The BMC provided financial aid to 16 expeditions taking place in 2012, offered 'approval' to several more teams and, for the third year running, made a Julie Tullis Memorial Award.
Several trips have already taken place and we hope to report on all the ventures during the year, as and when the climbers return home with their stories.
In North America, regular Alaska visitors Jon Bracey and Matt Helliker received £500 for their attempts on several hard unclimbed lines in the Ruth Gorge. During past years these two have produced some stunning new routes, but this year it was not to be, as bad weather prevailed more or less throughout their stay.
Also in Alaska but due to return shortly are Bangor University students Tom Ripley and Tom Livingstone. This pair had a number of ambitions. including a new line on the huge Father and Sons Wall of Denali, above the Peters Basin. They were awarded £750.
Another Alaskan expedition, but this time in the more remote Wrangell-St Elias Mountains, has been organized by a small group from Imperial College London, led by Catalan Sara Arbas Torrent but including two British students. They plan to visit a group of mountains in the region of the Fraser and Baldwin Glaciers, where the highest summit, Peak 11,550ft, remains unclimbed. A grant of £400 was awarded.
A grant of £750 has been given to two young climbers, Peter Graham and Malcolm Scott, who plan to climb the southeast buttress of Mt Combatant in Canada's Waddington Range via a new line on the Incisor. The pair have good alpine experience but this will be their first time to a more remote mountain area.
In South America Sam Farnsworth and George Ullrich received £950 for their highly successful ascent of Amuri Tepui, as reported in British ascent of huge Venezuelan overhang.
Members of a small team led by Olly Sanders were awarded £750 for their trip to the Upernavik area of Northwest Greenland, where they hope to climb new rock routes from the Sarqarssuaq Fjord, an area of large rock walls spotted by Sanders on a previous visit.
On the east side of Greenland Matthew Traver has discovered an area of rocky peaks in the Timmiarmiut Fjord that do not appear to have been visited by climbers. He and Steve Beckwith, from a four-man Anglo-American-Australian team, have been awarded £750 to attempt first ascents and bring back useful information for future parties.
The majority of grants went to objectives in Asia. Matthew Burdekin and Polly Harmer from Anglesey are travelling to the little visited Jiptek Valley in Kyrgyzstan's Pamir Alai, where their main goal will be the unclimbed north face of Muz Tok (5,066m), an impressive alpine ice/mixed face. This will be their first mountaineering outside the Alps and the couple were awarded £750.
In Russia's southern Siberia, close to the border with Mongolia, George Cave and friends hope to explore a part of the Altai Range with peaks up to 4,000m. This will be their first expedition and the four members have been awarded a grant of £400.
A four-man team led by James Bingham was awarded £500 for an innovative and ambitious project to make the first winter ascent of Afghanistan's Mir Samir (5,809m), a mountain made famous by Eric Newby's classic travel book A short walk in the Hindu Kush, and unclimbed since 1978. This area can receive considerable snowfall in winter, so the expedition was always going to be a long shot, and, unfortunately, after one member had equipment stolen during the approach, the remaining three we able to make little progress towards the base on the mountain in very deep snow.
A major objective being attempted by British climbers is the coveted south face of Rimo III (7,233m) in the Indian Karakoram. The peak lies close to the conflict zone of the Siachen Glacier, and the first hurdle is to obtain a permit. It also requires a joint expedition with Indian climbers. Malcolm Bass, Paul Figg and Simon Yearsley seem to have organized both successfully, and have been awarded £1,500 for their attempt. A later news report will provide more details of this expedition.
In Nepal, Jack Geldard and Rob Greenwood were awarded £500 for their attempt on the north face of Peak 41 (6,648m). For more information see Jeremy Willson Mountaineering Exploration Grant for Peak 41 Expedition
Geldard and Greenwood will be sharing a base camp with Nick Bullock and Andy Houseman, a well-proven partnership which hopes to try the previously untouched north face of Chamlang (7,319m). This is a long, serious and somewhat committing undertaking on a rarely climbed mountain. High peaks in Nepal do not come cheaply and an award of £1,800 should help towards their costs.
Further east in Nepal, just south of Kangchenjunga on the border with Sikkim, stands Talung (7,349m). The unclimbed, arrow-straight north pillar forms the objective for Gavin Pike's team, which was awarded £1,500. This is very much a world-class objective that has previously defeated two strong Czech attempts. For more information read Nick Estcourt Award goes to Talung North Pillar.
Another objective that might be deemed world-class is the northeast spur of unclimbed K6 West (7,040m) in Pakistan. Chamonix based Jon Griffith and Will Sim will travel to its location in the Charakusa Valley, where they hope the weather will be kind enough to allow them a successful attempt on this spectacular line, for which they were awarded £1,800.
Approval was given to: Olan Parkinson's expedition to attempt the Normal Route on 7,126m Himlung in Nepal's Peri Himal; an attempt on unclimbed Baihaizi Shan (5,924m) in West Sichuan's Lamoshe Massif, led by Duncan Francis, who is currently at the British Embassy in Beijing; Jon Gupta's three-member team hoping to become the first British mountaineers to gain the famous Snow Leopard award by climbing the five highest summits in the former Soviet Union; and a Cambridge University expedition, led by Dave Farrar, which hopes to explore an area of lower peaks to the east of the well-known Ala Archa region in Kyrgyzstan.
This year's Julie Tullis Memorial Award was split between two individuals. A grant of £700 was awarded to Dave Pagden, who hopefully in August will become the first person with cerebral palsy to reach the top of Elbrus. Polly Harmer was awarded £600 for her trip to Kyrgyzstan, as detailed above.
For further details on how and when to apply for support, see BMC Grant Support for Expeditions.
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