The Unclimbed China Expedition

We were better acclimatized after the Longemain ascent but still very affected by altitude. Ten steps required a heaving, gasping halt, hunched over the ice axe, and progress up the ridge was very slow. Our next camp (C2) wasn't as high as we had hoped, but food and fuel were in short supply after the extra day at ABC. We decided to attempt reaching the summit from C2 even though the upper mountain was a complete mystery to us. We spent a very cold night wondering what the next day held in store, and the next morning proved difficult, trying to organize ourselves, melt water, and get some food onboard in the extreme cold before the sun reached us.

We finally got away and immediately turned onto our front points on the steep ground above C2. This led us over the subsidiary summit and, via more steep terrain, into the upper basins. Hours of climbing followed in deteriorating weather, with major doubts creeping into our minds as to whether we were going to pull this one off. Finally, we could see the summit a long way away. Casting worried eyes over our shoulders at the tortured clouds racing by us, we set a 4:00 pm turnaround time. At 4:00 pm exactly, we hauled ourselves onto the summit absolutely knackered and feeling rather small. The weather was decidedly dodgy, although the freezing wind did pause briefly for us on the summit. It was an incredible, if tenuous, place to be and our second unclimbed summit. We felt extremely lucky and privileged.

During the walk out from base camp, we spent several days at the Gongga Monastery, a 500-year-old center of Tibetan Buddhism in the shadow of Gongga Shan. Here we spent some of the most humbling days we have ever experienced. Embraced by the local people, who seemed happy and approving of our foray into the world of their mountain gods, we were allowed a glimpse of the devout, simple lives of these incredible people. While they have so little materially, they seem so rich. It is these people and their culture almost as much as the wonderful mountains of the Daxue Shan that made this expedition such a memorable success.