On October 8, 2024, Jonas Schild, Stephan Siegrist, Kaspar Grossniklaus and Hugo Beguin mastered what is probably the first ascent of the southwest ridge of the six-thousander Bhagirathi III in India. Their report shows how a Plan B turned into an outstanding mountaineering achievement.
Experience report by Jonas Schild
Last September, Stephan Siegrist, Kaspar Grossniklaus, Hugo Beguin and I (Jonas shield) in the Garhwal Himalaya in India. For Stef and me it was the third attempt to climb the south face of Shivlings (6543 m above sea level) for the first time.
We had to abort our first attempt in 2021 due to altitude sickness of a team member at 6100 m above sea level, and the second attempt in 2022 failed due to persistent bad weather conditions that prevented us from attempting.
So there was great hope that it would work this time.
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Video: Review of the first ascent of Kirti Nose in autumn 2022
How to reach us
The two-day bus ride from Delhi to Gangotri was delayed by a day due to heavy monsoon rains. Once we arrived in Gangotri, we had to wait another day to get the final permit for the national park. Then we could finally get going.
We hiked comfortably for three days to our base camp below the south face of the Shivling at 4600 m above sea level. We gave ourselves enough time to acclimatize to the altitude. On the third day we set up base camp in a snowstorm and with 30 cm of fresh snow - not an ideal start. But as it turned out, this was the last snowfall for almost a month.
acclimatization
After a few days of acclimatization and settling in at the base camp, we brought the first load of material to the ABC (Advanced Base Camp) at 5400 m above sea level. For the first time, we had a view of the wall and our planned route again.
The conditions seemed sensational. After two more rounds of acclimatization - a night in a col above the base camp and a night in the ABC - we felt ready to start the attempt. Due to the rockfall, the ascent to the ABC was only safe at night or early in the morning, which is why we decided on the first day of our attempt to climb from the base camp to Camp 1 at 5700 m above sea level.
Familiar route, harrowing conditions
The next day we started with the first rays of sunshine. We climbed the steep pillar to Camp 2 at 6000 m above sea level over seven beautiful rope lengths. The climbing was perfect, the cracks ideal; the key section that I had climbed technically in 2021 was free this time. Pure climbing joy at around 6000 meters!
Despite this successful day, we were burdened by the fact that the mountain had changed considerably in the last three years.
An entire length of rope was no longer there and had collapsed.
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Cracks where we had placed pitons in 2021 had spread several centimeters apart. The entire lower part of the pillar was sandy - a clear sign of rock movement.
We also observed several rockfalls in the area of Camp 1, where we had spent the whole afternoon the previous day.
It was clear to us that we would pass by there just once more – on the way down.
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cancellation
Then, at dinner, the shock came: Kaspar suddenly had to vomit and showed the first signs of altitude sickness. Stef and I looked at each other in disbelief - same story, same place, same altitude as the first attempt in 2021. We didn't want to think about giving up at that moment. We advised Kaspar to get some sleep.
When we woke him at midnight, he told us he was not feeling any better. Without discussion, it was clear that we had to turn back. We retrieved the 100 meters of rope that we had fixed the night before and began to abseil. The descent was efficient and we agreed that we wanted to be below the ABC by sunrise to avoid the rockfall.
We were back at base camp for breakfast and enjoyed a coffee. Despite the relief that everyone had returned safely, Stef and I soon realised how grueling it was to have to turn back again in the same place and under the same circumstances.
Plan B: Bhagirathi III
Instead of hanging our heads, we remembered the spontaneous Plan B that came up during the second Shivling expedition: a fantastic crack climb on the Kirti Nose, right next to our base camp. The successful first ascent was also a consolation for the unsuccessful attempt on the Shivling.
It was anything but easy for us to open ourselves up to new possibilities and let go of a goal that had been with us for a long time. But we realized that we were still in our comfort zone mentally and physically and that the expedition was far from over.
Only four days after our return to base camp, we decided to make an attempt together (Kaspar had recovered) on Bhagirathi III (6454 m.a.s.l.) via the southwest ridge. We started from our base camp, crossed the rugged Gangotri glacier and climbed to Camp 5600 at an altitude of 1 m.a.s.l.
After a long night, we set off at 6:00 am, crossing snowfields to reach the start of the ridge. There began the dark band of rock that makes up the upper part of the Bhagirathi group and is notorious for its brittleness.
We gained altitude through moderate but extremely fragile climbing. The difficulty was between grades 4 and 5.
The main challenge was to find handholds and footholds that were compact enough for us to hold on to.
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At the same time, we had to find our way through the sea of brittle rock. We made good progress, cautiously but steadily. Two sub-peaks with short descents followed before we happily embraced each other on the main peak around midday.
We mastered the descent via several abseiling points quickly and without any problems, so that we were able to toast our successful summit success in the base camp that same evening. Since we did not find any material from previous ascents on the ridge and could not find any information about a climb either via the Indian Mountain Federation (IMF) or online, we assume that we even managed a first ascent with the Bhagirathi III Southwest Ridge.
Much more importantly, however, the ascent of Bhagirathi III gave us a nice end to the expedition. After the renewed disappointment at Shivling, we can still look back on a successful expedition, accompanied by good weather and a great team.
India is and remains – on and off the mountains – an adventure in itself.
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That might interest you
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Credits: Cover picture Hugo Beguin