Alpine Club Talk

From Ashish:

In the summer of 2013, I climbed a popular peak in the Himalayas in India called Stok Kangri (6153 m, 20,187 ft). The peak is non-technical and therefore serves as a good opportunity for novice mountaineers to test their ability to cope with high altitude without exposing themselves to any major technical challenges. The peak is conveniently located close to the beautiful town of Leh (11,000 ft) in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. Climbing up and down the stairs of the beautiful Buddhist monasteries around Leh serves as an excellent acclimatization exercise. The route to the summit is pretty straightforward, barring a small glacier crossing which is known to have a few crevasses and the summit ridge which has some amount of exposure. We skipped the first intermediate camp and had a prolonged stay at the second intermediate camp due to unexpected precipitation which led to numerous accidents on the mountain. We started our summit attempt on the third day at 11 pm from the basecamp at 16,000 ft and made it to the summit around 6:30 am. I was a little bummed about missing the sunrise by 30 minutes but managed to make it back safely in time. I will give more details about the route and narrate some other stories from the trip. One nice thing about this mountain is that it costs you less than $100 for the actual summit attempt (excluding the cost of a flight to get to Leh).

The talk will be followed by a reception with free refreshments.