Unnamed Peak Ca 6,460m, South-Southwest Ridge

China, Daxue Shan
Author: Marcos Costa and Bruce Normand. Climb Year: 2014. Publication Year: 2015.

After climbing Haizi Shan, we headed to the southwest side of the Minya Konka Range with Garrett Bradley. A number of southern outliers of Minya Konka (Gongga Shan, 7,556m) remain unclimbed. From the road end at 2,700m, the approach to these peaks is a steep and mostly trail-free hike up a riverbed and old moraines to the foot of a glacier beneath the south face of what we originally thought was the Tai Shan massif. After hiking for two days, February 2 and 3, we camped below a large boulder that protected us from the rockfall we witnessed during our approach.

On the 4th we aborted a summit attempt at 6,200m due to high winds. On the morning of the 6th, the winds had calmed substantially and we followed the south-southwest ridge on steep snow and 40°–50° blue ice all the way to the summit. The descent proved challenging as the winds picked up and we had to brace ourselves many times against gusts exceeding 50 mph.

The map in our possession showed this virgin summit to be Tai Shan (6,468m), although we were clearly on a west top, with the true summit being an east top 5–10m higher and 500– 700m along the ridge. In later correspondence with Gregor Duerrenberger, a member of the 1981 Swiss expedition that climbed several peaks here, he confirmed that Tai Shan (6,410m) is a peak farther south along the ridge, which on later maps has mistakenly been designated Jinyin Shan. The Swiss climbed from the Hailougou/Hailoko Valley to the east, summiting the true Tai Shan by the northwest ridge.

Marcos Costa and Bruce Normand, China



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