James Thacker and Andy Turner have just reached Kathmandu having made the third ascent of Snotty's Gully on the North East Face of Dawa Peak (5,920m) in the Khumbu region of Nepal. The route was first climbed in the autumn of 2006 by Jon Bracey and Nick Bullock, who thought it had the potential to become a classic. As Bullock remarked, " Were it situated in the Alps, there would be regular queues at the base".
Like Bracey and Bullock, Thacker and Turner had travelled to the Khumbu’s Gokyo Valley to attempt a new line on the 1,000m-high North Face of adjacent Phari Lapcha (6,017m). They formed one of 11 expeditions this year receiving a BMC Award.
In 2003 Frenchmen Seb Constant and Jérome Mercader put up the first line on the North Face of Phari Lapcha, a steep couloir towards the right side that they named Bonfire of the Vanities (1,000m: ED1, WI 4 and M5). Several other parties, one including Turner, visited in subsequent years hoping to add a direct line up the centre of the face or climb a stunning-looking gully system on the left.
Poor conditions on the wall thwarted all ambitions until the arrival in autumn 2007 of Fumitaka Ichimura and Hiroyuki Nakagawa, two talented young men who come from a emerging group of young and progressive Japanese alpinists calling themselves the Giri-Giri Boys. These two chose a thin goulotte towards the centre of the face but were forced right at half-height to finish up Bonfire, creating a 24-pitch route at ED1, WI 4 R.
Thacker and Turner attempted the unclimbed gully system towards the left side of the face, climbing to around half-height before repelled by difficult mixed ground, compact granite and unconsolidated snow. They then turned their attentions to the independent west summit of Phari Lapcha - Dawa Peak.
Although finding lines on the North Face of Phari Lapcha in good condition seems to be a perennial problem, Snotty's Gully on Dawa Peak, perhaps because it faces north east and receives more sun, appears to be more reliable. Norwegians Halvor Dannevig and Nils Nielsen made the second ascent of this 700m, ED1 (WI 5 and M5+) in 2007, finding it in excellent condition after giving up their plans on the North Face of Phari Lapcha due to lack of ice.
Leaving the relative comforts of Gokyo at 5.00am on the 17th November, Thacker and Turner climbed the route to two-thirds height, where they bivouacked. The next morning they continued up the final ice pitches to the summit, descended south to the upper Machermo Glacier and were back in Machermo Village that evening.
The pair feel Snotty's Gully, named in memory of the late Sue Nott, a strong American female alpinist who died in Alaska, may well become a Khumbu classic but it is not the only known route on the north east side of the mountain. In January 2008 Andy Parkin, on his first visit to the Khumbu, soloed the big mixed face to the right. Unwilling to descend the glacier to the south on his own, he climbed down the East Ridge past the exit of Snotty's Gully and then descended an easier line on the North East Face.
In the accompanying photograph the red line marks the route of Parkin's ascent, the yellow his descent and blue the line of Snotty's Gully.
Apart from the BMC, Thacker and Turner would also like to acknowledge the generous support of The Mark Clifford Award, The Mount Everest Foundation and The Alpine Club, as well as the continuing support from Mountain Equipment, Haglofs, OMM, Camp Four, Lyon Equipment and CauseandFX
« Back