Mount Mulkila Climbing Expedition (6517m.)

HIGHLIGHTS

• Mount Mulkila Climbing Expedition (6517m.)
• Mount Mulkila is among one of the Jewels of Lahoul valley comprising 10 peaks of M series. The M 1 to M10 range lies in the central Lahoul, in the Mirang Glacier. The Mirang Glacier is surrounded by ‘M’ range and these peaks form a complete horseshoe around a glacier complex with numerous fingers stretching up into gullies and ridges dividing the peaks. M4 has a steep iceand the loose rocks slantsway up until the summit, making it a formidable peak to climb. M4 was first attempted by an Anglo American expedition in September 1939 and was successfully summited. Their success was marred by a tragedy at the end of the trip when one of the team member Hilda Richmond was killed by a falling stone whilst washing in a stream 500m from the base camp. Since then few attempts had been made and these attempts were failed due to hostile conditions held up at the higher altitudes.
• Mount Mulkila expedition starts from Darcha village, a few km far from Keylong, on the Manali Leh highway. Then passing the tiny village of Yetse we will fix some transit camps untill we reach the base. Further the valley divides at a river confluence at around 3500m. Here we have to cross a river and enter into the northern branch of Milang Glacier. The northern branch of main Milang valley is narrow and heads north - east shortly before curving to the east towards the aperture of the main Milang Glacier. The route is filled with boulders and scree, a never ending valley of deceptive progress. At 4000m the snout of the glacier will be reached and the route continues to curve with the valley eventually later turning to the south - east. Ahead the glacier divides into larger and smaller branches where will fix our base camp on the northern bank of the Milang glacier on moraines. The formidable northern face of the Mulkila can be seen from the base camp 4440m which is guarded by steep complex glacier with massive seracs and ice cliffs. After the base we tread over fairly steep and heavily crevassed ice fields to the Camp I. The Camp I is located at 5000m. at the eastern edge of the Milang Glacier. Then from Camp Iit is complex and hazardous in terms of route finding whilst crossing over several hidden and open crevasses over gradients of 30-40degrees. This large glacial field heads toward a narrow icefall rising steeply from 5300m-5600m. After reaching on the top of icefall route leads east to the high camp at 5800m. The Camp II is surrounded by dominating views of Mulkila peaks such as M5 and M6. At Camp II we will prepare and recce the summit route before leaving for the summit attempt. After the reconnaissance we will hit the target in early hours.
• Mount Muklila Peak route ahead is dangerous consisting of loose rocks falling stones all the way up until the top of the peak. it is the most treacherous part of the climb when most of the climbers give up due to the adverse terrain and the rise of altitude. The peak was covered with snow and hard black ice at the higher approaches earlier, but after the global warming there is no snow or ice to bind these loose rocks together and make the climb a bit doable. We will climb cautiously on these dangerous slopes and make it up to the summit. On the final cone the rocks are extremely loose and great care is required to prevent large actions falling away. Few hundred feet below the summit one may have to climb hands and knees technique to stop whole lot of sliding. It is very dangerous because one stone slide triggers the other one to fall and the climbers behind would be in jeopardy. Soon we will negotiate all the difficulties and attain the summit. We will glimpse the massive Himalayan ranges and offer a Puja for the safe return. After some time we will descend the scree slopes with ultimate prudency and reach the glacier before its dark. Subsequently we will descend to lower camps and finally to the last road head at Darcha. From here we will leave to Manali and depart to further destinations.