Asia, India—Garhwal, Shivling Attempt

Publication Year: 1989.

Shivling Attempt. Micael Sundberg had climbed before in Tibet and I, in India and Nepal. Mikael Eriksson, Bogi Palfay and Mats Almlöf had had no earlier Himalayan experience. We did not try the intended steep rocky northeast face because of much snow and difficulties. We turned to the first-ascent route instead. After establishing Base Camp at Topovan at 4300 meters on April 17, we carried equipment to the start of the south ridge, where on April 24 we placed a high camp at 5600 meters. From that point, the route looked straight-forward and not too hard technically. It looked more dangerous than hard with a huge sérac halfway up. A few days later Sundberg and I were lucky to survive a big ice avalanche when parts of the sérac broke off. The tiny tent was covered with snow, but the masses of ice passed the camp by a few meters. On April 27, Sundberg and I climbed to 5900 meters, fixing rope before we descended to bring up more gear. However, at this stage some of the members were losing interest in the climb. I set out on my own and spent two lonely nights in the high camp. None of the others arrived and so I descended and the climb was abandoned.

Kenneth Westman, Östersund Klätter Klub, Sweden