Advertisement

No porters, no maps: Hong Kong adventurer in first climb of remote China peak

Team of six climbers conquer unclimbed mountain in western Sichuan’s Gangga range, the ‘Alps of Tibet’, after first running into a dead end, then battling hip-deep snow to reach top

Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
The previously unclimbed, 5,632-metre Dechok Phedrong peak in the Gangga mountain range.

With careful steps, Simon, my climbing partner walks towards the looming precipice, an overhanging snow cone with an abyss of frozen ice below it. This is supposed to be our way to the main summit of an unclimbed Chinese peak deep in remote western Sichuan, but deep down I know it: this is the end of the road. We are stood in front of a large overhanging drop-off that is blocking our path. Even if we manage to get down, how will we ever get back up?

SEE ALSO: Paul Niel’s account of his first trip to the Gangga range

We are a team of six Austrian and Spanish mountaineers that have come to a remote corner of Sichuan, China to explore and climb one of the last remaining “white spots” on the map. This area was branded ‘the Alps of Tibet’ by famous Japanese explorer Tomatsu Nakamura. He is our inspiration for the trip, having ventured into the area a few years earlier and noted that no team had so far really explored or climbed its peaks.

Hong Kong-based mountaineer and adventurer Paul Niel climbs the serac fall to the summit of Dechok Phedrong.
Hong Kong-based mountaineer and adventurer Paul Niel climbs the serac fall to the summit of Dechok Phedrong.

This morning we woke up early in our frost-covered tents, only for our high spirits to be quickly quenched a small earthquake. For the night we’d set our tents in a huge cave, with giant icicles hanging high above; the shaking ground did nothing to instil confidence in their stability.

For hours we’ve pushed ourselves higher, exhausted by the deep, crusty snow. And now we’ve hit a dead end. We climb to the highest point we can reach, a small, rocky pinnacle – the north summit – but the main summit is twinkling at us in the distance, unreachable.

SEE ALSO: How to take risks in business and expeditions without fearing failure: Seven rules from Hongkonger who’s scaled the Seven Summits

This is my second expedition to the Gangga mountain range in western Sichuan, where I pursue a long-held childhood dream: to climb a virgin peak, be the first on a yet unclimbed mountain. A year earlier we had come here, with just a few photos as our reference. Terrible weather, bad luck and inexperience had rendered all our attempts to climb any of the local peaks futile. Several times we pushed our luck – in the end we had to turn around in a snowstorm just a few hundred metres shy of the top. The country had, however, put us under its spell. We promised ourselves we’d return.

A Tibetan chorten in eastern Tibet, with the Gangga range in the background.
A Tibetan chorten in eastern Tibet, with the Gangga range in the background.
Advertisement