India Part 1. 

“Beware of the shepards – they are very cunning”.  Great, I thought, this is just what we need…. 

One might describe expedition climbing as a long, multi-week adventure travel experience with the goal of safely conveying yourself, your partners, and several very heavy duffle bags of climbing gear in good health to a remote mountain basecamp, then turning around and reversing the entire trip, with a short climb sandwiched in the between.  Lost baggage, third world parasites, washed out highways  – frequently the real crux of a climbing expedition has nothing to do with climbing. 

The warning came from an amiable local citizen of Tingrit who called in at our Kiva cook tent for a spot of tea.  Tingrit is literally the end of the road: a small stone hamlet pressed into the deep folds of the Lahul Valley in the mountain state of Himachal Pradesh, India. We were on our way to the Miyar Valley, a small constellation of brilliant peaks and glaciers lost in the immeasurable universe of the Himalayas.  

But this spring, a secret dossier worked its way into my hands, and I knew I had to go to India.  It was put together by a team of British climbers, detailing the Jangpar Glacier, a side valley of the Miyar.  It was glossy and professional, containing many color pictures of spectacular alpine architecture.  And the best part – it was all unclimbed.  The British had visited the area in the spring of 2004, put hampered by an unusually deep snow pack, they were thwarted in their efforts to climb all but one small mountaineering peak.  Here were the proverbial keys to the castle – Pat Goodman, Dave Sharratt and I were soon packing our bags.