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BC at 5400m edge of glacier north of Cross Peak
C2 at 6400m in crevasse under big seracs under S Ridge of Nepal Peak
Highpoint at 6735m at South Ridge of Nepal Peak.

Expedition attempted to reach Kirat Chuli (Tent Peak) via Nepal Peak along the very long South Ridge of Nepal Peak and thence Kirat Chuli's low long South Ridge. The Nepal Peak ridge was a steep slope with very big cornices; its problems and many days of snowfall and snow slides, one of which took away their route, forced a halt after having reached a high point of 6735m on the ridge before Nepal Peak's summit. Team never actually set foot on Kirat Chuli.

Snow above C1 was thigh-deep, unconsolidated powder snow on a 60-degree head wall. Then got onto South Ridge of Nepal Peak first on Nepalese side, then on Sikkimese side, 45-degree slope with very big cornices. First storm started 7 Oct by which time they had put in most of route to C2 and couldn't move till 13 Oct. 1st attempt to C2 on 9th but stopped by wind and thick spendrift. Again on 11th tried and retreated. More bad weather 12th, but 14th to C2 and 15th on up ridge, which again was vertical sugar, exposed to very cold wind for their ascent, fixing rope as they want. Had to climb down from high point of 22,100 ft but long distance from summit. Expected go to summit next day. 16th snowing heavily and strong wind. 17th tents destroyed and had to move down to BC. On 18th BC evacuated and down to Pangpema and those in C2 to abandoned C1 bringing own tents and digging under 3 ft of snow to find fixed ropes. 150m of snow slab went down but ropes fixed to ice underneath. Another slide took out route and covered one man. Still snowing, C2 doubtless destroyed, route gone and had little time left. 32 days on mountain, 17 actually climbing.

Successfully completed water supply project and plant collection plus good experience.

North ridge of Kiratchuli very difficult climb for strong climbers.


British Kirat Chuli:

Expedition's attempts to climb Kirat Chuli and Nepal Peak now abandoned. Expedition defeated by extremely bad weather, deep snow and avalanche conditions high on mountain.

Williams/Kefford/Spencer reached 22,100 ft on South Ridge of Nepal Peak on 15 Oct before withdrawing and cold.

16th Oct plan to occupy C3 below Nepal Peak abandoned due combined bad weather and thick snow.

16-17th high winds and deep snow destroyed 3 tents and C1 (19,200 ft) and forced abandonment.


Letter from Royal Force Mountaineering Association - Jan 1986

AMA Expedition to Nepal 1985 by Chris Cordery. Chris Cordery represented RAFMA on last year's AMA expedition to Nepal. The expedition lasted for nearly 3 months and amongst its several items it included attempts on Nepal Peak and Kirat Chuli. These 2 mountains are satellites of Kangchenjunga and are linked by a mile long, knife-edged ridge. They had only been climbed once before, from the Sikkim side. The walk-in took 3 weeks before we were ready to mount our assaults on the mountain. Ideas of climbing a new route via the North Col were quickly quashed when a recce showed the vast distance and desperately difficult glacier to be beyond the ability of our team. We settled for the South Col route which had previously been climbed in 1939. The weather remained fine throughout the last 2 weeks of September and we made good progress. We established ABC on the glacier beneath Nepal Peak and we put C1, at 19,500 ft, in a snow basin just below a ridge leading to the summit. The route to C2 proved to be difficult, long and quite prone to avalanches, but after sitting out several days of bad weather we established 6 climbers at 21,500 ft. The news of 5 Indians dying on Everest only 50 miles away did nothing positive for our morale but our lead climbers continued to press on. They got to within 600 ft of the top of Nepal Peak before being driven back to C2 by deep snow and high winds. The next days consisted of a blizzard and winds of 100 mph which demolished several tents or buried them in snow. The route from C2 to C1 had become seriously avalanche-prone and retreats were made in desperate conditions to the relative safety of our 2 BCs. The expedition was very lucky indeed to get everyone back alive. Avalanches had ripped out our fixed ropes and there was not enough time to rebuild our route so it was decided to end our expedition. We were very disappointed but we were all still alive. On our return to KTM we heard that the Himalayas were having their worst post-monsoon weather for 18 years and that a vast majority of mountaineering expeditions had been abandoned - one expedition did not even get to its base camp before being defeated by deep snow.