Summit Hugs After First Ascent of Much-Tried Janhukot
Strong British climbers Malcolm Bass, Guy Buckingham and Paul Figg made the first ascent of Janhukot (6,805 m) in the Gangotri Region of the Garwhal Himalaya, India.
They climbed the Southwest Buttress to South Ridge for a total of 1,700 metres of vertical gain over 3,000 metres and graded it ED1 Scottish IV from Jun 3 to 7.
Climbers had been attempting the aesthetic mountain since the 1950s.
“Luckily, it did and now all that separated us from the summit was 400 metres of knife-edged ridge: even if it was corniced and unprotectable, at least the top was in sight,” wrote Figg in his trip report on planetmountain.com here.
“Midway along the ridge Malcolm had probably the scariest moment on the trip partly falling through the cornice to look 1.5 kilometres down the east face (somehow managing to record a selfie video moments after to talk about his ‘near miss’).
“With the summit nearing, snow and ice conditions improved and Malcolm took the lead for what might be the final pitch whilst Guy and I looked hopefully upwards. All became obvious a little while later as Malcolm started waving his arms in delight as he sat at the top of Janhukot on his third attempt. Not long later it was emotional hugs all round as Guy, Malcolm and I sat together as a team on the summit at around 1700.”
While many celebrate the top of a rock climb with a fist bump, summit hugs are the best way to celebrate a big climb in the alpine.
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