A Walk on the Bara Shigri Glacier in the shadow of Robert Pettigrew
In
2014 I received an unexpected invitation from the Indian Mountaineering
Foundation (IMF) to visit the Bara Shigri Glacier region in the Himachal
Pradesh to review and offer advice on the IMF Expedition Leadership program
known as ‘Climbathon’. Having little idea as to what challenges the area might
provide my first objective was to search out a good map, a task not easily
accomplished even in 2014. However persistence resulted in the said map being
located in a small shop in Manali. As with most of the Indian Himalaya Maps
there are always historical and trekking notes on the reverse side and during a
quick ‘scan’ my eyes were immediately drawn to a familiar name – Robert
Pettigrew. I first met Bob in the mid nineteen sixties when our paths crossed
on the sandstone outcrops in the south of England, time drifted on during the
course of which our universes occasionally collided through the field of
mountain training. In more recent times we enjoyed a trek together in Nepal. So
now I had another interest in the Kullu region, what exactly had my old friend Bob
been up to in his younger years?
Due to various visa delays I was not
able to join the IMF training program from the outset, so playing
a game of
catch-up my fast track journey took me from Kathmandu to Base Camp at 3800m in
a matter of 36 hours. The next stage, to be completed in the following 24 hours,
was a climb of another 1100m over 18 km up the Bara Shigri Glacier to Advanced
Base Camp. In the lower section this is one of the most gnarly glacial moraines
I have ever had the pleasure to traverse, large boulders, small rocks, deep
holes, gravel and crevasses, not to mention difficult route finding, all
sliding about on a bed of clear blue ice. I clearly recognised the challenges
ahead but these were only compounded when I was introduced to my companion who
would accompany me up to Advance Base Camp. Jayant Sharma, a lean fit young man
eager to engage in conversation and obviously not carrying an ounce of spare
fat anywhere on his body. Setting off early the next morning it quickly became
obvious that while gasping for breath between trying to respond to Jayant’s
continuous conversational topics and keeping up with his pace, I was unlikely
to see much of him over the next 24 hours never mind being able to hold a
conversation with him, especially with him being at least 45 years my junior!
The Kullu area is one of the finest and most accessible Himalayan-Alpine regions in the Indian Himalaya. The true left wall on the Bara Shigri Glacier forms the watershed and great divide between Kullu-Lahul-Spiti and is the long ridge that keeps the monsoon precipitation to the west while to the east the mountains remain dry being in the rain shadow area. Despite ease of access and excellent mountaineering opportunities I have yet to encounter any other teams of mountaineers in the locality.
In 1912 Gen. C.G. Bruce, the first
mountaineer to explore this region, his chief guide, Heinrich Fuhrer together
with a Gurkha soldier, Lal Bahadur Gurung made the first ascent of Hanuman
Tibba 5,928m (Soldang Weisshorn) and then went on to explore both the
Indrasan and Deo Tibba mountains. Jimmy Roberts led an exploratory expedition
into the region in 1939 again in an attempt to climb Indrasan and Deo Tibba.
In 1941 Roberts returned and succeeded on Dharamsura, now known by its more
popular name White Sail 6,446m. R.C. Evans tried Indrasan and Deo Tibba
albeit unsuccessfully in 1952, however, success on Deo Tibba finally went to
the Dutchman Van Graaf later in 1952. A few other expeditions followed into
the region between the 1950 and 1960. A British Air Force expedition
successfully climbed Shikar Beh 6,200m in 1955 while in 1962 a Japanese
expedition visited the area and successfully summated the elusive Indrasan. In
1957-58 Major Geoffrey Douglas, accompanied by Hamish McInnes undertook a
Yeti hunting expedition in the Kullu region. But the persistent and regular activist
in the area for over the next decade was Robert Pettigrew, now Robert
Pettigrew MBE.
