Lahaul, Ache and Chemma

India
Climb Year: N/A. Publication Year: 2012.

The Tokai section of the Japanese Alpine Club (JAC Tokai) has made 11 expeditions to the Indian Himalaya since 1988, mainly in Ladakh, Lahaul, and Spiti, where they have climbed 15 summits over 6,000m. The 10th, in 2009, planned to attempt the well-known Karcha Parvat (6,271m), in Lahaul, but found the ridge completely snow-free, so they would have been unable to melt water at camps. Instead they turned to an unnamed 6,066m peak to the south, in the upper Karcha Nala, establishing Camp 1 on July 13 at 4,700m and Camp 2 four days later at 5,200m, on what they called the C Glacier. Four main glaciers rise south from the Karcha River; they have tentatively been designated, from east to west, A, B, C, and D. The headwaters of A Glacier include Peaks 6,060m and 5,968m. B Glacier has Peak 6,105m, C has Peaks 6,066m and 5,945m, and D has Peak 6,010m. D is the largest glacier, and its head forms the watershed with the Lower Bara Shigri Glacier.

On July 19 Naoyuki Adachi (66), Ritusya Matsubara (75), and climbing leader Tsuneo Suzuki (74), with four high-altitude porters, moved south up C Glacier toward the summit. Adachi, Suzuki, and a porter gave up at 5,400m, due to deep snow, but the rest continued and reached the top in early afternoon. They called the peak Ache, which means “daughter” in Lahaul dialect. [This ascent was briefly mentioned in AAJ 2010, where a proposal was noted to call the peak Lower Karcha Parvat.]

The 11th JAC Tokai expedition took place in July and August 2011, with the aim of climbing Peak 6,150m, at the head of B Glacier. The team

comprised Hitoshi Ishii (68), Katsumi Kuze, (63), Yutaka Shinohara (72), and me (60) as leader. From a 4,400m base camp in the Karcha Nala we established Camp 1 at 4,700m, Camp 2 on B Glacier at 5,250m, and Camp 3 near the head of the glacier at 5,550m. We carried oxygen cylinders for medical safety. On August 9 all members reached the summit via the northeast face and ridge. We named the peak Chemma (officially recognized by the IMF).

– Kazuo Hoshi, JAC, Japan, provided by Tamotsu Nakamura



Media Gallery