Kabru North | 1935 SE Ridge

A UK expedition to Kabru North in 1935 via SE Ridge, led by C. R. (Reggie) Cooke. Summit reached on 18th November 1935. 6 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 2844
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID KABN35301
Peak ID KABN
Year 1935
Season 3
Host Country 3
Route 1 SE Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality UK
Leaders C. R. (Reggie) Cooke
Sponsor -
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 1st?
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries Switzerland
Approach Darjeeling->Rathong Chu
Basecamp Date 1935-10-21
Summit Date 1935-11-18
Summit Time -
Summit Days 28
Total Days 36
Termination Date 1935-11-26
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 7338
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 6
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 2
Summit Members 1
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 4
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired False
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 Attempted Kabru Dome (KABD-353-01)
Campsites BC(21/10,4660m),C1(02/11,5335m),C2(05/11,5550m),C3(09/11,5800m),C4(11/11,6100m),C5(15/11,6430m),C6(16/11,6860m),Smt(18/11)
Route Notes Taken from Himalayan Journal, 1936 The Ascent of Kabru 1935, By C. R. Cooke Kabru is the nearest of the big peaks. The party, consisting of ourselves and two Everest "Tigers" carefully picked for us by Mrs Townend, left Darjeeling with forty coolies on the 10th October, and travelled by the Singalila ridge. At Chiabhanjan two more "Tigers" joined us from Mrs Townend's party on its return from the Guicha La and completed the climbing party. The junction of the Rathong Chu and Churung Chu was reached on the 18th, where, after selecting six good men to assist up to the base camp, the coolies were discharged. Two days cutting through tall rhododendrons brought us to our "Rathong Camp" beside the stream. We had journeyed almost the whole way in clouds and mists, but here in the mornings before the cloud level crept up we obtained the first view of our objective and its noble satellites, Little Kabru, the Dome and Forked Peak. On the 21st October Schoberth and I emerged from the Rathong Valley on to the Kabru glacier and found it entirely moraine covered. No ice was visible; there lay ahead of us the most complicated succession of ridges and cross ridges, rising one behind the other, that either of us had ever seen. The mountain here must still be in process of construction, for weather effects alone could scarely split of such large and fresh looking blocks of granite and produce such debris. The glacier is evidently in rapid motion underneath, for here and there small landslips of stones rattled down at intervals. We scrambled to the first ridge of stones at 14,400 ft and traversing the next higher one, breasted a third ridge aat a height of 15,300 ft. Here it was seen that the glacier had an ice tongue a couple of miles farther up. The regiment of trouble some moraine ridges showed no signs of terminating, we pitched our so called Moraine-Camp on grass in a small hanging valley below the southwest corner of the glacier. Five days were spent in relaying the kit up from the Churung Chu and working out a route four miles to the foot of the Kabru ice-fall. Ang Tarke and the four high altitude porters did magnificiente work, sometimes making a double carry in one day and sometimes carrying the best part of two maunds in one load. This effort was sheer enthusiasm on their part. On the 26th Schoberth and Kitar established themselves in the Base camp while I returned once more to Moraine Camp to arrange about stocking the Base and to discharge four more men. On the 28th we all assembled in the Base Camp at 15,700 ft. The whole problem if climbing Kabru lies in the ascent of the icefall, and from the Base camp it looks a monster. Its lower portion sweeps up into a labyrinth of hanging seracs and grey ice walls. Schoberth thought that by mounting a smaller ice-fall descending at the side of Dome and by crossing the upper slopes of another glacier we could get on to a shoulder of the Dome above the Kanzel rock and from there reach the main icefall. I was afraid that we should find hanging ice over that shoulder, but we decided to try. On the 29th we took a bivouac and camped a third of the way up the side icefall and the next day worked up the ice to a point from which we could see a clear way to the shoulder. A rather peculiar lassitude was felt on this glacier which I presume was 'glacier lassitude' brought on by a hot sun. Returning to camp in the afternoon, the weather deteriorated and presented above us an awe inspiring sight. Cirro-cumuli had been passing over during the day, and now the summits of Kabru were hidden behind a great blurred arc of cloud, a formless shape without any defined edge evidently moving at a great pace. It was accompanied by a distant murmuring like the sea on a rough day and altogether fitted one of Scott's description of an oncoming blizzard; it must have been indeed a blizzard in operation. The night was windy and next morning in driving sleet, we descended to the Base camp to collect the kit for Camp I on the shoulder. On the 2nd November Camp I was fixed at 17,500 feet on the ice terrace. After a brilliantly clear night with a minimum temperature of -5 and 1/2 degree Fahrenheit, we rounded the shoulder and stood face to face with the Kabru icefall pouring over from unseen neve 3,000 ft above. Schoberth