Rokapi | 1977 SW Ridge

A UK expedition to Rokapi in 1977 via SW Ridge, led by Richard Harry Godfrey. Summit reached on 10th October 1977. 8 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 2183
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID ROKA77301
Peak ID ROKA
Year 1977
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 SW Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality UK
Leaders Richard Harry Godfrey
Sponsor British Northumbria Himalaya Expedition
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 -
Approach -
Basecamp Date 1977-09-27
Summit Date 1977-10-10
Summit Time 1023
Summit Days 13
Total Days 19
Termination Date 1977-10-16
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 6468
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 3
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 8
Summit Members 2
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 1
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 -
Campsites BC(27/09,3800m),C1(30/09,4600m),C2(02/10,5300m),C3(03/10,5800m),Smt(10/10)
Route Notes MJ Cheney (from HA porter Tamang) - 31 Oct 77 Herley, McLane and Godfrey only members who reached BC at start. Wilson only at BC 3 days before expedition left at end of climbing. Wilson went down with sick party, so only 3 men climbed mountain - of when 2 went off for 1 week while others set about packing up with 15 Oct as deadline for departure. All 4 (including Tamang) carried up to C1. 3 members to C2. Two seen leaving C3 on 6 Oct and weren't seen again. All reappeared on 15th itself just before others left via different route having reached summit 10 Oct. Were on Rokapi. Jha, MFA - 25 Oct 77 British Nampa South successfully scaled summit 10:23 hours 10 Oct. Spent about 1-1/2 hours on summit and took rest there. Thomas Herley, Kelvin McLane conquered peak. Expedition expected to reach Dangari 27 Oct. 4 members: Richard Godfrey, Herley, McLane and John Burslen leave Dhangari to Delhi on 27 Oct. All in good weather. Lohani, MFA - 14 Oct 77 Nampa South C3 19,000 ft 3 Oct C2 17,500 ft 2 Oct C1 15,000 ft 30 Sept Richard Harry Godfrey (leader) Kenneth Rawlinson Thomas G Herley made C1 Jha, MFA - 4 Oct 77 Nampa South - 6754m BC 27 Sept 1300 hours about 12,500 ft by leader, Wilson, Herley and 1 HA Sherpa and 18 porters. *** Wilson - 4 Sept 77 Rokapi (Nampa South) Almost certainly will approach from other from southeast side as Kellas's, but if not possible to climb could be forced onto Kellas's side. Hope will be climbing a buttress (don't want face because of avalanche danger) and are best on rock. Have tentage for several camps. Do expect to put series of camps. BC around snow lines so porters will take everything there 14,000. Adv BC about 16,000, +3 high camps maximum. No HA porters at all. All others in Delhi. Wilson to Delhi on Tues/Wed, 2 days minimum to Pithagath. Fri 8th hope to be arranging porters to BC. 9-10 days march to BC hope to be back out leaving Nepal last of Oct. 30-35 days of climbing. From Kelvin McLane As we approached the intended site for base camp Rokapi kept itself hidden until the very last moment. As we rounded the rock ridge running into the Rokapi Khola, suddenly there it was - towering clear and glistening white at the head of the valley. At first it was difficult to identify the true summit, but eventually we agreed on the fine regular cone which showed from behind the jumbled bulk of a subsidiary summit. This subsidiary was skirted on all sides visible by hanging glaciers and seracs, and we nicknamed it the "Meringue." We were eager to make a closer inspection. Next day Tom and I left base camp and threaded our way through the moraines under the long South Face of Jethi Borani to gain a vantage point where we could better decide on a route to the summit. It was the first time we had seen the mountain from this side. We had been unable to obtain photographs from the one other expedition to have been in this valley. The Japanese team had fixed four camps on Jethi Borani in 1977, before being turned back. They intend to return in 1978, pre-monsoon, for a second attempt. Tom was keen to find a route leading onto the beautiful Northwest Ridge of the summit cone as it looked spectacular with the sun glinting off its icy walls. To reach this we would have to climb a long steep glacier falling in great steps from the Northwest Ridge to the very base of the mountain. The bristling walls of the Meringue overlooked its true left side. The alternative was to climb to the lowest point at the head of the valley - a col at about 16,000 ft and from there follow the very long Southwest Ridge to the top of the