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A wild range in western China is an unpredictable epic
Text by Cliff Ransom; Photograph by Jimmy Chin
It was early in the day when the storm moved in.
Kasha Rigby, Ingrid Backstrom, Guila Monega, and Jimmy Chin had been
creeping up the West Ridge of Reddomaine, an obscure 20,000-foot peak
in western China, since dawn. They had just belayed up a steep section
of rock when the clouds thickened and the snow started blowing hard.
Bad visibility became terrible. “We huddled around,” Backstrom said,
“and said to ourselves, ‘you know, conventional wisdom would say we
should go down now.’”
Kasha Rigby, Ingrid Backstrom, Guila Monega, and Jimmy Chin had been
creeping up the West Ridge of Reddomaine, an obscure 20,000-foot peak
in western China, since dawn. They had just belayed up a steep section
of rock when the clouds thickened and the snow started blowing hard.
Bad visibility became terrible. “We huddled around,” Backstrom said,
“and said to ourselves, ‘you know, conventional wisdom would say we
should go down now.’”
Considering where they were, prudence would not have been out of place. Reddomaine is the westernmost peak of the Minya
Konka massif, a collection of knife-edged summits that ring China’s
24,790-foot Gunga Shan. In recent years the region has seen a marked
increase in climbing expeditions, driven in part by a looser permitting
process within China and a growing trend among elite climbers to favor
smaller, more technical and unclimbed peaks over 8,000 meter behemoths.
It has also seen a concurrent rise in morbid headlines—the rough
terrain and unpredictable weather conspire to make the mountains of
western China particularly avalanche prone. In 2006 Christine Boskoff
and Charlie Fowler were lost on the nearby Genyen Massif. In June 2009,
Johnny Copp and Micah Dash were swept away by a massive slide on Mount
Edgar, just one peak east of Reddomaine.
Konka massif, a collection of knife-edged summits that ring China’s
24,790-foot Gunga Shan. In recent years the region has seen a marked
increase in climbing expeditions, driven in part by a looser permitting
process within China and a growing trend among elite climbers to favor
smaller, more technical and unclimbed peaks over 8,000 meter behemoths.
It has also seen a concurrent rise in morbid headlines—the rough
terrain and unpredictable weather conspire to make the mountains of
western China particularly avalanche prone. In 2006 Christine Boskoff
and Charlie Fowler were lost on the nearby Genyen Massif. In June 2009,
Johnny Copp and Micah Dash were swept away by a massive slide on Mount
Edgar, just one peak east of Reddomaine.
While the area’s troubled history was on the minds of the Reddomaine foursome—“We’d just passed though the town where my friend [Copp] was cremated a few months before, ” Chin says—it
was not enough to overcome the pull of the mountains. Two hundred feet
after turning back, the group huddled up once more.
was not enough to overcome the pull of the mountains. Two hundred feet
after turning back, the group huddled up once more.
“We decided, well, the weather’s bad, but not that bad. And we’re
behind schedule, but not that behind. Let’s just see how it goes,”
Backstrom recalls. So with graupel beating down on their tightly drawn
hoods, the team again set off into the clouds.
behind schedule, but not that behind. Let’s just see how it goes,”
Backstrom recalls. So with graupel beating down on their tightly drawn
hoods, the team again set off into the clouds.
“You could look at [our decision] and say, ‘Oh my
God, they ignored all the signals,’” Rigby says. It was, she says, a
calculated risk: “We had been watching the weather patterns for days,
and we were a really strong team.” And, it’s worth noting, the climb is
not the most challenging in the range.
God, they ignored all the signals,’” Rigby says. It was, she says, a
calculated risk: “We had been watching the weather patterns for days,
and we were a really strong team.” And, it’s worth noting, the climb is
not the most challenging in the range.
As the group picked its way up the west
ridge, the weather did not improve, but true to their calculations, it
did not worsen. The route alternated between gradual snow slopes and
steep rocky sections. A cornice overhung a sheer face to the left and
the slope dropped away thousands of feet to the right. Massive bus-eating crevasses and deep snow slowed their ascent.
The team developed a routine – each climber out front, would probe for
crevasses, break trail until they were exhausted and then rotate to the
back of the line.
ridge, the weather did not improve, but true to their calculations, it
did not worsen. The route alternated between gradual snow slopes and
steep rocky sections. A cornice overhung a sheer face to the left and
the slope dropped away thousands of feet to the right. Massive bus-eating crevasses and deep snow slowed their ascent.
The team developed a routine – each climber out front, would probe for
crevasses, break trail until they were exhausted and then rotate to the
back of the line.
“At first our turn around time was 3PM then 4PM
then 5PM,” says Chin. But the team summited nonetheless, with all but
Rigby soloing up the final 100-foot ice bulge to the top. They were not
the first to summit this mountain, but they would be the first to
descend on skis. With the light dwindling, the climbers clicked into their ski bindings and
began downhill. What took them 12 hours to climb took three to descend.
