Imagine a place where everything you do has to be done carefully, correctly, consciously, with the alternative leading to catastrophe.
Thalay Sagar, 6,904 metres. One of the most beautiful mountains in the Indian Himalaya. Its north face has seen several visionary ascents. Its spectacular southeast ridge remains unclimbed. Mike Pescod of the Jöttnar Pro Team, attempted an ascent this summer.
Life on the Ridge
Life on an unclimbed narrow ridge at 6,000m in the Indian Himalaya is joy and terror. You can’t do anything — anything — without thinking of the consequences if you do it wrong. It’s minus 15°C and the snow is icy where you were sitting the night before.
Getting out of the very small tent you put on your boots, liners first, then over-boots. It’s awkward, it demands balance. You slip, you fall. Over 1,000m down the side of the ridge.
At this altitude your body needs three litres of water daily or it will stop working. At this altitude every single item of kit and clothing is essential. Your temperamental stove has stopped working? Now you can’t melt snow for water. No water, no food.
It’s too easy to not bother with all the little jobs because everything feels so hard. Sitting down resting feels like hard work. But those little jobs are essential. Carelessness and laziness compounds. Toes need constant maintenance. Extremities freeze quickly and are hard to warm up again.
Joy
But this is joy. This is a stunningly beautiful place. The scale is overwhelming. It’s impossible not to be in awe of the forces that created such sculptures. If you visit St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Taj Mahal, or any of our most wonderful architectural creations, you will wonder at their scale and beauty, at the skill and effort demanded by their creation. These mountains provoke similar wonder but on a supernatural scale. The architects were the forces of the universe.
Our appreciation is magnified by the knowledge that we are the only people to have ever visited this exact place. We are the first to see this grand view from this position. The only people to know the details of this ridge. That privilege fills us with joy.
“We are the only people to have ever visited this exact place.”
But there is an undercurrent of terror. This is not a place to be careless.
