06/08/2017
The Himlung Traverse 2017
For the English readers, this is a small report of our surprising attend on a traverse of a 7000 summit in Nepal, in this spring 2017. Of sure, we will try again !!!
Himlung East, west ridge
east-west traverse of Himlung Himal
I live right below La Meije in the Ecrins Massif, France, and it is a pleasure to be able to traverse a peak in the Alps, or in other ranges. On the high summits of the Himalaya only a few top climbers play this challenging game: the Mazeno Ridge on Nanga Parbat is one of the masterpieces of this decade, an inspiring success.
What's possible for ordinary mountaineers in Nepal and why are so few doing it? Traversing a high summit is like opening the door to a new world. At the point where the trip is normally a success - the goal of the expedition, you are only part way through. Everything is different and interesting.
After many expeditions to Himlung Himal by various itineraries, I felt confident to try a big journey at altitude, traversing this accessible 7000er via a previously untrodden ridge, carrying more than four days of food. Our plan was to climb the normal route up the northwest ridge of Himlung Himal (7,126m), without fixed ropes of course, put a high camp just below the summit, then climb over the top with food and all our gear and continue to the unclimbed Himlung East (6,932m). The latter is a recently opened (2014) peak on the frontier with Tibet, on the ridge that leads north toward Ratna Chuli. We would then continue down this north ridge, over several tops including Phu Kang (6,694m; opened in 2002, this peak is still unclimbed, though the goal of a 2008 Swiss expedition that found no accessible route to the summit), and onward to the vicinity of Peak 6,566m, where we would descend the ridge west, and eventually reach the valley north of Himlung Himal, so completing a "horseshoe".
It was a strange climb. We established five camps on the northwest ridge of Himlung Himal, the last on a flat shoulder at 7,050m, northwest of and not far from the main top. It was higher than our eventual goal, Himlung East. We arrived at this camp at 11 a.m. on May 7: the previous day two members of our group, Jean-François Males and Karma Sherpa, had reached the main summit. However, the weather on the 7th was not good. Bertrand Vaysette and I climbed to the main summit to scope the way ahead. We had spent a lot of time acclimatizing so we could live safely at 7,000m and our schedule was now tight. More importantly, the weather felt too unstable to commit to the full traverse. Reluctantly, we took the decision to make Himlung East our goal.
On the 8th Isabelle Guillaume with Jangbu Sherpa, and Rajan Bothe and I left camp and skirted the summit by the northern slopes to reach the east ridge, which we descended, narrow at first, to a col and then ascended the west ridge of Himlung East to its summit. On the return we climbed up the east ridge of Himlung Himal and over the summit, so making the first ascent of this ridge. That same day five other members of the group reached the top of Himlung Himal. By the time we had returned to camp the weather was poor again, but fortunately next morning the cloud level rose and we were able to make our descent. Traversing a summit is such a great game, this ridge is fantastic, and the continuation north is still there to be done.
And all the pictures and the report is on this page…
http://www.paulogrobel.com/himlung-traverse/
Paulo_entre deux sommets dans les Alpes
Le 6 août 2017
Himlung, un sommet de 7000 m maintenant classique au Nepal. Voici le compte rendu de notre tentative de traversée de l'Himlung en 2017. Histoire à suivre !