British Women’s Himalayan Expedition, Kishtwar Himal. Our party included Mrs. Brede Arkless, Mrs. Janet Rogers, Mrs. Audrey Whillans, and me as leader, British; Miss Mary Anne Alburger, American; and Mrs. Shashi Kanta, Indian Liaison officer. We were in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, northeast of Kishtwar, which we left for a five-day approach march to establish Base Camp on May 18 at 12,000 feet at Sarbal in the Kiar Nullah at the foot of the Prul Glacier. Our aim was to attempt several unclimbed and unnamed peaks on the north side of the valley. On May 19 three of us went to 14,500 feet and decided on the position of three camps from which we hoped to be able to climb four 17,000 to 20,000-foot summits. The three camps were set up on a snow and rock ridge, which dropped to a glacier between Camps II and III. Camp III at 17,000 feet was established on May 22 and Brede Arkless and I spent the night there, hoping for a summit the next day but we were forced back to Base by bad weather which lasted for several days. Brede Arkless, Janet Rogers and I were back at Camp III by the 27th and on the 28th climbed an unnamed peak of 17,520 feet, following a line directly up a steep rock face, where there were route-finding problems and climbing up to a very difficult standard. We descended the easier west ridge and traversed back under the face to Camp III. On the 29th Brede and I left camp at 3:30 A.M., dropping 500 feet on the glacier east of the rock peak, crossed the glacier for a mile and then went directly up a steep snow slope to a snow ridge. Though the angle continued steep the whole way, the snow was perfect for cramponing. We reached the 18,390-foot summit at seven o’clock. From there it was obvious that the other climbs we hoped to do from Camp III would require further camps and were more difficult than anticipated. We dismantled the camps and made plans to attempt a 20,971-foot peak farther east. We had reached Camp II at 17,000 feet on the new objective when the news of Ian Clough’s death reached us and the climb was abandoned.

Niki Clough, unaffiliated