Putha Hiunchuli | 2008 NE Face

A USA expedition to Putha Hiunchuli in 2008 via NE Face, led by Peter Dronkers. Summit reached on 7th May 2008. 3 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 6095
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID PUTH08103
Peak ID PUTH
Year 2008
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 NE Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality USA
Leaders Peter Dronkers
Sponsor Churen Himal
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 30th
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries -
Approach See route details
Basecamp Date 2008-04-26
Summit Date 2008-05-07
Summit Time 1645
Summit Days 11
Total Days 15
Termination Date 2008-05-11
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 7246
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 4
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 3
Summit Members 2
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 Turka Himal (30 April by Dronkers and Eisele)
Campsites BC(26/04,4725m),C1(03/05,5180m),C2(04/05,5550m),C3(05/05,6100m),C4(06/05,6400m),Smt(07/05)
Route Notes Approach march: Darban->Dhorpatan->Tarakot->up Barbung Khola to Kakkot->Kaya Khola to BC. BC at 4-5 hours walk east of normal site for NE Ridge. Permit was for Churen Himal but when they saw the mountain, they got scared by the 5000 ft vertical icefall. They decided to attempt the nearby Putha Hiunchuli peak. Curtis Gray was not enjoying the trip and left expedition before any climbing was done. Approach via Darban (northwest of Beni) Dhorpatan, Tarakot, Barbung Khola to Kakkot, Kaya Khola to BC. Summit details On summit day the summit team left C3 at 7 am. Weather was good, it was windy with wind driven snow. Snow conditions were good. The team were one day ahead of the French team, who was also on the mountain. They reached the summit at 4:45 pm. They descended to C3 where they arrived at 7:30 pm and where they spent the night. On May 8 they returned to BC of the French team and on may 9 they returned to their lower base camp at 15,500 ft (4724m). They left BC on 11th May and flew out of Juphal on 14th May. The team was initially planning on climbing Churen Himal; however, Curtis Gray abandoned the expedition before the team got to base camp. His high point was 14,000 feet. His own explanation was that he was feeling sick and a bit unprepared and generally not enjoying the trip, so he left. However, when Gray decided to leave the expedition and the porters and sirdar said they wouldn't carry loads past 14,000 feet (4267m) Churen Himal became out of the question for the team. In addition, the team got scared by the mountain. Quote: "When we saw the mountain and the face, it looked pretty dangerous. May be it would have been possible with a larger team but not us!" They decided to switch to Putha Hiunchuli on 23rd April. Trip report by Peter Dronkers: Our acclimatization was done on a peak called Turka Himal 19,000 ft (5791m) and lies a few miles northwest of our base camp location. It is the prominent peak visible to the south from the Barbung Khola, from a point one mile west of Kakkot -- and it looks very similar to Putha Himal. Our BC location was not the one used by past parties -- it was a 4-5 hour walk east of the standard BC for the NE Ridge, but we could not carry our whole kit ourselves, so we started our alpine style ascent further back and substantially lower. Our climb was done in pure alpine style, with no carries and nothing fixed. We had no information about the area we were in and our maps were useless, so it was much more difficult to find the mountain. Our climb on Turka Himal followed talus to the prominent glacier on the & nbs p: East or NE Rridge. It may have been a first ascent or new route. We flew out from the Juphal Airstrip on May 14th. Expedition Details: Email from Dronkers - June 3, 2008 We chose to take the long way in, with donkeys. We thought it might be a nice two week stroll along the lowlands until crossing some small passes that would deposit us in our river valley. This turned out to involve something to the tune of 170 miles and at least 35,000 (10668m) vertical feet. The donkeys didn't do well, one nearly died from the cold, so we had to swap them out halfway for a new string that was acclimatized. The passes were high and cold -- one was nearly 15,000 feet (4572m) high -- and they were covered in snow. It was becoming a large ordeal just to get to basecamp, and that was where the real work was to begin. That was also where I became seriously ill and started antibiotics. With no end to the trekking, I had no choice but to vomit my way up the trails and collapse at the end of each day in depression. On day 13 we descended from our last pass into the river valley, essentially having crossed the Himalayas and circled around the Dhaulagiri Range, to its north side. Reaching the town of Kakkotgaon, we discovered major communication problems with locals, and because we couldn't see the mountain from the village, we really had no idea where to go. Because there was so much snow still, our porters declared they could go no higher than a saddle at 14,500 feet (4420m), about 3500 feet above the village, from which we could still not see the mountains. Blue, Curtis, and I carried two ridiculous loads each to this pass while the porters carried as well. We shook their hands and told them we'd see them wherever. Great -- no real base camp, no more support, and a huge mountain to climb. Curtis, also sick himself by then, declared he had enough. Nothing Blue or I could say would change his mind. He was homesick, missed his girl friend, and was no longer enthused about anything. Now it was just Blue and me. Churen Himal 24,184 ft (7371m) - the mountain for which our permit was granted, was seeming extremely serious for the two of us with no satellite phone (it would come later), no basecamp support, and no one else in sight. We spent 3 days moving supplies to our own base camp location from which we could see the West Ridge and NW Face of Churen. Virtually out of the question, with 70-degree blue ice for almost 5000 ft (1524m), rock fall and seracs almost everywhere. It was here that the 1990 Japanese West Ridge expedition lost two members. We decided we'd be lucky enough to climb the neighboring