Conquering Heights: A Himalayan Odyssey - Reo Pargil-II Expedition 2023

Dream Wanderlust

Photographs: Gautam Dutta, Anaranya Das, Tashi Sangdup
Category: Expedition, Climbing
Date of Publication: Sept 14 , 2023

A six-membered team from Jadavpur University led by Gautam Dutta, Kolkata with three High altitude assistants attempted Reo Pargil-II (6792m), the third highest peak of Himachal Pradesh, India in June 2023. On 17th June 2023 at 8.53 am Anaranya Das, Tashi Sangdup, and Abiral Tamang reached the summit of Reo Pargil-II

Reo Pargil-II or Leo Pargil (Purgyil or Pargial) is located at the Zanskar Range in the Western Himalayan region of the Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh.

Talking about the objectives of the expedition, the leader of the expedition team says, "students should recognize that true education in the realm of mountaineering begins in the late teens and early twenties, which is nothing but a period of curiosity, adventure, and shaping worldviews. These years, spent in colleges and universities, are unparalleled in their capacity to nurture not only knowledge but also experiences that transcend classrooms. For them, scaling a summit becomes a means to an end of an avenue to gain valuable insights and practical skills in the realm of life. Even if the summit remained just out of reach due to various challenges, the experience is a profound one that plants the seeds of a new perspective. It is to be noted that an expedition is not just a physical climb; it is an immersion in the cultural fabric of the region as well."

The Peaks: Mt. Reo Pargil-II(6792m) on left and Mt. Reo Pargil(6816m) on right – as viewed from C-I

After the successful summit, he says, "The Reo Pargil-II Expedition of 2023 was not at all a conquest of a peak but a mastery of life's challenges."

"It underscored that mountains are not merely geographical entities; they are crucibles that forge character, teach resilience, and bestow knowledge. The summit was a testament to the spirit of exploration and the pursuit of excellence. Through it all, the team learned that the ascent itself is as valuable as the summit, and the real treasure lies in the journey. Also, in this case, beyond the expedition's accomplishments, they resonated with the warmth and cooperation of the Kinnaur people, observing how in an arid landscape, their efforts to foster greenery, conserve water, and address global warming became evident," Mr. Dutta added.

The leader's expedition report is provided below.

Expedition Report

- Gautam Dutta

It was October,’22, when few of our JUMHC members, for the sake of doing some adventure attempted Tent Peak(5695m) in Nepal, completely with their own effort, i.e., without any guide, or High Altitude Assistance or even a Cook! And, to my satisfaction they made a much headway there though finally couldn’t scale the summit simply because of lack in route selection. I wrote to them…..’scaling a summit’ is not everything; rather ‘learning all the tidbits and performing successfully in real mountaineering situations in the high altitude’ will certainly help you all to form a stable foundation to achieve summits in future as a self-sufficient mountaineer! They were enthusiasts enough and by the beginning of March,’23 started wobbling to launch an expedition to a mountain in June,’23, as soon as their main thrust for semester examinations are over! We had a lot of discussions and finally chose Reo Pargil(6816m), the highest in Himachal Pradesh for the purpose. But on applying to Indian Mountaineering Foundation, the apex body, for it’s permission, we came to know that IMF has put some restrictions in providing booking of it to any civilian team because of some strategic reasons, instead Rio Pargil-II(6792m/22,284ft) or Leo Pargil(as it is also known by and the third highest in HP), which is just beside and in the same weather zone may be given a push! Hence, we shifted our concentration to Rio Pargil-II or Leo Pargil which is also a formidable one for a rather aspiring university student group who frantically want to be more exposed to higher Himalayas to acquire maturity!

Nako – 3630m/31.881067N/78.629722E

TC-I Kande(4204m; 31.880567N/78.652395E)

Reo Pargil-II or Leo Pargil (Purgyil or Pargial) is a mountain peak at the southern end of Zanskar Range in the Western Himalaya region of the Himalayas, located on the Himachal Pradesh/Tibetan border area in the Kinnaur District of HP having location (31.901845N / 78.742497E), about 2 km north of Peak Reo Pargil(6816m) the higher twin sister. Geologically, the peak is part of a great massif that rises above the Satluj(Sutlej) River and overlooks the western valley of Tibet. The Spiti River, a tributary of the Satluj, drains the northern face of the massif. It’s prominence is 770m/2526 ft and by elevation it is the 3rd out of 503 peaks in Himachal Pradesh.

