To Roger Payne
Text and Photographs: Anindya Mukherjee
Summary
A lightweight, semi-alpine style attempt on Nanda
Devi East by an Indian party in May 2013.
Background
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| View of the south ridge and Nanda Devi east from our base camp at Bidalgwar, May 2013 |
There are mountains, particularly in some ranges of
the Indian Himalaya; that have grown taller in our minds. Many of them are made
taller, tougher and almost legendary by an intricate veil of mythology around
them. Add a rich history of heroic explorations, epic ascents and liberal dash
of romanticism to that and you have Nanda Devi. And for reasons known, yet
unexplained, plutonium or pollution, political or practical; Nanda Devi and its
sanctum sanctorum remain out of bounds for less fortunate alpinists like us.
Alpinists who have begun their climbing journeys in
the late eighties or early nineties; have been out rightly denied of their
rights to pay homage to the Goddess in their own humble, yet unique ways. A
piece of earth, ransacked, plundered, brutalized by politics and look who is forced
to pay its price! The sanctuary is closed since the late 1982 and it seems less
than likely that its doors will open in our climbing lifetime! There is however
one consolation! One can attempt to approach its mountains from outside, by
climbing the outer rim of the sanctuary.
Being brought up on a staple diet of the classic
mountaineering stories and exploration literature, written and documented over
the years around the Blessed Goddess myself; it was inevitable one day, I
guess. At the same time, all my climbing and exploration around Garhwal was
reaching a culmination point and sometime in the late 2011, I started dreaming
of Nanda Devi (7816m) and a possible attempt to its East Summit (7434m).
It all started with an email. I wrote to Roger
Payne. Within a few days, I received an encouraging, informative reply from him.
It is thus, our pilgrimage to the
eastern summit of the Blessed Goddess Nanda Devi, to the little sister Sunanda (Nanda
Devi East) was conceived and an expedition was born.
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| Nanda Devi East and Main summits as seen while entering the Lawan Valley |
Introduction
“At almost 24,390
feet, Nanda Devi East is bigger, harder and higher than Nanda Kot, and is a
sister summit to Nanda Devi, which lies roughly one mile to its west. It’s
never been climbed by Americans and is one of the hardest summits in the
Himalaya, having just one route to its summit. Tenzing Norgay, of Everest fame,
stated it was the hardest thing he’d ever climbed. Our attempt was the most
intense mountain experience I’ve ever had. In four days Jonny and I got within
200 meters (one hour) of the top in an alpine-style effort before a blizzard
blew in. We bailed from 23,500 feet with no food and a half can of fuel left.”
Pete Takeda, The Secret of Nanda Devi, Rock
and Ice
Like Pete Takeda, ‘intense’ is the word that comes
to my mind too while writing this summary of our attempt on Nanda Devi East.
But before I start to narrate our little story let us have a look back at the
earlier, notable attempts and ascents of the mountain (7434m).
Tom Longstaff in his characteristic boldness had
climbed the Nanda Devi Khal (5910m, more popularly known as Longstaff’s Col
today) back in 1905 and following his clue the daring Poles achieved the first
ascent of Devi’s east summit in 1939. Here is a list of notable expeditions
that happened after that:
1939- Polish first ascent
1951- French (Tenzing Norgay was part of this)
1975- Indo-French
1976-Indo-Jap ( in both '75 and '76 my climbing guru Dorjee Lhatoo summitted Sunanda Devi)
1991- Indo-Russian
1992-Border Security Force
1994-Spanish ( '91 to '94- all very large expeditions- responsible for leaving enormous litter along the south ridge)
1995- Indian-American ( responsible for cleaning a lot of litter left by the previous parties)
1939- Polish first ascent
1951- French (Tenzing Norgay was part of this)
1975- Indo-French
1976-Indo-Jap ( in both '75 and '76 my climbing guru Dorjee Lhatoo summitted Sunanda Devi)
1991- Indo-Russian
1992-Border Security Force
1994-Spanish ( '91 to '94- all very large expeditions- responsible for leaving enormous litter along the south ridge)
1995- Indian-American ( responsible for cleaning a lot of litter left by the previous parties)
And then, the most spectacular of climbs on Nanda Devi East happened. In 1994 , Roger Payne and Julie-Ann Clyma did a truly Longstaff style ascent of the south ridge. Surely their feat is yet to be matched or repeated by any in the Himalayan scene.
There have been a few more large and medium sized expeditions after Roger Payne and Julie-Ann's climb. Among them are the Spanish in 2005, Poles and Brits (Martin Moran) in 2009. All of them failed. The only strikingly notable and significant attempt in the post Roger Payne era, would be Pete Takeda's light weight and fast attack on the south ridge (2005)[i].
