Asia, India, Ladakh, Meru, Attempt

Publication Year: 1999.

Meru, Attempt. It was reported that Nick Bullock, Julian Cartwright, Jamie Fisher and Owain Jones (all U.K.) attempted the east face of the Central Summit (ca. 6500m) of Meru in September, 1997. They were plagued by bad weather, but managed to make two attempts. The first brought them over Scottish 5 terrain to a bivy at the start of the steep granite ridge. They fixed 60 meters of rope up the ridge crest the next day before a storm forced a retreat. Jones opted out of the next attempt, which saw the team regain their bivouac site. One of Cartwright’s crampons snapped en route, but they carried on the next day, nearly reaching the second bivy before Cartwright’s other crampon snapped as well. Undaunted, Bullock and Cartwright fixed ropes the next day on the granite ridge to the point where it merges into the steep upper fin. From there, they moved across steep snow to an ice comer. The next day, Fisher led a hard ice pitch into the comer before it began to snow. The three bivied at ca. 6150 meters next to the fin. The next morning, Cartwright was moving across the fixed rope to the comer when one of the anchors pulled, sending him for a 12-meter fall. The three then decided to retreat. (High Mountain Sports 187)