Trek and Climb with RAJA

I am working on our expedition calendar for 2022. It is going to be an interesting calendar with a diverse choice of regions, seasons, grades and duration. I am pretty confident that we will have the full calendar ready by the middle of November. As an experiment, ( a very exciting one for me) I am going to offer Hiking and Climbing in Kenya and Tanzania in 2022 . I hiked Kilimanajro back in 2005, climbed in the Rwenzoris (Uganda) in 2015 and climbed Nelion, Mt Kenya in early 2020. It would be wonderful to go back to Africa and guide a team there. In the Indian Himalaya, our calendar will have a range of expeditions to choose from with a choice for every moutaineering enthusiast- from the beginner to the more experienced. The Indian Himalaya is open and travelling across the Himalayan states is back to normal . Whether you are interested in climbing some of the most iconic mountains of the Indian Himalaya or would rather engage in some exploratory mountaineering- I welcome you to the I...

Given the accumulated experience of Covid cases in outdoors from all over the world, it is possible to make rational risk assessments and provide mitigation guidance to make our sports safer from the COVID-19 point of view. Here is the link to the recent podcast where we discuss the subject in detail:    Mountaineering & Trekking in the Pandemic Era

 Surrounded by Ladakh's towering peaks and an alien desolation of a landscape, a band of three had just joined forces. With an unknown valley ahead and an unscaled mountain in sight, this curious company of two ladakhis and one bengali (2L1B) -- a musician, an aspiring mountain filmmaker and a seasoned climber-- were setting a plan afoot. The goal was to push a blitz attempt on an unnamed 6000m summit, true to the essence of an alpine style climb. Treading lightly on the terrain, with the bare minimum of necessities, expenses and impact on the surroundings, the project had had to be an exercise in precise and economic execution of the alpine craft. The team went strong with the odds in their favour upto the final camp, the top within the reach of but a few more hours' worth of toil. It was just then that the skies were besieged by a fierce, battering snow storm. The onslaught of wind and snow seemed to get harsher by the hour, as frustration from the jeopardized ascent turned t...

View from our ABC in 2016. Unnamed and unclimbed 5000m peaks in the background.  Background In October-November 2014 [i] , led by Alan Tees, the past President of Mountaineering Ireland, our party was the first team to complete the traverse of the Zumthul Phuk Chu gorge as envisioned by John Claude White in 1891. In the end, the 2014 expedition came back home with first ascents of Brother Tees Col (5250m) and One Hand Peak (5100m). The real discovery of the 2014 expedition was however, the massive potential of climbing hitherto unclimbed peaks and passes in a virtually unknown territory hidden in close quarters of the mighty Kangchenjunga. A brief report of the 2014 expedition can be found here:  Zumthul Phuk Expedition 2014   Expedition Summary 2016 In October-November 2016, led by Jack Bergin, a team of eight climbers and two support members entered Zumthul Phuk glacier once again. They established their Base Camp in the same place as in 2014 and...

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...

Two Peaks, Two Passes in Two Weeks Fluted Peak 6139. A 1994 photo by Arun Samant. Image Courtesy: The Himalayan Journal Summary: In July 2017, a team of experienced mountaineers and expedition guides of Adventure Mania invites aspiring climbers to participate and climb with them in the Losar valley where over 14 peaks are over 5900m. In this trip however, we plan to climb two major mountains, namely Larimo (5995m) and Fluted Peak (6139m) and also climb two passes in the process: Gyundi Pass (5700m) and Losar Pass (5715m). The itinerary is built in a way so that the climber can acclimatise well and enjoy the expedition thoroughly and yet the trip ends within a comfortable time frame of just 2 weeks ex Manali.  The Mountains : Fluted Peak 6139m and Larimo 5995m Location : North West Spiti, Himachal Pradesh, Losar Valley, Catchments of the Suvita Nala Difficulty : The climbs are from Basic snow & ice to mixed rock and ice climb. Fairly interesting a...