Jannu | 1978 E Ridge [to 6550m]

A UK expedition to Jannu in 1978 via E Ridge [to 6550m], led by Rab Carrington. Summit reached on 21st October 1978. 4 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 2151
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID JANU78301
Peak ID JANU
Year 1978
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 E Ridge [to 6550m]
Route 2 S Ridge
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality UK
Leaders Rab Carrington
Sponsor British Jannu Expedition 1978
Success 1 False
Success 2 True
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 -
Ascent 2 8th
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries -
Approach -
Basecamp Date 1978-09-15
Summit Date 1978-10-21
Summit Time 1130
Summit Days 36
Total Days 40
Termination Date 1978-10-25
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 7711
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 1
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 4
Summit Members 4
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 -
Campsites BC(14/09,4800m),C1(29/09,5400m),Biv1(17/10,5800m),Biv2(18/10,6400m),Biv3(19/10,6600m),Biv4(20/10,7000m),Smt(21/10),Biv5(22/10,7000m),Biv6(23/10,6100m)
Route Notes Jannu basecamp 14th Sept at 15,800 ft. C1 on 29th Sept at 5400m S Ridge - no fixed camps Summit 21 Oct by all 4 members. Shailendra Raj Sharma, Tourism - 24 Oct 78 Oct at 12:00 hrs because of bad weather climbers returned to BC after reaching 6500m will make last attempt. On 14th Oct at 8:00 am left BC going up. Shailendra Raj Sharma, Tourism - 12 Oct 78 Carrington and Rouse left BC on 28th Sept to go up. Hall and Baxter-Jones left BC 29th Sept and established C1 at 5400m that day. 2 members 30th Sept reached 5700m. 2 Oct Carrington and Rouse left BC to go up again and 3 Oct other 2 went up again. Weather, health good. All members - 18 Aug 78 Leave Tuesday or Wednesday, 22 or 23 Aug. Photo app p. 84 Terray totally new route. Go up Yalung Glacier up E Face by one of several possible routes. Up to E Ridge via a subsidiary peak or up face all the way. Reach BC 10-14 Sept at about 14,000-16,000 ft. No fixed camps above BC but might leave dumps at high points. All 4 to climb together. No oxygen at all. No Sherpas above basecamp. From expedition report: Base Camp The base camp was situated on a small grassy terrace a hundred metres above the Yalung glacier and opposite the enormous East Face of Jannu. The giant mass of Kangchengjunga lay at the end of the glacier, while behind us lay Kabru. After a few days spent organising our tents, equipment and a kitchen our thoughts turned to Jannu and the problems it presented. The constant cloud of the monsoon had precluded a decent look at the mountain although we able to catch tantalising glimpses of huge rock and ice walls from time to time. On the 28th of Sept Alan and Rab established an advance base camp on the rocky spur which descends from the col. On the 30th they pushed up the lower slabby rocks to get a closer look at the route. Attempt on East Face via the col 7th Oct: In improving weather (in fact the end of the monsoon) we head up to our advance base. 8th Oct: We reclimb the first thousand foot rock section and enter into a region of fluted snow runnels. The climbing becomes difficult and insecure and snow falls during much of the afternoon and evening. We bivouac in convenient ice caves. 9th Oct: The weather is perfect in the morning. The route follows shallow couloir with some difficult rock climbing. After nine pitches and in snowy weather we biv for the night. 10th Oct: Two hundred feet of traversing across the fluted snow face on our left brought us onto the easy snowfield which we had been hoping to reach. A long day of relatively easy climbing bring us close to the col. Being an east face the climb we have chosen is in the sun for much of the day and the snow conditions rapidly become unstable. We all feel tired from the effort as we biv that evening. 11th Oct: By midday we reach the col at about 21,500 ft. The weather is excellent but we have used over half our stock of food and fuel. We estimate that the route ahead would need at least another week of sustained effort. It seems pointless to carry on with this route, as the chance of success is so small. We make the decision to retreat but wait on the col for the snow it improve as the sun leaves the face in the late afternoon. That evening we descend to our biv site, arriving only after dark. 12th Oct: A long serious of abseils brings us down to our advance BC. We evacuate advance Base and just make it back to base before nightfall. Another attempt on the same route seemed pointless and as all the other routes on the East Face of Jannu appeared to be too dangerous it was necessary to consider an alternative plan of action. We therefore switched our attention to the French route on Jannu. Jannu from the southwest (the French route) To reach the French base camp from our base camp unfortunately entailed a walk of three days across the Lapsong La. To conserve our strength as far as possible we decided to enlist help where it was available. 