Asia, India, Garhwal - Kumaon, Suitilla, Attempt

Publication Year: 1998.

Suitilla, Attempt. A five-member Sahyagiri Trekkers expedition from Mumbai, led by Makarand Pendse, attempted Suitilla (6373m), an unclimbed peak in the eastern Kumaon that rises from the Yangchar Glacier (near the Kalabaland Glacier and Ralam Pass). The five-day approach march from Munsiary took almost two weeks due to landslides, bad weather and porter desertion. Base camp was set up (ahead of the village of Ralam) on the Yangchar glacier on September 14. They decided to attempt the peak from the southwest. An advance base camp was set up below the southern icefall on September 18. For the next six days, they opened the route through the 610-meter icefall to the base of the southwest rib in heavy snowfall. The high point (5800m), which was the proposed site of Camp II, was reached on September 27, but the attempt was abandoned due to another long spell of bad weather.

Harish Kapadia, Honorary Editor, The Himalayan Journal