Meringue. The link between the Meringue and the summit was out of sight. We decided to investigate the glacier to the Northwest Ridge and quickly returned to base camp to give the news to Dick. The next day saw five of us grinding our way up the moraines, four carrying loaded sacs, but Mr. Pandy, our Liaison officer weighted down by only a water bottle. We pitched our Denali tent in the ice basin as far up the valley as safety would allow. Then Mr. Pandy and Krishna returned to base camp. That evening Dick, Tom and I were at last alone with our mountain. We watched the sun setting over the Api Nampa range, stuffed the gear into our biv tent and piled into the Denali to sleep. We took a rope, screws and ice climbing gear and leaving Dick to watch us through the telephoto lens Tom and I climbed up the steep lower slopes and seracs of the glacier. The ice was grey and hard, and free of snow. Higher up however we could see that there was a good covering snow. Our progress was slow. We measured our height against a buttress coming down from the Meringue and after four hours realised that the intricate route finding and hard technical climbing would mean we would have to spend a very long time on this glacier before attaining the Northwest Ridge. We abseiled off, leaving a few ice pegs and returned to camp I satisfied that the Southwest Ridge route was the best one offered by this side of the mountain. During that night it stormed. We emerged from the tent to a deep covering of snow reaching down the valley towards base camp. Tom and I, secretly a little thankful to postpone the start of the climb, sank back into our sleeping bags to eat away the rest of the day and build up our reserves. Dick returned alone to base camp for more supplies as he intended to spend a few days at Camp I to take photographs and watch our progress on the ridge. He managed to return to Camp I in the evening of the same day. Early on the morning of the third of October the three of us made our way up the glacier towards the Southwest Col. Dick stayed with us for half the day and then returned to Camp I. We were desperately short of time and two climbing would be fastest. We had estimated about seven hours from Camp I to ascend the glacier and climb the steep wall to the col. We were not yet accustomed to the scale of the Himalaya for we were only at the foot of the wall at 4 pm. It stormed and we hurriedly pitched our single skin nylon tent in the ice and with the wind and snow rattling outside, brewed up wondering what tomorrow might bring. Day 2, 4th October, dawned clear and cold, and we started up a steep gully to the left of the col in order to miss out a large rock step on the ridge. Tom led the initial pitches using deadmen for protection, but the snow was so loose and powdery over hard ice that they were worthless. The gully was much longer than we anticipated and steepened to about 60 degree as we neared the ridge. Kicking in, not being able to see our feet and feeling for ice with the front points of our crampons we eventually emerged on the ridge. At this point it was knife-edged wind-blown snow which looked as though it was likely to crumble down one side or the other at any moment. We managed to "demolish" it for two very steep pitches up the ridge to a rock buttress where we decided to biv. We accepted the routine of the afternoon snowstorm and started shovelling our ledge at 3:30 pm to be installed before the worst. It was exhausting work at the end of the day, but we took turns at it to ensure we would be as comfortable as possible during the night. Day 3, 5th October A large rock buttress formed the next section of the ridge and we were undecided to attempt it by traversing the wall on the right or left. We had seen the left wall from the valley below and remembered it as being very steep, so the right wall it was to be. We left our bivi site with the vertical and overhanging rocks rearing up above and moved out cautiously across the right wall. This side of the ridge turned out to be very steep ice fields running up to a band of rock which stretched into the mist above the and presumably to the crest of the ridge. We hoped to find a gully which would run up to the ridge above the rock step. After 6 or 7 pitches we had not found one that did not peter out in the middle of the rock band. Disappointed, we retraced our steps to the previous night's bivi site on the crest of the ridge and moved round onto the left wall. It was a gully which appeared to rejoin the ridge. It was very fine steep mixed climbing, finishing with a nasty bulge over ice to a crumbling slope above. The climbing was Scottish