GANCHENPO 6380 - MISSION BY GRAHAM AND GARY

GANCHENPO - 6380M,  situted in Langtang region of Nepal well noticed peak but hardly climbed by any climber are going to attempt by Graham Desroy and Gary Smith from October 15, 2010 along with Loben Expeditions team.  


DMM's Product Developer Graham Desroy is one of Britain's most colourful climbing personalities (mainly due to his taste in Hawaiian shirts!). 

Gary Smith runs Gethigh.co.uk based in  Dinorwig, North Wales and aims to offer inspirational training and guided days out in the UK for climbers and mountain walkers of all abilities.

Darjeeling hills find depth for tourists’ descent

WRITTEN BY VIVEK CHHETRI, THE TELEGRAPH

Higher aim: HMI principal Rana glides from 18,700 feet on Mt Makalu

Darjeeling, Oct. 4: Days are not far when tourists can glide with the floating cotton clouds across the rolling hills of Darjeeling.

The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI) and the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation (WBTDC) have recently inked a memorandum of understanding to introduce paragliding for tourists in the hills.

“The initiative is expected to be the first of its kind in this part of the region and we expect to start flying from March onwards,” Col Neeraj Rana, the principal of the HMI, told The Telegraph.

In fact, Rana himself is the first man to paraglide on Mt Makalu from an altitude of 18,700 feet to 16,076 feet.

Tourists need not be so adventurous and take risk as Rana did.

“We have selected a spot at Rohini in Kurseong subdivision. We will first take six boys from the village and will train them for a year and half before certifying them as trained paragliders. The WBTDC will develop infrastructure at the spot,” said Rana.

In the Rohini area, the highest point is around 4,000 feet and there are enough open spaces to descend as low as 2,000 feet. “The place is ideal for paragliding. The valley-like area is surrounded by hillocks and the scenery is picturesque as fliers can also see the plains,” said Rana.

Even though the six boys are expected to complete their training in 18 months, tourists need not wait for so long.

“The HMI will be bringing in authorised instructors from various parts of the country. While one set will be training the locals, the others will be flying tourists across the hills,” said Rana. “Provisions will be made to accommodate one tourist on a glider. The instructors will take them around.”

Rohini is ideal for paragliding two times a year and they coincide with the tourism season. “The first flying season will be from March to May and the next will be from October to December,” said the HMI principal.

The HMI and the WBTDC will also start a centre at Melli to train 12 people in rafting.

According to the memorandum of understanding, while the WBTDC will develop the infrastructure for the flying, the equipment needed for the gliding will be procured by the HMI.

The WBTDC will also frame safety guidelines for the rafting and the gliding.

Higher aim: HMI principal Rana glides from 18,700 feet on Mt Makalu

Darjeeling, Oct. 4: Days are not far when tourists can glide with the floating cotton clouds across the rolling hills of Darjeeling.

The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI) and the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation (WBTDC) have recently inked a memorandum of understanding to introduce paragliding for tourists in the hills.

“The initiative is expected to be the first of its kind in this part of the region and we expect to start flying from March onwards,” Col Neeraj Rana, the principal of the HMI, told The Telegraph.

In fact, Rana himself is the first man to paraglide on Mt Makalu from an altitude of 18,700 feet to 16,076 feet.

Tourists need not be so adventurous and take risk as Rana did.

“We have selected a spot at Rohini in Kurseong subdivision. We will first take six boys from the village and will train them for a year and half before certifying them as trained paragliders. The WBTDC will develop infrastructure at the spot,” said Rana.

In the Rohini area, the highest point is around 4,000 feet and there are enough open spaces to descend as low as 2,000 feet. “The place is ideal for paragliding. The valley-like area is surrounded by hillocks and the scenery is picturesque as fliers can also see the plains,” said Rana.

Even though the six boys are expected to complete their training in 18 months, tourists need not wait for so long.

“The HMI will be bringing in authorised instructors from various parts of the country. While one set will be training the locals, the others will be flying tourists across the hills,” said Rana. “Provisions will be made to accommodate one tourist on a glider. The instructors will take them around.”

Rohini is ideal for paragliding two times a year and they coincide with the tourism season. “The first flying season will be from March to May and the next will be from October to December,” said the HMI principal.

The HMI and the WBTDC will also start a centre at Melli to train 12 people in rafting.

According to the memorandum of understanding, while the WBTDC will develop the infrastructure for the flying, the equipment needed for the gliding will be procured by the HMI.

The WBTDC will also frame safety guidelines for the rafting and the gliding.

FINALLY ANANPURNAIII AT BASE CAMP

Finally, after a work out the more than a year, Annapurna III team reached base camp by helicopter and established base camp at 4300m, higher than our planned Base camp. Had to make 8 shuttle from Pokhara with myself, team, staff and expedition load. We had to land between Base camp and Pokhara at the middle of nowhere - no exit point... thanks god .. weather was on our side and we manage to get out on time after dropping all the expedition load, team and staff at Base camp.

Not an ordinary expedition, the expedition had to returned back

last season without reaching base camp due to excess rock fall and danger to cross the col with our porters and staff.

