Japanese Climb New Winter Routes in the Himalayas
Japanese teams climbed two new routes on mountains in the Himalayas at the start of winter 2009/10. Genki Narumi and Fumitaka Ichimura took on the North Face of Tawoche (6,495m) in November, whilst a team of four climbers led by Osamu Tanabe made the first ascent of the West Face of Nemjung (7,140m) in October.
Tanabe, Michihiro Kadoya, Yasuhiro Hanatani, and Nobusuke Oki made what is probably only the second ascent of the mountain Nemjung. The first was probably also by a Japanese team in the early 80’s via the East Ridge. British and French attempts over the last 20 years failed to reach the summit, though the French did produce a complicated climb on the south spur, reaching the summit ridge if not the summit itself. The four Japanese alpinists climbed nearly 1000m of ice on the West face of the mountain to reach the West ridge and then the summit, they then descended their route.
Genki Narumi and Fumitaka Ichimura climbed the North Face of Tawoche with two unpleasant bivouacs. This striking peak is west of the Everest Base Camp trekking route and the northeast face has been much talked about but seldom ascended. Jeff Lowe and John Roskelley were the first to climb it in 1986 and Brits Mick Fowler and Pat Littlejohn noted the apparent steepness and severity of it a few years later when they climbed the northeast pillar of Tawoche. Narumi and Ichimura spent three and a half days ascending their route and descending down the south east side of the mountain to Pheriche. Though they came close to the summit, a gap in the ridge barred their way to the mountains true peak. The two bivouacs that were made on the ascent of the mountain both involved sitting upright and getting covered in spindrift. Even stances good enough to sit on were difficult to come by. The pair were forced to climb long into the night looking for a place to sit at the end of the second day.
Please visit www.climbing.com and www.bmc.co.uk for more information on these two ascents.
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