In
1958, Robert G Pettigrew, Bob, was staying at a guest-house in Manali owned
by Major Henry Banon where he developed the idea of an attempt on the then
unclimbed Indrasan 6221m. Other invited guests in the house included climbers
in transit to and from various parts of the world. Bob was at the time
working for the Outward Bound Trust (OBT) and was on his way back to the UK
from a working visit to Malaya. He had been mulling over the idea of an
expedition with friends as a result of receiving information via a letter on
the 28th February 1958 from TS Blakeney (AC Secretary) in response
to his request for suggestions for a suitable expedition region in the
Himalaya. Blakeney responded by saying ‘You
might make a trip from Tos over to Indrasan, an unclimbed peak and probably
harder than Deo Tibba’. Blakeney went on to point out the advantages of
Kullu as a venue for a light-weight expedition. By the beginning of May 1958
Bob had completed his research on possible objectives; he had recruited
expedition members and had embarked on several exploration trips into the
high valleys of the region. With the help of a local cobbler in Manali adjustments
were made to footwear, tents were modified and sleeping bags sourced, the
technical equipment comprised of items suitable for British winter climbing
with the addition of crampons (10-points) and a few rock pegs, the stage was
set. The expedition finally set off from Manali on the 7th May
1958 forging a route up the Duhangan Nala (river) towards the Chandra Tal.
After three weeks of difficult route finding and being buffeted by storms the
expedition decided to return to Manali to take stock. Feeling refreshed they
set out again on the 8th June and retraced their steps in quick
time back to their high camp. Due to time limitations the expedition decided
that Indrasan would live to fight another day and instead they turned their
attention to Deo Tibba with the secondary aim of reconnoitring the approach
route to Indrasan. However Deo Tibba also remained elusive and with the monsoon
weather clouds hovering ominously over head the expedition headed back down
towards Manali but not without a foray onto a small 5334m summit directly
south of Peak 5229m in the close proximity to Duhangan Col. The expedition consisted
of Bob Pettigrew, Mike Thomson, Basil Poff, Pat Morrison and Ron Mowll, but
by now Bob’s imagination and love for the region had been ignited.
In
1961 The Derbyshire Himalayan Expedition began to take shape after received
support from the Duke of Devonshire, as Patron, the Mount Everest Foundation
and other notable Derbyshire residents and companies, however, a third of the
expedition costs of £4,500 had to be met by the members themselves, J.
Ashcroft, D. Burgess, D. Gray, R. Handley, T Panther, R Pettigrew, S. Read and
N Symthe. The expedition’s objectives were to `make a useful contribution to the map of the Kullu/Bara Shigri
Divide, to ascend what is now called Gunther’s Col from the Kullu side and
finally to complete a recce of Ali Ratni Tibba, a splendid granite obelisk,
approached from the Parbati tributary known as the Malana Nala’, a job
previously undertaken by Jimmy Roberts. This area is approximately 10 miles
to the east of Manali and approached via the Malana Nala and glacier.
Initially the expedition believed it
would be left to its own devices, however, two days before arriving in Bombay
by boat a letter arrived informing the expedition that Cpt. Balgit Singh
would be joining the expedition as the LO, a complication and cost that had
not been envisaged during the expedition’s planning stage. In 1961 the
vehicular road along the Beas Valley terminated at Nagar, south of Manali,
and from the crossing of the Beas River progress was only possible on foot or
with ponies and mules. The expedition from this point made good use of 57
ponies, 11 muleteers and Ladakhi porters to move the 12 miles onto Manali and
then went on to succeed in making the fifth ascent of Deo Tibba on the 20th
June (Pettigrew, Read, Handley along with Jimet and Zangbo, the local staff).
This was the fulfilment of Bob’s three year ambition. Unfortunately, again,
there was no success on Indrasan where Burgess and Gray reported that in
their opinion the only possible route from the south was via a diagonal line
that was continually swept by avalanches. By the 9th July the
party had recharged their batteries at Base Camp and were ready for phase two
of their expedition – to complete a plane-table survey and a climb of the
Bara Shigri / Kullu Divide via a Col seen by Gunther in 1954 from the
north-eastern side, and to complete a recce of Ali Ratni Tibba.
