To acclimatize for our main objective, Takayasu Semba and I first attempted Laila Peak. We arrived in early June to find the temperature—and consequently the avalanche danger—far too high. We turned around at 5,400m.

After moving by vehicle to Kande, we spent two days trekking up the Kande Valley to a base camp at 4,430m below Bondit Peak. This camp was next to the glacier, and as we had no accurate map of the area, we simply went up and looked for a route to access the northeast spur. We started up the glacier, but the snow was soft and our pace was slow. Sometimes we sank to the knees, and many times the route was blocked by crevasses.

We climbed alpine style but fixed one 20–30m section of rope at a dangerous crevasse crossing. We made Camp 1 at 5,100m, above the main crevassed section, and then climbed the ridge above to around 5,500m, where we found the spur did not lead directly to the summit. We descended to 5,400m and pitched our tent, expecting to reach the top by a slightly different line next day. Unfortunately, the weather turned bad during the night. We waited until 6 a.m., but by then more than 30cm of snow had fallen and there was a heightened risk of avalanche, so we descended. We feel that if there is much snow, anywhere on the upper part of this mountain will be dangerous.

— Shinji Tamura, Switzerland

Editor’s Note: Bondit (formerly Muntin) Peak is probably a little less than 6,000m in altitude and situated at 35°20'29.06"N, 76°16'27.59"E. In 2019, a team comprised primarily of New Zealanders tried to access both the northeast spur and north spur but were unsuccessful (AAJ 2020).