I personally, always felt immensely inspired by Roger Payne and Julie-Ann's climb on NDE and their style in particular. And then, sometime in July 2012, as I was passing through Lilongwe, Malawi, during my Trans-Africa bicycle journey, I got the heartbreaking news of Roger’s passing away! Next morning, as I was approaching Chipata, a small town on the Zambia-Malawi border, I had a clear purpose forming in my mind. I will climb Nanda Devi east in 2013 and I will dedicate this to Roger Payne! I mean, who else? Roger Payne and Julie Ann Clyma have set the highest standards of excellence in alpinism on this particular mountain! I am sure Sunanda Devi (as some of the Kumauni’s would rather call Nanda Devi East[ii]) was not happy either when she heard of that stupid avalanche off Mt Maudit!
Choosing a Style
“Basically,
you'll have two options. One is fast and light -- but you'll need to be
acclimatized and very good at technical climbing. The other will be slow and
methodical --fixing new/refixing old rope. This will mean a big team and
multiple trips up the 900m snow face leading to the col. That will be hazardous
and a load of work. That means you'll probably be looking at two weeks of
ferrying, fixing, and climbing”. - Pete Takeda to me in a personal email on
March 13, 2013
In March, 2013, less than two months before we were
to set out for our mountain, came the above lines from Pete. From the very
beginning, we never took NDE casually! Well, who would! But, as if being
serious was not enough, Pete’s words hammered in reality and pretty much so in
the right places. We needed a strategy to overcome one of the hardest summits
in the Himalaya.
I am never in favour of a big team working up a
mountain, fixing up ropes, ferrying loads, setting up camps etc. I do not like that
mammoth, slow, prehistoric style of ‘conquering’ a mountain. Apart from our
personal likings, me and my friends will never be able to get that sort of fund
raised either. So a full- fledged expedition style was out. But at the same
time, I do not dare rate myself as a super alpine style athlete as Roger Payne
or Pete Takeda! Therefore, I looked for a path in between. We will go
expedition style up to the Longstaff’s col and adopt Alpine style techniques
beyond that, I thought.
The path in between and the team
Ours would be a small team, a team consisting of
close friends, working in semi-alpine style, fixing and re-fixing where
necessary. We will be setting up camps, allowing us only 2 days of ferrying up
the 900m snow face to the Longstaff’s Col and then employ alpine style movement
swiftly up the south ridge. We will allow ourselves about 2 weeks, base camp to
base camp, in our hands to do our job!
I have been climbing in the Indian Himalaya for the
past decade with Thendup Sherpa. Today he is more than a climbing partner. He
is a friend and a brother. Without hesitation I can admit that I am yet to meet
a stronger climber than Thendup. A strong climbing partner with a calm and
calculative head is exactly what one needs. Especially, on a mountain like
Nanda Devi East, it is a blessing!
Thendup brought along Karna Bahadur Rai (interestingly,
not a ‘sherpa’ by birth) from Darjeeling. Karna, as Thendup mentioned, would be
a big help while we will start carry, camp and climb beyond the Longstaff’s
Col. And for the load ferries up to the col, we recruited 3 HAPs, namely Kiran
Chetri, Lhakpa Sherpa and Temba Sherpa. All of whom from Darjeeling as well. As
for the main climbing party, this time I wanted the team to expand and have a
bit more flexibility than just myself and Thendup as the summit party. I wanted
at least three more climbers to be included in the team, thus giving us an
opportunity to split into two separate summit parties as and when necessary. It
was then I invited Ananth H Vishkantiah (Bangalore), Suman Guhaneogy
(Chandannagore) and Aloke Kumar Das (Kolkata) to join the gang and the team was
complete. With 6 climbers and 3 high altitude support guys, we could almost
call ourselves the magnificent nine!
The Expedition: an expected journey
On May 2, 2013, approximately 22 hours of train
journey from Kolkata brought us to Bareilly. Without wasting time, we quickly
huddled ourselves on a government bus that belched us out in Haldwani, the
‘Gateway of Kumaon’. ‘Bikki’, a driver from Munsiari was waiting for us at
Haldwani. He was sent by our mountaineer friend Theo, who himself is based in
Munsiari. At the outset, Bikki was outraged to see our small hillock of bags
and duffels. Without wasting a moment he declared we would need another
vehicle. While one of us tried to explain to Bikki that we simply did not have
the money to pay for another car; to his utter dismay, some of us did not take
long to stuff all our gear into Bikki’s Tata Sumo. Lock, stock and barrel; all
in and off we went. Sometime past midnight we reached Munsiari.
Next day, we managed to do all the necessary paper
works with the local authorities. Biru Brijwal proved his efficiency in
organizing low altitude porters for us and on May 4, 2013 we started our trek
to the base camp Bidalgwar. For the next 5 days we trekked on a nicely built
trail, spending nights in Rupsiabagar, Nahar Devi, Martoli, Naspanpatti
respectively and reached Bidalgwar (4300m) on May 8, 2013. May 9, was spent on
organizing our loads, checking our gears at Base and on May 10, all nine of us
did our first ferry to the foot of Longstaff’s Col. At around 4900m, this snow
covered moraine hump would become our Advance Base Camp in a couple of days, or
so we thought. But from May 11 to May 13, for three continuous days and nights
it snowed and snowed. Helplessly we observed and accepted the fact that we were
now left with only 12 days to climb Nanda Devi East and come back down to our
base. Not a very comforting thought!