Ashcroft
and Burgess along with Bob and the Ladakhis, Jigmet and Ang Chook, ascended
the Malana Glacier. Eventually this team found a manageable crossing linking
the Malana and Tos Nalas and thus completed the first crossing of what they
then called and is identified on modern maps as Animals Pass 4580m; the name
comes from the animal shaped rocks that stretch across the col. This passage
now represents a modern three day trek from Manali directly into the upper
Tos Nala. In 1941 Roberts wrote `the lower four miles of the Tos Glacier
constitutes just about the most boulder-strewn, dirtiest stretches of glacier
I have ever seen’, in my opinion this could be said about many of the
glaciers in this region! Even Bob described the East Tos Glacier as being `arduous and ugly terrain unrecognisable as
ice’ however, the higher you climb the more traditional and photographic
these glaciers become. The head of the East Tos Glacier provided an excellent
camp site from which the small team completed the first crossing of the col
referred to as point 5410m on the present day map linking the East Tos and
the Tichu Glaciers. On the 13th July the expedition made a short
descent into the upper Tichu Glacial basin and headed towards a dip in the
northern retaining wall of the glacier believing this to be the potential crossing
point of the Divide leading down onto the Bara Shigri Glacier, the col first
identified by Dr Gunther in 1953 from the Bara Shigri side. Locating the key
passage up a hidden couloir to the skyline, Bob along with Burgess, became
the first people to look down into the Bara Shigri Glacier from the pass. Bob
describes the view down into Concordia as having `a text book appearance with lateral moraines being straight from the
drawing board!’ This ‘text book’ appearance is still as much in evidence
today as it was back in 1961. Pettigrew and Burgess completed the day’s
activities by building a cairn right on the Col before retiring to their camp
just west of Col 5410m on the East Tos Glacier. However, during the return
journey down into the East Tos Glacier the team decided to stretch out their meagre
rations so as to facilitate an attempt on White Sail 6446m, the peak climbed
in 1941 by Jimmy Roberts and also situated on the Kullu-Kahul-Spiti Divide.
Having now become reunited with the survey team Pettigrew, Ashcroft and
Burgess set off for the Col south of White Sail leaving their tent at 3.45am
on the 16th July. Within eight and a half hours the rope of three
had surmounted steep ice requiring, in those days, step cutting, ascended
exposed rock and in diminishing visibility and weather conditions reached the
summit of White Sail (Dharamsura) 6446m, the second ascent of the mountain had
been accomplished.
Returning
to Base Camp the whole expedition met up again to exchange stories, the other
team consisting of Handley and Gray along with Wangyal and Zangbo had
succeeded in making two first ascents of peaks known as the Manikaren Spires on
the east ridge of Ali Ratni Tibba, but had failed to find a route to the latter
before the monsoon arrived and forced them to retreat.
At
the time there was some confusion as to the correct location of ‘the Col’ as
there are two possibilities on the main watershed but both present
difficulties. As the original sighting by Gunther was from the north-east and
Bob’s expedition was approaching from the south-west joining up the dots was
always going to prove problematical, one crossing, it was reported, presented
serious difficulties to the eastern side while the other difficulties to the
western side. In the end one Col was given the inscription Gunther’s Col
while the other DHE (Derbyshire Himalayan Expedition) Ice Col the latter to
the east of the former named col. However on the Indian Himalaya Map in use
today Gunther’s Col is shown as being at 5399m and is located as the first
point of weakness to the west of Cathedral Peak 6250m, the Ice Col does not
appear on the map by name.