ahd proved correct; the back of the shoulder led easily down a ridge of soft snow into the nearest seracs. We cut steps up a depression in the first ice-wall and entered the name. The problem now took on the fascination of uncertainty which continued up to the last crevasse. Frequently it appeared that there would be no way past the next icewall to the succeeding terrace above. On the 5th November, having dug Camp I into the snow and stocked it well against a forced retreat, Kitar and Jigmay accompanied us with a bivouac by the route we had prepared and pitched Camp 2 under the lee of a big wall 18,200 feet which so far had resisted our assaults. They then returned to Camp I. Once again the weather looked threatening with cirro-cumuli scurrying overhead and the view of Kotang peak across the moraine below interrupted by ragged cumulus clouds swirling over the glacier. We passed an extremely uncomfortable night cramped in our hastily contructed encampment, with the temperature at -8 degree F and the wind battering at the tent. Next day we cut steps a few feet up the ice wall and thence along a trick little ledge round a sort of gable to find that we could proceed only a short distance farther among a tangle of immense ice blocks to a very large crevasse backed by an even larger wall. We were on the right hand side of the ice-fall and the crevasse stretched to the left into the quite impossible centre position of the fall. There can be few ice falls even in the Himalaya which can show such a spectacle of titanic ice monsters wrestling with each other down such a gradient. The Kabru icefall drops 5,500 ft in about the same horizontal distance, and being fed from three extensive neve fields above, contains an immense quantity of ice. There was no way past and we were forced to return. WE now explored to the right under the hanging ice of the Dome where the crevases had been flled with fallen ice. After two hours cutting on a steep litte serac poised above a deep crevasse, we emerged through an overhang on to the top of the big wall. A stiff ice laden wind had been icing up our goggles and had made step cutting most uncomfortable. It was only a matter of minutes before the goggles got so iced that we could see nothing and we had to keep changing places to clean them. Next night we fared better for the porters had now consolidated Camp 2. Kitar had been sent down to the Base Camp to bring up Ang Tsering with some extra food, but as they had not arrived another day was spent in improving the track we had made up the wall while the two remaining porters, Jigmay and Pasang went back to the Base Camp to hurry up Ang Tsering. On the third day there was still no sign of our worthies and as further delay might lose us ths chance of reaching the summit I took a sleeping bag and set off for Camp I. Finding no one there, I passed on to the Base camp and to my great relief found the whole party ascending. Kitar had been sick and had been obliged to wait two days. After a pleasant lunch sitting in a warm sun I said goodbye to Ang Tarke and Ang Thari, who were looking after our base for us and rejoined the porters in Camp I. Porters as a rule will not remain in a camp alone. On the 9th November the whole party joined up with Schoberth in Camp 2, and after collecting stores for the next bivouac climbed up to 19,000 ft and pitched Camp 3 in a snow-filled crevasse. The porters then returned to Camp 2 to bring up more kit next day. In the evening it started to snow and the temperature dropped to -9 F. Through out the greater part of the 10th were confined to our tents by heavy snow and a dense fog, though in the afternoon it cleared sufficiently for us to be able to look down on the snow slopes from the edge of our hollow. To our surprise we discerned four black dots slowly ascending. We climbed down to them at once and found that our stout hearted lads were on their way up for orders. They were sent back. We returned early in the afternoon from our exploration of the route to Camp 4 to find no porters. This time they were resting on their laurels. Time was too precious for this, so I went off with my sleeping bag to investigate. The wind strengthened in the afternoon and whirled the fresh snow along the ground. At times it became necessary to cover my face with my ground. At times it became necessary to cover my face with my gloves and cower down on the slope to let the blast abate somewhat before proceeding. Conditions however, improved as I descended, and Camp 2 presented a peaceful scene with tent laced up, basking in a comparatively calm sun. Presently two astonished faces popped through the flap in answer to my shouts. I could not resist a laugh at their Jack-in-the box appearance, and when they saw the joke too the effect was complete. I dug them out of their sleeping bags and sent them off to Camp 3, with a load each. Fine fellows these! They took it all in the right spirit and must have had a struggle to get there. Next morning we all collected again in Camp 3 and carried on up the ice fall. There was no hope of surmounting the terraces at the far end of the 300 ft ice-wal owing to the risk of tumbling seracs. Camp 4 was established at 20,000 ft, a glorious display of sunset lights revealing the snows above. From now on the weather remained perfect for the rest of the climb. We spent a day climbing by a steep and devious route to the last crevasse of the glacier and found ourselves at last on the easy neve leading to the summit 3,000 ft above. Too lazy to climb back towards