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Russian Jannu and Merra led by Valeri Babanov - 2 Nov 2007

Babanov and Kofanov arrived at BC on 28 September with a group of high-altitude trekkers, hoping the party could climb Merra Peak with them since Babanov's trekking agent had told him it was just a trekking peak. They found that it wasn't that easy, so he and Kofanov waited until the trekkers left before they made their own climb of Merra. The purpose of this climb was to acclimatize for Jannu.

On 5 October the two climbers began their ascent of Merra via its SE Face to ENE Ridge, probably the same route as the Danish route in autumn 2006. There was a lot of snow on this southern side and it snowed evey afternoon. They bivouacked at 5700m that night and next day went for the summit.

Their plan had been to sleep on the summit of Merra, but that was not possible because there was not enough flat space to pitch their tent. On 6 Oct, they climbed the SE Face to the small shoulder at 6200m, put a tent there, continued to the summit, and bivouacked at the shoulder in their descent.

The final 300-400 meters on the ESE Ridge is very sharp-edged and one needs to climb very carefully here. Babanov and Kofanov fixed no rope, but if one wanted to fix this section, one would need snowbars. The day's climb had taken them only nine hours despite their having moved slowly up the ridge.

They returned to BC on the 7th and now turned their attention to Jannu.