On 15th December 2011, at around 11 a.m. we stood on the top of Zemu Gap. This is the first documented ascent of ZG from south, i.e. Tongshiong Glacier.Anindya Mukherjee and Thendup Sherpa is seen in this photo. Pemba Sherpa took the snap. Seen in backdrop is the upper Zemu Glacier and many mountains including Sugarloaf. The small glacier ( tributary to Tongshiong glacier on its true left near its very head) that originates from Zemu Gap has the following defenses: 2 ice falls and 1 final head wall. We had made 1 ( our 3rd camp in Tongshiong glacier) final camp after negotiating the lower ice fall. It took us 5 hours to climb past the 2nd icefall and the final head wall on 15th December 2011. A brief report with more photos will appear on this blog soon. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all!
Sundardhunga Khal – The Goddess Keeps her Secret George W Rodway and Anindya Mukherjee The Sundardhunga Khal and our route of attempt in 2015 The History Locating a practicable route into the Nanda Devi Sanctuary occupied a very respectable amount of exploration time and effort in the latter half of the nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth century. By the time W.W. Graham made spring and autumn journeys to Sikkim and spent the summer in the Kumaun region around Nanda Devi in 1883, a shift had just started towards looking to the Himalaya as a venue for sporting adventure. Graham and the Swiss guides that accompanied him this year planned an ambitious itinerary for their time in Kumaun. They attempted to penetrate, for the first time in recorded history, the Rishiganga gorge with an eye to ascending Nanda Devi. Not surprisingly the difficulty of the gorge, not infiltrated to its source (after many attempts) until 1934, forced them to reconsider the wis...