Posted on Feb 21, 2013 at 5:25 pm · by BIGPACK Comments Off
Summited Genyen, China 6204m
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17th.Nov.2004, Ma Yihua got to summit of Mt.Siguniang as one of the Chinese FA team while suited in BIGPACK.
Ma Yihua, the genuine legend amongst China alpinist. As one of the alpinism pioneers in the prime, he was described by other as a rhino, tough and tensile. In 2003, he founded China’s first alpinism service company — Chengdu Crest Exploration, which popularized the sports amongst civilians. Since then he with his partner Zeng Shan had became the glazing twin stars in the Chinese aplinist circle. Having been awarded the prize of “Top Ten alpinists”, “The Best Alpinism Event” by China Golden Rhino in 2005,”Top Ten Outdoor Club Managers”, The Best Alpinism Event” by China Golden Rhino in 2006. Later,the Chinese FA of Mt.Siguniang pushed him and his alpinism career to the zenith. Ma Yihua faded out amongst Chinese alpinist circle since he moved to Canada in 2007, however he never stopped pursuing his alpinic enthusiasm and instead spent much time on the same activity in North America. He had led his team twice to climb the summit of Mt.Baker, through the northern and southern routes near the US-Canada border. He had also took a self-driving tour around the Arctic circle. Oct.2012, he is coming back ,with the great passion for China Alpinism. A victorious alpinist, a 6000m Chinese unclimbed peak, a “Revolutionary Route”, a strong comeback, with BIGPACK.
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Did “Lone Horse” really come back?
Ma Yihua, known as “Old Ma”(Lone Horse), doubt could be cast on his come back, This October, BIGPACK present to you Ma Yihua. After several years of life overseas, Old Ma still old blunt honest. You see his eyes sparkle when our topic goes to alpinism. The amazing experience and passionate time is still vivid.
Easy going as he, clear in his mind, basically Old Ma knows the historical development of Chinese civilian alpinism like back of his palm. Even junior as us can feel his great passion in alpinism
50-year-old vs unclimbed peak?
Ma Yihua established the first domestic alpinism service company —“Crest Expedition”. From 2003 to 2006, Ma Yihua and his partners had successively conquered several 5000m+ mountains, with Mt.Que’er, Mt.Siguniang and Mt.Yala in the list. Now he is back, for another challenge of an untouched Chinese summit higher than 6000m. With his long and deep relationship with BIGPACK, our newly released alpine climb gears became his first pick. Top notch material such as POLARTEC®、eVent®、PRIMALOFT®、CORDURA® was implemented by BIGPACK design team in the new alpine-climbing gears — Rugged Time series.
LONG SICHUAN ROUTE ESTABLISHED IN TRIBUTE TO FOWLER AND BOSKOFF
POSTED ON: NOVEMBER 8, 2007
Joseph Puryear
At the end of October, Joseph Puryear and Peter Inglis climbed this route (seen from the southeast) on Peak 5965m in the Genyen Massif, Shaluli Shan, Sichuan Province, China. in honor of Charlie Fowler and Christine Boskoff, who perished nearby. It is likely that the peak has never been climbed before, despite its moderate terrain; the pair roped up minimally for the easy rock and mixed climbing. [Photo] Courtesty of Joseph Puryear
This fall I had the chance to explore a number of mountainous regions of western Sichuan, China. In mid-October, Jay Janousek, Michelle Puryear, Peter Inglis, Julie Hodson and I made our way toward Mt. Genyen (6204m), in the Shaluli Shan Range. Following the extensive research of Tamotsu Nakamura, our objective was the unclimbed peak of elevation 5965m just west of Mt. Genyen, the second highest peak in the massif. Peter and Julie were good friends of Christine Boskoff and Charlie Fowler (who both were killed on Mt. Genyen the previous fall) and wanted to venture into the area to pay tribute to them.
Peter Inglis in the initial couloir. [Photo] Courtesty of Joseph Puryear
After bumping along on a three-day ride by hired van from Chengdu, we arrived at the small town of Sanla, southeast of the Genyen massif. With only a rough map provided by Mr. Nakamura and a picture of his taken from far away to the west, we were able to guess our way up into a hidden, remote valley that concealed the peak's southeastern aspect. Having already acclimatized from earlier weeks of attempting other peaks, we made quick progress and established basecamp within three days, thirty miles beyond Sanla. The trip took us through a vast wilderness, where we made friends with the nomadic people and generally took a step back in time on this distant region of the Tibetan plateau.
We set up basecamp at 4200 meters on October 19. The next day, Peter, Julie and I left for high camp, which we established at 5000 meters, below a glacier on the mountain's southeastern aspect. We climbed high into the basin below the peak to discover--for certain--that we were looking at the mass of rock, ice, snow and hanging glaciers we had set out for.
