Saser Kangri Attempt. Our Franco-Indian expedition jointly led by K.C. Mehra and me was never really able to make an attempt on Saser Kangri. The reason doubtless was the undeclared war in the Siachen region between India and Pakistan. We French were not informed of this, or that we were permitted to try the mountain only on its western side, until we reached Leh. We could not approach the more reasonable eastern side as we had planned. We went to Panamik and from there carried on two reconnaissances to the Phukpoche and Panamik Glaciers. The routes from the west are such that no expedition could reasonably expect to reach the summit: a difficult gorge, a closed cirque, a 2000-meter-high face continually swept by ice avalanches that fall from the edge of the plateau and finally a 6-kilometer ridge above 7000 meters which leads to the summit. Blocked as we were by the military, we had no choice but to give up.

Bernard Pujo, Club Alpin Français