A Happy Ascent of Satopanth 7075m
Summary: In September
2016, a small group of climbers from India and Germany climbed Satopanth
(7075m) and an unnamed 6008m peak by the traditional routes in semi alpine
style and without using any fixed rope on its famous north-east ridge-north
face route.
Text and Photos: Anindya Mukherjee
 |
| Satopanth from Sundar Bamak, photo: Anindya Mukherjee |
~~~~~~~~
The happy climber, like the aged Ulysses, is one who has “drunk delight
of battle with his peers”, and this delight is only attainable by assaulting
cliffs which tax to their utmost limits of the powers of the mountaineers
engaged. This struggle involves the same risk, whether early climbers attacked
what we now call easy rock, or whether we moderns attack formidable rock, or
whether the ideal climber of the future assaults cliffs which we now regard as
hopelessly inaccessible. -A.F.Mummery[1]
~~~~~~~~
Snow coated the mountain range
and one mountain in particular.
All of the other mountains stood
nearby.
Calling it fortunate, calling it
lucky.
The mountain was proud; its peers
have noticed him for the very first time.
-Peter
Mariutto, Observation & Perception
The Mountain and its Peers
It was end of July, 1947. The Swiss Garwal expedition, after
the miraculous survival of their Sherpa Sirdar Wangdi Norbu[2]
and after successfully climbing Kedarnath; moved up east towards Chaturangi
glacier with the intention to climb Bhagirathi I. But as they got closer to
their objective they were not so sure anymore. Andre Roch writes,
We established a camp at about 16,000 feet at
Chaturangi and on 29th July we started off up the Sundar glacier. It turned to
the right and we could not quite see to the head, but such as was visible was
hardly encouraging. The valley was closed by a granite wall topped with blue
ice which broke off continually, starting avalanches that swept right over the
glacier. I hesitated, for if the entire approach was threatened by falling
seracs Bhagirathi would be out of the question.
My friends thought the
approach to Satopanth seemed better, so we changed our plans, and, not wishing
to waste the rest of the day, we decided to establish a camp at its foot. It
was pouring with rain, but we climbed to about 18,000 feet and pitched our
tents on the moraine of the side glacier which flows from Satopanth itself.[3]
In the summit party of Satopanth, theirs was a team of 3
Swiss alpinists (Rene Dittert, Alexander Graven, Andre Roch) and 5 sherpas. Andre
Roch writes about the summit day,
'Next morning Tenzing[4]
started the primus at 2.30 and an hour and a half later we left the camp on two
ropes, Sutter and Graven, followed by Dittert and me. It was still dark, but
the sun rose as we climbed the first slope.... On the last rocks, 500 feet
below the summit ridge, we paused. Here the slope became much steeper, the top
was overhung with cornices, and the avalanche danger seemed greater than ever.
We hesitated, wondering what to do. My friends tied themselves to a rock and I
climbed 70 yards, the length of the two ropes knotted end to end. Then I dug a
hole in the snow from where I could make a decision. A slightly crusted layer
of snow about 2 feet thick rested on the ice without sticking to it, and a
small granulous layer separated the snow from the ice. This was perfect for
avalanches, but I thought that, had the situation really been as dangerous as
it appeared, an avalanche would already have swept down, or at least there
would be signs of cracks on the north face. There were neither, and I estimated
that the weight of four men on the layer of snow should not be enough to start
an avalanche. Besides, it would have been a shame to have given up so near the
summit. Unroped I climbed the slope alone to see if it would go. The snow held,
and I reached the ridge in about twenty minutes, crossed it and sat down on my
sack to rest and look at the incomparable view. My friends soon joined me.
Andre Roch Rene Dittert Alexander Graven
Thus, Satopanth became an ‘unexpected conquest’ for the team
and the mountain was climbed for the very first time. Apart from this
expedition climbing Satopanth (and few more mountains in the same trip), it was
special as this was the first post war foreign expedition to climb in India[5].
But this was not the first time the
mountain had seen its seekers. Satopanth was first attempted by an Austrian
team (R. Schwarzgruber) in 1938, from both the northeast and northwest ridges,
but without success. The second ascent of Satopanth came only in 1981, again from
the northeast ridge, (M. Gardzielewski and L. Lehrer). Then in the following
year (1982), a Japanese team (K. Toya) made the third ascent of the mountain. The
west summit of Satopanth was climbed first by a Japanese team (M. Omiya) from
the northwest ridge in 1984. The south face (from the Swachand Bamak) was first
attempted by Polish climbers in 1983, by Hungarians and the Japanese in 1984.