peak -- Putha Himal, via technically easy route that would put us on its 23,750-foot (7239m) summit. But before the trip, with only one crap photo of the area, we just never knew until we saw Churen with our own eyes. Someday, someone will climb this face -- just not me. At least we thought the peak towering above this camp was Putha, but something just didn't seem right. Although it looked just like the photos, something didn't seem right, although it was an aesthetic match. We packed for a 4-day push thinking we'd climb it quickly and gain a better view of Churen and the surroundings, because our maps were useless with 500-foot contour intervals. Two days later we crested a ridge at 19,000 feet (5791m) and realized that Putha was a long ways away. We were merely standing on a vantage point -- a mole hill from which Putha was clearly visible in the horizon. We were devastated. But on the other hand, that may well have been a first ascent in itself (we summited) and it also served as a great acclimatization climb. We returned to camp demoralized and decided to take 2 rest days to rethink the options. This time, we would pack for an 8-day alpine style ascent on the real Putha and it would be our final go. Just after we left, we bumped into an agent who we thought was securing the approach andbase camp for a French expedition bound for Putha. On a mountain that hadn't seen a documented ascent in years, we were taken by absolute surprise and disbelief that someone else was climbing here. We learned later that they had taken the short way in -- a straightforward 3 days approach to Kakkotgaon. By then then snow had melted enough that their 35 porters could get the kit to base camp. We couldn't communicate well with this agent, so we still didn't know if they had passed through while we were climbing the smaller mountain or if tey were yet to show up. When we came across their unoccupied base camp tent and a saw a mountain of equipment and food, we realized that this was a major production for them. Blue and I passed their base camp self-contained with just the packs on our backs and still no idea how to get to the mountain through the moraines, ridges and valleys. On day two we saw the peak and saw that the French team had already began moving supplies up the mountain in a seige-style method of climbing where they employed high altitude porters. We quickly caught up with them on day 3. By then, they had already been on the mountain for a week and spent who knows how much time hauling loads up and returning to lower camps. On day 4 Blue and I had completely passed all of them and placed a high camp at about 21,000 feet (6400m), intent on submitting the next day. Summit day was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. For 10 hours and sapped from the altitude, Blue and I took turns kicking steps in deep snow, breaking trail. Blue thought we would have to turn back, but I knew I would not have the motivation to try again from high camp, especially because our trail was quickly being blown back in by the wind. We also had to gamble on the weather, as clouds were blowing in and out and we had no wands to mark the way back down. At just before 5 pm, we stood on top, just under 24,000 ft and immediately had to turn around after shooting a few minutes of video. This is likely the second alpine-style ascent of the mountain. After a grueling descent to the airstrip -- a 4 day walk from our base camp from which the French team originated -- we were totally exhausted and ready to relax in Thailand. By that point, it had been over 40 days, and probably about 50,000 vertical feet and 250 miles. Now, I sit in Kathmandu, having spent all of last night vomiting from some bad food or water somewhere and hoping its the last damn time I get sick here. Billi Bieling's summary of email from Dronkers 2nd July 2008 Turka Himal is the prominent peak visible to the south from the Barbung Khola, from a point one mile west of Kakkot -- and it looks very similar to Putha Himal. The peak towers above the Kaya Khola about 1 mile west of Kakkot. Dronkers could not determine if the glaciated ridge was east or northeast because as their maps were too large scale to even see the peak on it, and because they didn't watch the compass during the ascent. It's probably more like the East Ridge, though. We followed an eastern, steep talus moraine until snow line at around 18,000 ft and they camped. The summit was only 2 hours away from camp. It was non-techncial other than the last two hours being on a glacier. Dronkers is not too sure about the dates, but he thinks that they left high camp on April 29 and summited the next day. There was really only one place to put high camp on the route, and that's where you can see the tent in the picture. From their base camp, it took all day to reach that point. The summit was only 2 hours away from there and they descended to base camp from there. With light packs, it is possible to summit from base camp in one very long day. Other routes up the mountain did not look very enjoyable (or safe), so Dronkers thinks the way they did it was the most ideal -- from the east. The glacier -- although its simple and short does have crevasses.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Iceland Trekking (Tendi)
Commercial Route False
Standard Route False
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2458087
Year 2008
Summit Success True
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) ne face

Members

3 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Peter Martin (Pete) Dronkers M 1979 USA Leader Crested Butte, Colorado Journalist Details Other expeditions
Curtis Gray M 1969 USA Climber Truckee, California Cartographer Details Other expeditions
Michael (Blue) Eisele M 1980 USA Climber Reno, Nevada Student Details Other expeditions

References

4 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
PUTH08103 AAJ Dronkers, Pete - - 83:318-320 (2009) -
PUTH08103 HJ Dronkers, Pete Dhaulagiri VII (Putha Hiunchuli) - 65:164-165 (2009) -
PUTH08103 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200931803/Asia-Nepal-Dhaulagiri-Himal-Putha-Hiunchuli-7246m-First-Alpine-Style-Ascent-from-the-North-Turka-Himal-ca-5800m - - -
PUTH08103 - - https://www.himalayanclub.org/hj/65/19/expeditions-and-notes-65/ - - -