Region: China and Tibet

Ms Angela Benham with Chris Drinkwater, Titch Kavanagh and Andrew Phillips. (March-May 2004)

Although rarely visited by westerners in the past, the mountains of Sichuan are now becoming quite popular with British climbers. This team planned to explore glaciers in the Daxue Shan mountains (the most easterly range of the Himalayan chain), and make the first ascent of the highest peak, Gongga East (6618m) also known as Mount Edgar: this was probably first sighted in 1981 by Henry Day's 'Jade Venture' expedition (MEF Ref: 80/16). However, shortly before leaving UK they learned that - although never officially reported - a Korean team had climbed the peak in 2000. Nevertheless, they decided to continue with it as their primary aim, but they would attempt to make its first ascent from the north. Bad weather, plus porters unwilling to carry above 3400m which resulted in a lower than intended base camp, blighted their hopes. Although several attempts were made, the weather and rotten snow, ice and rock conditions forced them to abandon the climb at 5400m. They were advised that the weather in September is more conducive to success.