the slopes of the Dome, we took the risk of a short cut right in the maze of fallen seracs at the top of the ice-fall, prepared to rope down anything. Suddenly we recognized below us our tracks of the morning and all depended on our reaching those before dark. We cut steps along a ledge on the edge of a huge chasm; there were no holds and we had to proceed with the greatest care, but eventually, to our relief, we succeeded in joining our old tracks. This short cut served us well later. The wind woke us early on the morning of the 15th by the simple process of blowing the tent down. The job of getting out before sunrise and refixing it had all the exhilarating effects of a cold shower. Breakfast, as usual, consisted of porridge, bacon and eggs and a cup of Ovaltine after which we set off with the bivouac for Camp 5 with two porters while the other two went back to the Camp 3 for the last of the kit for the high camps. The weather became calmer and we ascended easily, improving on our route of the descent, and eventually entering a large crevasse at 21,000 ft where we decided to Camp 5. We took considerable trouble to select the calmest place along the snow filled bottom of the crevasse, for the wind showed signs of rising in the night. The porters went back to Camp 4 while we set about our evening meal. At sundown the wind became so powerful that it was only a matter of minutes before the canvas tore, and something had to be done at once. We discovered a shelf farther in and 40 ft higher under a portion of the crevasse wall near where it closed over altogether and formed a snow bridge 50 ft above the shelf. Here there was much better protection from the wind. We now rolled up everything and staggered up the slope of hard snow with a load in one arm and cutting steps with the other. This had to be repeated at every trip, so quickly did the wind-driven ice particles fill up the steps. Finally Schoberth shouldered the tent while I assisted from behind. At the end of the slope a sudden strong gust of wind knocked us both out our steps. Schoberth shot off down the slope but kept his head and tobogganed neatly over a small subsidiary crevasse to land in a graceful sitting posture in the pit from which we had just taken the tent. I managed to save the tent from falling into the small crevasse, from which we might not have been able to recover it. It was well that we moved for the wind continued to increase and gave us a disturbed night tearing across the opening of the crevasse above. It was very noticeable that throughout the climb the wind was strongest always during the night, while frequently at about midday it died away altogether for an hour or more. We spent the next morning crossing the neve and ascending the long low saddle which connects the Dome with the north peak of Kabru. Having seen nothing but the Dome Cliffs and Kabru since we started it was a thrill which neither of us will forget when we saw the view over the edge. Range after range of sharp rock sided peaks filled the view. From Kangchenjunga on the left the eye swept over teh entire vista of the mountains of Sikkim and rested finally on the summit of Chomo Lhari, 23,990 ft in Tibet while Sikkim itself lady hid under 4,000 square miles of flat unbroken planchette. Camp 6 was pitched on the 16th November near the foot of the icefall which comes down from the 'ice brae' behind Kabru's two summits. I asked Ang Tsering if he would share the Mummery tent with us and try the summit next day; his reply was a graceful "I have become a little tired, but it is as the Sahibs wishes." Small wonder that he was a little tired for in spite of our remonstrance both he and Kitar had brought a full 60lb load rather make a second journey the next day. We therefore sent them back to Camp 5 for two days rest. Had we known that the wonderful weather would hold we should have brought up another tent and assembled the whole party at 22,500 ft, but with the wind danger in such an exposed place we ahd to keep Camp 5 fully equipped as a retreat. The following morning I felt a little mountain sick after a very cramped night and was the cause of a late start. From here two routes to the summit ridge are possible. Schoberth suggested that if the wind was favourable we should ascend the 500 ft of steepening snow slopes above us and then climb the 1,000 ft of rocks; otherwise we would climb the more difficult but more sheltered route up the 1,500 ft of icefall. Schoberth soon developed a persistent cough and returned when we had nearly reached the rocks, to be followed a couple of hours later by me after an examination of them. On the 18th an hour after sunrise, we started in earnest. A bitter wind made progress slow and breathing very difficult. When we had nearly reached the rocks Schoberth's cough again bothered him very considerably and with his handicap and the fear of frostbitten hands he reluctantly decided to return. We decided that I should go on as far as possible. I climbed the first band of rocks and thence diagonally eastwards over the next band to the southeast rib. Here on the ascending a steep stretch of rocks, I could see that the slopes from the summit ridge were steep and heavily corniced at the top and that it would be better go round via the ice brae. From here onwards the snow became very steep and had been pressed so hard by the wind that it was impossible to kick steps, so it was a case of cutting steps for the next 700 ft or so to the beginning of the summit ridge. As the day wore on the wind, though