Asia, India—Garhwal, Kamet and Abi Gamin

Publication Year: 1990.

Kamet and Abi Gamin. The climbers of our expedition were Miss Bachendri Pal, leader, Pritam Bhowmik, Robindra Kumar Bhuyan, Miss Manika Biswas, Mala Honati, Nabender Singh, Madan Singh Gosain, Parvaz Kapadia, Rajendra Singh Pal, Nirmal Pandey, A.K. Mehta, Utpal Sorkar, Miss Sumita Roy, Anil Thakur and I. Base Camp was set up at Vasundhara Tal near the Raikana Glacier at 15,500 feet on August 29. Five more camps were established, the highest in Meade’s Col at 23,500 feet. The entire route on the East Kamet Glacier was hazardous and the last stages took a heavy toll of climbers. Rajendra Singh Pal contracted high fever, while Nabender Singh had to return because of altitude sickness. Anil Thakur sacrificed his chances for the summit in order to escort them down. Seven climbers were caught by an avalanche while ferrying loads to Camp III but were able to escape. A first summit attempt on Kamet on September 17 failed 500 feet short of the summit. On September 19, Madan Singh, Rabindra Kumar Bhuyan, Utpal Sorkar, Pasang Namgyal and Wangchu Sherpa climbed to the summit of Kamet (7756 meters, 25,447 feet). On September 20, Nirmal Pandey and I climbed Abi Gamin (7355 meters, 24,130 feet).

Avinash Deoskar, Jamshedpur, India