The Reclusive Changabang 6,864 m (22,520 ft)

The Reclusive Changabang 6,864 m (22,520 ft), originally uploaded by The Wandering Hermit.

Changabang (THE SHINING MOUNTAIN)

Elevation 6,864 m (22,520 ft)
Location Garhwal Division, Uttarakhand, India
Range Garhwal Himalaya
Prominence circa 300 m (1000 ft)
Coordinates 30°29′N, 80°01′E
First ascent June 4, 1974 by Indo British Team under Chris Bonington.
Easiest route Southeast Face/East Ridge (snow/ice climb)

It is part of a group of peaks that form the northeast wall of the Nanda Devi Sanctuary Changabang was first brought to prominence by that legendary explorer and climber Eric Shipton, who was very impressed by the Grey granite walls when he made it as far as a col which is now named after him and joins the mountain with its neighbor Kalanka

One has to cross the Rahmani Glaier to reach the Shipton Col and the Upper Bhagni Glacier establishing camp at the head of the Changabang Glacier.

Though it does not have a high topographic prominence, being slightly lower than its near neighbor Kalanka to the east, and lower than many other peaks in the immediate vicinity its steep rocky profile has acted as a siren song on climbers for the last 100 years & has inspired some of the most compelling mountaineering books of our times

It is a particularly steep and rocky peak, and all routes on it are serious undertakings and have become test pieces (like the North Face of the Eiger) for climbers to pit their skills against as reaching the summit entails climbing the white ice, green ice and mixed rock sections in between.

The North Face of Changabang rises in an impressive steep wall peppered with a liberal amount of snow and ice. In places the ice looks white, friendly and probably easy to climb. In other areas, though, a shiny bluish -green reflection (which gives it the name SHINING MOUNTAIN) is hard, uncompromising shields which appear to be stuck to near vertical ground.

It was first climbed on June 4, 1974 by a mixed (Indo - British) team Tashi Chewang, Balwant Sandhu, Chris Bonington, Martin Boysen, Dougal Haston, Doug Scott via the Southeast Face, leading to the East Ridge.
Doug Scott called it the hardest test for sustained difficulty on any mountain in the Himalayas.
This is the "so called" easiest route on the mountain, and one of the few that is primarily a snow/ice climb,

Other notable ascents include some of the hardest climbs ever done in the Himalaya.

The first of these is the ascent

Joe Tasker and Pete Boardman made their generation-inspiring 1976 ascent of Changabang’s West Face. The route took over 25 days to ascend, and their use of big wall climbing techniques to overcome the serious, sustained difficulties was revolutionary step forward in Alpine Climbing .
Peter Broadmans book THE SHINING MOUNTAIN is a classic of the genre and describes this climb as the hardest he had undertaken along with his climbing partner Joe Tasker.



In 1997, Andy Cave and Brendan Murphy made the first ascent of the North Face of Changabang, a 1,600 m (5,250 ft) route involving steep, sustained ice, mixed, and rock climbing.

Unfortunately Murphy was hit by an avalanche and swept off the face to his death on the descent (Mick Fowler & Steve Sustad were also part of the same team though they were a day behind the climbers when all 4 of them teamed up to descend together because of the bad weather.)

With Andy Cave & Mick fowler In their respective books we have two distinctive views on one of the greatest Himalayan adventures of the 1990s, the ascent of Changabang’s north face, as well as a wealth of other milestone routes from Fowler and a fascinating glimpse of Andy Cave’s background as a miner-turned-academic and mountain guide. Cave’s book, Learning to Breathe, is both unusual and engaging, giving an incisive view of hardship and tragedy from the Himalaya to the Yorkshire pit community of his youth.

Fowler’s underplayed and wry tales from high, uncomfortable places" On Thin Ice" (which I think even surpasses his first work, Vertical Pleasure). It is interesting to note that Changabang, which plays a central role in both books by two of the most promising Alpinists of the present generation, also provided a defining moment in the careers of Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker,

On October 12, 2006, two Mexican climbers, Andrés Delgado and Alfonso de la Parra, were successful in climbing Changabang by a new route.

However, while descending, they encountered a storm and have been reported missing since October 15, when they made a contact via satellite phone. India put on a rescue effort despite harsh weather conditions and by Oct the search for them had been canceled due to inclement weather.