Lachama Khola Expedition

Between September and October, six Alpine Club members travelled to Lachama Valley in the Changla Himal, which they reached by hiking from the town of Simikot. They made their first base camp at the confluence of the Lachama Khola’s north and south branches and an advanced base camp south of the Lachama Glacier. They approached what they believed to be their intended objective of PK 5822 but on closer inspection found that the photo they had been given was in actual fact a lower peak of c5,590m. They decided to switch to this new true objective and negotiated a difficult boulder field to take a closer look, but decided ultimately that an attempt would likely take longer than the time they had. Instead, they switched to the lower of the two objectives and established a second camp close by. They made the pass at 5,120m where they set their high camp but could not see a clear route up the west face and opted instead for a rocky outcrop on the ridge. However once on the ridge they found a steep, snow-covered wall which they were unable to pass and turned back 20m below the summit. Returning to base camp the weather began to indicate a change for the worse and they decided to return to Simikot. While the group noted the potential for climbing in this little-visited valley, they were keen to stress both the challenging approaches and the seriousness of the majority of climbs, only recommending the area to highly experienced mountaineers.