“On the 22nd of October a team from Great Britian, consisting of Nathan White,
Jack Morris, Connor Holdsworth and Dave Sharpe headed into to the Rolwaling
Valley, Nepal.
After successfully acclimatising on nearby peak, Parchamo 6187m, the team
came back to camp to find their equipment ravaged by Ravens, and a significant
amount of food was either eaten or soiled. So tents had to be repaired setting
them back by 24 hours on what was an already tight window to attempt their
objective and their dwindling food supplies had to be rationed even further.
Once regrouped, the team chose to split up to attempt two different objectives.
After a two-day approach, Dave Sharpe and Connor Holdsworth made the first
ascent of the east face of Takargo East with the aim of linking Takargo East with
the main Summit of Takargo 6771m by the very complex East ridge. Having
spent a number of days above 6000m and traversed the majority of the ridge
mostly on loose rock and very poor snow. The team made the decision to
descend due to illness just shy of the summit. On the experience Connor had to
say-
“It was an amazing experience that felt full of big mountain skills for me. It was
a 6 day round trip from advanced base camp with big rucksacks, everything
from crossing the approach glacier to topping out felt wild and very remote.
When we left the glacier, we soloed most of the initial face of Takargo East.
Which would have been mostly Scottish II with some steps of III and finally one
harder looser step of IV right at the top. Soloing this 600m face was incredible
with the nothing but air beneath us. From there we spent a night very close to
the summit and saw snow leopard prints in the morning. The following two
days were highly technical Ridge Climbing with the odd bit of good Ice but
mostly some very loose rock and bottomless untransformed snow feeling very
engaging the whole time, however climbing the ridge did mean that we had
good places to pitch the tent every night. Unfortunately I had been feeling
pretty rough since we left the glacier and some specs of blood in my vomit
made it feel like the right decision was to head down as the ridge met the main
face of Takargo. Even though we had been looking at the ridge from the Tashi
Lapsa pass on our acclimatisation phase, to me it presented its self to be far
more complex than I thought. There was also some bad weather on the way
and it was definitely on my mind that even though we might reach the summit
and be able to descend to glacier. We would almost certainly be storm bound
there for a while the snow settled and run out of food. The hardest sections
were around grade v Scottish and route length of what we climbed is probably
around 2000m.
A super wild Adventure in the Big mountains with my Pal Dave.
We called the ridge Neige Lepeord after the foot prints we saw near the summit
of Takargo east. To my knowledge, this is the 3rd ascent of this peak, although
the face and subsequent ridge were totally unclimbed terrain”.
The other team were very attracted to the big face that dominated the view at
the head of the valley.
Having observed the face for some time Nathan White and Jack Morris chose to
attempt the very impressive ridge that splits the complex and serac covered
north and northwest faces of Linkhu Chuli 2 (Big Phera- Go Nup). Whilst the
Serac covered walls were very active, the Ridge line provided an incredibly direct
and objectively safe passage through the chaos.
After accessing the ridge via the entry couloir, the team found sustained and
technically engaging climbing throughout, with very limited options for
bivouacking. The pair climbed beyond the point of retreat into steeper terrain
with the hope the terrain would ease as they approached the summit.
Unfortunately the opposite was true, and faced with a final impenetrable rock
band, Jack and Nathan had to traverse towards the serac on the North West
face to outflank and unlock the final part of the route. After summiting the NW
summit they decided to for go the main summit which was only a couple of
hundred meters away as it was apparent that a storm and heavy snow was
imminent. Nathan commented-
“Nothing more was to be found or gained from standing a few meters higher,
the route had already provided a state of trancendance, our priority was get
down safely. Especially given the fact we hadn’t even seen, let alone had any
knowledge of our chosen line of descent”.
Due to the unconsolidated nature of the snow, loose rock and lack of ice, the
line of ascent wasn’t a viable option for descent and the pair opted to descend
the west ridge onsite. With much downclimbing and abseiling through seracs,
they arrived on the glacier just as the weather was deteriorating.
Within 24hrs the glacier and the Tasi Lapcha pass were impassible with many of
the trekking teams evacuating the valley due to the depth and unstable snow
conditions. The team commented that they had very much ‘threaded the needle’
both due to the line and the weather window. On commenting on the Route
grade and name the team propose- Dreaming of Rotisserie Chicken – ED2, M6,
WI3 2500m, 4 days
It was an unforgettable trip with good friends to and amazing place. The Team
would like to thank MEF, Alpine Club, AAC, Niel Mackensie trust, Petzl and Rab
for their support.” Nathan White