This face was first climbed by a Polish team (R. Kolakowski and T. Kopys) in
1986[6].
The first Indian attempts on the mountain were done by a
Kolkata based club ‘Gangotri Glacier Exploration Committee’ (G.G.E.C) in 1968
and 1974 consecutively. Biren Sarkar the leader of the 1974 expedition wrote: “After its failure to
climb Satopanth (23123’) in 1968, Gangotri Glacier Exploration Committee took
it as a prime objective to make another attempt on the same peak...without
employing any sherpas or instructors from any mountaineering institute. With
this end in view, team consisting of 14 members pushed onto Sundar Bamak and
set up a main base at 17400’...Members reconnoitred the upper region of Sundar
Bamak, fixed up rope on the dangerous and difficult north ridge at 19000’.
Unfortunately, series of avalanches roared down from the crest of the north
ridge at 19000’ and this has in fact prevented us from setting up a camp...from
where the summit attempt was anticipated to be made. ...Sujal Mukherjee, one of
our climbing members, had also developed lung trouble with fever and breathing
difficulty. Considering the seriousness of the situation we had to abandon the
expedition and rush to the lower region for safety. It was therefore our second
defeat.”[7]
Sujal Mukherjee, the climber who developed pneumonia in the
1974 Satopanth climb, happens to be my uncle. Much later, I learnt from my
interactions with Sujal, how deeply he felt about ‘almost’ climbing Satopanth
back in 1974. Over the years, after going through similar experiences myself, I
can relate with Sujal’s feelings totally. But what I admire more than anything
else is the fact they were climbing Satopanth without any Sherpa or high
altitude porter support. Back in those
days such bold and purist style of mountaineering was unthinkable in the Indian
climbing scene and neither has the scene changed much today.
Although in 1974, the G.G.E.C gang were lucky enough to escape
any fatalities, another Indian team in May 1986 was not so lucky. They met with
a sad and disastrous end as an avalanche took away four lives and among them
was Dr Minoo Mehta[8]. While
writing an obituary of Dr. Mehta, Brigadier Gyan Singh wrote,
...he was not too
enamoured of the imported mountaineering culture. They are too competitive and
commercial, he felt. He thought Indians could evolve their own mountaineering
ethos in keeping with their culture and heritage. [9]
We did see perhaps a hint of the ‘mountaineering ethos’ Dr.
Minoo Mehta was talked about in his post Everest (1984) ventures. In 1985, he led a two-man expedition to Matri
and then in 1986 another very lightweight expedition to Satopanth, which in an
unforgiving manner took away the entire team of climbers.
Satopanth today is one of the most well-known and popular
mountains (after Nun possibly) of the Indian Himalaya. It is difficult to get a
booking with the Indian Mountaineering Foundation in a desirable period as
agents tend to pre-book the mountain for their ‘clients’. Western climbers,
especially Germans, seem to have developed a fascination for Satopanth (while
the French have for Nun). This is possibly due to its impressive altitude and
the variety of technical permutations and combinations of varying difficulty,
which the massif has to offer. Many large Indian expeditions regularly climb
Satopanth as part of their Pre-Everest exercise and leave the mountain scathed
and littered in the process[10].
But, to me and my comrades however, it is its peers such as
Dr Mehta and Sujal, make the mountain more interesting and worthy of a climb
and that too in a style and ethos that these climbers stood for. Satopanth killed Dr. Mehta in 1986 and cancer
took away Sujal Mukherjee in 1994. But their legacy lives on to keep inspiring
us.
Approach
Our team united in Delhi on August 28, 2016. After the
routine briefing session at the Indian Mountaineering Foundation we took an
overnight train to Dehradun. Early
morning hours saw us driving past the Dehradun roads and soon we were on a
relatively quiet road to Uttarkashi. We spent an additional day at Uttarkashi.
On that day, part of our team got busy in running around with copies of permits
that we had already obtained from the Indian Mountaineering Foundation and The
Chief Wildlife Warden’s office of Uttarakhand, to deliver at the offices of the
Forest department, Police department, District administration and the list goes
on. Rest of the team however could engage in more productive work of shopping
of food and grocery and packing. On the first day of September, we drove to
Gangotri. The air was finally clean and the heat almost lovable. Our spirits
rose to the thought of the weeks ahead of us.
