India 2024

Last September, Stephan Siegrist, Kaspar Grossniklaus, Hugo Beguin and I traveled to the Garwhal Himalaya in India. For Stef and me, it was the third attempt at a first ascent of the south face of Shivling (6543 m.a.s.l.). Our first attempt in 2021 had to be aborted due to altitude sickness of a team member at 6100 m.a.s.l., and the second attempt in 2022 failed due to persistently poor weather conditions that did not allow us to try at all. So hopes were high that it would work this time.

After arriving in Delhi, we continued our journey with a two-day bus ride to Gangotri, which was delayed by a day due to heavy monsoon rains. When we arrived in Gangotri, we had to wait another day to get the final permit for the national park. Then we were finally able to set off. In three days, we hiked leisurely to our base camp below the south face of Shivling at 4600 meters. We gave ourselves enough time to acclimatize to the altitude. When we arrived on the third day, we set up our base camp in a snowstorm with 30 cm of fresh snow - not an ideal start. But as it turned out, this was the last snowfall for almost a month.

After a few days of acclimatization and settling in at base camp, we brought the first load of gear to ABC at 5400 m.a.s.l. For the first time we had a view of the wall and our planned line. The conditions seemed sensational. After two more rounds of acclimatization - one night in a col above the base camp and one night in the ABC - we felt ready to start the attempt. Due to rockfall, the ascent to ABC was only safe at night or in the early morning, so on the first day of our attempt we decided to climb from base camp up to Camp 1 at 5,700m.

The next day we started with the first rays of sunshine. Over seven beautiful pitches, we climbed the steep pillar up to Camp 2 at 6000 m.a.s.l. The climbing was perfect, the cracks ideal; the crux, which I had aided in 2021, went free this time. Pure climbing pleasure at almost 6000 meters! Despite this successful day, the fact that the mountain had changed a lot in the last three years weighed on us. An entire pitch was no longer there and had fallen off, cracks in which we had placed pitons in 2021 had broken apart by several centimeters. The entire lower part of the pillar was extremely sandy - a clear sign that the rock was constantly moving. We also observed several rockfalls in the area of Camp 1, where we had spent the whole afternoon the day before. It was clear to us that we would pass this very spot one single time again - on the descent.

At dinner, Kaspar suddenly threw up and showed the first signs of altitude sickness. Stef and I looked at each other and were stunned - exactly the same story in exactly the same place at the same altitude as in 2021. We didn't want to give up yet and advised Kaspar to get some sleep and check again at midnight. However, when we woke up, he told us that he wasn't feeling any better. Without any discussion, it was clear that we had to turn back. We fetched the 100 meters of rope we had fiexed the night before and began to abseil down. The descent went smoothly, and we agreed that we wanted to be below the ABC by sunrise to avoid the rockfall. We were back at base camp for breakfast and enjoyed a coffee. Despite the relief that everyone had returned safely, Stef and I soon realized how gruelling it was to have to turn back at the same spot.

Instead of hanging our heads, just four days later we decided to climb Baghiratti III (6454 m a.s.l.) via the SSW ridge. We started from our base camp, crossed the Gangottri Glacier and climbed up to 5600 m above sea level to Camp 1. After a long night, we set off at 6:00 am. First over snowfields until we reached the start of the ridge. There began the dark rock band that makes up the upper part of the Baghiratti group and is notorious for its fragility.

We gained height in moderate but extremely brittle climbing. The difficulties ranged between 4th and 5th grade. The biggest challenge was to find reasonably compact holds to hold onto and to find a good route through the sea of brittle rock. Carefully but steadily, we made good progress and by lunchtime we were happily embracing each other on the summit.

The descent was quick and easy via a few abseils, so we were able to toast our successful summit at base camp that same evening. It could even have been a first ascent - we hadn't found any material on the ridge or any information from the Indian Mountain Federation (IMF) or on the internet. In any case, it was an extremely valuable ascent for our team after another disappointment on Shivling. So we could all look back on a successful expedition, accompanied by good weather, and India always remains an adventure in its own right besides mountaineering.