Asia, Nepal, Singuchuli, East Face

Publication Year: 1996.

Singuchuli, East Face. Until our visit, the east face of Singuchuli remained unclimbed. The face is 1450 meters high with an average angle of approximately 65°, and characterized by narrow couloirs, especially in upper part of the face. Over the east face hang huge seracs. We set up base- camp at approximately 4250 meters on the right moraine of West Annapurna Glacier. Ziga Petric and I started the ascent on October 6 at 9 p.m. from the tent we had on the glacier (5000 meters). At 9:30 p.m.we started to climb the east face (5050 meters). We proceeded straight into the real face and climbed continuously during the night until 6:30 a.m. on October 7. The face became steeper and steeper (70°), and the last three pitches we belayed. The climbing was mostly mixed, 80° ice and grade IV rock. We rested and cooked until 11:30 a.m. and then proceeded to climb. The last three pitches were the hardest: mixed climbing with some pure rock passages (90°) and a very unstable ridge. We climbed in pure alpine-style. All together we belayed just six pitches; the rest we soloed. We were on the top of Singuchuli (6501 meters) at 3 p.m., waited half an hour for pictures and at 3:30 p.m. started the descent. We rappelled the line of ascent. We rappelled three-quarters of the face and the last quarter we climbed down freely. At 8:30 p.m. we were at our tent on the glacier. The next day, October 8, we descended to basecamp. We named the route Erun's Route and graded it VI+ 90°.

Bojan Pockar, Planinska zveza Slovenije