During
1962 and 1963 Bob visited Manali on family holidays but never wishing to miss
an opportunity took a few days out to continue his exploration of the greater
area. He trekked into the Solang Nala, to the north of Manali, and then back
into the Malana Nala valley to the east, but in general, his forays were
beaten by the inclement weather and frequent snow falls. From May 27th
to the 31st Bob and party crossed the Chandrakhanni Pass in
wintery condition and then the following day made an ascent of Peak 4426m,
the last major peak on the long southern spur of Indrasan, to the north of the
Chandrakhanni Pass. During the second world war the Kangra Valley was used to
house Italian POWs and on the ascent of Peak 4426m a carved stone with the
inscription JEL 10 1944 was found just below the summit, yet possibly further
evidence of the excursions of Italian imprisoned climbers during their stay
in the region?
As
a result of Bob’s family holidays and his exploratory trips into the Solang
valley in 1962 he was fired up and ready for more adventures. An opportunity
presented itself in the autumn of 1963 when Bob Menzies, a friend of Bob’s
was visiting India on business and suggested that he could spare a few weeks
climbing in the Kullu. The stage was set and after the usual preparations and
packing sessions based in the Banon’s guest house in Manali the team set off
in the direction of the Solang Valley. The following two weeks saw exploration
of the upper Solang Valley and after several nights with recorded 20° F
temperatures Bob along with Wangyal completed the first ascent of Ladakhi
Peak 5341m.
The
Sara Umgla La had long been used as an old trading route when the conditions
were right. The Rajput warrior chieftains of the 17th century
brought an end to the Tibetan occupation of Kullu, however, enforcing
vigorously levied taxes forced the local traders to find ways round the
customs houses. The old route, and Custom House, crossing the Rothang La was
now an expensive option so a new route across the Kullu-Lahul-Spiti watershed
was urgently required; the Sara Umgla La was open for trade! Bob’s next
expedition was to locate and cross this pass. The expedition set out from
Manali heading for the now familiar Malana Nala. Bob intended to use this expedition
in a bid to complete a reconnaissance of Papsura 6451m. The approach was long
and arduous but coincided with the twelfth anniversary of the first ascent of
Everest and so it was decided that a first ascent of a virgin peak would
serve as an appropriate celebration. An objective was located that met all
the requirement and on the 29th
May 1965 Bob along with Langford, and the trusted Ladakhi staff Wangyal and
Zangbo completed the first ascent of Ramchukor Peak 5189m situated
immediately south of Animals Pass in the east retaining wall of the Ali Ratni
Tibba Glacier, now referred to as the Dudhon Glacier. Relocating Camp 1 on
the Pass of the Animals the expedition was easily able to identify the Sara
Umgla La. By the 3rd June the expedition was again in forward
motion. Aiming diagonally across the Tos Glacier they made for an obvious couloir
and steep rock rib that would give access to the pass and eventually connects
the Tos and East Tos Glaciers to the Chandra River valley immediately to the
west of the outfall of the Bara Shigri Glacier. Once on the La the
expedition was subjected to gale force winds that at their height split one
of the tents down the side seam. The resourceful Ladakhi crew then proceeded
to mend the split while battling to hold the canvas together so it could be
sewn. On the 8th June the expedition, now a light weight
reconnaissance team, set off for a closer inspection of Papsura 6451m from
the south and western aspects. The north west ridge, the west face and the
south ridge of Papsura were all carefully scrutinised but the team failed to
identify a safe and feasible route through the difficulties to the summit. The
expedition concluded their reconnaissance of the region by including the circumnavigating
Ali Ratni Tibba via its east and west glaciers and then making the first
crossing of the Pass of the Oblisk 4876m before heading down into the Parbati
Valley at Jara on the 17th June.
