Kalabaland Glacier Region. The pre-monsoon expedition to the Kalabaland Glacier commemorated the tenth anniversary of the Mountaineering Club of the Students’ Gymkhana, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. The glacier lies in the remote northeastern comer of the Kumaon Himalaya on the borders of Tibet and Nepal. The glacier descends from the northwest. Towards the south, it meets the Yanchar Glacier and both swing southwest to form a smaller glacier called Sankalpa. The highest peak is Chiring We (6559 meters, 21,520 feet; 30°26'N, 80°18'E). There is a major icefall toward the head of the glacier, about 1.5 kms in length and from 16,000 to 19,000 feet. At the head of the glacier above the icefall, there is an amphitheater of peaks. Going from left to right the peaks are Unnamed I, Sankalpa, Unnamed II, Kalabaland Dhura, Unnamed III, Bamba Dhura and Chiring We. Below the icefall on the west flank is Burphu Dhura and on the east flank is Suli-Top. On the west face of Suli-Top, a rock tower projects. We started the approach from Bageshwar on May 7 and reached Ralam (12,000 feet) on the 11th. We hired 38 porters and 40 goats for the approach. The weather was bad from May 11 to 16 and we stayed at Ralam. Base Camp was established at 13,500 feet on May 19 just below the junction of the Kalabaland and Yanchar Glaciers. Advance Base Camp was set up at 15,500 feet on May 20 about 1.5 kms below the icefall. Camp I at 16,200 feet was placed on May 22 near the eastern base of the icefall, Camp II at 17,400 feet on May 25 below Unnamed I and Camp III at 19,200 feet on May 27 towards the eastern side of the top snowfield. We made the following climbs: Sankalpa (5928 meters, 19,450 feet) from Camp II via northeast face by Ajit Shelat, Ajei Gopal on May 26 and by Mahesh Bapaye, Dr. Vinay Kulkami, porter Premsung Rawat on May 30; Rock Tower (5599 meters, 18,370 feet) from Advance Base via northwest ridge to a steep gully on the north and up west slope by Shrikrishna Karkare, Nitin Valame on May 25 and 26; Bamba Dhura (6334 meters, 20,780 feet) from Camp III via 19.500- foot col between Bamba Dhura and Chiring We and up southeast ridge by Gopal, Allwyn Carvalho, Sherpas Kami and Migma on June 4; Kalabaland Dhura (6105 meters, 20,030 feet) from Camp III via east ridge by Ashish Desphande, Shelat on June 6; Unnamed II (19,685 feet, 6000 meters), named by us Khadga Dhura, first ascent, from Camp III via east ridge by Gopal, Carvalho on June 6 and by Nitin Anturkar, Amit Bhargava, Premsing on June 7; Unnamed I (18,865 feet, 5750 meters), named by us Tridhar, first ascent, from Camp II via east-face gully by Rahul Vora and me on June 7 and by Karkare, porter Jagveersing Negi on June 8; and Unnamed III (19,685 feet, 6000 meters), named by us Uttar Dhura, first ascent, from Camp III via 19.500- foot Kalabaland Dhura-Utter Dhura col and southwest ridge by Desphande, Nitin Dhond on June 7. We attempted Chiring We, climbing through the Chiring We-Bamba Dhura col and to 20,300 feet on the west ridge, where equipment was dumped for the next day’s attempt. The attempt was postponed due to bad weather. Later the route was found to have been swept by an avalanche and the attempt was abandoned.

Vasant Lima ye, Indian Institute of Technology