Bullock, Helliker and Benson - Round II on Annapurna III

by Jack Geldard - Editor - UKC 30/Sep/2010

After failing to reach the mountain earlier in the year, Nick Bullock and Matt Helliker (this time accompanied by Pete Benson) are set to try again on the infamous unclimbed southeast ridge of Annapurna III (7555m).

The earlier expedition failed to get to the mountain when the climbers were stopped in their tracks by choss-rubble cliffs barring access to the peak. This time they are going in by helicopter.

The cost of the helicopter flights has been footed by the new expedition main sponsor Samsung, who are hoping to get a promotional film from the expedition.

Nick Bullock, ever in angst about his mountain activities, has written a long blog post on the ethical considerations of taking a helicopter in to base camp. In that post Bullock states:

"The more I think about taking a helicopter to base camp, the more I think it is the correct decision (apart from not going of course). The most obvious argument I can come up with for flying is it will avoid the death of a local and I was under no doubt that this would have happened if Matt and myself had not called a halt to the first attempt."

The use of a helicopter to allow access to the peak has obvious benefits, but also some quite significant drawbacks, one of which is the inability to 'get the hell out of there' under their own steam. If a retreat from base camp is needed, the climbers will have to wait for good enough weather to allow the chopper access to their camp.

Bullock, one of the UK's top mountaineers, is not only deliberating the use of a helicopter, but of the sponsorship that is paying for it. And with sponsorship comes the need for publicity. We reported back in March that the expedition was going ahead, and writing 'news before it happens' is always a tricky consideration for us at UKC.

Alpinist 4 - from the Annapurna Expedition Blog
UKC News, Mar 2010
© Alpinist / Annapurna Expedition Blog

This particular expedition ended no-where, as did the much publicised Tahu Ratum expedition - but we flagged them up as the basic fact they are happening is of interest to many readers, and the pre-expedition coverage is helpful for the climbers who want to attract support for their trips. But this doesn't sit easy with Nick:

"I actually hate all of the blogging thing before and during a trip... it's too much like reality TV, and mountaineering aint no reality TV...

Personally it adds too much pressure for me, I would rather just go and quietly get on with my thing, then when I get back report it if it's been a success, or quietly get on with the next thing if it has not.

I feel that there are too many folk who do not appreciate that something like this trip is 99% doomed to fail, and when it does, we look like prats. A trip like this depends on so many things falling into place, fitness, weather, conditions, getting in!, getting onto the climb, getting off the climb, having enough cash, the climbing being at a level that we can move quick enough given the size of rucksacks we will be carrying, and on, and on, and on... so lets say we stand no chance, and if a miracle happens and the planets align, and if Helliker can get by for 10 days without a mirror, we will feel exceptionally privileged and lucky."

But despite his reservations, Bullock is looking forward to what could be the climb of his life. The ridge they are going to attempt was proposed by Alpinist Magazine as one of the greatest unclimbed objectives in the world and, looking at the above photo that was published in the magazine, you can see why.

Why Mt. Abi has Few Ascents

By Graham Desroy

The description to climbing Mount Abi (6097 m), a trekking peak in Nepal's Khumbu region, painted a picture of accessible 45°- 50° snow slopes up a straight-forward ridge to the summit at about AD but as a footnote mentions that it hadn't seen many ascents. Perhaps we should have paid more attention to that last detail.

As it was it sounded ideal to combine with a high passes trek, all based around Tom's 50th birthday celebrations in May. Perfect for the team's first experience of a Himalayan peak - the team being Tom Hutton, Steph Duits, Al Vincent and myself (Graham Desroy).

However, nothing is quite as simple as it sounds - as is often the case on expedition. The first clitch was the trekking company that was organising the trip bailed out with three weeks to go. Fortunately my contact in Kathmandu, Loben Expeditions, came good within two days and all was back on track until volcanic ash, flights in chaos, stranded holiday-makers and so on.

But the dust clouds parted on the right day and we landed in Kathmandu on schedule and right into the middle of a major Maoist strike: no public transport, no shops, no restaurant, no usual hustle and bustle.

To our surprise, the flight to Lukla was still running - in between the rain clouds - and so against the odds we were duly deposited at the start of the trek, porters all organised, with the yaks, climbing gear, camping kit and climbing sherpa scheduled to meet us at the base camp in seven days time.

A week later suitably acclimatised by ascending a minor summit, Gokyo Ri (5480 m), we arrived at base camp just-off the Cho La where our peak gear was ready and waiting, tents all erected and the cook team serving up three cooked meals a day and the luxury of 'bed-tea' in the morning. Time to get stuck-in.

But what's this? Nobody mentioned a significant ice-fall to be negotiated up to the col. Where was the nice easy slog up a snow slope? Tamling, the climbing sherpa and I spent a nervous afternoon in the maze below tottering seracs and shooting galleries of stonefall finding a 'safe' route up through it and fixing 400 metres of polyprop rope to speed the subsequent summit day.