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| Puja at Base Camp |
The col and the giant gendarmes
During the next two days, we ferried up and
positioned ourselves at the ABC and then after only two team ferries to the
Longstaff’s col, on May 17, we were camping ourselves on the col (5910m) itself.
It took us 10 hours from our ABC with loaded backpacks to reach Longsatff’s
Col. Snow conditions on the slope and the nonstop elevation was tiring. But our
exposure to the bombardments of rocks, coming from the southern flanks of the
col kept us on our toes! This ‘col camp’ was our camp I. The next morning we
were awarded with the much coveted view of the inner sanctuary and the main
summit of Nanda Devi.
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| Our camp on Longstaff's Col. Main summit of Nanda Devi on the left and the first pinnacle immediately in front |
The next two days were spent in bringing up our
limited lengths of static rope from the lower sections of the snow slope below
Longstaff’s Col and fixing them on pitches of the three giant pinnacles
standing as sentinels of the south ridge. We found very little snow and ice on
the rock pillars, especially so on the inner sanctuary side. This made our
climb interesting, but thankfully without any incident. From top of the first
gendarme it is a relatively straightforward yet very exposed crossing to the
second pinnacle. From the top of the second pinnacle an abseil brought us down
on the south ridge and then a short climb to the top of the third pinnacle.
On May 18, we had left the giant gendarmes behind
us and were now very strategically located on the south ridge. It was about
time and place, we established another camp. Camp II (6200m) thus was pitched
on the very narrow south ridge, meters beyond the third pinnacle, with great
views of Nanda’s main and East summits. It was an awe inspiring sight indeed!
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| Camp II |
Over the next three days we, relocated our Camp II
to a buttress after a steep 25m ascent. Fixed higher sections of the south
ridge and finally on May 22, 2013, after crossing a few rock and snow steps, a
gentle snow arête appeared before us. We kept moving up the snow arête and
stopped just before it merged into a snow shelf. We dig ourselves a platform and
established Camp III (6600m).
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| Our relocated Camp II on the buttress |
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| interesting rock step while moving up beyond camp II |
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| Camp III or Summit Camp just below the snow shelf at 6600m |
Summit day and a
failure
On May 23, we made an alpine start. We started as two roped
up parties (all 8 members, except Lhakpa Sherpa, who had stayed back at ABC).
At the very outset of our summit attempt that morning, the one very striking
factor was the wind. It felt so strong that one could easily declare it as
gale. We just had this one day in our
disposal to give the summit a shot. Two nights of food and fuel, and that is
all we had managed to carry on our way up.
So we did not really have a choice but to move on! At around 7100m, just
before the quartzite mixed rock sections of the summit pyramid began at a
gradient of approximately 50 degrees, we stopped. Day broke bringing in the
slightest of promise of warmth. But by that time, both myself and Aloke’s feet were frozen solid. Ananth was
complaining of a lost pair of mittens (and frozen fingers as a consequence) and
Suman was finding his movement too slow. Thendup, as usual, was probably the
only person in the party, who seemed unaffected by the environment. I looked around and all the stories of
fatalities on Nanda Devi east came rushing back to me. I had to make a call.
Summit or Safety? What is success without safety? I had a quick discussion with
Aloke, the senior most climber in our team. We reached a unanimous decision
within minutes. We were turning back. In
spite of being a small, lightweight team with very limited resources and time;
we have overcome all the technical climbing challenges of the formidable south
ridge of Nanda Devi East, but decided not to push the last 300 meters to the
very top.
Why? Because, the safety of the whole team, their limbs and their
lives seemed to be of more value to us at that moment; than standing atop
Nanda’s sister. Safety over a pseudo glory suits me fine. Any day, any place,
anytime, and this was just one of those moments!
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| Point from where we turned back |
Conclusion
Over the next two days we retraced our steps over the south
ridge; the Longstaff’s Col and reached base camp on May 25, 2013. We had with
us approximately 900 meters of static ropes for fixing (as opposed to some 3000
meters used and proudly declared by some expeditions) and we brought it all
down.
We had taken 12 days in total to reach our high point and
get back down to our base.
We found out it is us who make mountains taller than they
actually are.
We dedicate this effort of ours to the great alpinist Roger
Payne.
And yes, we have
always wanted to say this: NO DESTRUCTIVE DAMS IN THE HIMALAYA PLEASE!
Acknowledgements
The team is ever grateful to Sabyasachi Talukdar, Editor and
CEO of the Bengali daily Uttarbanga Sambad . A significant amount of financial
help came from him at a crucial moment. We want to thank Dr. Rupak Bhattacharya
for all his time, advice and treatment on our frozen toes. We want to thank
Sudeb Hajra of Alpine for his contribution to this expedition as well. And a BIG thanks to my elder brother Arindam Mukherjee for bringing us all the boil-in-the bag foods that we could use in our high camps. And to Pete Takeda, for the all invaluable photos and information he shared with us.
End Notes:
References
[i] Read
about Pete Takeda’s expedition here: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Proof-of-plutonium-in-climber-s-sample-1232287.php
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