Kulu. In the fall of 1963 I was "guest instructor” at the Western Himalayan Mountaineering Institute at Manali, Kulu in the Punjab. During the first month-long course, in September, I climbed solo a previously unclimbed peak of c. 18,000 feet, which was intended as a training climb but no others reached the summit, though they were on the mountain at the same time and got to a saddle to the west. An adjacent peak a half-mile to the east was, on the same day, soloed by Sherpa Pa Norbu, also intended as a training climb. These peaks lie on the Kulu-Lahul divide on a spur ridge southeast from the larger peaks Mukar Beh and Shikar Beh (called "Snowy Peak M” and "Gundla Peak” in Colonel Bruce’s Kulu and Lahoul). The ridge on which these peaks lie continues to the east and descends eventually to Rohtang Pass. The climbs were straightforward and easy from the Base Camp of 13,000 feet in the Vyaskund valley. The Kulu valley is very accessible and is becoming popular for small climbing parties.

Steven R. Miller, unattached