Grade 4 and very tiring at this altitude. We stayed on the left side of the ridge traversing very dangerous snow just below the cornice until we could break up onto the ridge. We followed this steeply for a few patches until, wondering if we would ever find a bivi site, we spotted a cave on the right wall ahead. Thankfully we pitched our tent in the mouth of the shallow cave - a good day's work. Days 4-5, 6th-7th Oct There is confusion over the events of these days as on our return Tom and I were under the mistaken impression we had started the climb on 5th Oct and reached the summit on the 10th. Dick, however, who maintained a daily record of events, proves we started climbing on the 3rd. We are certain of the time we reached the summit, but the intervening days have merged one with another and become hazy in our minds. As a result somewhere on the ascent Tom and I "lost" two days. Day 6, 8th October We moved up the knife-edged arete for a few pitches until it broadened and levelled out for a while. We made slow progress in deep snow with dangerously creaking cornices - very very tired. The face ahead reared up to the summit of the Meringue, but fortunately the right wall was not as broken as the left that we had been able to see from the valley. We made 600 ft up this in loose snow and pitched tent on a little horizontal ledge at the foot of an ice cliff. Day 7, 9th October It had not snowed during the night and it was very cold. We moved out right from the shelter of our cliff and started up for the summit of the Meringue. The snow was deep over hard ice. Tom was leading and I was belayed on a deadman. Suddenly there was rumble from above and I looked up to see tons of snow and Tom coming in my direction. Out of the corner of my eye I glimpsed another simultaneous avalanche about quarter of a mile along the face. As the snow hit me our belay was jerked loose and amidst noise and confusion we tumbled down the face. Fortunately this ran out to a small level section on the ridge. When everything was silent again I found myself dangling down a slope with Tom entrenched on the level section. Miraculously we had survived the fall of about 400 ft and were none the worse for our experience. Our one-piece windsuits had prevented snow getting inside our clothes. Tom, however, had lost one of his axes. Shaken, we climbed back up to our ice cliff bivi for the brew and to reassess the situation. Neither of us was keen to turn back. We were nearly at the top of the Meringue and wanted to see how it was linked to the summit. Besides, we felt there may a descent line from the back of the Meringue traversing the summit cone to the foot of the Northwest Ridge where we would be able to descend the glacier we had first thought of climbing. We moved out again and crossing the good ice of the avalanched area moved even further right to where the angle lessened. The snow condition was atrocious, but we reached the subsidiary summit to find there was a level we had hoped for looked possible. As we crossed the col it started to storm pretty badly and we made for an ice cliff to dig in a bivi. No good. There was no level place at the foot of the cliff as we expected, so we moved onto the main summit slopes to a bergschrund at the end of the col. The bergshrund was a slit about 2 ft wide which we were able to climb down into where it widened out. We cut a sloping ledge out of the green ice to hang the tent and settled down to an uncomfortable night in this dark green morgue. Day 8th, 10th October We both had a bad night and in the morning Tom was feeling too ill to make a push for the summit we were so close to. He had a very bad headache and did not seem able to think straight. I fished out our medical pack for headache pills and gave him three or four which he swallowed with a cup of tea. Almost immediately he vomited, just managing to protect the inside of the tent by the skillful use of his sun hat. Amazingly, after that he improved rapidly and within an hour we were prepared for the summit push. We carried all our pills in one poly bag and I have a suspicion that what I really gave him were sleeping tablets. Whatever they were they did the trick. Again we climbed up dangerous ground with a cornice hanging over the face on our right. The angle began to ease as we neared the summit. There were, what appeared to be fracture lines in the snow like giant crazy paving and we cautiously ploughed our tired way to the summit which we reached at 10:30 am. We shook hands and Tom did an impromptu little jig, and then thankfully we sat down in the snow for a rest. It was a clear day and we spent some time