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SUMMARY

JUL 2010 WWW.CLIMBMAGAZINE.COM 61

This report covers climbing in Nepal,primarily in the pre-monsoon of 2009.

Americans made two important first ascents

in the Rolwaling during 2008 and 2009:Kang Nachugo and Jobo Rinjang. In the

Annapurna region there was an outstandingnew route, climbed solo, on AnnapurnaSouth, and the first female ascent of

Annapurna East. There was an attempt at anew route on Baruntse and on a remotepeak near Manaslu. French made the first

known ascent of a small peak in theKanjiroba Himal. We finish with threeexploratory expeditions that made severalfirst ascents in the little known Kanti Himal.

PHOTODIAGRAMS

Included are panoramas of the Lunag Massif and peaksof the Rolwaling, the South Faces of Kang Nachugo andJobo Rinjang, the East Face of Annapurna South, theNorth East Face of Baruntse, and a panorama of theupper Kojichuwa Valley together with pictures of attractive unclimbed summits in the Kanti Himal.

TO READ THE FULL REPORT. YOU CAN DOWNLOAD AT WWW.CLIMBMAGAZINE.COM

David Gottlieb on the dramatic lower section of t he West Ridge of Kang Nachugo, during the first ascent. JOE PURYEAR

NEPAL PRE-MONSOON 2009 SUMMARY


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Rolwaling HimalJobo RinjangOn the 22nd April Americans David Gottlieb andJoe Puryear made the first ascent of Jobo Rinjang,a difficult 6,778m peak not far from the NangpaLa. The pair had seen a huge massif of peaks,rising west of the head of the upper Bhote Kosi

Valley on the Khumbu-Rolwaling watershed, fromthe summit of Kang Nachugo (6,737m) in theRolwaling, a mountain of which they had made thefirst ascent in October 2008 (see pictures below).

This massif of high peaks, which forms the Nepal- Tibet border south west of the Nangpa La, isgenerally unnamed on maps, although one of thenortherly summits, Pt 6,781m, is sometimesreferred to as Jobo Rinjang (or Ribjang), and in2002 was brought onto the permitted list of mountaineering peaks by the NepaleseGovernment. Given that the nearest village and theglacier on the south side of the group are both

named Lunag, it seems sensible to refer to thepeaks as the Lunag Massif.It was certainly sensible to the well-known Swiss

mountaineer Stphane Schaffter, who in 2004asked the Ministry to open all these peaks andagreed on the name of Lunag Ri. However,Schaffer did not make an attempt on any of thesummits until the autumn of 2008. The previousJune, with the help of Tashi Tenzing, he gained apermit from the Ministry to attempt Peak 6,778m,to which the name of Jobo Ringjang was agreed.His goal, and the reason for the Ministry openingthe peak, was to climb it in 2009 with two oldfriends and legendary climbers in their owncountries; record Everest summiteer Apa Sherpafrom Nepal and the Balti high alt itude porter Abdul

'Little' Karim. The idea would be to make a filmabout Sherpas and Pakistanis, who had notpreviously met, working together on a newmountain. Karim has climbed many 6,000 and7,000m peaks, Broad Peak, and in 1985 carriedJean-Marc Boivin's hang glider to the summit of Gasherbrum II for the Frenchman's recorddescent.

So, in October 2008, to prepare the route for anascent the following year, Schaffter, with VincentColliard from France, Dawa Sherpa and KrishnarBahadur Tamang, fixed around 1,000m of rope onthe South Ridge before retreating at a little over6,000m having used all their rope. There weresections of ice up to 80 and difficult mixed

climbing. The highest summit of the Lunag group lies atthe southern end of the chain, and Gottlieb andPuryear have proposed this be named Lunag I(6,895m), and the summits further north as LunagII (6,891m), III (6,795m), IV (6,781m, the old JoboRibjang) and V (6,550m). Running east from LunagI is a two-kilometre-long corniced snow/ice crest,ending in the fine pyramid of Pt 6,778m, which the

Americans refer to as Jobo Rinjang. They were notaware the peak had been attempted until theyarrived at the Ministry to collect their permit, norwere they aware of fixed rope on the mountain:apart from discovering a few cairns, there was littletrace of anyone having been close to the peak before.

