In the autumn, I led an expedition to the Hidden Valley, north of Dhaulagiri, to attempt the standard route up the north ridge of 6,920m Tukuche. However, very low temperatures and wind at altitude forced us to abandon our ascent. On the opposite (north) side of the valley, east of the main peaks of the Mukot and Hongde Himals, lies a collection of smaller, little-known, and unnamed mountains. (Some of these likely have had unrecorded ascents.) This small massif is worth a visit, and its snow cover at the end of the autumn would make it very suitable for skiing. We completed an aesthetic six-day crossing.

After placing Camp 1 on the north side of the valley, Anil Rai, Jan De Cooman, Isabelle Guillaume, Bernard Meurin, Kin Mimouni, Dipen Nupa, Sonam Sherpa, Hugues de Varax, and I climbed north on October 12 to reach a 6,339m summit that we named Sanu Phurba (28°49’43.47”N, 83°30’57.56”E). Our Camp 2 was atop this summit.

The next day, in excellent weather, Sonam and Kin, Dipen and Jan, and Isabelle and I headed north to a 6,263m col, from which we ascended the south ridge of the beautiful snow pyramid of Peak 6,419m (28°50’17.05”N, 83°30’51.19”E), which we named Phurba Kang. We returned to Camp 2 to spend the night.

On the morning of the 14th, Kin and Sonam, and Isabelle and I set off with a single tent to traverse peaks to the east, which we collectively called Rigsum Gompo. We first headed north, then east, to reach Peak 6,292m, named Chenresig. This was not straightforward and took longer than expected, but the continuation east involved crossing only large snow domes. We traversed Manjushri (6,264m), climbed a couple of years earlier by Isabelle and Dipen, then reached a pass before the last summit, where we made Camp 3. The next day, we crossed over Peak 6,072m and then made our way south down snow slopes to Hidden Valley and base camp.

— Paulo Grobel, France