gazing around at the surrounding peaks and taking photographs. We could see what later we made out to be Changabang and Kalanka in the distance westward, but it was too hazy to make out Dhaulagiri or the Annapurna to the east. We were pleased to think there was an alternative route for our descent as we did not relish the prospect of reversing the ridge. After a last look round we retraced our steps to the col joining to the Meringue and then traversed down and right towards the top of the glacier. The wall was a series of steep ice fields broken by ice cliffs and we climbed down threading our way round the cliffs. In the late afternoon the weather as usual clouded in and it began to snow heavily. We were not in a safe position to fix a bivi as we usually did at 4 pm and climbed down cautiously into the whiteness. It was then that the second near-disaster happened. Hardly able to see our own feet we had climbed down to where the slope ended abruptly in an ice cliff. The lip of rotten ice crumbled away and I dropped off into the space. Tom, belayed on a doubtful belay, almost managed to arrest the fall, but it came free and he followed. Fortunately the basin at the foot of the cliff was full of snow and although we must have fallen 40 feet and 80 ft respectively, the snow drifts deadened the impact. We were both still in one piece. Tom coughed a little blood, presumably from a rupture of a small blood vessel in a lung, but this soon ceased. We pressed on determined to get off this steep face to the head of the glacier nightfall and safe bivi. Days 9-12 including - 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th October These days were spent descending the enormous icefall which fell like a roller coaster before us. The memories are of wallowing through waist deep snow which fell in hissing streams below our feet, abseiling off ice ballards, retracing our steps meandering to find a route through the enormous seracs. Gingerly inching our way over snow bridges, being burnt by the reflected sun during the day and frozen during the night. Our food had all been used up and we existed on scraps and numerous brews from each tea bags. We were very tired and weak. The joy of sitting down in the deep snow when belaying the leader was overshadowed by the massive effort needed to stand back up on our feet. During the 13th October we suffered from hallucinations and imagined we saw and talked to other people, but we knew all we had to do was to keep going and be as cautious as possible. As it was getting dark on the 14th we sighted the red dot of Camp I on the moraine below. So near, but one more bivi before we could descend the last few hours to arrive there at 10:30 am on 15th October. We were tired and hungry but pleased to have pulled off a climb which previously, because of the delays in Delhi, we had doubted we would be able to complete.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency -
Commercial Route -
Standard Route -
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2446934
Year 1977
Summit Success True
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) sw ridge

Members

8 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
John Burslen M 1943 UK Member Whitehaven, Cumbria, England Physician, just finished serving in Royal Marines Details Other expeditions
Richard Harry Godfrey M 1946 UK Leader Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England BBC producer Details Other expeditions
Thomas George Herley M 1940 UK Climber Widnes, Liverpool, Merseyside, England Telephone engineer working in technical office of GPO Details Other expeditions
David McDonald M 1945 UK Member Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, England Toolmaker Details Other expeditions
Frances McDonald F 1950 UK Member Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, England Teacher in Newcastle school for maladjusted girls Details Other expeditions
Kelvin McLane M 1948 UK Climber Vancouver, British Columbia Lumberjack Details Other expeditions
Kenneth Rawlinson M 1944 UK Member Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England Chartered accountant (Ultimate Equipment in Warkworth) Details Other expeditions
Leonard Wilson M 1942 UK Member Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England Outdoor activities teaching advisor to South Tyneside Details Other expeditions

References

3 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
ROKA77301 AAJ Cheney, Michael J. - - 52:598-599 (1978) -
ROKA77301 MM - - - 59:12 (Jan 1978) -
ROKA77301 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12197859803/Asia-Nepal-Nampa-South-or-Rokapi - - -