Fay Manners and Katie Keeley

For 3 weeks in October 2023 James Hoyes, Leanne Dyke, Neil Cox and Tom Harding visited the Kachenjunga region of northeast Nepal, attempting a first ascent of Ghunsadhar (5,740m). There are no other known attempts of this peak. The team and their 160kg of food and equipment flew from London to Kathmandu, and then journeyed overland to Taplejung, a large district in the far east of Nepal. From here they travelled 50km on foot and via 4WD to Ghunsa, a small settlement near the foot of their objective. In an 8-day push from Ghunsa the team climbed to just above 5,400m but were ultimately unsuccessful in their objective as a result of illness, poor rock quality and technical climbing difficulty.

An exploration of the Salimor Khola gorge with attempts on a number of mountains including a successful ascent of the northwest face of Surma Sarovar.

Our main objective was to make the first ascent of Dih Sar 6,207m by the east ridge. Our plan involved crossing Joshi Pass 5,423m to reach base camp in the Dih Dur Valley. Unfortunately, Tim got altitude sickness approaching the pass and he returned to Shimshal village to recover. Meanwhile porters carried some climbing gear, a tent and some supplies up to Joshi Pass so Tim and I could operate from there if he returned. We would either go down to Dih Sar base camp to attempt Dih Sar or climb peaks above the pass. While Tim walked back to Shimshal village with the porters, I went up to the pass alone. The next day I climbed along a ridge north of the pass. This was the south ridge of Shar Izat Peak 5,930m, which had been climbed previously by a different route. I crossed two tops on the ridge which was easy (Facile grade) but corniced, and after 1.5 kms reached a third top, the highest at 5,696m (GPS). According to Janusz Mayer, who led a 2022 attempt on Dih Sar, these tops are probably unclimbed. They are marked as 25,26 and unmarked on the Jerzy Wala map. My high point had little prominence as beyond it the ridge dropped a short distance to a col before rising up towards a top marked 29 and then the summit of Shar Izat Peak. The ground ahead looked trickier for solo climbing, so I returned to my tent at the pass. The next morning, I learned by Inreach that Tim was not coming back up, so we arranged porters for our return to Shimshal village, ending the expedition.

Between 27th August and 25th September, Lee Harrison and Arran Turton-Phillips visited the Boesam Valley in the Ghujerab Mountains, to the north of Shimshal in Pakistan. The team had twice needed to radically change their itinerary due to logistical problems. The original objectives in India were cancelled due to permit problems, and upon arrival in Shimshal the team were unable to recruit the sufficient number of porters needed to visit the Virjerab Glacier. The team were forced to change itinerary to somewhere accessible with donkeys and two days later a base camp was placed at Perchodwashk (4580m), to north of the Boesam Pass (4980m). From here, the team made a successful first ascent of Peak 5880m (36°32'29"N 75°23'60"E) via the SE Boesam Glacier and North Buttress. D- difficulty. Boe Sar SE is suggested as a name, given the peak’s location at the head of the SE Boesam Glacier. The ascent was in an alpine style over two days, with a bivouac on the col at the base of the north buttress. During the first day, the team made an impromptu second ascent of Peak 5625m, via a new route up the South Ridge. Alpine grade PD. The team also climbed Koh-e-Brobar, via a new route up the central couloir of the SW face, in a single day. AD difficulty and 850m gain in height.

The team climbed new routes on Pik Gronky and attempted others elsewhere. The area still has a lot of remaining potential and is an inspiring range on a par with the bigger alpine faces.

Expedition exploring the Second East Gunj-E Dur Glacier making attemps and ascents in what has been described as the hottest year on record in the area.

An attempt on an unclimbed line on the North Face of Patkhor. Retreat was made from near the summit. At 6083m Patkhor is the highest peak in the Rushan Pamir. It was first climbed by a Russian team including Evgeny Abalakov (brother of Vitali Abalakov) via the West Ridge in 1946. Since then there have been several ascents from the south and one ascent from the north. The north face route was climbed in 1975 by a six man Leningrad team led by Oleg Kapitanov. They climbed a line between the two huge ice cliffs on the north face for which they were awarded 3rd place in the High Altitude Technical Ascent Class of the USSR Championships.

The team spent a week in a small bivi tent at ABC while it snowed; and as it didn't relent they retreated and with no time left, dropped back to base camp on the 11th of July.

The expedition included: Dave Sharpe, Will Harris, Callum Johnson, Tom Seccombe and Matt Glenn. The expedition in country support was provided by Himalayan Run and Trek. The expedition made attempts to climb Chiring 6100m and Barnaj II to the north summit via the unclimbed north face. The team succeeded in climbing the North Face of Barnaj II to a subsidiary peak (Barnaj II East) to a high point of 6303m. The expedition was supported generously by MEF, BMC and AC grants as well as Mountain Equipment, DMM, Basecamp Foods,Cascade Designs and Petzl.

This expedition planned to explore and make the first ascent of Yawash Sar I 6258m via the West Ghidims Valley, and to undertake exploration and documentation of Yawash Sar III & IV, also unclimbed. Our visit to the area hoped to build on the work of previous visitors, including that of team member Karim Hayat.

Between the 1st September and 1st October 2022 five members of the Alpine Club travelled to India intent on extending the exploration of the extensive Rassa Glacier region of the Nubra Valley and attempting the ascent of one or more of its many unclimbed 6,000m peaks. Flying via Delhi to Leh (3,500m) in Ladakh, they first spent four days acclimatising to the altitude before crossing the 5,370m Khardung La to the Nubra Valley. After spending a night near the village of Tirit, the team then began a three-day trek up the Tirit Phu to establish a base camp at 4,750m, a little beyond the summer pasture of Arganglas and close to the confluence of the Rassa and Phunangma glacial outflows. Having identified an optimised access to the lower Rassa Glacier, an advance base camp was subsequently established on a sandy depression in the moraine at 5,100m on 13th September. Further forays identified a suitable high camp on the glacier proper, at the foot of the unexplored second glacial spur at 5,500m. From this camp team members extensively reconnoitred this glacial spur and two members successfully made the first ascent of PK6365 (Dagarpheth Kangri) via the ESE Ridge at Alpine AD on the 20th September. Further exploration was precluded by the onset of bad weather, forcing a retreat to base camp and an earlier return to Leh.

An expedition to the Gunj-e Dur valley in search of unclimbed mountains.

Gasherbrum 3 new route attempt (7952m). Our original idea of the SW ridge was aborted due to very strong prevailing SW winds. We therefore attempted G3 from the north face/ ridge to seek more shelter from the winds/weather. Our high point was around 7800 metres but we retreated due to a large (~100m) tower which was much harder than we could feasibly climb under the circumstances, and couldn’t easily be bypassed. I’d like to go back to the SW ridge of G3 as the rock looks pretty good (granite), as opposed to the rest of the Gasherbrum group which is junk marble/limestone. The poor rock caused us to dismiss another idea (the west face of G4).