Page 20 - 2020 AMA Winter

EXPEDITIONNEWS
EXPEDITION HIMALAYAN ENDEAVOUR – UNCLIMBED NEPAL
ARMY EXPEDITION, WITH LARGESCALE AMA INVOLVEMENT AND SUPPORT, LATE 20 ONWARDS
Gethin Davies, Expedition Leader
Expedition Himalayan Endeavour aims to return to the very roots of Army mountaineering; alpine style,
exploratory and without major commercial support. The principal objective is an unclimbed and remote 6000m Himalayan peak; with a focus also on developing a large team capable of doing so. Romanticism aside, operating in such an exploratory manner is the same as operational soldiering, the sure-fire reason behind the historical correlation of moun- taineering and the Army.
The idea and vision of the expedition leader is founded on a decade of experience in the high Himalaya; trials and tribulations on the World’s tallest peaks. Camped high on Everest last year, scribbling ideas into a tatty notebook, Himalayan Endeavour was born. Arguably, there is no better place to realise that it is the journey that counts, not just the summit. In its raw form the expedition will serve to build Army talent and aim to set a world first, off the beaten track. The incessant greed of climbing operators has seen Nepal’s
headline mountains become too busy and frankly, too expensive. That said, the Himalaya is unbelievably vast and away from the big-ticket peaks, largely empty.
Geographically, the focus concentrates on the sharp border ridge in central Nepal that overlooks the Tibetan plateau. Away from ancient trade routes, it remains mostly untouched; straddled by dominant 7000ers, many of the peaks have never had government-approved permits, or attempts. In such an uncharted space, it
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