Except that it wasn't subsequent - Steph was not on top form - the polite way of describing a dose of Nepal's finest. Sadly for her she was no better the following day, the final day of our 'window' to go for the top.

So it was Tom, Al, Tamling and I that made the pre-dawn stumble up the ice-fall. Massive detours round gaping cevasses on the col gobbled up the time. It was late as we left the col. The views over Cho Oyo and Tibet were stupendous. Our ridge was threatened by another serac barrier. Snow slopes turned into hard blue water ice, somewhat steeper than 50 degrees: time to start pitching, calf muscles burning, and gasping for air. Progress slowed. Another full-pitch and it was crunch time. The clock said it all as stones started to whizz and whine. The clouds had rolled in and the summit was still 300 metres higher than we were. The decision was inevitable. Down for tea and sympathy.

The rest of the trip involved the Cho La Pass, up the Khumbu Valley, views of Everest from Kala Pattar, stunning scenery, Tom's 50th in Namche Bazaar, and three days loafing by the pool and drinking beer in Kathmandu.

We'd discovered there is a reason why Mount Abi doesn't get many ascents and the commercial trekking companies don't really do it. It's too hard for a simple summit. Why? Because in the last ten years global warming has had a dramatic effect on the region: snow slopes have become ice-falls, stonefall has increased and seracs have become more unstable. And I'm sure the air has got thinner, the ridge steeper and gravity stronger...

Graham Desroy

City duo on top of the world

Two Calcuttans have made it to the top of the world, becoming the first members of a civilian-run mountaineering club in India to summit Mt Everest.

Naktala resident Basanta Singha Roy, 47, and Debashish Biswas, 39, of Ultadanga reached the 8,848m peak at 7.45am on Monday.

Debashish, an officer in the income tax department, and Basanta, a Punjab National Bank employee, were accompanied by two sherpas — Passang Futur Sherpa and Pemab Chhoti Sherpa — who also summitted the peak.

The duo’s feat has sent spirits soaring in their club. “The duo informed the base camp about their successful climb via a satellite phone and they immediately conveyed the news to us. We are very excited,” said Souren Banerjee of Mountaineer’s Association of Krishnagar that organised the expedition.

The trip cost around Rs 50 lakh, raised through collection from sponsors, including the sports department, and donations by club members.

The summiteers left on April 1 with three others from their club. Loben Sherpa, of Loben Expeditions that conducted the climb for the club, told Metro over the phone from Kathmandu that the team had started from the Nepal capital on April 2 and reached the base camp at 5,200m.

“They pitched four camps on their way,” said Loben. While Camp I was pitched at 5,900m, Camp II was set up at 6,300m, Camp III at 7,400m followed by Camp IV at 7,900m.

“Two of them started from Camp IV around 8.30pm (IST) on Sunday and reached the summit after a 12-hour trek,” he added. The three members who stayed back at various camps as backup are Ashok Roy, 55, Sourav Mondal and Bibhash Sarkar, both in their mid-30s.

The team had planned to climb through the Rongbook glacier, North Cole and Northeast ridge route in Tibet, but the Chinese government denied them permission. They then decided to climb from the traditional Khumbu glacier, South Cole and Southeast ridge route in Nepal, which was used by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa to summit Everest for the first time on May 29, 1953.

“It is very difficult to climb during sunlight hours because of reflection and heat,” said Taraknath Sen, a member of the Krishnagar club. Temperatures of around -14 degrees Celsius and wind at 80kmph make the short climb from the last camp to the summit treacherous, he added.

Mountaineers say scaling the Himalayas is about taking two steps forward and a step back, a clear pointer to the challenge Mt Everest poses.

The families of Debashish and Basanta are keeping their fingers crossed. “I am very happy they were successful. But the climb down is very dangerous and I am awaiting his safe return,” said Debashish’s wife Mukti. Basanta’s wife Smriti echoed her. “The first thing I wanted to know was how my husband and Debashishda were,” said Smriti.

The duo’s achievement has also reached the chief minister’s ears. “The state government will felicitate them when they come back,” Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said.

The two have started the descent and reached South Cole, said Loben. They are expected to reach the base camp by Tuesday evening.

THE FIRST ASCENT OF CHANG HIMAL... NICK BULLOCK AND ANDY HOUSEMAN

British Chang Himal Expeditions Autumn 2009, organised by Loben Expeditions came back with immense success by making first ascent of Chang Himal by professional Alpinist Nick Bullock and Andy Houseman of UK. The trip started on Oct 05 from Kathmandu by flying into Bhadrapur. Graham Desroy (professional rock climber) , Mandi Shipton and Tom Brigss (Director Marketting) of Jagged Globe was apart of Loben Expeditions team to trekked into base camp with Nick and Andy to North Base camp and returned back visiting South base camp by passing Suketar to Maribung. The expedition was supported by professional crews of Loben Expeditions namely Buddhi (cook), Palden (guide), Kushang, Lila(second cook), Tashi, Gopal, Nima and porters.

Nick and Andy back in Kathmandu now i.e 11 Nov and enjoying pizza at Fire and Ice with Loben.

Congrates!! Andy and Nick for first ascent of Chang Himal.