In 1999 British teams attempted a fascinating variety of objectives. Some are at the cutting edge of difficulty, some are tremendously exploratory and a few are both. It will come as no surprise to learn that according to the UIAA expedition listings that British teams are responsible for more first ascents than teams from any other country.

Lows Gully Big Wall
Steve Long and team attempted this massive granite wall in March/April but relentless rain put paid to their efforts low down.

Fitzroy West Face
Andy Cave and Dave Hesselden visited Patagonia in Janurary to make an unsuccessful attempt on the unclimbed West Face of Fitzroy.

NE Greenland 1999
Helen Bostock’s team of five visited Louise Boyds Land and attempting a number of unclimbed objective as well as carrying out scientific work.

Rignys Bjerg 1999
Brindley Mitchell’s team of four were successful on three peaks in this rarely visited east coast area.

Hindu Kush 1999
Ken Findlay, Paul Husdon and Karl Zientek will be visiting the indu Kush and attempting to make the first British ascent of Sagahrar (7349m)

St Elias 1999 (Alaska)
Alun Hubbard’s team will be sailed into Disenchantment bay and skiied up the Valerie glacier to reach the Mt Cook area in the St Elias Range. The team made the first ascent of NW Cook and the first British ascent of Mt Cook (4194m) itself.

Jomo Chu (Tibet)
John Town and friends once again visited the Western Nanchen Tangla Range. They encountered poor weather and were unable to attempt their primary objectives but they did gain useful knowledge of the area.

British Lemon Mountains
Richard Pash’s young team had previous experience in East Greenland and were once again successful in making a total of 18 ascents, 12 of them new routes.

Scottish Latok III North Spur
Muir Morton’s team of six made the first attempt on this impressive and high standard objective. The spur is steeper than the well known North Ridge of Latok 1 but is fortunately somewhat shorter. The team were unsuccesful on this primary objective, due to a dangerous approach, but did climb four routes on smaller peaks above the Choktoi Glacier. Received Lowe Alpine and Nick Estcourt Awards and fifth place in the Lyon Equipment awards. Supported by the Scottish Sports Council.

Ak-Su Region Sheffield 1999
The primary objective of Nick Wallis’s team is the first British ascent of the North Face of PiramiDalny (5507m), a challenging mixed line. The team also have secondary objectives on nearby rock peaks.

Edinburgh University MC Bolivia
Mark Crampton and team have three months in Bolivia and plan to climb in the Real, the Quimsa Cruz and the Apolobamba. Supported by the Scottish Sports Council.
Lightning Spur ‘99
Sandy Britain and Dave Green made the second attempt on this fine line which was first attempted by a BMC supported team in 1997. Unfortunately Sandy Britain was hit by stonefall near the base of the route and he had to be evacuated to hospital.

Karavshin-Lailiak ‘99
Ian Parnell, Mark Pretty, Anne and John Arran climbed 10 new routes in the Liailak and Karavashin regions of Kyrgyzstan including routes up to E6 and 1300m in length. This despite an invasion by Taliban terrorists halfway through the trip

Ak Su Valley 1999
Jonathan Garside’s team of four will attempt new rock routes on pt4810 and Bird Peak. The routes look to be of E1/A1 standard and follow good lines. Supported by the Welsh Sports Council.

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Welsh Quimsa Cruz
Sue Savage and team will spend three weeks in this rocky alpine region. They will be looking to several make first ascents and will also hope to sort out who’s done what in this poorly documented area. Supported by the Welsh Sports Council.

Welsh Big Wall Madagascar
Ray Wood’s trip to the stunning granite walls of Madagascar is the first British climbing trip to the Island. Several major lines are likely to be attempted. Supported by the Welsh Sports Council.

British Baffin Island
Mike Turner’s team made the first ever attempt on the huge wall of the Citadel in the Stewart Valley. They were successful in making the first ascent of the peak via an eight day 20 pitch testpiece they christened ‘The endless day’.

Pamirs ’99
Paul Deegan’s team made the first mountaineering visit for many years to this remote area at the eastern end of the Pamirs range. The team made first ascents of several 4500-5000m peaks and explored valleys on the Tajik and Chinese borders.

Sangamarmar 1999
Allen Pilkington and team attempted to make the first British ascent of this fine looking 6949m peak in the Pasu massif (Hunza) but were stopped low down by stonefall and avalanche threat.

British Alaska Alpine Fest
Dave Wills and Dan Donovan attempted impressive unclimbed lines on the North Face of Thunder mountain and on Mt. Hunter but conditions were not in their favour. They did however manage a new variation on West Ridge of Mt Hunter and later completed a traverse of Mt Hunter via the SW and W ridges.

Mt Hunter N Buttress
Andy Parkin carried on alone after Francois Marsigny dropped out at the last moment. Andy made a bold solo attempt on west side on the N Buttress but after three days was forced to retreat form high up when he encountered windslab.

British Transhimalaya
Julian Freeman-Attwood and friends will be attempting some splendid and remote objectives above the flat plains of Tibet with their main objective being the first ascent of the south face of Loinbo Kangri (7095m). The team has received the top Lyon Equipment Award.

Scottish South Greenland
Malcolm Thorburn and Douglas Campbell made a W-E traverse of the southern ice cap and climbed four virgin peaks in the process.

Arwa Spires (Gharwal)
Mick Fowler’s and Steve Sustad were successful on the very impressive Arwa Tower, at ED sup, whilst Crag Jones and Kenton Cool encountered poor snow conditions in an abortive attempt on Arwa Spire.

British Apolobamba
Simon Cooke and team plan three first British ascents in the southern Apolobamba.

British Doko (aka Shel Chanka)
Dave Wilkinson’s team were successful on this fine looking previously unclimbed 5800m objective. The summit was reached by all four members via the W.N.W ridge/face at TD. Wilkinson and Muir also made the first ascent of Barbanchen (5700m)

British Altar of the Gods Patagonia Winter 1999
Paul Ramsden, Jim Hall, Andy Kirkpatrick and Nick Lewis made a rare winter visit to Patagonia. Despite severe conditions they made several first winter ascents and enjoyed a minor epic when their tent blew away (with their money and passports in it).

1999 British Schweizerland
Al Powell and team climbed ten lines (eight new) on the steep walls of this impressive and relatively accessible area. Two major new lines were climbed on Tupilak, the areas most impressive peak.

British Police Alaskan
Jonathan Wakefield’s police team made an unsuccessful attempt on South Kennady Peak which lies within the remote Hubbard and Kennedy massif on the Alaskan Canadian border.

Pumari Chhish (Hispar)
Julie Ann Clyma and Roger Payne were refused a permit for Reo Purgyil but were able to secure late permission for Pumari Chhish (7492m) which they attempted via the south face reaching 6200m before avalanches forced them down.

Hubbard Glacier (Alaska)
Paul Knott and Ade Miller have visited this remote area before and had originally planned to climb Mt Vancouver but complex icefalls forced a change in plans and instead they climbed a new route on Mt Seattle (3069m).

International Makalu
Ginette Harrison’s International team attempted Makalu pre monsoon but were unsuccessful.

British Indian North East Frontier
Doug Scott and friends were unable to get permission in 1998 and are trying once again to visit the fascinating peaks of Arunchel Pradesh.

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