Our expedition, jointly organized by the Himalayan Club and Chakram Hikers, uncovered a hidden treasure of unclimbed peaks in the Thangman Lungpa, located in the Saser Muztagh, the easternmost subrange of the Karakoram. In August, Sudeep Barve, Monesh Devjani, Mahesh Kendurkar, Vineeta Muni, Kamlesh Venugopal, and I visited this unexplored valley, just off the famous Nubra Valley trade route.

From Leh, we crossed the Khardung La into the Nubra, traveled north, then took the military road eastward from Sasoma, over the dramatic Tulum Puti La, and farther up the road leading toward Saser La, before shortly reaching the entrance to the Thangman Lungpa.

Base camp was established at 5,100m (34°54.851’N, 77°37.031’E). From there, we found a route onto the north branch of the Thangman Glacier, where we discovered several unclimbed peaks above 6,000m. High camps were established on the glacier at 5,600m (34°55.259’N, 77°38.812E) and at 5,800m (34°56.348’N, 77°39.227’E).

On August 13, Mahesh, Sudeep, Vineeta, and I, along with Phuphu Dorji, Pemba Sherpa, and Samgyal Sherpa, made the first ascent of Peak 6,075m (34°56’5.92”N, 77°39’26.81”E) via the west face. To mark our friendship on this joint expedition, where some members were climbing together for the first time, we named the mountain Dzashez Kangri (Friendship Peak). Fresh snow from storms that had devastated the region earlier made the climbing difficult. We fixed 100m of rope to secure a safe return over crevasses hidden by the soft snow. On top, we were rewarded with views southeast to the Saser Kangri group, the highest peaks in the region.

A few days later, Sudeep, Samgyal, and Pemba made the first ascent of Peak 6,207m at 34°56’55.33”N, 77°39’9.20”E. Climbing from the south, they fixed 400m of rope to safeguard access to the summit ridge. They named the peak Manlung Kangri, since it overlooks the Manlung Glacier to its north.

—Divyesh Muni, India