Revisiting the Eastern Karakoram

by Derek Buckle

Five years after my previous visit to India’s Nubra Valley, Jamie Goodhart, Stephen Humphries, Stephen Kempley, Howard Pollit and I returned in September 2022 to extend the exploration of the complex Rassa Glacier in the hope of climbing one or more of its unclimbed 6000m peaks.

Only two previous parties have visited this glacier; the first an Indian team led by Divyesh Muni in 2014 and the second ourselves in 2016. Muni’s team had successfully completed an impressive traverse of the main glacier and made ascents of two previously unclimbed peaks, Tsusuhm Kangri and Rassa Kangri, both over 6000m. On our previous visit we had explored extensively the first glacial arm of the glacier and successfully made the first ascents of Lak Kangri (6222m) and Thrung-ma Kangri (6315m). This year we planned to investigate the second arm of the glacier in the hope of climbing the virgin 6365m peak at its head.

Following a few days of acclimatisation in Leh, the capital of Ladakh, we drove over the 5370m Khardung La pass to overnight near the village of Tirit. From there the party trekked for three days up the Tirit Nala to establish a base camp at 4756m close to the bifurcation of the Rassa and Phunangma valleys. Several days later an advance base camp (ABC) was established at a sandy depression nestling in the extensive terminal moraine at 5100m. The problem now was to identify a safe and viable route onto the main Rassa Glacier from which we could access the second glacial arm. Glacial recession had left its mark since we were last in this area, and negotiating the convoluted moraine above ABC provided a challenge. By splitting the team into two parties, an acceptable route to a high camp at 5500m at the foot of glacial arm 2 was identified. From this camp the team extensively reconnoitred this arm of the glacier and climbed to the hitherto unvisited 6035m col between PK6365 and Tusuhm Kangri (6219m) on 16th September.

Two days later an attempt on the ESE ridge of PK6365 was made from this col but this was unfortunately aborted on account of the snow conditions. Undeterred, Howard and Steve K stashed additional gear below the col which then allowed them to make a successful ascent of the peak on 20th September. Roping up shortly after the stash they climbed together to the bergshrund before pitching up 50° ice to the panoramic summit at an Alpine grade of AD. A short downclimb followed by three full-length abseils then took them to easy ground from where they returned to the high camp after a hard 13.5 hour day. After some discussion we named this peak Dagarpheth Kangri, which is Ladakhi for Halfmoon Peak, as a prominent halfmoon could be seen rising behind the summit during the first ascent.

Initially we had hoped to extend the exploration to peaks bordering glacial arm 3 by relocating the high camp further up the main glacier, but this was thwarted by the onset of bad weather. Apart from the intense cold (overnight temperatures of -10 to -15°C), new snowfall had made the moraine boulder fields treacherous and unacceptably dangerous. Eventually a fortuitous decision was made to return to base camp before an additional 20cm of snow fell over the next 30 hours. With little more that could be achieved under the prevailing conditions, the team trekked for two days to the road-head from where they returned to Leh for a little relaxation before the long flight back home.

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