Gongga East 2004

In April 2004 four UK-based climbers undertook an exploration of the Nan Men Guan Valley in the Daxue Shan mountains, six hours’ drive along good roads, south west of Chengdu, Sichuan, western China. Their primary objective was to attempt an ascent of 6,618m Gongga East (also known as Mount Edgar) from the north. Poor weather conditions throughout the expedition, with constant risk of avalanche, meant that it was not possible to find a safe route through serac barriers to approach and climb Gongga East. Consequently the team turned their attention to what they believed to be two unclimbed peaks; Point 5630 and Point 5910. Subsequent research has shown that the peak they attempted was neither of these 5,000m peaks, but was in fact the much higher~6,400m south summit of Jiazi. They reached 5,400m on this peak but were forced to turn back by deteriorating snow and ice conditions and a threatening thunderstorm which broke on their descent. Continued poor weather meant another attempt was not possible.