Before our attempt on Goromity (as reported elsewhere in this section), Hitoshi Onodera and I traveled to Kangding, en route to the Gongkala Shan, where we had a permit from the Sichuan Mountaineering Association for Kawarani (I, 5,992m; II 5,928m). However, the Deputy Director of the Sports Administrative Department, a senior official in the Ganzi Tibet Autonomous Region, refused to let us continue, stating that Kawarani was holy to Tibetans. The same problem was met by British expeditions in 2005 and 2007. We moved to the northern end of the Chola Shan, where we had information that there was an unclimbed massif called Polujab, south of Zhogchen Monastery. (A preliminary reconnaissance of these mountains had been made in 2000 by Tom Nakamura, who spent three days at the monastery) Onodera and two companions explored from the east, while another two companions and I approached from the west. Locals explained that the highest peak was named Sejong. We took photos of peaks in this massif for future attempts, concluding that the highest is Sejong I (5,816+m, not marked on the Chinese map), the second highest Sejong II (5,816m, southwest of Sejong I and marked on the map), the third highest Nobuyugya (5,594m, north of Sejong I, also marked on map), and the fourth Polujab (5,472m, west of Sejong II, marked on Chinese map).

Takao Ohe, Japan, supplied by Tamotsu Nakamura