In the spring of 1966 Bob was back
in Manali leading an Indo-British expedition to Hanuman Tibba organised by
the Bombay Climbers’ Club. The approach route was laborious traversing steep
hill sides of thick birch forests and steep and exposed sections of rock
cliffs. To avoid the difficulties of the lower Manalsu Nala the expedition
climbed high on the flanks of Khanapara traversing above the nala before
descending back into the mid nala basin. The route chosen by the recce team
took the expedition across the upper slopes of the eastern ridge before
heading diagonally westwards and up the south face of Hanuman Tibba towards
the summit. It was just as the lead climbers were approximately 160m below
the summit that the ‘CRACK’ was heard accompanied by a dull roar and the
breaking away of a big slab-avalanche. The climbers were engulfed and carried
160m down the slope to where they eventually slowed to a halt just above one
of the many lower ice cliffs over which the main flow of snow and ice was
passing. Shaken but otherwise unhurt the party reassessed their choice of route
in consideration of the 160m of avalanche prone slope that still remained, so
far intact, above the break-off point. Crossing the debris the climbers
retraced their steps back to the East Ridge where they then pitched the
remaining shoulder to the summit acutely aware of the poor snow conditions
and the unstable cornice overhanging the precipitous north face and the lack
of adherence of snow on the south face. After six hours from leaving BC the
team reached the summit, first stood upon by General Bruce and his Swiss
guide Heinrich Fuhrer from Meiringen. They had ascended initially from the
north and the Salong valley before crossing Bruce’s Col, now called the
Solang La and traversing the west face and then finally climbing the South
Ridge to the summit. Bob’s party descended through the ice cliffs and finally
glissaded back into Camp 2 by 1530hrs. While the main expedition was on
Hanuman Tibba two of the base camp staff Nadkarni and Chering Namgyal
completed the first ascent of Peak 5303m via the South East Ridge immediately
due west of Seri to the south of the Manali Pass. Finally on the 5th
June Bob together with Warhurst and Chering Namgyal made the first ascent of
Shakuntla Tibba 4954m. And so the season drew to a close with expedition
members gathering in the Banon’s guest house on the 7th June
before finally departing the Kullu.
Looking
into the Chhola in the 1967
season got off to a rocky start during an attempt on Papsura 6451m, the Peak
of Evil, and ‘twin’ peak of Dharmsura (White Sail). On the 1st
June Colin Pritchard, Mike Payne and Bob took a 500m fall down Avalanche
Couloir, Hill and Payne escaped relatively un-harmed while Bob suffered a
dislocated hip. Papasura is the third highest peak in the Kullu/Lahul divide.
The expedition started on the 4th May from the Parbati River, BC
was established near the snout of the Malana Glacier, a site previously used
by Bob and his trusted staff. The next two weeks were taken up ferrying loads
across the Pass of the Animals the expedition was beset by bad weather. Camp
1 was eventually established in the cwm to the west of Papsura on the 22nd
May but only after Pritchard had taken a fall into a large crevasse when a
bridge collapsed. The team was then bogged down by a severe snow storm that
deposited enough snow over the next six days to bury the tents. A 160m rope
was fixed to the foot of Avalanche Couloir the chosen route for the ascent.
On the 31st May, nearing the top of the couloir it became obvious
that the way was blocked by a big boss of ice, the only option left was to
descend, always easier said than done. No sooner had the team started their
retreat than they were struck by a small side avalanche that quickly gathered
speed and strength pulling all three roped climbers off their feet. Their
downward momentum came abruptly to a halt at the bergshund. Mike Payne had
‘flown’ across the shund but had in the process twisted his arm, Bob came to
rest straddling the lower lip of the shund with his legs bound together in
the climbing rope and Colin Pritchard, well Colin might well have acted as a
sea anchor and could have been the reason why the party fell no further, he
was in the depths of the bergshund being strangled by his rucksack straps and
acting as the ‘team anchor’! It turned out that Bob had dislocated his hip
and had to be evacuated the next day to a safe location. Half the party
descended to let wives and family know the situation and at the same time to
arrange for a rescue party to ascend to Camp 1.