On October 21, we made an attempt by taking the path of least resistance up an easy glacier south of the peak. We made quick progress but eventually came to a major impasse, where a cliffy sub-summit impeded our progress. We retreated to high camp to scout out an alternate route. In retrospect, we could have ascended an easier route by approaching via the next major valley to the west, but such are the tribulations of first ascents.
We had seen two rocky couloirs (which we had hoped to avoid) that led to the ridge crest on the other side of the sub-summit. One looked easy, one hard. After much thought and discussion, we decided that the easy one didn't go anywhere (in hindsight, a very good assumption). So we decided to take the more challenging couloir. Early the next morning, October 22, Peter and I began climbing. Temperatures were cold, and the weather was unsettled but not threatening. Because of the short days and the length and unknown nature of what was ahead, we mutually decided to solo as much terrain as possible for the sake of speed, which translated to safety. Luckily, most of the chossy gully was frozen in place, and we quickly gained elevation. Just past mid-height, some 5th class rock and moderate mixed climbing provided some entertainment; above, some steep snow led us to the crest of a ridge, which took us to a steep snow headwall and the final east-trending summit ridge. We continued up over a large snow hump and were forced to down-climb exposed 60-degree snow on its backside. This led to a flat col where we took a small break.
Peter Inglis on the final summit ridge. [Photo] Courtesty of Joseph Puryear
We continued up an avalanche chute to the bergschrund below the upper south-facing headwall. Snow conditions on the entire climb had been perfect so we continued un-roped up the 55-degree headwall for about 200 meters to the ridge crest. The summit ridge was quite a surprise; it was very sharp and slightly corniced to the other side--very Alaskan in style. We decided to rope up for a 200-meter traverse to the small summit. We arrived just before noon, said a prayer for Charlie and Christine and began the uneventful descent. We carefully retraced our steps along the summit ridge, down-climbed the headwall, and climbed back to the top of the gully. In the gully we made four double-rope rappels down the steeper sections and downclimbed the rest. We had made the probable first ascent of the peak (moderate 5th class and mixed, ca. 1765m), the second highest peak in the massif. Once back in high camp, we rushed our packing so we might reach basecamp before dark.
The climb was a tribute from all of us to Charlie and Christine. As Peter said to me on the summit, "They died in the most beautiful place in the whole wide world. And we miss them dearly."
We spent another four days trekking, exploring around the north side of Mt. Genyen and visiting the 600-year-old Lengo Monastery before returning to Lamaya. In all, it was a prime ten days with striking mountains, excellent weather and great friends.
Joe Puryear, triumphant, on the summit of Peak 5965m. [Photo] Courtesty of Joseph Puryear
DAVID ANDERSON & SZU-TING YI
First Ascent of Kameilong 5,873 m – Genyen Massif
Shaluli Shan in West Sichuan Highlands
JAPANESE ALPINE NEWS 2013 ●
In the fall of 2012 a Taiwanese/American expedition spent a month in the remote Shaluli Shan Range
of Western Sichuan, China and came away with the first ascent of Kemailong (5,870 m), a striking
granite tower. On October 1, 2012, Szu-ting Yi and Dave Anderson climbed the 3,500 ft south ridge
to the summit of Kemailong and rappelled the east face returning to their high camp in an 18-hour
push.
This was American Dave Anderson third expedition to the region in the last six years. In October
2006, he and Canadian Sarah Heuniken summited Sachun (5,716 m) a “Patagonia-like” spire and
while American teammates Molly and Andy Tyson climbed Purba (5,685 m). Later that fall, Charlie
Fowler and Christine Boscoff went missing in the same region. After an intense search, their bodies
were discovered in avalanche debris near the base of the area᾽s highest peak Mount Genyen 20,354ft.
In August of 2011, Anderson returned with Szu-ting Yi and Eric Salazar to attempt an unnamed
5,700 m pyramid shaped mountain whose base was covered with tens of thousands of hand placed
rock cairns. The significance of the peak and the rock cairns had been lost over time and was not even
known by the monks at the nearby 600 year old Lengu Monastery. During their attempt on the northeast
ridge of the peak 5,700 m on August 27th, Szu-ting Yi, suffered breathing problems due to a
respiratory infection, contracted earlier in the trip. The trio retreated back to base camp and were met
by several stern looking monks of the Lengu Monastery. The reason for the monks’ displeasure was
not that the peak the climbers were attempting was considered scared. The reason was much more
practical. After Fowler and Boscoff disappeared in 2006 the local Chinese authorities were suspicious
of the Tibetan monks in general and used the tragedy of the missing climbers to inspect the monastery
and search through the monks’ personal belongings.
