A Solo first ascent and traverse of a 6000m peak in Ladakh

Dream Wanderlust | Jun 19 , 2024

Indian climber Anindya Mukherjee with his climbing partner Aloke Das approached an unnamed and unclimbed peak, peak-6050 (6050m)(33°34'06.7"N 77°39'00.4"E) of Ladakh this month. On June 18, 2024, at approximately 1:06 pm Anindya Mukherjee reached the summit after climbing the East Face and North Ridge solo and recorded the first ever ascent of the peak. He traversed the South Ridge and South East Spur down the valley after reaching the summit. The peak-6050 is located North of UT-Kangri and southwest of the Khyam Lungpa valley.

The route

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Anindya Mukherjee (L) and Aloke Das (R) at the Basecamp

"It has been a very satisfying climb: two friends, free climbing an unclimbed mountain, one turns back, and the other moves on to complete the job and comes back safe. This reinforced courage in me and at the same time taught me to be ever humble," said Anindya Mukherjee to Dream Wanderlust.

Last year, on Aug 22, 2023, Anindya Mukherjee climbed solo a nearby peak (5905m) located in the same valley. He had explored nearby sites and saw the possibility of climbing the peak-6050.

A Brief expedition note:

Expedition Summary
Route up: East face, North Ridge
Route down: South ridge, South East spur
Total duration of climb: 9 hrs
Grade: Alpine AD
Name of route: 'Kulwinder'
Starting point of climb: 5433m. 33º 34' 29.40" N, 77º 39' 56.94" E
High point of climb/ summit: 6054m, 33º 34' 8.19" N, 77º 39' 0.11" E

This trip happened in 10 days' notice as their original plan to explore an area in North Sikkim had to be postponed due to bad weather forecasts. Aloke Kumar Das and Anindya Mukherjee left Leh on 14th June. They spent the night at Rumtse (4300m).
The next morning, on 15th June, they hiked approximately 10km into the Khyam Lungpa Valley and set up Camp at 5150m.
On 17th June they set up a high camp at around 5450m aiming to attempt the unnamed Peak 6050m.
On 18th June, Aloke and Anindya started climbing The East face of 6050. Below the first genderme Aloke's crampons broke and so he had to turn back. Anindya continued. Climbed the East face, gained then North Ridge. Then Continued to traverse the gendermes. He reached the summit at 1:06 pm.
Anindya Then continued on the South Ridge of 6050m and took a spur down the valley. It took him a total of 9 hours to complete the climb solo. It is a first ascent and also a first traverse. On 19 June both Aloke and Anindya came back Safely to Leh. Before commencing on their 5-day alpine climb, they acclimatised in Leh for 72 hrs. The duo is grateful to Mero Expeditions(meroexpedition@gmail.com) for securing necessary permits and renting a few gears to them and Rajnandini(subha77pal@gmail.com) for making last minute travel possible.