 Eric Shipton and Bill Tilman forced a route through the Rishi Ganga and unlocked the secrets of the Nanda Devi Sanctuary.
In the 1930's large parts of the Himalaya were politically inaccessible to explorers and climbers. Even areas like Nepal, popular with trekkers today, were forbidden to westerners until the 1950's and it was much the same with the other Himalayan kingdoms like Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet. One part, however, was accessible. After the Gurkha war of 1815 Britain retained a large part of the mountains to the west of Nepal, known as Garhwal. It is the birthplace of the Ganges and sacred in Hindu mythology and it has some very big mountains, chief of which is the beautiful Nanda Devi (7816m).
From the earliest days of Himalayan exploration mountaineers cast envious eyes on Nanda Devi, but the mountain is protected by a chain of high peaks forming an almost unbroken ring round it. The ring is 70 miles in circumference, with a rim seldom less than 5000m high and often 6500m. To the pioneers there seemed to be only one possible access, and that was where the wild waters of a tumultuous river, the Rishi, cut a deep gorge through the rim on its way to join the mighty Ganges. The Rishi Ganga river is about twenty miles long and can be divided into three parts; the lowest part is so severe that it is avoided, the middle is more amenable and then the final upper part is an astounding gorge.
The first to attempt to penetrate the Rishi Ganga was William Woodman Graham a 24 year old climber with an adventurous turn of mind. In 1882 he had been the first to reach the highest point of the sensational looking Aiguille du Geant near Mt Blanc and in the following year made the first ever expedition to the Himalaya purely for 'sport and adventure' as he put it. This cavalier attitude shocked the greybeards, especially those in the Survey of India who thought he should have spent his time mapping. They never forgave him – years later they were still rubbishing his achievements.
In some respects Graham was his own worst enemy. If he had paid more attention to surveying he would have made less mistakes. After some adventures in Sikkim he turned his attention to the Rishi Ganga with the intention of climbing Nanda Devi. Since he had only two Swiss guides as companions, you have to admire his nerve. He found the gorge too difficult, however, with sheer cliffs thousands of feet in height all his porters bar one, promptly deserted him when they saw the gorge. Graham turned his attention to some of the surrounding peaks, reaching 6,900m on Dunagiri (7066m) and climbing another peak he thought was Changabang, 6864m, but almost certainly wasn't. He then went back to Sikkim where he claimed to have climbed Kabru (7393m) – and set off one of the greatest controversies of mountaineering history. If Graham did climb Kabru it was the highest mountain climbed at that date. But did he, or was it something else he thought was Kabru? Historians are still divided on it. Had Graham been a little less nonchalant he might have determined his position more accurately.
Sadly, little is known of Graham's subsequent career. For a while he was British Consul in the Mexican town of Durango and rumour has it that he ended his days out West as a cowboy.
Graham's account of the Rishi Ganga in the Alpine Journal roused the interest of Dr Tom Longstaff in the Himalaya and in 1905 he managed to reach a high col on the rim, at the opposite side of the ring to the Rishi gorge, near to a peak called Nanda Devi East (7434m). He could look down into the great inaccessible bowl from whence rose Nanda Devi itself – the first man to see the mountain in its entirely.
Two years later he was back, this time with A.L. Mumm and Charley Bruce, a Gurkha officer. Accompanying them were three Alpine guides and nine Gurkha from Bruce's regiment, including the formidable Karbir. It was a strong party, not exactly in the first flush of youth – Mumm was nearly fifty – but very experienced. Mumm took some small cylinders of oxygen with him – the first time the idea of using oxygen for high altitude climbing had been suggested. The others thought it a great joke!). They attacked the rim from the north, reaching a high col between Dunagiri (7066m) and Changabang. They managed to descend the far side and for a while thought that at last they had penetrated the inner sanctuary of Nanda Devi – but, alas, the map was wrong. Their route led down to the Rishi river, but on the wrong side of the gorge!
But across the river was the Trisul Glacier and a few says later from a base on this Longstaff, two guides and Karbir reached the summit of Trisul, 7120m, the highest summit reached at that date – and about which there was no dispute!
Next, Longstaff and two Gurkhas attempted to force a passage through the gorge to reach the inner sanctuary, but they were repulsed though Longstaff was convinced a way could be found.
