Tengi Ragi Tau, south ridge, attempt

Asia, Nepal, Rolwaling Himal
Author: Jordi Corominas. Climb Year: N/A. Publication Year: 2010.

Oriol Baro and I arrived in Nepal on September 11 without firm plans, only pictures in the pocket. We acclimatized in the Khumbu, ascending the trekking peak Parchamo (6,279m). From here we saw an interesting wall; the south face of Tengi Ragi Tau (6,938m), which rises from the Tesi Laptsa pass (5,750m) on the well-known trekking route from Khumbu to Rolwaling. The weather was generally bad, so we made our base at a lodge in Thame (3,800m). Every time the sun came out, we had to climb nearly 2,000m to reach the foot of the face. We established a camp on the Khumbu side of the pass at 5,600m. To reach the start of the route, we crossed the pass and descended 100m on the west side, before traversing snow shelves into the base of a large couloir rising back right to the crest of the south ridge. During our first attempt, at the beginning of October, we left a rope fixed on a difficult rock pitch at 6,000m. Our final attempt took place from October 10 to 11, with a bivouac at 6,300m. We reached 6,600m on the south foresummit, after climbing 1,000m, with difficulties of ED V/M5 A1. Above, a snow ridge led to the main summit, but the weather was freezing, and my partner especially was suffering from cold feet, so we retreated. We made 20 rappels using 70m ropes and reached camp the same day.



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