Mugu

The main objective of this very strong team was an unclimbed peak in the province of Mugu in Far West Nepal, marked on maps as Mugu Chulu (6310m). Although the area had previously been visited by climbers from Spain and Japan, none of the 6000m summits had ever been summited. On arrival in the extremely remote Kojichuwa Valley below its West Face, they discovered that the peak was known locally as ‘Gojung’. Over a period of 4 days, Fowler and Turnbull climbed the West Face (at a grade of ED) to the summit, taking another 3 days to traverse the frontier ridge over Pt 6246m and descend by abseil and complex glacial terrain from the foot of the south ridge of Kojichula Chuli. Meanwhile Desroy and Ratcliffe made the (probable) first ascent of an unnamed 5800m peak on the Nepal/Tibet border to the west of the Kojichuwa La, which gave them fine views of Tibet and Kojichuwa Chuli.