Nick Bullock & Kenton Cool are currently attempting a new route on the north face of Mount Kalanka in India´s Garhwal Himalaya range. The pair set off from a high camp on September 9th and are attempting an alpine style ascent up the 1800m face which they hope to complete in a 7 day round trip.The pair arrived in India on the 18th August and made it to base camp by the 24th where they were greeted by crappy weather and illness. To reach base camp the pair had to endure “2 days of bone crunching, back aching bus journeys” across washed out roads over huge drops into the Ganges river, never forgetting the “round robin of the Army, Local Government and Police, all wanting passports, permission forms and anything else to make life difficult”. Before eventually setting off up the face the pair made a number of trips carrying loads to an advanced base camp below the north face. Passage to this camp was through “A huge glacial moraine which takes hours to cross. Huge boulders that seem about to fall on you each time you pass, often we have to jump between them making the whole thing pretty scary”.
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| The 1800m north face of Kalanka (photo: Nick Bullock) |
The north face has had only one ascent from a Czech team in 1977 that used fixed ropes, and has spurned many other attempts since. The line the pair are aiming for will be the left hand ridge. You can keep up to date on the expedition on Kenton Cool´s blog and at the DMM website. Kenton Cool and Nick Bullock received support for their expedition from Mammut, MEF, BMC and the Nick Estcourt award.All quotes from Kenton Cool Trip Journal Related: Find out about Mountaineering grants & awards here>> Nick Bullock Interview>>
