19/09/2021
Close to 7 years ago, I did my first big mountain trek with my friends. Like many, Jhomolhari is where we decided on because it was comfortably accessible and thought logistics wouldn't be a pain in the arse, but it was and is always is on trips like these. Despite that and a few other minor hiccups, it was an amazing experience for me personally, i've been hooked and have always looked up since. Plenty memories were made and lessons learnt, that we still laugh about and cherish to this day. Thank you charos 🍻
Where was your first big mountain trek?
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Of the many highlights along this route, seeing the Jhomolhari belt has to be up there.
The two pictures above show the immediate Jhomolhari range.
Pic 1: You can see 2 summits, Jhomolhari l (~7370 m, center) and Jhomolhari ll ( ~6880 m, center right with a lenticular cloud hanging over it).
Fun fact: Jhomolhari l was first sumitted in 1937 by Freddy Spencer Chapman and Sherpa Pasang Dawa Lama. The 2 successful ascent was an Indo-Bhutan expedition in 1970 but tragedy struck to the second summit party.
Pic 2: Jitchu Drake (South summit ~6750 m, center left is hidden in the clouds. North Summit is a little higher at ~ 6810 m, can be seen from Neyli la, further northeast on the Lingzhi route) and Tserim Kang (~6540 m, center right).
Fun fact: Unsucessful attempts in 1983 by an all women Japanese team was followed by an Austrian team and another Japanese exped, both reached the South summit during the same year. The following year, the Italians attempted the same route but were dogged with misfortune to two climbers. In 1988, Doug Scott (a pioneer in alpine mountaineering), Sharavati Prabhu and Victor Saunders were the first to summit the highest point on Jitchu Drake.
This is beautifully captured in his journal citied below.
Source: kuensel, himalaya-info.org and Bhutan - A summary of climbing and the Anglo-Indian Ascent of Jitchu Drake. By Doug Scott.
