Kulu Pumori and Shigri Parbat. A 44-man expedition from the Indian Border Security Force climbed both of these peaks. Three transit camps were placed on the Bara Shigri Glacier and Advance Base at Concordia at 4900 meters. There they split into two groups. On August 14, deputy leader S.C. Negi, Constables S. Gombu, Jumma Khan, Bim Sen, Shiromani Singh, Lance Naik Diwan Singh, Havildar Naresh Singh and Assistant Commandant S.D. Thomas reached the summit of Kulu Pumori (6553 meters, 21,500 feet) from a high camp at 6065 meters on the southwest face. This mountain was first climbed by R.G. Pettigrew’s British party. Negi and Thomas then joined the group on Shigri Parbat, which had established Camp III at 5320 meters. The route from Camps II to III had been difficult with crevasses and hanging glaciers. Above Camp III, they fixed 500 meters of rope to get up an ice wall which ended only 30 meters below the summit. On August 21, Negi, Thomas, Naiks T.R. Angdoo, T. Dorje and Darshan Singh, Lance Naik Jamuna Prasad, Constables Bal Bahadur, Suresh Kumar and S. Lotus climbed to the top of Shigri Parbat (6526 meters, 21,410 feet). Another team on August 22 was driven back by a blizzard. The mountain was first climbed in 1961 by Irish and British.

Kamal K. Guha, Editor, Himavanta, India