Twenty nine years old Kazuya Hiraide and his partner, 36 years old Ms Kei Taniguchi, scored a notable success in October when they completed one of the most significant new routes climbed in the Himalaya this autumn - the previously unattempted but much admired South East Face of Kamet in India's Central Garwhal.

After making a reconnaissance of the face to 5,750m in early September, the two completed their acclimatization by climbing the Standard Route to 7,200m, a 100m or so above Meade's Col separating the main summit from Abi Gamin. This now popular route would provide their descent from the summit. From the 26th-28th September they moved up to a 5,900m advanced base at the start of the nearly 2,000m-high South East Face and then set off in Alpine-style on the 29th.

The line followed on this steep mixed face is blatantly obvious; a discontinuous couloir rising directly up the centre to the summit (clearly visible in the accompanying photo). The pair made bivouacs at 6,600m, 6,750m, 7,000m, 7,100m, 7,250m and 7.600m before reaching the 7,756m summit on the 5th October, 10 days after setting out from their 4,700m base camp. On the way they'd overcome difficulties of Alpine Ice 5+ and mixed ground up to M5+, no mean feat the high altitudes involved. A further two days were needed to return to base camp, and the new route has been given a fitting Japanese moniker of Samuri Direct.

Hiraide and Taniguchi are no new comers to the game of committing Alpine-style climbing, though this ascent certainly marked a significant leap forward for the pair. In 2005, in back to back expeditions, they made the second ascent of the South East Ridge of Muztagh Ata (7,546m, China) and a partial new route on the North Face-North West Ridge of Shivling (6,543m, India), both in fine Alpine-style. The new route on Kamet is one of the most impressive by a female climber in the Himalaya in recent years.

Kamet was first climbed in 1931 by Frank Smythe's British expedition, with Holdsworth, the Sherpa Lewa, Shipton and Smythe reaching the top via the North East Face. The ascent was a landmark in mountaineering history, being the highest summit in the World to be climbed at the time. Holdsworth was in such good shape on the summit that he was able to smoke a pipe before descending. The route has now become a popular objective for siege-style Indian expeditions, but is not a walk-up, featuring steep mixed terrain before reaching the easier summit slopes. Permits to try the South East Face had been acquired by at least two strong parties in the past, though for various reasons neither was able to set foot on the wall.

« Back