Kamil, thanks for the correction, my bad.
Lingtren? I just re-read my post above and I wrote it a bit misleading. Shipton's bio says they climbed peaks near Lingtren, but doesn't mention climbing Lingtren itself. But I'd always thought they did, but I didn't go into it too much. It does say they went to the col between Lingtren and Pumori, which would lead to the west ridge, which looks like the easiest way up. The N face and NE ridge are fairly steep ice. Note that there is a smaller easier peak to the west called 'Xi Lingtren', as well
I always assumed Loretan climbed Guangming Peak and Changzheng Peak, as they are the closest to where they would have camped in 1986, but I really don't know. Americans also climbed Changzheng(?) in the 90s.
Bruno, before, you mentioned the name Tseringma. This is a minor peak in the Rolwaling but there was confusion over it with regard to Gauri Sankar and Kang Nachugo. As a result, that was one reason a few people were surprised when Joe Puryear and Dave Gottlieb claimed the FA of KN. Lots of people just assumed it had been climbed - regardless of the Tseringma issue - and I had some idea it was climbed by Japanese. But there seems no record of a previous ascent, so they got it, and good on them because it is a major peak. I had a bit of correspondence with Joe just before he died, first about another big unclimbed peak
and then with regard to the Panbuk/SS issue and he was quite worked up about it. We also discussed, with EJ, their ascent on Trakargo, as there were rumours it had been already climbed (illegally) and there was mention of an Italian ascent in an old book. It never got sorted out before he died. There has been quite a bit of unauthorised climbing in the Rolwaling over the years, including a solo attempt on Menlungtse in the early 80s (late 70s?).
There are some peaks, like Tutse / Peak 6 that are officially unclimbed but it's common knowledge that they were climbed at least once over the years by people from Makalu BC. Pethangtse and ChoPolu also had unauthorised ascents (Nils Bohigas 1984).
Because there was so much activity in the Afghan Hindu Kush in the 60s & 70s, there are no major unclimbed peaks there, and plenty of peaks have a couple of routes. What would be cool would be for someone to go repeat the NE face of Koh-e-Bandaka, which is west of the main range. It's the most prominent(?) mountain in the HK and that face was the first big climb for alpine legends Alex McIntyre and Voytek Kurtyka.
In Nepal right now the crazy thing is it is actually cheaper, and less hassle, for a couple of people to go - legally - to an easy unclimbed peak in Mustang or the Damodar than it is for those two people to go to a crowded 'Trekking Peak' like Island Peak or Mera.
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 1:40 pm
