Papert and Richards on Kwangde North Face

Posted by Lindsay Griffin on 19/01/2009
The North Face of Kwangde. The Jules Cartwright Trust

Ines Papert, former World female ice climbing champion from Germany, and American climbing photographer Cory Richards, have made a calendar winter ascent of the North Face of Kwangde Shar via a major variant to the French route, Extra Blue Sky.

Papert travelled to the Khumbu region of Nepal as part of an all-woman team with Canadians Audrey Gariepy and Jen Olsen. Accompanying them were two males, cameraman Chris Alstrin and photographer Cory Richards. The three women planned to try a line based on the famous 1982 Breashears-Lowe Route on the North Face of Kwangde Lho (6,187m) but an attempt in early January failed quite high on the wall in very cold temperatures and thin ice.

Time ran out for Gariepy and Olsen, so Richards was persuaded to join the 'female team' for another attempt on the wall, this time towards the left side below 6,093m Kwangde Shar, where the ice appeared to be better.

Towards mid January, with a forecast of high winds and temperatures as low as -25°C, Papert and Richards started up a sickle-shaped goulotte to the left of Extra Blue Sky, only joining the latter at about half-height on the route and during their second day's climbing.

From here, they more or less followed the French route and after two bivouacs on the wall exited onto the crest of the North East Spur, the original line on the North Face of the Kwangde group and first climbed in 1978. That same day they decided to make a push for the summit but quickly found the ground above to be a 'maze of mixed terrain just as hard as the face'. After two pitches they descended and bivouacked, leaving the ropes in place.

The fourth day brought sunshine but strong winds. Travelling light, they quickly regained their high point, where Papert took 40 minutes to lead the hard steep slab, which generally forms the crux of the Spur. Balance moves up this run-out mixed pitch, protected by poor pegs and a Pecker, led to easier ground, and at 2.30pm both climbers reached the narrow summit. All that remained was to rappel to another freezing bivouac and continue down the Spur the following day.

Extra Blue Sky was climbed in November 1996 by Sam Beaugey, Christophe Profit, Pierre Andre Rhem and Jerome Ruby, though at the junction with the North East Spur, Ruby was not feeling well and only Profit and Rhem continued to the summit. This pair found the upper section of the spur to give surprisingly tricky mixed climbing. The 1,200m route was graded ED2 and thought to be as good as, though steeper and harder than, the North Face of Les Droites.

Czechs Jan Doudlebsky and Roman Kasparek made a significant variation to the middle section during the 'second ascent' in early November 2000, though they underestimated the top section of the North East Spur, ran out of time and retreated down the crest. This pair found ice to 85° and mixed to M6.

The Czech variant, with a slight difference, was followed on the 'third ascent', which took place in a little later the same month. Jules Cartwright and Sam Chinnery felt the climbing to be Scottish VII but they too did not continue to the summit from the point where the route exits onto the crest of the North East Spur.

Extra Blue Sky or variants has now been climbed a number of times, while other routes on the Shar-Lho North Face have generally received only one ascent. It appears to be the line most often in condition.



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