“The monks just did not want anything bad to happen to us while we were visiting the Genyen region
that would cause the Chinese authorities to come in and bother them,” Anderson summarized. The
monks were happy to have foreigners visit the monastery, take pictures and trek in the valley, but
climbing was out. Initially, Anderson and his team told the monks they were just trekking, but the
monks saw the ice axes and other climbing gear and questioned the climbers further. “Being vague
about our plans in the Genyen region was one thing, but outright lying to the monks was something
that none of us wanted to partake in” , Salazar commented. In addition, the monks voiced their
displeasure with fixed protected and ropes left on Sachun during a 2006 Austrian Expedition.
Anderson, Yi and Salazar opted to leave the valley and head to northeast region of the Shaluli Shan
Range to attempt another peak called Crown Mountain (5,600 m). After a rugged 4 wheel drive they
established a base camp among the nomadic yak herders living below the peak. Crown Mountain
which is 6 miles south east of Xiashe Peak (first climbed in 2005, by New Zealanders Pat Deavoll
and Karen McNeill). They spent the next day establishing a high camp on the north side of Crown
Mountain. Unlike the solid granite Genyen Massif the rock in this area of the Shulai Shan is
composed of extremely loose decomposing rock. Anderson, Yi and Salazar chose to ascend the west
ridge and reached the summit on Sept 3, 2012 after 7 hours from their high camp (IV, 5.6, 50
degrees).
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In 2012 Yi and Anderson returned with the intension of climbing Kemailong 5,870 m located several
valleys to the north-east of Mt Genyen. The expedition almost ground to halt in the town of Lamaya
when the horse packers discovered Anderson᾽s and Yi᾽s climbing equipment. After a flurry of intense
conversations Yi translated, “Before the bodies of Fowler and Boscoff were discovered on the slopes
of Genyen, the Chinese authorities had imprisoned several of the horse packers merely on the
suspicion that they had something to with the Americans disappearance. As a result the horse packers
were still fearful of helping climbers. To resolve the issue, Yi and Anderson wrote, signed and finger
printed a “waiver” releasing the horse packers from any responsibility if they failed to return from
Kemailong.
Charlie Fowler traveled lightly during his many trips to the Tibetan regions of China, learned to speak
Tibetan, respected the different cultures, always hired local people and the last thing he would have
wanted would be for these same people to be hassled by the authorities, but unfortunately that is
exactly what did happen. I believe, as climbers, we have to be aware of how the consequences of our
actions can negatively affect the native people, because after all we are just visitors.” Anderson
concluded.
During the approach into the mountains Anderson was amazed at the changes that had taken place to
the region in the last six years. New roads and electrical lines now crisscrossed the remote region
which had previously been the domain of only nomads and their yaks.
At their base camp below Kemailong, Yi and and Anderson were challenged by poor weather to even
see a way up the lower section of the peak. Eventually they began shuttling loads up a grueling
1,000 m long boulder field on south side of Kemailong and established a high camp at 5,000 m. On
October 1, a midnight weather check revealed stars instead of the usual fog and hail. At 7:00 am
Anderson and Yi climbed three mixed pitches to gain the saddle on the south ridge of Kemailong.
After three moderate fifth class pitches the terrain became less steep and Anderson and Yi unroped
for 300 meters of easy fifth class climbing. As the ridge narrowed the climbing became more
challenging, but the featured rock kept difficulty under 5.10 for the next three pitches. The rock
continued to improve and the team was able to simul-climb 400 m of perfect rock. More mixed
pitches led to a false summit with the true summit being several rope lengths away past a series of
rock gendarmes plastered with snow. The final pitch started with a stout overhanging hand crack
(5.10) before easing to unprotected face climbing and the summit. By the time Anderson and Yi
summited at 5:00pm, the weather had deteriorated. Gusty winds, hail and electrical discharges zapped
the climbers as they scrambled to get off the summit. Their original plan was to descend the south
ridge, but with all their metal equipment still humming from the electrical storm, Yi and Anderson
decided to bail off the unknown steep 800m east face. The weather continued to deteriorate with
heavy snow compounding the difficulty of finding crack systems to set up rappel anchors. Finally
after leaving most of their rack during 13 rappels Anderson and Yi stumbled back to their high camp
at 1:00am. The next morning, with the weather worsening, they headed down to their base camp,
packed up, and hiked out of the Shaluli Shan Range as the winter season moved in.
The American / Taiwanese team named their route Joining Hands (V, 5.10, M5) for the logistical and
climbing skills Anderson and Yi brought with them to the mountains that when combined allowed
them to succeed in the Shaluli Shan.
“It is an interesting time to be exploring China᾽s Western mountains,” Anderson commented.
“Presently, the Chinese government is pouring money into Western Sichuan᾽s infrastructure.
Improved roads and new airports have dramatically shortened the approach time. While physical
logistics of accessing these areas have gotten easier, weaving through the bureaucracy, nationalism,
● JAPANESE ALPINE NEWS 2013
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social and cultural diversity of China remains challenging.”
The climbers would like to thank Planet Granite, the AAC Lyman Spitzer Alpine Grant, Patagonia,
Evolve and NOLS for making the expedition possible.
