Himalchuli East | 1978 E Ridge-NE Face

A UK expedition to Himalchuli East in 1978 via E Ridge-NE Face, led by John Cleare, Ian Howell. Summit reached on 23rd October 1978. 9 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 2161
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID HIME78301
Peak ID HIME
Year 1978
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 E Ridge-NE Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality UK
Leaders John Cleare, Ian Howell
Sponsor British Himalchuli Expedition
Success 1 False
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 -
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries Kenya, Poland
Approach Buri Gandaki->Lidanda Col (BC)
Basecamp Date 1978-10-14
Summit Date 1978-10-23
Summit Time -
Summit Days 9
Total Days 24
Termination Date 1978-11-07
Termination Reason 14
Termination Notes Abandoned at 6400m after hearing news of death of Alison Chadwick on Annapurna I
High Point (m) 6400
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 3
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 8
Summit Members 0
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 0
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired True
O2 Used False
O2 None True
O2 Climb False
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep False
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits Climbed Rani Peak (RANI-783-01)
Campsites BC(14/10,4630m),C1(17/10,5425m),C2(20/10,5890m),C3(23/10,6400m),xxx
Route Notes Climbing stopped 31st Oct and all but Cleare, Fowler and Howell left mountain. 4 Nov Cleare and Howell scaled Himalchuli NE Peak (6497m). John Cleare - Nov 78 Cleare and Ian Howell scaled Himalchuli NE Peak (also called Rani Peak) on 4 Nov 1978, same route as Dutch in spring 1970: South Ridge from southeast side climbed to summit from C3 made for Himalchuli attempt. Nigel Gifford - 8 Nov 78 Route = NE Face After 23rd, bad weather (high wind) so all went down BC. About 29th on way down between C3 to C2, Stevenson in (slab snow) avalanche but swam out. He went 70 yards but not hurt. Then mail arrived on 30th [bringing news of the death of Alison Chadwick Onyszkiewicz on Annapurna]. She knew 7 of members, some very well. 31st Janusz Onyszkiewicz left. Morale on 29th-30th still pretty good but I felt to put in C4, C5 and biv or snowhole pretty big job still to be done and long way to go and weather colder and windier. On 31st fun had gone out of expedition. O'Connor had to leave for business commitments, Nigel wanted to leave, Janusz left. Decided on 31st not carry on. So departures, Stevenson's avalanche which was 3rd avalanche, snow conditions never good, long way to go, C4 would be lower than C3, find safe route problems ahead and now Nov's winds and cold snow condition really what defeated expedition. If better, other factors would have been overcome. Shailendra Raj Sharma, Tourism - 26 Oct 78 Himalchuli C2 - 20 Oct 19,320 ft C3 - 23 Oct 21,000 ft Shailendra Raj Sharma, Tourism - 22 Oct 78 BC - 14 Oct 15,200 ft C1 - 17 Oct 17,800 ft Cleare - 24 Sept 78 NE Face - long plateau, NE Peak traverse (100m below summit), ridge that fades out to face (where C3 will be) at about 22,000 ft. May go left to ridge above C3. Leave KTM by about 29 Sept. 2 weeks to BC with 50 porters. BC at 16,000 ft probably maybe biv above C3, maybe only snowholes. Sirdar Pemba Tharkey but not above BC - no Sherpas above BC. 1 medical bottle oxygen Summit bids end 1st week Nov, possibly before; are equipped to stay till late Nov. Letter from C2 by John Cleare - Oct 23, 1978 We are going like a steam engine right now. Morale is tops and thanks perhaps to Nigel's superb H/A. We eat like kings. Snow is calf deep but weather excellent and no wind yet. Everyone is carrying 50 lbs and loving it because we are acclimatizing well. Sleep low/carry high and its working. Pin, I and Doc and Nig set up C3 at 21,000 yesterday and Pin and I are occupying it today to probe and locate C4 tomorrow. C4 is bottom of North East Face of Big H. And if our momentum continues (its tremendous right now - goo go go before we get too tired) we should have summit bids going in with 7-10 days. How can we fail? (isn't that what Hitler once said?) Anyway - we'll have a damn good try and optimism is very much in the air. We feel wer are breaking new goal by being Sherpa-less on such a big long and "long sticky" ridge. The views are fantastic. We see deep into Tibet up Ton Khola glen and Gosainthan in distance holds its alpenglow particularly red (appropriately long after the other peaks are dark). 8th Oct We are still a few days below BC but as Bill reached us 2 days ago and we can't make the radio he bought with him work we are sending back a runner early with the batterys to recharge. And a few letters with them. Hope all is well in KTM. We've had 48 hours continuous rain but sun is shining now and we are drying out nicely. But what a place. The Buri in spite is quite something.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency -
Commercial Route -
Standard Route -
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2446188
Year 1978
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) e ridge-ne face

Members

9 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Iain Allan M 1948 Kenya Climber Nairobi, Kenya Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
John S. Cleare M 1936 UK Joint Leader London, England Photographer & writer Details Other expeditions
John D. Fowler M 1944 UK Climber Exmouth, Devon, England Director of property-development company Details Other expeditions
Nigel Frank Gifford M 1946 UK Climber Clevedon, Avon, England Freelance mountain-equipment designer Details Other expeditions
Ian Howell M 1936 UK Joint Leader Nairobi, Kenya Electronics engineer Details Other expeditions
William H. (Bill) O'Connor M 1947 UK Climber Loughborough, Leicester, England Marketing manager for Camptrails, camping equipment Co. Details Other expeditions
Janusz Onyszkiewicz M 1937 Poland Climber Leeds, W Yorkshire, England University lecturer in mathematical logic Details Other expeditions
Alastair R. L. Stevenson M 1949 UK Climber Mombasa, Kenya Dental surgeon Details Other expeditions
Pemba Tharke Sherpa M - Nepal Sirdar Phortse, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions

References

5 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
HIME78301 AAJ Cleare, John - - 53:270-271 (1979) -
HIME78301 HJ Cleare, John Himalchuli - 36:33-40 (1978-79) -
HIME78301 MM - - - 65:11 (Jan 1979) -
HIME78301 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12197927003/Asia-Nepal-Himalchuli-Attempt-from-the-Northeast - - -
HIME78301 - - https://www.himalayanclub.org/hj/36/9/himalchuli-78/ - - -