Asia, India—Garhwal, Bhrigupanth, West Buttress

Publication Year: 1988.

Bhrigupanth, West Buttress. In September, I led an expedition to the Kedar valley of the Gangotri region. From September 18 to 20, Zbigniew Kroskiewicz and I made a new route, the west buttress of Bhrigupanth (6772 meters, 22,220 feet). The route more or less followed the crest of the buttress till the last great upswing of the face. Because of rotten rock and rockfall, we veered to the right onto the south face. The climb gained 1800 vertical meters. It had ten pitches of UIAA IV to V, two of VI-, ice of 45°. Up to the beginning of the greater difficulties, in the first 500 meters, we found old fixed ropes and then no more signs of any previous attempt. We descended the normal route. Tomasz Kopys and Zbigniew Skierski climbed 800 meters of the east face of Thalay Sagar (VI, A2). Unfortunately they did not complete the route to the summit because one of the climbers had a fall. They descended their ascent route. Michal Nowski and Jerzy Barszczewski also climbed Bhrigupanth by the normal route. While we were in the Kedar valley from September 3 to October 3, the weather was beautiful and sunny.

Ryszard Kolakowski, Klub Wysokogórski Warszawa, Poland