David Gottlieb approaching the Lunag Massif in Rolwaling Himal. (A) Little Lunag (6,492m), (B) Lunag I (6,895m), (C) JoboRinjang (6,778m) and (D) Lunag IV (6,781m). Marked is the line of the first known ascent of Jobo Rinjang in 2009 by

Americans Gottlieb and Puryear. The right-bounding (South) ridge of this face was attempted in 2008 to c6,000m by aSwiss-French-Nepali team. JOE PURYEAR

David Gottlieb climbing back up the north flank of Jobo Rinjang's West Ridge. Gottlieb and Puryear had tried to climbalong the ridge towards Lunag I, and at one point made three rappels down a steep couloir, hoping to find a way aroundlarge cornices and unstable snow on the crest. However, this failed and they were forced to climb back up to the ridge.JOE PURYEAR

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The pair first spent most of March acclimatizingby making a long trek through the Khumbu andthen, on the 6th April, climbing the South West Ridge of Kyajo Ri (6,186m). The dry winter madeconditions more technical and on this ascent thetwo climbed 12 pitches of solid ice.

They then trekked to a deserted Lunag, anabandoned settlement that used to form the firstgood grazing spot for yaks crossing the old traderoute over the Nangpa La from Tibet. Here, theyestablished base camp at 5,050m. A week wasnow spent inspecting Jobo Rinjang and itssurroundings, coming to the conclusion that theonly feasible way of climbing this peak was via thesteep icy South Face. Reaching its foot across thetortuous, rubble-filled Lunag Glacier proved taxing.

The safest line lay between two serac barriers highon the face, and it soon became obvious that itwould be too dangerous to contemplate a bivouacbefore they were above these. This meantclimbing 1,400m in one day.

From a bivouac beneath the face at 5,100m,Gottlieb and Puryear climbed rotten rocky slabsand then ice that was exposed to rock fallthroughout. The slope averaged 55 and althoughhard work, was at least protectable with screws.Conditions became worse in the evening with

melting, and then a storm moved in. Finally, after21 hours of tense climbing and bombardment,fortunately without incident, the two traversedonto the top of the right-hand ice cliff and set uptheir tent at c6,500m in a rimaye, where theyenjoyed a well-earned rest. Next morning the skywas clear and after a late start the two climbedthrough steep, unconsolidated, snow flutings withno real protection or belays, and continued to thesummit. The 1,700m ascent route had involved iceclimbing up to 75.

Not satisfied with this success and still havingplenty of food, the plan now was to traverse theridge west to the Lunag peaks and bag a fewmore summits. As the only flat spot was right on

top Jobo Rinjang, they camped there for the nightand set off next day. The ridge towards Lunag Iproved to be very narrow and heavily corniced. A whole day was spent trying to work along theflanks but it became clear that the warm

temperatures, produced by a spell of perfectweather, were simply not conducive to success.

At one point they made three rappels down thesteep north flank, hoping to find a way aroundobstacles. But they hit a dead end and had toclimb back up to the crest. They returned foranother night on the summit of Jobo Rinjang andthen reversed their ascent route the following day.Most of the ground was descended in 20 rappels,the rope passed directly through Abalakovthreads, so no gear was left behind. Then, theydown-climbed to the base, dodging rockfall,before making their way back to Lunag, whichthey regained on the 25th.

Annapurna Himal Annapurna South Arguably the most notable climb in the NepaleseHimalaya during the spring was the first ascent of the East Pillar of Annapurna South (7,219m) bythe talented Slovak mountaineer Jozef 'Dodo'Kopold. With Martin Minarik from the CzechRepublic and Elizabeth Revol from France, Kopoldwas in the Annapurna Sanctuary to made a boldalpine-style ascent of the South Face of

Annapurna. The weather shut down their firstattempt, and when it improved enough for asecond, Kopold only had a few days left before hisflight home. Minarik and Revol decided to makeanother attempt on Annapurna, this time via thelong East Ridge (see elsewhere in this report),

while Kopold realized that his only chance to climbanything would be by making a light and fastascent of a face close to base camp. The East Face of Annapurna South had been clearly visiblefrom base camp but Kopold knew nothing of thehistory of this peak, or the exact whereabouts of other routes on this side of the mountain.However, the most compelling line is a distinct,though shallow, rib which rises c2,200m out of thesouth west corner of the Annapurna Sanctuary,arrow-like to the unclimbed North Summit(7,100m). It is steep and often highly fluted in theupper section, with bands of rotten rock crossingthe middle part.

