Page 8 - 2023 AMA Spring

GUESTWRITER
CHOMBU 2022
Mick Fowler
THE WEATHER GODS WIN
One of the joys of exploratory mountaineering is the element of uncertainty. The saga of
Victor Saunders and I trying to climb Chombu might not have ended successfully but our efforts have certainly been peppered with plenty of uncertainty from beginning to end.
It is now six years since we first dreamed up the idea of climbing in Sikkim. Neither of us had been there before and our attention had been drawn to the unclimbed mountain of Chombu. At 6362m, Chombu is the last unclimbed 6000m peak in the area and has seen several attempts dating back to the 1940s. Doug Scott referred to it as the Matterhorn of Sikkim so we guessed
it should be as striking a peak as it appeared to be in photographs.
The hurdles to be overcome before setting foot on the mountain were con- siderable. In 2017 permits were refused due to border issues with China, in 2018 I was laid low with cancer issues, in 2019 we made it to the mountain twice but failed to climb it, in 2020 and 2021 Covid prevented access and 2022 looked to be going the same way until, in late March, international flights were finally resumed and the door was suddenly open for our return in April.
Returning a third time to an objective was unprecedented for both of us but Chombu had got under our skin. With numerous
Covid forms completed and permits arranged we reached the roadhead at the village of Tangu without incident. In spring 2019 there had been thick snow here with many roofs having collapsed under the weight. This time there was no snow to be seen at all and our spirits were high.
A day later the mood had changed. “That’s not looking good” we grumbled to each other.
Our dream objective was to climb the technical west face and descend the easier NE ridge. The west face is visible after a day’s walking from Tangu and our first sight was not encouraging. We had begun to realise that there had been a rare dry spell in the area but the sight of the
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