“Tent
tea, tent tea”
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It’s 4am on Saturday 16th
November 2013, -20°C and I am awoken from my stuttered sleeping pattern inmy
tent at Base Camp at 4,600m with the call for morning tent tea.
This is day 15 of our Unclimbed Himalayan
Peak Expedition to climb Chhubohe (pronounced “Chub Chay”) and other unclimbed
peaks on the Chomochomo Danda range in the Lost Valleys of Nar-Phu. Our 15 days
so far were as follows:
1 day flying in; 3 days in Kathmandu
organising the permits, buying last minute items of personal kit, sorting out
all group climbing kit, and some visiting of the local tourist sites; 3 days
trekking along the Annapurna circuit; 3 days trekking into the Lost Valleys
area to Base Camp; 2 rest days; 1 day of climbing to summit 2 new unnamed and
unclimbed peaks.
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| Basecamp, with the South West Face of Chhubohe behind |
The steaming mug of tea is handed to me by
Tendi Sherpa, one of the two climbing Sherpas we have with us; the “us” being
Bug Wrightson, a freelance outdoor activities leader, Ian Foster, an outdoor
equipment retailer and myself, Brian Jackson, director of Expedition Wise
An hour later, Spantik boots have been
warmed enough to fit my feet, all clothes and climbing kit has been donned or
packed and breakfast porridge eaten, Bug, Pasang Sherpa, Tendi Sherpa and
myself set off for the South West face of Chhubohe. Ian is unfortunately suffering from a chest
infection but braves the cold to eat breakfast with us before waving us off.
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| Map showing Chhubohe in the Lost Valleys |
One year previously, I had received the
list of the newly opened unclimbed peaks from the Nepalese Ministry of
Tourism. I had selected one main peak in
a region north of the Annapurna range in the romantically names “Lost Valleys”
– Chhubohe. There were two reasons for
this choice. Firstly I had not been to
the Annapurna region of Nepal and secondly (and far more important), it was the
lowest of all the peaks on the list at 5,603m (height TBC upon climbing) which
suited me just fine.
Knowing November to be a good month to trek
in Nepal, I set the date for the climb as November 2013 and paid for the
necessary climbing permit. Now all I had
to do was earn the money for the actual challenge, buy some more kit (never a
hardship), recruit some other foolish dreamers and convince my wife that I can
take the whole month of November off (after already having been booked to lead
charity treks up Kilimanjaro x 2, Simien Mountains in Ethiopia, Elbrus in
Russia and Great Wall of China next year).
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| Bug, Brian & Ian at basecamp, ahead of the Chhubohe ascent |
Excited about the adventure of a lifetime
(let me backtrack and say that this had been a dream of mine since I was 8
years old – to climb an unclimbed mountain, to walk where no person had ever
walked before), I sent out an e-mail to all the Expedition Wise staff asking
who would like to join me in this adventure.
I immediately had responses from Bug Wrightson and Ian Foster. Bug I knew from his working with me on our
London to Paris charity cycle rides. Ian
I knew from countless 3 Peaks charity challenges and our “Old Man’s Trip to Elbrus”
the previous year. The team was formed
and the challenge set – we were off!
We start walking at 5am on the frozen turf
and slate and zigzag our way towards the South West face. I am both confident
and anxious. Confident, as two days
previously, Pasang Sherpa and I have already climbed 2 previously unclimbed and
unnamed peaks on the Chomochomo Danda range at 5,506m and 5,610m respectively.
We named them Jaistai Dada (Just a Hill) and Kaloche (Black Peak – named after
Arnold Black, a friend of mine who recently lost his battle with Pancreatic
Cancer). I am therefore confident I can
climb to this height. I am anxious
however as I know the snow conditions are appalling (deep non formed sugar
crystals) and the worry that the single day of rest may not have been enough
for me to recover for this longer, harder climb. With this not all together positive outlook,
I continue on with the team.
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| Brian, Bug & Sherpa Pasang en route to summit with Annapurna & Chulu range behind |
We take
just over 2 hours to reach the South West Face proper and the snow line. We now all harness up, attach our crampons,
don our helmets, tie onto the rope a s a group of 4 and wield our ice axes as
we start the actual climb. Maybe I was
mistaken about the snow as the first 10 paces are solid with the reassuring
crunch and squeaking sound of solid compact snow. Step 11, I fall through the crust to my knees
in complete powder and realise that it is going to be a long frustrating climb
on the face. We continue as a group of
4, kicking steps, breaking through crust, wading up to our hips, digging a
furrow, sometimes swimming in snow to increase our height slowly but
surely. Even when the slope kicks up to
75°, the snow is still fighting us and causing several choice words from both
the Sherpas and Bug and I.
Eventually the sun crests the ridge above
us and lifts our spirits. The views are
amazing of the Annapurnas behind us set in a pink and orange sky. The sun causes us to overheat but we are not
really in a position to redress as we are now on the steepest section of the
South West Face. Pasang Sherpa leads the final steps to the ridge and we all
collapse exhausted and extremely hot. We
redress, take on some much needed water, leave our packs behind taking only the
essentials for the final push along the South East Ridge to the rock summit of
Chhubohe.
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| Brian and Tendi ascending Chhubohe in deep snow |
I want to lead this section so I unrope
from the centre and set off to break trail in the very deep snow. I am soon breathing so heavily that the other
3 laugh at me looking as though I am on fire with the amount of breath
condensating around me. I continue to
the top of the ridge within 100m of the actual rock summit and then stop to
film the other 3 as they make their way up the ridge to join me.
The final 100m is a narrow ridge of snow
and rock with intimidating drops to either side leading to a pulpit of rock on
the summit so we all rope up once again and set off on the final section of the
climb. 2m from the top, we realise that
the summit rock is actually two towers split by a 1m gap; “like Adam & Eve
on Tryfan on steroids” says Bug. We have
to jump this gap to reach the summit so we each take a deep breath, steel
ourselves, and with the aid of the tensioned rope between us, leap over the
chasm to land on our crampons on the rock pulpit.
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| Sherpa Pasang, Bug & Brian at the summit of Chhubohe |
Wahay!!
Woohoo!! Amazing!!! We are all
standing on top of Chhubohe, a first ascent in the Himalayas. Congratulations and hugs all around whilst
taking care not to fall off the 1m square summit tower down the precipitous
400m snow slope on the one side and the 550m rock and ice cliff on the
other. We check our 2 x GPS’ and get
readings of 5,640m and 5,542m so go for the lower of the two readings as the
official height. After lots of photos in
our charity t-shirts and banners (I am raising money for Pancreatic Cancer UK www.justgiving.com/brian-jackson2),
we take out our prayer flags that have been blessed by the local Lama and start
tying them on between the summit tower and the ridge. We have now placed prayer flags 5kms apart on
both the North and South main summits on this range of peaks.
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| Brian at Chhubohe summit |
We now only need to reverse our route back
to return to our Base Camp. We remain
roped as we descend the South West Face, arriving tired, dehydrated but elated
after 11hours back to camp.
Thank you to Bug and Ian for a great
adventure and to Sherpas Pasang and Tendi for all their guidance, trail
breaking and general friendship on this Himalayan First Ascent Expedition.
A huge thank you too, to everyone at home who supported us whilst we were away on the expedition, and your kind generosity to the fundraising for Pancreatic Cancer UK.
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| Prayer flags that the team assembled at Chhubohe peak |
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