Kopold left the Annapurna Lodge at 7pm on the10th April carrying only 40m of 6mm rope, eightice screws, eight rock pegs, 10 quick draws, afew energy bars, some dried meat, a stove and aduvet jacket. He took neither tent, sleeping bagnor bivouac sack, opting for a continuous push.He was fit and very well acclimatized from hisattempt on Annapurna I.

The entry pitch, at the base of the large couloirright of the pillar, gave vertical to overhangingwater ice. He climbed the lower section of thecouloir, moving up left to reach the crest of theridge after c150m. He reached the first imposingmixed section and felt this might be his high point.He persevered, at midnight making some of thehardest dry tooling moves hes ever made on a

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The Lunag Massif seen from Kjayo Ri to the south east. (A) Little Lunag (6,492m), (B) Lunag I (6,895m), (C) Lunag II(6,891m), (D) Jobo Rinjang (6,778m), (E) Lunag III (6,795m), (F) Lunag IV (6,781m) and (G) Lunag V (6,550m).

All except Jobo Rinjang are thought to be unclimbed. JOE PURYEAR

David Gottlieb on the 6,778m summit of Jobo Rinjang with the Rolwaling peaks to the south west. (A) Ripimo Shar(6,647m), (B) Kang Nachugo (6,737m). (C) Pt 6,357m. (D) Bamongo (6,400m). (E) Chekigo (6,257m). (F) Pangbuk Ri(6,625m). (G) Menlungtse (7,023m). (H) Peak 6,589m (aka Antoine Lecoultre or Jobo Lecoultre, climbed and named inOctober 2009). (I) Gauri Shankar (7,135m). JOE PURYEAR

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David Gottlieb working through cornices on the upper West Ridge of Kang Nachugo JOE PURYEAR

mountain route. The central rock barriers alsoproved demanding: Kopold was self-belaying andhaving to remove his gloves to make hard moves.In the upper section he climbed "strange snowyribs without protection" and a capping wet wallwith thin cracks. Finally, at 3.20pm on the 11th hepulled onto the previously virgin North Summit.

His idea now was to traverse the main ridgesouth west until he could descend the East Ridgethat connects the mountain with Hiunchuli. Thislooked objectively the safest route. The weatherwas good and snow conditions on the summitridge were perfect but the way was not easy andwhen he reached the start of the East Ridge,Kopold realized it was far too sharp and difficult todescend. The Main summit was only 40 minutesdistant, so he continued to the top and then cameback over the Central Top to the low point abovethe 1964 Japanese Route. He descended directthrough seracs, deep snow and hidden crevasses.It was now dark and at one point he had a luckyescape falling into a crevasse, stopping after fivemetres on a snow bridge. After extracting himself he continued, reaching Annapurna Lodge at 3amand base camp two hours later, 40 hours aftersetting off. While Kopold admits it's hard to assessthe grade of this climb, he has rated the technicaldifficulties F5+ WI 6 and M5. Kopold reports losinghis camera on the climb and has no photographicrecord of any of the ascent.

In October 2008 David Gottlieb and Joe Puryear made the first known ascent of the Rolwaling peak, Kang Nachugo (6,737m), south east of Gauri Shankar on the Nepal-Tibet border. Theyfirst tried the 1,800m South Face (1) but after three days climbing were forced to retreat at c6,400m in bad weather. They returned several days later and from a camp at 4,800m below theSouth Face, climbed 500m up a glacier and then 600m up the fluted ice slopes above (2) to reach the lowest point on the West Ridge of Kang Nachugo, before it starts to rise towardChekigo (6,257m). They bivouacked on the West Ridge at 6,000m and again at 6,400m before reaching the summit. Large sections of the ridge were sharp and corniced (ice up to 90) butthe weather was excellent and they descended to their top camp without incident. During the night a major storm hit the Himalaya, so they decided to rappel (3) straight down the SouthFace (20 rappels over very steep terrain) and returned to the village of Na that evening. An indistinct point at 6,400m on the West Ridge is referred to as Bamongo on the HMG-Finn Map.(M) is Menlungtse (7,181m). JOE PURYEAR

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