On September 2, 2016, after more paperwork at the entrance of the
Gangotri National Park we were finally away to the mountains. In three days,
with camps at Bhujbas and Nandanvan we reached Vasuki Tal (4680m) and
established our Base Camp. From the very next morning, i.e. September 5, we
started carrying loads to a suitable Advance Bace Camp site. After 3 days, the
ABC was all supplied and we acclimatised a bit more. The ABC was at an altitude
of 5200m on the lateral moraine of Sundar Bamak. While approaching the ABC I
was reminded of the incident of the missing trekkers of Kalindi (2010) and
showed my friends exactly where and how I found (July 2011) the dead bodies of
the 8 missing (3 trekkers from West Bengal and 5 from Uttarkashi). It was a
silent reminder of how insignificant we are against the fury of nature and
death among other affairs is one of the easiest things to happen.
 |
| Our team having lunch together in Gangotri |
The view of Satopanth massif from Sundar glacier is one of
the most breathtaking views I have ever had in the Indian Himalaya. The scale
and grandeur of Satopanth simply dominates the canvas here. Once one takes the
turn from Chaturangi glacier and drops down to Sundar Bamak, one enters the
royal court of the mighty Satopanth. No human being then will have the power to
take his eye off his majesty or even bat an eyelid when the day is clear and
the mountain is in full view. The
description of the massif however has been given in a more matter of fact
manner by Brig. Ashok Abbey (then Major),
When viewed from the
head of the Sundar valley, Satopanth has a trapezium shaped near horizontal
summit, with a prominent rock band on its north face. The east summit of the
massif is 7075 m while the west summit is 7045 m. The ridge joining both the
summits is almost 500 to 700 m long and runs from west to east, before finally
taking a southeast direction, from a slight kink on the summit ridge. The north
face of the mountain has two prominent ridges, the northeast ridge and the
northwest ridge. The northeast ridge of the mountain, starting from Pt 7075 m
is about 6 km long and peters out at pt 5801 m, which is the northern most
point of the ridge. The ridge separates Suralaya Bamak from the Sundar Bamak.
The northwest ridge is about 2 km long. Emanating from the west summit, the
ridge drops to a col and then rises to a rocky pinnacle (Pt 6010 m), before
joining the Sundar Bamak. The south face of the mountain has the southeast and
the southwest ridges. The south face is bounded by the Swachand Bamak. The
Suralaya Bamak lies to the east of the massif.[11]
 |
| Satopanth and its NE ridge, Photo: Anindya Mukherjee |
The Climb
We had finally shifted to ABC from Vasuki Tal on the 9th
of September and in the next 2 days we now established another camp, bringing
us a bit closer to the beginning of the actual climb of the north-east Ridge.
This camp was approximately 5350m and was located on the true right lateral
moraines of the East Sundar glacier. We found remnants of old camps here. On 12th
September, myself and Mahinder started working on gaining the north–east ridge.
Keeping the East Sundar glacier’s
icefall to our west, and after negotiating the yawning ‘randkluft’ we started
climbing the loose rock step.
From the base of the rock step we fixed 4 coils of static rope and returned to our intermediate camp at 5350m with the news of route to the col (5920m) was now open. Next morning, Chandra and I, volunteered to bring further food and fuel from BC; while Lakpa and Christian did a ferry to the col. On 15th September, Christian and Lakpa moved up to the col on the north-east ridge and set up camp. The very morning of 16th September, saw Christian and Lakpa tackle the north-east ridge.
They went pitch by pitch, belaying each other in places. They moved fast and light and by mid day of 16th September they reached the summit of Satopanth (7075m). The heavily corniced summit ridge of Satopanth (7075m) and Satopanth West was long and the undulations gave false sense of height to the climbers. So they ended up traversing a few humps until they were satisfied of reaching the highest of them all. It took them 7 hours from the col camp to get to the top and another 5 hours to get back to the safety of their tent on the col.