13th Oct: We spend the day at base camp resting and sorting out equipment. 14th Oct: Heavily laden but aided by Padam we set off down the Yalung Glacier to reach Ramshey at nightfall. 15th Oct: As a family of yak herders is now temporarily resident at Ramshey we persuade two of them to act as porters and help us carry our equipment over the Lapsong La. Padam returns to our base camp. We walk over the pass of the Lapsong La carrying only 20 kilos each. It feels pleasant to be walking with a lighter sack even though we need to climb to 17,500 ft to cross the pass. 16th Oct: We walked up the Yamatari glacier to biv below the start of the climb. A long day and by now we were carrying all our own equipment again. 17th Oct: The weather continues fine. We set off at dawn and pick our way on throught the icefall. We follow the glacier to its head and climb. A short rocky setion still has traces of old French fixed rope, the only evidence we are to see of the two previous ascents. We biv just below the site of the French camp three. 18th Oct: Above the biv site a short but quite complex icefall leads on to a glacial plateau. Now the real difficulties of the route commence. A long and complex snow ridge leads from the plateau to the Tete du Buttoir, a giant snowy gendarme. After a series of complex and technically difficult pitches in and around giant snow mushrooms we reach a suitable site for our second biv, a little way below the site of the French camp 4, (biv at 6400m) 19th Oct: Two very difficult pitches lead to the end of the mushroomed ridge. The traverse across to the Tete du Dentelle includes some very deep powder snow and proves very time consuming. We have a discussion about the feasibility of retreat especially if bad weather were to close in. One of the most disturbing features of the eventual descent had climbed that day. There were no anchors to abseil from and the pitches were too difficult to climb back down. We decide that it should be feasible to locate an alternative descent route on that snow to reach the summit of the Tete du Dentelle. We biv a little later at a height of 6600m. A strong wind and driven snow make this a cold and not very pleasant night. 20th Oct: We cross the plateau of the throne. Its heavy going although in some places a usable crust has formed on the surface of the snow. A long slog eventually brings us to a bergschrund below the summit walls. It is very windy and and there is a lot of spindrift so are grateful to fimd a reasonably sheltered bivouac site as of course we had no tents with us. We are still a long way from the summit but with the intense cold and strong winds we have no wish to linger. We must reach the top tomorrow or fail. The Summit day 21st Oct: Just after midnight we start cooking breakfast, a tedious process which occupies us until half past three. The gas stoves are very inefficient in this extreme cold of around thirty degrees below zero centigrade. Our fingers are likewise inefficient and each boot requires a major effort to be removed from the sleeping bag and placed on a foot. We are at an altitude of just below 7000m so we still have 700m to climb up and back down again in the same day. The only way to cover such a distance at this altitude without oxygen is to abandon all unnecessary equipment. We decide to climb without any sacks at all but everybody slips a headtorch into their pockets along with a few bars of fudge. We get away by half past three. The cold is intense as we cross the bergschrund and start on face. The snow conditions are good and this gives us great hope. The climbing is steep but fairly straight forward at at a standard of perhaps alpine T.D. We hope that it will become warmer when the sun comes up but in fact the wind just intensifies as we gain height and negates any warming effect that the sun might have had. After a tricky mixed section of climbing we emerged on to the summit ridge where we had to battle with a howling gale for the final easy but laborious section to the summit. At 11:30 am on the morning of the 21st of October we pulled over on to the summit and quickly took a few summit within a few minutes of each other. We set off down almost immediately as it was essential to reach our sleeping gear before nightfall. A night without a sleeping bag under these conditions would almost certainly be fatal. We rapidly climbed down the difficult terrain as we had little spare equipment to abseil with. At about four o'clock we arrived at our biv site and crawled into our sleeping bags exhausted. 22nd Oct: We descend the throne and recross the plateau. Our steps had consolidated on the Tete du Dentelle and aided our progress. Occasional abseils and some tricky down climbing brought us down to an altitude of some 6200 metres where we biv in the fading light. The two worrying pitches near the top of the ice ridge we managed to bypass via a steep snow wall and an abseil down a vertical ice wall from a convenient snow spike. 