Sundardhunga Khal - a solution to a long-standing problem

Anindya Mukherjee said, "We were extremely satisfied as we had just successfully solved the long-standing problem of climbing the Sundardhunga Khal from the south. We have been lucky in not getting swept off by a serac avalanche so far and were not particularly in the mood of testing our luck further. However, I can see the safe line to complete the rest of the climb."

Our climbing route

Expedition Report

Sundardhunga Khal - a solution to a long-standing problem

The Problem

The Sundardhunga Khal rises to a height of 5520m (18100ft). It is located between the valleys of the South Rishi glacier to its north and the Burh glacier to its south. It is the lowest point of the ridge connecting Maiktoli (6803m, 22320ft) and Panwali Dwar (6663m, 21860ft). To get direct access to Nanda Devi's inner sanctuary, exploratory climbers have been attempting to ascend the Sundardhunga Khal from the south since 1932 i. Once the south face of Sundardhunga Khal is climbed, one of the last remaining exploration problems in the Indian Himalayas will be solved.

One Problem Leads to Another

Our 2022 ascent happened by chance and not on our preferred timeline. On September 23^rd, Lakpa and I were supposed to go to Ramjak peak in Himachal Pradesh to guide. But, like a bolt from the blue, all treks and climbs above 15000ft were banned abruptly in Lahaul and Spiti districts by the local authorities in the 'interest of safety' just one day before our departure to Manali and with no prior notice! “How can you get rid of a headache right away? Of course, the head must be severed!” Sadly, this is the current trend among the babus of Indian bureaucracy. Anyway, with our work vaporising at the whim of a babu, instead of wallowing at home, we decided to tackle the old, unsolved problem: the ascent of Sundardhunga Khal from the south. Thus a contemporary problem of the Indian babudom steered us towards a historical problem, thankfully a rather interesting one. A detailed note on the history of climbing on Sundardhunga Khal can be found in our 2015 report here: https://adventuremania-india.blogspot.com/2018/03/sundardhunga-khal-goddess-keeps-her.html

We free climbed the rock bands

The collapsed serac in the ice-fall. This was the crux of our climb

The Approach

On September 26th, we arrived in Jaikuni the road head (2240m) via an overnight train from Kolkata and a two and a half day drive from Delhi. With the monsoon still lingering in Uttarakhand, we hiked for the next three days, stopping at Jatoli (2380m) and Kathaliya (3300m) to reach the base of the climb and settle in an empty shepherd hut that became our Base Camp (3860m). We began working on the south face on October 1st and by the afternoon of October 3rd; we had established Camp-I (4160m) and reconnoitered a location for Camp-II (4580m). We understood the importance of moving quickly and light in this climb because we expected the weather window to last only a few more days in this area.

The Climb

On October 4^th, we started very early from Camp-I. The terrain between Camp-I and Camp-II could be described as a Moroccan mosaic of slippery, greenish yellow vertical grass and blackish brown rock cliffs. While the rock bands gave us comfort and confidence, it was the grass sections that rattled our nerves without fail. However, within 2 hours of uphill climb, we reached our pre-identified Camp-II site. It was right below the ‘last’ (‘first’ for us as the ascending party) ice-fall, yet quite safe from the serac avalanches roaring down through a gully 20 ft away from our tent. Interestingly, we found the description given by Tilman of this section of the climb striking similar to this day. We were awestruck at the ‘great ice terrace’ looming large above the ice-fall. I guess it was more fear than respect. This is the same intimidation of becoming the target of a broken serac that made us look for an alternative route back in 2015. Yet this time we felt there was a strong willingness to confront the fear. Tilman wrote ii,

The rock ramp at around 5000m. Gentle and safe glacial route visible towards the coveted Sundardhunga Khal

Lakpa and Anindya - mandatory selfie after the climb. The great ice terrace on the skyline

“Ahead of us the glacier swept down with a last ice-fall, the steepest of all. On the right were some easy rocks, though separated from us by a 40-foot ice-wall and a gully, the target of debris from the great ice terrace thousands of feet above.”