As they emerged from the clouds a thousand feet above their high camp,
they faced a full moon, a starlit sky, and boot top powder all the way
to their tent. So much for conventional wisdom—this time.
then 5PM,” says Chin. But the team summited nonetheless, with all but
Rigby soloing up the final 100-foot ice bulge to the top. They were not
the first to summit this mountain, but they would be the first to
descend on skis. With the light dwindling, the climbers clicked into their ski bindings and
began downhill. What took them 12 hours to climb took three to descend.
As they emerged from the clouds a thousand feet above their high camp,
they faced a full moon, a starlit sky, and boot top powder all the way
to their tent. So much for conventional wisdom—this time.
March 12, 2010, 11:29 am
April 26, 2010, 11:34 am
April 30, 2010, 10:09 am
May 4, 2010, 6:30 pm
June 12, 2010, 4:41 am
June 22, 2010, 2:03 am
July 3, 2010, 12:49 am
July 8, 2010, 3:09 am
July 8, 2010, 3:36 am
July 8, 2010, 11:45 am
July 19, 2010, 2:58 am
July 23, 2010, 10:41 am
July 27, 2010, 2:34 am
July 28, 2010, 2:24 am
August 11, 2010, 2:20 am
August 15, 2010, 2:15 pm
August 19, 2010, 6:29 pm
August 21, 2010, 12:25 am
August 22, 2010, 2:45 pm
August 28, 2010, 3:43 am
August 29, 2010, 7:56 am
August 30, 2010, 6:45 am
August 30, 2010, 6:47 am
September 2, 2010, 4:27 pm
September 3, 2010, 9:42 pm
September 14, 2010, 11:44 pm
September 18, 2010, 10:04 pm
September 18, 2010, 10:13 pm
September 24, 2010, 8:27 am
September 29, 2010, 5:05 am
September 30, 2010, 10:38 pm
October 12, 2010, 9:53 am
October 24, 2010, 10:51 pm
October 28, 2010, 4:57 am
October 28, 2010, 11:08 pm
November 1, 2010, 5:16 pm
November 6, 2010, 5:46 am
November 8, 2010, 9:03 am
November 9, 2010, 3:47 am
November 9, 2010, 3:50 am
November 16, 2010, 3:36 am
November 19, 2010, 3:37 pm
December 5, 2010, 10:24 pm
December 17, 2010, 7:16 pm
December 30, 2010, 3:44 am
January 12, 2011, 7:25 pm
January 19, 2011, 3:29 am
January 20, 2011, 5:27 am
January 25, 2011, 1:52 am
January 26, 2011, 3:14 am
February 8, 2011, 12:23 pm
February 11, 2011, 2:30 am
February 19, 2011, 3:31 pm
March 3, 2011, 3:10 pm
March 16, 2011, 1:14 am
March 26, 2011, 3:05 am
March 26, 2011, 6:30 am
April 7, 2011, 4:43 pm
April 16, 2011, 4:25 pm
April 21, 2011, 10:47 pm
April 24, 2011, 2:53 am
April 25, 2011, 7:30 am
April 27, 2011, 3:57 am
April 27, 2011, 7:37 am
April 27, 2011, 11:44 am
April 28, 2011, 5:33 am
May 8, 2011, 9:06 pm
May 9, 2011, 10:36 am
May 10, 2011, 4:24 am
May 12, 2011, 11:10 am
May 13, 2011, 7:44 am
May 16, 2011, 5:46 am
May 16, 2011, 5:48 am
May 16, 2011, 5:52 am
May 16, 2011, 5:53 am
May 16, 2011, 10:56 am
May 16, 2011, 11:18 am
May 17, 2011, 6:43 am
May 23, 2011, 4:35 am
May 26, 2011, 3:23 pm
June 1, 2011, 7:35 am
June 4, 2011, 3:55 am
June 9, 2011, 7:42 am
June 9, 2011, 7:51 am
June 16, 2011, 1:13 am
June 17, 2011, 4:36 am
June 23, 2011, 7:14 am
July 5, 2011, 2:47 am
July 10, 2011, 8:17 pm
July 16, 2011, 4:49 pm
July 21, 2011, 3:40 am
July 21, 2011, 4:59 am
July 24, 2011, 7:34 am
August 1, 2011, 9:41 am
August 2, 2011, 1:27 am
August 4, 2011, 4:47 pm
August 5, 2011, 11:00 am
August 18, 2011, 2:59 am
August 18, 2011, 3:28 am
August 19, 2011, 12:12 am
August 30, 2011, 3:25 am
September 1, 2011, 5:49 am
September 7, 2011, 9:56 am
September 12, 2011, 5:20 am
September 19, 2011, 5:35 am
September 26, 2011, 8:11 am
October 8, 2011, 4:43 am
October 11, 2011, 7:47 am
October 17, 2011, 5:23 am
October 17, 2011, 5:24 am
October 24, 2011, 3:53 am
November 3, 2011, 10:50 am
November 6, 2011, 8:22 am
November 8, 2011, 9:46 pm
November 23, 2011, 3:29 am
November 29, 2011, 12:48 pm
December 13, 2011, 9:42 am
December 13, 2011, 9:48 am
January 5, 2012, 7:20 am
February 21, 2012, 11:09 am