23rd Oct: We continue the descent as far as the Yamatari glacier and after a half hour rest we carry on down to the start of the Lapsong La. Everybody is very hungry and tired but there is virtually no food left to eat, only a small two man pack of dried food. The dried food is all we eat that day. 24th Oct: The 4000 ft height gain to cross the Lapsong La goes very slowly. We have now been on the move for 17 of the last 18 days, with just one day of resting. For all of that time the days have been long and strenuous and we have eaten very little food. Today our bodies complain and almost refuse to operate without food. As we cross the Lapsong La night falls and we biv again in snowy weather. 25th Oct: We descend to Ramshey, where we decide to abandon the sacks to make walking easier. We can pick them up on the walk out - we will not need our climbing gear again on this trip. We are greatly heartened by the continuing presence of the yak herders and they provide us with tea and cheese. A further seven hours walking brought us back to our base camp where we ate and ate before sinking into deep sleep. We spent the next day resting and packing our equipment for the walk out. The porters we had ordered arrived as planned on the 27th October and that day we set off walking downt the glacier again. The porters walked very well on the way out and we reached Yamphodin in three days. A further three days brought us to Taplejung, where we took a well earned days rest. This was only our third day's rest in the last twenty six days. As we were walking with only eight porters on the way out everything went faster than on the walk in and we arrived in Dharan Baazar on the 7th of Nov. A bus took us back ot KTM the next day and by the 16th of Nov we were back in Britain. Report After the first few days at BC, organizing tents, equipments preparing a kitchen, etc., our thoughts turned to climbing Jannu. However on the 21st Sept we decided to make an extended recce to get a better view of the bowl of the East Face of Jannu and also to test our equipment and improve acclimatization. Accordingly we climbed up the glacier wall opposite BC to reach the level of the upper glacier. Unfortunately it started to snow soon after we left the glacier floor and continued to do so for several days. Therefore we were in a poor position to observe the various possible routes on Jannu but did make a good test for the equipment. On the 28th Sept Alan and Rab opened up a route to establish a ABC at the foot of a rocky spur leading down from the col and on the 30th pushed on up the lower slabby rocks to get a view of the route. It looked feasible. Three days later they had a second attempt but snow forced them to retreat having reached their previous high point and bivouacked there. While this was going on Roger and Brian further equipped Advance BC. After 24 hours of snow we all returned to BC. Col Route Attempt - East Face attempt Having made a couple of attempts on the route already we realised that our main problem was going to be the weight of rucsacs. We therefore decided to cut our weight right down by the following methods: bivy sacks were substituted for the lightweight tents, gas stoves substituted for paraffin stovess, food and climbing gear reduced. 7th October: weather improved, we head up to ABC. 8th October: weather fine and bright. We scramble up the initial rocks then continue up the fluted snow runnels above. The snow is very bad and progress arduous and slow. Bivouac in ice cave. 9th October: still good weather. The route follows a bit of couloir with rock pitches intermingling with snow. We climb about nine pitches and biv for the night. From here one pitch leads onto the snow shelf which leads to the Col. 10th Oct: a long way though easy climbing. We gain a lot of height by way of this shelf and biv just below the Col. Being in East Face we are in the sun all day and consequently the snow turns bad quickly and also we tire quickly. 11th Oct: clear weather as we climb up to the col. On the Col we take stock of the situation: we are climbing slower than anticipated the way ahead looks very difficult and time consuming. We are also running short of food and gas. The result of this is that we will have to retreat. 12th Oct: continue our retreat, reach the glacier, evacuate Adv BC, return to BC. The weather is still good. We are now faced with a bit of a problem: to climb the col route will take more time than expected consequently we will need more food. We cannot carry more food as we are already loaded to capacity. Our resources are becoming depleted. From all these different points we decided that it was impossible for us to climb the Col route up the East Face of Jannu. We, therefore decide to switch our attention to the French Route up Jannu. To do this we can further reduce the weight we would carry by a reduction in equipment. French route attempt: To reach the foot of the route necessitated a walk of several days. 14th Oct: packed our equipment for the climb and set off walking down the glacier to Ramshey. 