Sep 30 | Shangri-La: Quick and Dirty Update

By Jimmy Chin

Short on power, so here is a quick and dirty update....Wish us luck.

After two days of following our gear laden horses, jumping streams and wandering through high alpine meadows, the sharp peaks of the Minya Konka range began to emerge from behind the foothills. Ingrid was stopped in her tracks as she peered up at one of the first snow and ice covered spear shaped peaks. We gained stoke and momentum over the next few hours as the mountains gradually revealed themselves.

When we finally glimpsed Redommaine, we stopped to stare. The northwest face looked incredible, steep with snow spines draped across its flanks. The entire face was guarded by a massive hanging serac…..The west ridge looked promising and we scanned it for an entry point. Cracked glaciers and icefalls surrounded the bottom of the mountain. We continued on for a few more hours trying to get our Tibetan horseman to take our gear as close to the peak as possible. We rounded a bend and found a gleaming lake nestled below our peak. Amazing, an alpine lake reminiscent of the high Sierras, but with a massive glaciated 20,000+ft peak on the other side.

So far the weather had been cooperating. We set up basecamp around 14,500ft and planned our next few days. Today, after a major gear explosion and laughing at the absurd amount of gear we had in tow, we sorted and packed sleeping bags, tents, skis, crampons, ropes ice screws etc, we headed up towards the mountain to scout a route and carry gear to a drop off point below the real climbing. We're in full charging mode trying to get up before the weather turns. Not much time to acclimitize....We have an alpine start tomorrow to begin the climbing.

The route looks exciting and the skiing will be real. We’re hoping to set one camp on the ridge and make a big push while the weather holds. Keeping our fingers crossed that the splitter weather stays for a couple more days.

Ingrid, Kasha, Giulia and Jimmy

Photography: ©Jimmy Chin