After taking a half hour’s break at Camp-II, Lakpa and I started climbing expeditiously. We did not want to sit around the whole day and move up the next day. With great haste we traversed the avalanche swept gully and started climbing up. The terrain was now mixed. Snow and ice slopes littered with scary avalanche debris were frequently interrupted by rock bands. These rock bands offered great chunky holds and we never felt the need for putting any protection. It took us almost 2 hours to free climb the last of the rock bands. We now reached the steep ice-fall Tilman mentioned. Seracs looked down on the two of us with a deathly gaze. We found a collapsed serac as a passage to a relatively gentle and safe slope of Sundardhunga Khal’s glacier.  This collapsed (actually still very much in the process of collapsing) serac turned out to be the crux of the whole climb. This must be the ‘40-foot ice wall’ Tilman mentioned, so we thought.

Sundardhunga Khal location

Route outlines the final 300m climb to the top of the ice-fall from Camp-II

As soon as the '40-foot ice wall' was below us, a little rock ramp at around 5000m gave us an opportunity to rest without fear of any life-ending hazard hanging over our heads. Relieved we sat there for a few minutes. Ahead of us, we could see, the glacier was vertical no more and without any treacherous, hideous complications. We estimated, from where we were it would take us an hour and a half to reach the top of the Sundardhunga Khal. But it was already mid-day and we have been climbing from our Camp-I at 4160m (gaining nearly 900m that day). Therefore we decided to head back down to Camp-II at 4680m and settle for the night there. We were in agreement of coming back up and finishing the job early next morning. And that is exactly what we did.

But that night (October 4^th) and the next day (5^th) two consecutive avalanches bombarded right on our climbing line. Interestingly, the source of those avalanches was ‘the great ice terrace’ dislodging seracs from thousands of feet above the ice-fall we just climbed. On the 6^th morning, we decided not to push our luck on this Russian roulette anymore and packed our bags and headed down the wall to the valley.

The arrow points towards the 'great ice terrace'

Looking towards Maiktoli basecamp from Camp-I - burh glacier below left

We were extremely satisfied as we had just successfully solved the long standing problem of climbing the Sundardhunga Khal from the south. We have been lucky in not getting swept off by a serac avalanche so far and were not particularly in the mood of testing our lucks further. By mid-morning of the 6^th, a cloud cap on Panwali Dwar and the sudden arrival of the cirrus helped us re-affirm our decision to abort the rest of the 'walk' to the Khal. The climbing part was over. Lakpa and I had just done it in a fast, light and completely unsupported style. We did not desire anything anymore. At that moment, we were two happy climbers and wanted to remain that way. We both know that we will go back one day and finish the job.

Co-ordinates and altitudes of camps en-route Sundardhunga Khal from the South

• Jaikuni - 2240m - village guest house - 30°06'20.9''N, 79°55'40.7''E
• Jatoli - 2380m - village guest house - 30°08'33.2''N, 79°55'24.4''E
• Kathaliya - 3300m - KMVN hut - 30°13'09.5''N, 79°55'02.7''E
• BC - 3860m - Shepherds’ hut - 30°15'25.9''N, 79°55'13.1''E
• Camp-I - 4160m - 30°16'26.9''N, 79°55'45.2''E
• Camp-II - 4580m - 30°16'39.1''N, 79°55'29.1''E
• Crux/High Point - 5000m - 30°16'50.3''N, 79°55'11.1''E
• Sundardhunga Khal -5520m - 30°17'10.7''N, 79°54'45.8''E

Team

Phurtenji Sherpa ‘Lakpa’ and Anindya Mukherjee ‘Raja’

Duration

27^th September, 2022 to 8^th October, 2022

Photo Courtesy: Anindya Mukherjee

i Nanda Devi, Hugh Ruttledge, The Himalayan Journal, Vol-05 1933
ii Nanda Devi and the Sources of the Ganges. H.W.Tilman, The Himalayan Journal, Vol-07, 1935