15th Oct: hired two porters and crossed the Lapsong La to reach the Yamatari Glacier. 16th Oct: walked up the glacier to the foot of the climb. 17th Oct: started the climbing. Following the side glacier we pick our way through the icefall. We followed the glacier to its head then climb up the back slope to reach a rocky ridge. Here we stopped for the sight at a height of 5750m. 16th Oct: above the biv site we had to find a route through the second icefall to reach the upper glacier which again we followed to its head then climbed up a back slope to reach a ridge. This was a very be-mushroomed ridge but would have to scaled in order to reach the throne which is situated below the summited triangle. The ridge proved to be awkward climbing: the mushrooms were unstable, the snow rotten and most of them had to be bypassed on the south flank of the ridge. That night we bivouacked below an ice cliff at 6400m. 19th Oct: a further two pitches of difficult climbing leading to the end of the ridge. A short traverse and a wall of very bad snow led to the Head of the knife. Here we had a short discussion of tactics in event of a retreat, we had to treat this very carefully as we were carrying so little climbing equipment. After deciding that retreat was open to us under all circumstances we continued to the Head of Lace then to the platform just before the throne. Here we bivouacked at a height of 6700m. 20th Oct: we cross the plateau and follow the snow slope up to the foot of a spur of rocks which stretch down from the summit. We spent the night in a bergschrund at a height of 7100m. 21st Oct: our tactics from here was to leave our equipment in the bergschrund and, carrying only climbing equipment and day food make a quick attempt for the summit. By the light of head torches we left at 3:30 am and climb a 50-degree ice slope which leads up to the ridge over looking the Yalung Glacier. From here an icy couloir leads up through rocky buttresses which leads to a snow ridge. The wind is extremely strong and it is bitingly cold. Against this wind we force our way up the ridge to the summit which we reach at 11:00 am. Time was barely spent on the summit to take photographs before we started the descent. We down climbed the line of ascent to our biv which we reached at 3:00 pm. 22nd Oct: we continue our descent, back across the plateau, and back down the ridge. Most of the way we down climbed though we had to make use of occasional abseils. Biv at 6100m. 23rd Oct: Descend back down to the Yamatari Glacier which we reached just before midday and immediately continued down the Glacier to spend the night at the start of the Lapsong La. 24th Oct: we recross the Lapsong La. A snow storm hinders our progress and fatigue and hunger made load carrying extremely exhausting. We spent the night under some boulders just below the Lapsong La. 25th Oct: Descend to Ramshey where we get some tea and cheese from the yak herders. Here we left our rucsacs and returned to BC very tired but contented. Conclusion: The East Face of Jannu is complicated and rather dangerous mountaineering problems. All of the likely routes are threatened seriously by icefalls. Take expedition repeated the original French Route on the mountain taking 4-1/2 days for the ascent and 2-1/2 days in descent.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency -
Commercial Route -
Standard Route -
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2446231
Year 1978
Summit Success True
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) e ridge [to 6550m]

Members

4 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Roger Gregory Baxter-Jones M 1950 UK Climber Sheffield, S Yorkshire, England English teacher Details Other expeditions
Rab Carrington M 1947 UK Leader Sheffield, S Yorkshire, England Mathematics teacher Details Other expeditions
Brian P. Hall M 1951 UK Climber Kendal, Cumbria, England - Details Other expeditions
Alan Paul (Al) Rouse M 1951 UK Climber Sheffield, S Yorkshire, England Mathematics teacher Details Other expeditions

References

12 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
JANU78301 AAJ Rouse, Alan - - 53:258-259 (1979) -
JANU78301 HJ Carrington, R. A. B. Jannu - Alpine Style - 36:18-22 (1978-79) -
JANU78301 AJ Rouse, Alan Jannu - 85:77-83 (1980) -
JANU78301 MM - - - 64:14 (Nov 1978) -
JANU78301 MM Mountain Magazine Interview The British Jannu Expedition - 65:22-25 (Jan 1979) -
JANU78301 HMJ Off Belay The 1978 British Jannu Expedition - 12:40-41 (1978) -
JANU78301 OTH Carrington, Rab No Margin for Error Vertical (English edition) 12:56-57 (Jul 2008) -
JANU78301 VERT Hall, Brian A Walk on the Wild Side Vertical (English edition) 12:58-59 (Jul 2008) -
JANU78301 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12197925800/Asia-Nepal-Jannu-French-Route - - -
JANU78301 - - https://www.himalayanclub.org/hj/36/5/jannu-alpine-style/ - - -
JANU78301 - - https://www.alpinejournal.org.uk/Contents/Contents_1980_files/AJ%201980%2077-83%20Rouse%20Jannu.pdf - - -
JANU78301 CLIM Carrington, Rob Jannu 1978 - 42:37 (Aug 2008) -