British mountaineer and President of the Alpine Club Mick Fowler has made the first ascent of a previously unclimbed peak in the Indian Himalaya.
Accompanied by climbing partner Paul Ramsden, Fowler led a team of four to the summit of Kishtwar Kailash (6,451m), the highest peak in the Eastern Kishtwar Range, via a route on the mountain’s 1,500m south west face.
Fowler said: “There is no easy way up Kishtwar Kailash and Paul and I are extremely happy that we managed to make the first ascent via the dramatic south west face. After acclimatising, we left base camp on 4th October and, following an open bivouac at 6,200m, got to the summit during the morning of 9th. The descent was almost entirely by abseil. We managed to descend a fair way on the summit day and completed the return to base camp by a very long day on the 10th. It was a great route, with spectacular situations and varied climbing up to Scottish VI.
The team also had the chance to explore the surrounding valley, which was only opened up to climbers again in 2012, following 18 years of restricted access due to political unrest.
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