From 4th September to 4th October Andrej Erceg (Slo) and I (there was three of us at the beginning) went on a climbing expedition to India.
Miyar valley lies on the north part of the Himachal Pradesh of the indian Himalayas. All around there is high granite walls, many of them still unclimbed. Our goal was to climb as many climbs as possible and also complete a number of first ascents.
There were a lot of inconveniences at the beginning of trip but despite this it turned out to be one of my most beautiful expeditions.
The base camp was idyllic. For one week we shared it with some Austrians climbers, after that we were completely alone. After some acclimatization at 4950m we began with our climbs beginning with climbing some easy routes on Toro Peak.
After some bad snowy weather we established our ABC at 4700m.
The next day in a cold sunshine we climbed a new route quite easy (around VI-) on Masala Peak 5650m a.s.l. and 900m high. Some easier parts we soloed so we could be faster.
The day after we thought that we were climbing a new route, but on the second tower we discovered a sling. It was a really enjoyable route on nice granite 5.300 m a.s.l. and 550m high on Premsingh Peak (VII+/ VII).
The next day we expected this to be a rest day but the sun was still shining and we had a hard moraine and glacier 5 hours walk to the base of the Neverseen Tower, one of the most beautiful towers in the area (it’s only been climbed to the top twice). We decided to attempt it after one days rest. But the day we wanted to climb there was a snow storm in the morning. The weather after that was still sunny but very cold, too cold to climb the Neverseen. Andrej then had to go down to base camp because we were out of food.
The next day we climbed a very nice and sharp ridge. This time we were sure that it was a first ascent to the top. We called it Turaya peak, 5200m a.s.l. and the route Milky Way
(VIII-/ VI).
After one week on ABC I was feeling weak and decided to go back down. Andrej stayed on ABC and soloed a new route on Gutzele peak (this was only climbed for the first time 2 weeks before) with a lot of sections of loose rock. He descended to base camp in a snow storm.
After one day our horseman came and we returned to civilization again…
My tip for future visitors: try to hide your satellite phone!