cold died to a gentle breeze and the weather became quite perfect. On reaching the final ridge I at once encountered a stiff wind from the west. Three rounded summits appeared ahead, one behind the other and I wondered which was the summit and whether the third which looked considerably farther off could be the point marked 7935m on Kurz's map. It was very difficult to judge distance; rather despondently I traversed the first summit and rounding the second made for the farthest one, resolved to turn back should it prove too far. It turned out to be only a quarter of a mile and I found myself quicker than I expected on the top and looking down a tremendous abyss to the Talung glacier below with the unnamed peak half a mile or so along the ridge and about 300 ft lower. It was impossible to tell whether the south peak of Kabru was higher or not; I rather feared that it was, but from careful calculations made later from photographs the north peak works out at from 100 to 150 higher. On the descent I decided to take a shorter route down the south face instead of following my previous steps. From the summit ridge snow was so hard, I made a lunge down with my heel, but the nails failed to bite at all and I shot down at once on my back. About 50 ft lower a passing rock jumped me over on to my face and I got a chance to get the point of the ice axe working as brake, but there seemed little hope of stopping as the pace was terrific. I fetched up with a bang on a bulge of rock, severely shaken but unhurt. The fall was seen from Camp 6 by Ang Tsering. The next day we decided to get back to Camp 5. Schoberth arrived in the evening having climbed up to 23,500 with Jigmay to take photographs. It was pity that they had not started earlier, for they made good progress and could have reached the summit with more time to spare. On the 20th Schoberth decided to carry on down from Camp 5, so Ang Tsering and I donned crampons and shouldered a biovouac for an attempt on the Dome. After an easy ascent to a peak on the ridge about 200 ft higher than the actual summit, we commenced to descend the steep arete for about 600 yards. It is interesting to record that the mountain which looks so like a dome from below actually has the form of a large semicircular crater with the summit, 21,500 ft at the far end. It now became apparent that it would take too long to reach the summit and return, and as he had to reach Camp I on the following day we gave it up. We wasted some time on the return belaying down a short cut. having eventually to work back to our original route: however by sun down we fixed our light tent on the site of our Camp 4. Ang Tsering proved to be very steady and negotiated the steps very neatly like the born mountaineer he is. The party assembled once more in Camp I, every one in high spirits in calm and brilliant weather. Schoberth and I reached the Base camp on the 22nd, to be followed a day later by the porters with the last of the kit. We now had to wait three days for the coolies to turn up, so while Schoberth went off to climb the other side of the valley to complete his excellent series. Our route upwards was singularly deficient in belays for roping down, and having ascended 7,500 ft from our camp in the Armiun Nar, we were in no mood to descend it without using the double rope. We took infinite care on this easy ridge in view of our weariness. At about half its length a subsidiary rib was seen running direct to the glacier down the south face, and by this we descended. We reached the glacier in 3 and 1/2 hours at 5:45 pm a reflection not on the difficulties, but on our and I fear particularly my state of exhaustion. We reached the col soon after 6 o'clock. Here nourishment revived us all thoughts of a high bivouac were put aside and we raced down to Armiun 5,000 feet below, in less than 2 hours arrived at 8 pm. Both the climb, which presents no outstanding difficulties and the route by which we approached the mountain can be recommended. The route by the Armiun Nar is short and very attractive. I think, however that most parties intending to climb the peak from this south side will be wise to make a bivouac at or near the col by which we reached the Kolahoi glacier. As ascent of 7,500 ft and a descent of the same amount, with a horizontal distance of five miles each way, is a big undertaking for one day. Had we not been in good training after our Karakoram climb, we should not have managed it ourselves.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency -
Commercial Route -
Standard Route -
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2430555
Year 1935
Summit Success True
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) se ridge

Members

6 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Conrad Reginald (Reggie) Cooke M 1901 UK Leader India - Details Other expeditions
Gustov Schoberth M - Switzerland Climber - - Details Other expeditions
Ang Tharkay Sherpa M 1908 Nepal Sirdar Khunde, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Ang Tshering Sherpa M 1909 Nepal H-A Worker Pare, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Jigme Sherpa M - Nepal H-A Worker - - Details Other expeditions
Kitar Sherpa M 1905 Nepal H-A Worker - - Details Other expeditions

References

3 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
KABN35301 HJ Cooke, C. R. The Ascent of Kabru - 8:107-117 (1936) -
KABN35301 - Cooke, C. Reginald Dust and Snow By author - C340
KABN35301 - - https://www.himalayanclub.org/hj/08/12/the-ascent-of-kabru/ - - -