TC-II Pangboche(4816m;31.879303N/78.676705E)

A brief spell of hailstorm in the afternoon at TC-II

Expedition Summary

Name of the organizer	Jadavpur University Mountaineering and Hiking Club (JUMHC) Address : Jadavpur University, Kolkata–700 032 (WB)
Name of the Expedition	Expedition to Mt. Reo Pargil – II(6792m), 2023
Name of the Peak with height and coordinates	Reo Pargil-II(6792m); Coordinates: 31.901845N/78.742497E
The Team	Gautam Dutta(Leader) Tashi Sangdup Anaranya Das Aryan Singh Ms. Urwah Jawaid Dr. Abiral Tamang
Date of commencement of Trek	9^th June, 2023; from NAKO (3630m; 31.881067N/78.629722E)
Number of Transit camps(TC) enroute Base Camp(BC)	2(Two); TC-I at Kande(4204m; 31.880567N/78.652395E) and TC-II at Pangboche(4816m; 31.879303N/78.676705E)
Date of establishment of BC	11^th June, 2023 at 5287m(31.8677N/78.68434E)
Establishment of higher camps	Camp-I(5452m; 31.897425N/78.702981E) on 14^th June, 2023; Camp-II(5810m; 31.907473N/78.724388E) on 15^th June, 2023.
Technical difficulties on the way to higher camps	The year 2023, reportedly, had heavy Snow precipitation in the entire Himalayas, which has posed dual effect in our move to higher camps. From BC to Camp-I and beyond, deposition of heavy temporary snow on moraine fields/slopes and scree sections of 45-60 degree gradient posed much technical problem negotiate the instability along the route;whereas in the higher region beyond Camp-II, the yet packed form of snow on the slope of 40-60 degree gradient rather helped us to have progress which estimated while selecting our time(mid-June of proposed climb.
Snow and Rock conditions	Deposition of heavy temporary snow having hollows in the rocky moraine field/slope underneath in the comparatively lower zone beyond BC posed problem in our movement, especially after 12-00 noon or so causing fall into even waist-deep wet-snow at every step. But then, in the higher region, the yet packed form of snow on the slopes was rather helpful for a speedier move.
Weather condition	We had been very fortunate in having good weather spell almost throughout our stay in the mountains, except a small spell of hailstorm in the afternoon on 9^th, and 10^th June,’23 while we were approaching for BC. And also we experienced similar situation on the afternoon of 15^th June,’23 but for a brief period.
Date of Summit	17^th June, 2023 at 8.53am
Name of Summiteers	Members: Anaranya Das, Tashi Sangdup, Abiral Tamang; High Altitude Assistants(HAA): Bhagawan Thakur, Bhopal and Aman Negi.
Date of return to BC	18^th June, 2023
Date of return to Nako	19^th June, 2023

Base Camp at 5287m(31.8677N/78.68434E)

Camp-I(5452m; 31.897425N/78.702981E)

Expedition Itinerary

Day	Date	Activity
01	05.06.23	Departure from Howrah by 12311 Netaji Express(09-55 pm)
02	06.06.23	In Train
03	07.06.23	Reached Chandigarh at 2-30 AM; travelled to Reckong Peo in a pre- arranged vehicle and reached there at 03-30pm and could complete the ‘Administrative tasks’, and also ‘required marketing’, on the day itself; stayed at Reckong Peo.
04	08.06.23	Left Reckong Peo at 8-40am and reached Nako at 11-40am; team got the whole day for acclimatization.
05	09.06.23	Trekked to Transit Camp-I at Kande(4204m).
06	10.06.23	Trekked to Transit Camp-II at Pangboche(4816m).
07	11.06.23	Establishment of Base Camp at 5287m by the forward team while a day of rest was allowed to some of the members at TC-II for better acclimatization.
08	12.06.23	Recce as well as Load ferry for Camp-I by the forward team; while the other members, after early arrival to BC, were busy in rearrangement of it and load preparation for higher camps.
09	13.06.23	Load ferry to Camp-I(5452m) from BC; Occupying Camp-I by a forward team of three members.
10	14.06.23	Further ferry from BC to Camp-I and establishment of it; Recce and ferry of essential loads for Camp-II from Camp-I by the forward team.
11	15.06.23	Establishment of Camp-II at 5810m.
12	16.06.23	Reconnaissance for summit push, route making and setting up of a tent at higher up if felt necessary.
13	17.06.23	Late night Summit push(2-00 am) on hard packed snow condition to achieve faster movement; team reached summit at 08-53am; summit team returned back to Camp-II & rested there on 17^th night.
14	18.06.23	All the members returned back to BC by the evening of 18^th.
15	19.06.23	Mules for return trip arrived BC early on the day as scheduled and whole team returned back to Nako by the same afternoon.
16	20.06.23	By 10-30am left Nako and started for Ambala by pre-arranged vehicle.
17	21.06.23	Started for Kolkata(Sealdah) by 22318 Humsafar Express from Ambala at 2-30pm.
18	22.06.23	Reached Kolkata(at Sealdah) at 6-00pm.