Mean while back at Camp 1 the
remaining ‘fit’ team members elected to have one last attempt at the peak
with Hill and Pritchard going for a New Zealand style dash. Their proposed
route was up the main South Face Couloir that had previously been discarded
because of the objective danger from the large amount of snow and ice
suspended higher on the face. This danger was ultimately reduced as a result
of following a mixed snow and rock rib situated to one side of the couloir
and out of the main fall line. Leaving camp at 3.15am the pair climbed
quickly reaching the top of the western couloir of the south face by 10am.
Whilst preparing to cross the heavily corniced couloir the rucksacks were
tied into the rope to be lowered into an icy basin, unfortunately the knot
slipped and the sacks with all spare clothing, food and cameras fell nearly 1,000m
down to the base of the face. Both climbers agreed to push on, although the
climbing was straight forward it required a bit of ‘grunt’ with strenuous
moves on the rock band and the summit snow ridge. By 14.30 hours the pair
were on the top. During the descent Hill slipped twice while cutting steps on
the steep hard ice in the rapidly deteriorating weather and heavily falling
snow. By the time they had reached the less steep part of the lower couloir
the snow was waist deep. The pair returned to Bob, still awaiting rescue in
Camp 1, nearly 21 hours after departing camp that morning.
Once the rescue team had arrived the
return trip to BC, with a laden stretch, took four days crossing the Animals
Pass and the Tos Glacier before climbing over the Chandar Khanni Pass and
down into the Kullu Valley using fixed ropes in the icefall. Expedition was
made up of John Ashburner, Charles Henty, Geoff Hill, Mike Payne, Bob
Pettigrew (leader), Colin Pritchard, supported by the high altitude porters,
Sonam Wangyal and Pasang Lakpha, local boys came from Malana and Manali to
help with logistics and the rescue stretcher team.
This
little epic brought a golden decade of exploration of the Kullu region to a
close for Bob. But that is not the end of his story, for the next thirteen
years he focused on alpinism, instructing, and serving in the RAF Mountain
Rescue Team where he went onto completing first ascents in Arctic Norway.
Later he decided to further his education and secured a place at Loughborough
University as a student, eventually following in John Disley’s footsteps as
President of the Loughborough University Mountaineering Club. However, the
wilds of Kullu eventually got back into his system and in 1980 he returned to
Manali where he has consistently over the subsequent three and a half decades
continued with his forays into the hills and valleys of Himachal Pradesh.
Back
to my, by now, solitary wanderings up the Bara Shigri moraines, trying to
pick out the newly erected cairns carefully camouflaged amongst the glacial
rubble and at the same time trying to spot the blurred silhouette of Jayant
breaking the skyline many hundreds of metres in front of me. The ascent
seemed never ending and I took frequent stops to catch my breath under the
guise of taking photographs. It had been suggested that I might manage the
journey within the day but that was not to be the case. Thankfully Jayant
realised that I was neither his age nor at his level of fitness and, within
an hour of my thinking that this was all a bad idea, I crested a moraine
ridge to be greeted by my grinning minder who suggested we bivied on the relatively
flat grassy plateau in amongst the boulders that I had just arrived at. The
food that I had set out with was still festering in the top of my rucksack,
which would do for the evening meal and stretched out a bit, for breakfast as
well. After a few hours rest the dawn seemed to come quickly, the warmth of
the sun much later. Although the second part of the moraine journey starts to
lose its steepness the moraines continue on for another 4 kilometres before
it is possible to descend onto the flattish ice normally associated with
glacial travel. In the distance the collection of tents indicating the end of
that part of my journey and my first introduction to the Kullu – Lahul
mountains much loved and traversed by Bob.
I
have now completed this moraine trek four times and it never gets any easier
either in ascent or descent. However the mountains at the end of the trudge
are worth every aching moment and every word uttered under the breath.
And
as a post-script – Bob spent October 2016 in, where else, Manali.
Bob,
you have another convert!
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