Ganesh H imal Punchen Himal North, first ascent. After the

G anesh H imal
Punchen H im al North, first ascent. After the expedition to D olpo, rep o rted elsewhere, Tam otsu
O h n ish i’s O saka A lpine C lub ex p ed itio n re tu rn ed to K ath m an d u , an d som e m em bers flew
hom e. T he rem ain in g six left for a trek up th e Buri G andaki on O c to b er 7. Before N yuk
(Ngyak) they tu rn ed right and headed up the Shyar (or Shar) Khola valley, w hich ru n s n o rth ­
east, behind and n o rth o f the G anesh Himal. O n the 18th they set up base cam p at 4,124m, just
n o rth o f the Shyar Khola. T he follow ing day Irisawa, Kato, M izutani, O h n ish i, and C hhepa
Sherpa placed a high cam p at 4,850m (N 28°40′21″, E 85°06′96″ ) at the start of the northeast ridge
o f their chosen objective, the unclim bed Punchen Himal (6,049m, N 28°39′40″, E 85°08′48″ ). This
previously unattem pted peak lies on the Tibetan b order n orth o f 6,247m Pashuwo.
O n the 20th all started clim bing up the ridge at 5 a.m . T he ridge was m ainly rock, w ith
occasional icy sections, to 5,700m , w here they m oved o n to the northw est face and fixed 250m
o f rope, reaching the crest o f the northw est ridge at 5,900m. Above, a 60° slope, then breakable
crust over deep soft snow th at they however clim bed w ithout ropes in an hour, led to the n o rth
su m m it at 5,962m . It was only 11:30 a.m ., b u t th e way to the m ain su m m it led along a knifeedge ridge. T here w asn’t enough rope for all m em bers to continue, so O hnishi and o thers went
dow n. After three hours on the saw -tooth ridge, the rem aining m em bers had gained no altitude
above the n o rth su m m it an d were still h alf a k ilom eter from the m ain su m m it. A lthough not
technically difficult, the ro u te had been a tirin g succession o f loose rock and u n consolidated
snow, an d the team decided to retreat. O n the way dow n they to o k a m ore d irect ro u te from
5,700m , rappelling straig h t dow n th e face to a sm all lake above high cam p. O n th e 21st they
retu rn ed to base cam p an d left for a trek over the Larkya La an d aro u n d the northw est side o f
M anaslu to inspect o th e r peaks they h o p e to a tte m p t in the fu tu re. T hey re tu rn e d to K ath­
m an d u in N ovember.
E lizabeth H awley, AAC Honorary Member, Nepal; R ichard Salisbury, The Himalayan
Database; and T amotsu O hnishi , Japanese Alpine Club