Isn’t there a better way to spend one’s vacation? Przemek Wojcik on the first ascent of the Krol-Wojcik (VII+ A0 50-60 degrees, ca. 900m), Geruda Peak (ca. 5640m), Miyar Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India. The pair climbed the route in twenty-one hours; they believe it to be the first ascent of the peak. Also on the same trip the pair climbed Doomed to Miyar (5.11c, ca. 1000m) on the northwest face of Tamadonog (ca. 5245m) in thirty-one hours onsight. [Photo] Michal Krol
Miyar Valley, New Routes. Although the Miyar Valley, stretching for sixty-two miles from Udaipur to the Kang La Pass, can be hard to reach, the local people don’t hesitate to help the rare expeditions that do visit. In Tingrad our Polish expedition hired porters to carry ca. 300 kilos of baggage for the thirty-kilometer journey to base camp.
While it rained the first three days, Przemek Wojcik and I acclimatized on the northwest face of Tamadonog (ca. 5245m), above the Nameless Glacier Valley. From our advanced base camp (ca. 4237m), August 13, we covered about 500 meters of mainly cracks, before the weather got even worse, and we were forced to make a cold bivy. The next day, an easier 500 meters up an arete took us to the summit and possibly the second ascent of the mountain. Our new route, Doomed to Miyar (VI 5.11c, ca. 1000m), had required thirty-one hours to onsight.
Bad weather turned our rest day into a week. Not until August 21 were we able to head off for the Tawa Glacier and establish our base camp where an Italian expedition had the previous year (ca. 4859m).
Although we’d intended to climb the southeast face of Mt. Mahindra (5845m), our objective was too loose. In 2005 David Kaszlikowski and I had made the first ascent of nearby Lotos Peak (5630m), via its southwest face (5.10a/b M6 80 degrees, 750m). Now Przemek and I decided to try the unclimbed peak on the right. Our line, to the right of the Italian attempt, began August 28 with 250 meters of mixed climbing, then some easy, but loose terrain, followed by vertical chimneys and cracks. Three ropelengths from the summit, it began snowing and raining. I thus resorted to A0 on the last pitch of our new route (VII+ A0 50-60 degrees, ca. 900m, twenty-one hours) on the mountain we named Geruda Peak (ca. 5640m).
–Michal Krol, Nowy Targ, Poland