Asia, China, Molamenqing

Publication Year: 1982.

Molamenqinq. Our expedition consisted of Warwick Anderson, Bruce Clark, Dick Price, Ron McLeod, Paul Chapman, Tony Charlton, Bruce Farmer, Mal Lapwood, Geoff Gabites, Ben Noble and me. We were in the mountains from April 9 to June 2. Our camps were as follows: Base Camp, 17,400 feet; Advanced Base, 18,375 feet; Camps I, II, III, IV and V at 19,000, 21,325, 22,300, 23,950 and 23,300 feet respectively. Our route took us via the Yambukangala Glacier to the east of Xixabangma (Shisha Pangma), across the face of Xixabangma between the north face and the north peak, across snowfields to the west of Xixabangma to Molamenqinq. The summit (7703 meters, 25,273 feet) was reached by Farmer and Price on May 14, by Anderson and McLeod on May 16 and by Gabites, Clark, Chapman and Charlton on May 20. We originally intended to climb the north ridge, but its approaches were threatened by ice cliffs. We opted for the safer route across the north of Xixabangma. The route was of no great technical difficulty but logistics were stretched as we carried all our own material. Distances between camps were long. We had frequent afternoon storms and two or three major blows. Anderson suffered frostbite and has lost the tips of several toes and McLeod had a fractured foot.

Austin Brookes, New Zealand Alpine Club