Page 12 - 2023 AMA Spring

GUESTWRITER
STORM AND SURVIVAL
Meryon Bridges OBE, Honorary Vice President
Meryon Bridges reminisces the storm that overtook his October 1985 Kirat Chuli expedition
Kirat Chuli (left) and Nepal Peak (right)
with the cornice into Sikhim became unacceptable. So, I cut down through the cornice on the right, and thereafter enjoyed wonderful mixed climbing, traversing across the top of that big open face beneath the cornices, eventually reaching a level site for camp two, albeit in a pretty exposed position on the crest of the ridge.
We were then delayed by a spell of bad weather but in due course we established and occupied camp two. On the 16th October, I was in camp one with nine
others, providing support to Mike and his party of four in camp two as they pushed the route to Nepal Peak. It was a threatening day; initially windless, but with a stratum of low cloud, and more cloud out to the west. I set off for camp two leading a party carrying up a big load of food, fuel and equipment, but as we gained height it started to snow. By the time we reached the ridge it was blowing too – from the east. The traverse became a matter of endurance in the deteriorating conditions, but we persisted and delivered
our supplies to the camp.
By the time we arrived it was really quite bad. The snowfall was now heavy, the wind was increasing all the time, and
Mt Kirat Chuli, 7365m (24,165ft), lies about eight miles northeast of Kanchenjunga, on
the border between Nepal and Sikhim. In the post- monsoon season of 1985, Mike Kefford led a Joint Services expedition to climb it.
The year before, also post-monsoon, Kit Spencer and I had carried out a quick reconnaissance of the mountain, and given that this was to be a training expedition, we had identified a route which was the least technically difficult option. That wasn’t saying much.
Kirat Chuli forms the higher end of a mile long knife edge ridge, at the southwest end of which is Nepal Peak, only slightly lower at 7177m. However, the western side of Nepal Peak is more accessible than any direct approach to Kirat Chuli, which is flanked by huge and precipitous faces of rock and ice. The plan was to climb Nepal Peak and then traverse the ridge.
From a base camp at Pangpema, a hideous approach led up the Nepal Gap glacier for a couple of miles. The surface of the glacier was initially a series of huge ice hummocks, covered with loose rocks and boulders, which melted out in the heat of the day, and with deep melt pools and holes in between. Under a cover of new snow, it was lethal.
We established our advanced base camp on the glacier, and above that somewhat easier going led over dry glacier and snow to a snow basin on the left, the site of camp one. Above camp one, a steep
600m snow slope led to a horizontal ridge, and traversing left along this ridge for about 600m, we figured that we would reach a site for camp two, on the flank of Nepal Peak. Even at the outset, that 45-degree snow slope above camp one was doubtful. It was still heavily burdened with loose, thigh deep, monsoon snow, and it stank of avalanche. When siting camp one we were very careful to place it clear of the potential fall line of any slide.
We persevered, ploughing a trough up the slope, acutely aware that the dead men and metre long ice stakes we
sank into it afforded dubious
security for our fixed rope. We reached the ridge on the 30th September
and were rewarded
with magnificent
views to the east
over Sikhim to
Chomolhari in the
far distance. On
the Sikhim side
the ridge dropped
steeply away over
rock and ice for
1600m. On reaching
the crest, we discovered
that the prevailing westerly
monsoon winds had built
up substantial cornices on that
side of the ridge. The traverse along the ridge towards Kirat Chuli afforded us two glorious days of climbing.
After 200m our ridge narrowed, and the severity of the risk of either being avalanched into Nepal, or going down
12 / ARMY MOUNTAINEER