English, we agreed on a rate of 15 USD per donkey per day. We planned to set off the following day for the two day walk into the base of Nuigutse South.
The following morning was an easy 9km walk with food and tools on the two donkeys. We reach the campsite which was at the foot of the Sirsir La at about 4,400 m. We pitched camp and rested for the night only to awake to snow and rain. Despite Ladakh's well earned reputation as a high altitude desert, it does rain and on everyone of my climbing trips to the area there has been some precipitation. We had planned a rest day at the next location so we decided to bring the rest day forward. Tashi took the donkeys back to Honupatta with a promise to return in the morning.
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Tashi's little donkey made the approach easy. Previously they were used to support the few trekking parties that
came through the area. The road will significantly reduce trekkers and the need to the donkeys |
It would have been better to have acclimatised a little higher at the bottom of Nuigatse South but it didn't seem to make a big difference. The morning was clear and Tashi returned on time so we loaded up and moved the 5km to the the bottom of Nuigatse South which was at 4800m. Tashi packed up and turned towards home promising us po cha on our return, the infamous Tibetan tea. We set up, racked up and fueled up for an early morning start. It was a great spot to camp plenty of water and a good view over the river, the Spong Tokp.
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| Plenty of potential for spring ski touring |
We were getting first light at 0415 and there were good freezes so there was little need for head torches and alpine starts as we only needed to gain about 800m. The climbing was easy although my feet were a little cold. We powered up to the summit covering about 300 vertical metres per hour which was good given our level of acclimatisation.
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| Damo on the slopes of Nuigutse South |
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Damo with Chomotang in the background.
We would move up the glacier on the right
to a camp behind the peak |
The top was at about 5650m and gave us great views of Chomotang 1 and the glacier. The main peak of Nuigutse was a little higher but it was a couple of kilometres away and appeared to be on a small rock spire. We had no rock gear and we were happy with our day out so we descended back to out tent.
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| Harnesses and crampons on at the bottom of the glacier |
We re-organised our gear, trimmed back our food and loaded up some heavy packs for the walk up the glacier to Chomotang 2. The start involved scrambling over a rock stream bed before opening out onto snow slopes prior to reaching the glacier's snout. I am no expert but it but there was no sign of ice fall from the glacier so we assumed that there was little forward movement and few meaningful crevasses.
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| The joy of plugging steps in soft snow in the hot sun |
We put our harnesses on and easily climbed up the climber's left of the glacial snout. We settled into a steady plod in mostly firm conditions although there was a little post-holing at times.
We reached the new camp below Chomotang 2 at 5400 metres after about 4 and a half hours work. Both of us had a little headache that was solved by ibuprofen. I started doing what I do best, reading my Kindle. Damien, an experience polar veteran did what he does best, stare off into the distance.
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| The route for the next morning is behind the ridge on the right. |
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| No snow pegs to save weight so we collapsed the tent before heading off |
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| Damo on the ridge and the view to the North |
The morning was a little cloudy and windy but nothing that presented a real concern. We climbed a little further up the glacier before gaining the lower slopes of Chomotang 2. It was enjoyable, steady climbing to a terrace at about 5800 metres where we took a break an spent some time enjoying the surroundings before tacking the summit slopes.
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| Working our way up above the terrace |
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| Some steeper sections below the summit |
The snow became a little variable and the climbing became a little steeper. We hadn't been concerned about avalanche risk as all the slopes were well consolidated and we were getting good freezes. However, at one point just below the summit we heard the unmistakable "whumph" of a settling snow pack. Needless to say Damien and I made haste to the protection of a section of slope punctuated by rocks.
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| Damo on the summit |
A few minutes later we were on the the heavily corniced summit which offered great views of the surrounding ranges. There are any number of significant mountains. Not significant enough for the attention of the "rope guns" but perfect for the the enthusiastic amateur like myself (I don't define Damien as an amateur!).
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| Lots of peaks |
We started up our GPS to get a reading on the height of the summit. Damien is somewhat of an expert in this having surveyed the heights of a number of climbed and unclimbed mountains in Antarctica. GPS readings are somewhat limited when it comes to determining height and for an accurate reading you would need professional equipment. That said, the GPS, altimeters and Google Earth (which according to Damien is surprisingly accurate) all had us at about 6065m on what is most probably an unclimbed peak.
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| Warming up my camera with our route up on the right and the ridge of Chomotang to the south |
We descended quickly and not following our descent route primarily due to concerns about the snowpack. We wanted to get back to camp and pack up and head back down the valley. We wanted to make sure we had enough time to walk out as Tashi and the donkeys were not returning to help.
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| We traversed down the ridge to avoid the concerning sections of slab from the ascent |
We packed quickly and were more cautious heading down the glacier as it was much later in the day compared to our ascent and the surface snow was much softer. We continued down to our cache of gear above the Spong Tokp and stayed the night.
The next day we loaded up with as much strapped to our packs as possible. This left us looking like participants at a Boy Scout gathering. This still left an awkward duffel to hump down. Things like this leave me with mixed emotions, there is a certain pleasure in knowing that I can still carry a heavy load a long distance. On the other hand, I think that I am too old for this and I was wishing for donkeys!
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| Damo doing battle with the duffel |
We returned to Honupatta, looking forward to rice and curried spinach. We weren't disappointed. Tashi was good on his promise of po cha which, much to Damien's surprise, wasn't made with rancid butter and was palatable.
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| Prayer stones in Honupatta |
We were picked up the next day and returned to Ladakh. The condition of the Sumo had not improved and, to make matters worse, the driver seemed distracted. Once, while he was wandering allover the road while looking at rafters at the confluence of the Zanskar and the Indus, I had to remind him to watch the road and not the rafts.
It was a great trip, the weather was good, support was easy to find and the objectives were perfect. It was a good reversal in form from last year. I am already thinking about some of the peaks in the area for next year.
