In August 2018, I joined a small expedition to northwest Spiti led by Dr. Kallol Das from the Kolkata section of the Himalayan Club. The objective was to introduce beginners to the craft of self-reliant Himalayan climbing. We chose the Suvita Lungpa basin after reading Arun Samant’s detailed reports from his 1994 expedition.

The Suvita Lungpa basin is mainly formed by four unnamed glaciers (known as I, II, III, and IV), which merge to form the Suvita Nala, flowing north to meet the Spiti River near Losar. In 1994, Samant’s team climbed a number of peaks at the heads of these glaciers, including Larimo (5,995m) and Num Themga (6,024m) at the head of Glacier I (see AAJ 1995).

On August 19, we established base camp at 4,500m (32°24'16.97''N, 77°45' 43.76''E), and later a high camp at 5,100m on Glacier I. On the 23rd, Partha Das and I left this camp for Gyundi Pass (5,700m) and the second ascent of Larimo via its south ridge, the route taken by Samant’s team in 1994. We climbed alpine style, without employing high-altitude support above base camp. A gentle snow and ice slope, climbed in crampons, led to the windy pass. Just under one hour later, we had negotiated the fine gravel and dry soil of Larimo's south ridge and were standing on its summit, where our altimeter read 5,874m.

We immediately noticed that the next peak to the north, an unnamed peak of map height 6,015m, was not too distant and connected by a straightforward ridge. While Partha remained, I went for it and soon was on top, where my altimeter read 6,005m. As far as I can ascertain, this was the first ascent. The following month, I repeated the same ascent on a clear and almost windless day with Jack Bergin, Alan Tees (both from Ireland), and Pasang Putar Sherpa. The difficulty was thought to be AD.

Note: On the Leomann map to the region, Larimo is incorrectly marked as Larimo II, and Peak 6,015m as Larimo I.

– Anindya Mukherjee, India