Route to Mt. Reo Pargil-II(6792m) from Nako

Summit attempts/report (Brief description enclosing photographic proofs)

It was on 14^th June’23, when we occupied the Camp-I(5452m) and was fully equipped for further move, while our forward team had already reconnoitered the route for Camp-II. It helped us to have an early movement on 15^th, with ferry of essential climbing gears and food- provisions, and establish the camp at 5810m on the day itself. Fortunately, good weather was a constant companion of us and we enjoyed sunny weather with diffused cloudy situation with daylight environment till 7-30 evening and the same condition prevailed thereafter as well, till we left the mountains! On the 16^th, the idea of further recce on the higher slopes for route to summit during the morning session was abandoned from about 6250m mainly because of :

a) the snow slope to the summit was clearly visible from even our Camp-II site; it had no rocky obstacles but was snow-packed which would become soft & wet in the post-noon session and create problems in movement;
b) a late night move directly from Camp-II, would rather provide much harder packed form of snow- slope allowing faster movement and longer latitude with respect to time;and
c) we would have a rigorous single push for the summit by a yet rejuvenated team instead of spending any extra time at such an altitude!

Accordingly, a team of six(consisting of 3 members and 3 HAAs) started crunching on the slope, from Camp-II, exactly at 2-00am on the 17^th June, 2023 with their head torches on, fortunately again under a clear & calm sky, and finally made the summit at 8.53am next morning. It may be mentioned here that, at the final few meters stretch, as it was having hard blue ice formation underneath and was technically risky to negotiate, only two of our members were belayed to have the required ice-crafting there to reach the summit point, other four being in the connected rope. Hence, our six summiteers were Anaranya Das, Tashi Sangdup and Abiral Tamang(members) being assisted by three of our HAA friends namely Bhagawan Thakur, Bhopal and Aman Negi.

The Peaks: Mt. Rio Pargil-II(6792m) on left and Mt. Reo Pargil(6816m) on right – as viewed from C-I

Reo Pargil-II or Leo Pargil(6792m)

Note on local culture, flora and fauna

On the whole, it could very well be depicted that people at Kinnaur are very cooperative, honest and inherits rich culture with self-respect. At each and every place we felt the warmth of their association with us during our short stay, be it the officials of DC’s office, GH/Home Stay owners, our ‘Traveller(vehicle)’ Driver, or even the Mule operators and of course the HA Assistants! Without any hesitation, I do admit that our expedition couldn’t have been so successful in such a scheduled time-frame unless we were fortunate enough in getting association of so high-minded people beside a beautiful weather spell aiming which we planned our expedition itinerary!

Though the area we visited is under the realm of harsh aridity, the people on the contrary found to be very conscious about preservation of greeneries, water-conservation and even about effects of global-warming and hence at places we have observed local people trying to develop social plantation programs, which talks very high about their mind-set.

Regarding local fauna, we haven’t been fortunate enough to observe many except snow fox and pikas (a small mountain dwelling mammal resembling the rabbit) and varieties of birds mainly chough.

Pl. Note: An added advantage we have observed, was availability of ‘Mobile signal’ at BC area, though intermittently, but it was of much help for communication; this in turn helped us to save our valuable time in various ways.

- Gautam Dutta, Leader of the expedition team.