On 17th September, Aloke, Mahinder and Anindya moved up to the col and camped a little below to avoid high wind. The next morning, 18th September, the three climbed to the col (5920m) and climbed the unnamed ice pinnacle (6008m) due north of the col and came back to the intermediate camp the same day.
 |
| ABC in Sundar Bamak, Photo: Anindya Mukherjee |
 |
| The end of the rock step and beginning of the crevassed fields to the col, Photo: Anindya Mukherjee |
From the base of the rock step we fixed 4 coils of static rope and returned to our intermediate camp at 5350m with the news of route to the col (5920m) was now open. Next morning, Chandra and I, volunteered to bring further food and fuel from BC; while Lakpa and Christian did a ferry to the col. On 15th September, Christian and Lakpa moved up to the col on the north-east ridge and set up camp. The very morning of 16th September, saw Christian and Lakpa tackle the north-east ridge.
 |
| Col Camp, photo: Christian Ranke |
 |
| The famous ridge walk, photo: Christian Ranke |
They went pitch by pitch, belaying each other in places. They moved fast and light and by mid day of 16th September they reached the summit of Satopanth (7075m). The heavily corniced summit ridge of Satopanth (7075m) and Satopanth West was long and the undulations gave false sense of height to the climbers. So they ended up traversing a few humps until they were satisfied of reaching the highest of them all. It took them 7 hours from the col camp to get to the top and another 5 hours to get back to the safety of their tent on the col.
 |
| The much talked about ridge of Satopanth, Photo: Christian Ranke |
 |
| The summit of Satopanth with its undualted ridge, photo: Christian Ranke |
 |
| Descending the summit ridge through the broken cornice, photo Christian Ranke |
 |
| Down climbing from the summit ridge. The cornice above was broken by Christian and Lakpa on their way to the top, Photo: Christian Ranke |
On 17th September, Aloke, Mahinder and Anindya moved up to the col and camped a little below to avoid high wind. The next morning, 18th September, the three climbed to the col (5920m) and climbed the unnamed ice pinnacle (6008m) due north of the col and came back to the intermediate camp the same day.
 |
| convenient camp for the second summit team. Satopanth on the right and 6008m on left, photo: Anindya Mukherjee |
The whole team was now united and merry. We had managed to
climb a mighty mountain extremely lightweight and by using minimal support. We
fixed rope only on the rock step. In total 800mts of static rope was fixed. The
formidable north-east ridge was climbed alpine style. In addition to Satopanth,
unnamed peak 6008m was also climbed. Within a span of 10 days (Base to Base)
two summits were climbed. What more can an alpinist want in order to be happy? Mummery’s
comments were now making more sense than ever before.
video clip from the top of 6008m peak
Team
Christian Ranke (Germany), Reinhard Friesinger (Germany),
Rajeev Ranjan, Aloke Kumar Das, Lakpa Sherpa, Sayantan Datta (Liaison Officer),
Anindya Mukherjee , Ratna Bhadaur, Mahinder Adhikari
References:
[1] My
Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus-A.F.Mummery
[2]
‘Wangdi had cut his throat with his knife which, covered with blood, was stuck
in the snow at his side. He told us later that he had seen three men coming to
fetch him, but that, seeing them turn back, he had thought himself abandoned.
He also heard his wife's voice and thought he was dying of thirst. He decided
to end his life as quickly as possible so tried to pierce his heart. Being
unsuccessful he tried to cut his throat. His neck and chest were covered with
dried blood when we found him, but fortunately he had missed the artery and had
only succeeded in making a large gash like a second gaping mouth in the middle
of his throat.’- The Swiss Garwal Expedition, Andre Roch, HJ, Vol-15
[3]
The Swiss Garwal Expedition, Andre Roch, HJ, Vol-15
[4]
Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. The other four sherpas were namely, Ajeeba, Ang Dawa,
Ang Norbu, and Penooree
[5]
The first post-war foreign expedition to the Himalaya in 1947 was Swiss, led by
Andre Roch. I was invited to join the party of five, and it was a revelation to
see the abundance and quality of their equipment and food after the austerity
of the long war years. During the two months I spent with them, our first base
was on the Gangotri glacier when the main summit of Kedarnath peak was climbed,
after which the base was moved to Nandanban on the Chaturangi glacier for the
ascent of Satopanth. We had the entire region to ourselves. –The Early Years,
Trevor Braham, HJ, Vol-64
[6]
Satopanth-the Mountain of Good Faith, Major Ashok Abbey, HJ, Vol-54
[7]
Satopanth Expedition-1974, Biren Sarkar, Himalayan Mountaineering Journal,
Vol-IX, P-128
[8]
Dr. Minoo Mehta, Bharat Manghre, Nandu Page and Nar Bahadur died while
attempting the mountain by its northwest ridge route
[9]
Indian Mountaineer, Spring’87, Number-19,p-174
[10]
The author has direct experience and photographic evidence to prove this point
[11]
Satopanth-The Mountain of Good Faith- Major Ashok Abbey, HJ, vol-54