The first world war intervened and nobody tried to reach Nanda Devi until 1925 when Huge Ruttledge, who was later to lead the 1933 Everest expedition, tried. He was the District Commissioner and so quite handy to the mountains. He returned in 1926 and 1932, on each occasion attacking the eastern rim of The Sanctuary – a name he invented. One col he reached, the Sundardhunga Khal (5820m), gave a superb view of Nanda Devi. Howard Somervell who was with him in 1926 described the scene “...eight thousand feet of the steepest precipice, two miles long...The sight of that NE face of Nanda Devi was one I shall never forget; perhaps it is the finest mountain view in the world”. Unfortunately there was no way down into The Sanctuary.
In 1934 Eric Shipton decided to have a go. In 1931 he had climbed Kamet (7756m), the highest peak attained at the time, and been a member of the Everest Expedition for 1933. He planned to spend five months in the Himalaya, and reckoned that by living simply and travelling by cargo boat to India, he could do the whole thing for £1.50. Feeling the need for a companion in this enterprise he thought of Bill Tilman, whom he had met some years before in Kenya. They had made the first ever traverse of Mt Kenya, though Tilman did not consider himself at the time to be a climber. Nevertheless he was of an adventurous turn of mind – he had cycled across Africa, for instance. With Tilman's contribution to the funds they were able to increase their Sherpa support from two to three, and in the end the whole journey come in under budget - £286!
They chose as their Sherpas Angtharkay, considered the best Sherpa of his day, Pasang Bhotia and Kusang. All three had been on Everest with Shipton the year before. They began their trek in Ranikhet and in twelve days reached the Dhauli River on the west side of the Nanda Devi mountains. There was still snow on the high passes because it was early in the season but they pressed on, helped at first by a mixed group of porters, local men and some Dhotials. The locals soon quit, but the Dhotials volunteered to carry double loads and though they too often refused to go any further in the following days, they were always prompted by the promise that they would receive the wages of the men who had deserted as well as their own! With Shipton and Tilman breaking trail, these men struggled on, often to be frustrated – there was no way down to the Rishiganga. But on the third attempt they were lucky and found a way down, below the snow line to the river.
They were on the north side of the river. Across from them the south side of the valley rose up in enormous sweeps of granite slabs for two thousand feet to culminate in rocky spires. Their own side was easier, though time and again they were forced to backtrack because some impassible obstacle barred their way. To the heavily laden porters this was particularly frustrating and time and again they threatened to quit. Six says after leaving the Dhauli River they reached the entrance to the gorge proper and made base camp. The porters were paid off.
It was an impressive place. The gorge had narrowed and they were camped below an overhand with the rocks soaring overhead and the river roaring and raging below. A few yards further upstream they could see sheer rock rising on both sides of the river and there did indeed seem no way through. It was not an encouraging camp, and to make matters worse, it snowed that night.
In the morning they could see that the river was bridged at this point by a huge fallen boulder. This allowed them to cross the south side where a steep gully enabled them to climb 2000ft to easier ground. They were only four miles from the Sanctuary but “It took us nine days to find our way and relay our food and equipment,” wrote Shipton later. “It was exhilarating work, for until the last moment the issue was in doubt...Apart from the immense scale of the precipices, the weight of our loads precluded any really difficult climbing, except in short vertical sections where the baggage could be hauled up on the rope.” They discovered a series of ledges which led them on. The way was both difficult and dangerous – Tilman later described it as being 'disquietingly dependent on tufts of grass for safety.' It was 1500ft down to the raging river.
For the last mile they descended to river level and tried to zig-zag back and forth across it but without success. The force of the water was terrific and Shipton realised that if the river rose there would be no retreat. Fortunately Tilman and Angtharkay discovered a thin continuation ledge along the south face of the gorge and at last they entered in triumph the secret Sanctuary of Nanda Devi.
For the next three weeks they explored the Sanctuary and reached four points on the rim. Then, because the monsoon was coming and they feared their retreat might be cut off they withdrew from the Sanctuary and reached Josimath just six weeks after they had left it. In September, when the rains had finished, they once more entered the Sanctuary, and completed their exploration, including an ascent of Maiktol (6803m) one of the peaks on the rim. They then examined the jagged south ridge of Nanda Devi and though it might be the way to climb the mountain, though they themselves did not have the resources to do it. To complete this brilliant exploration they left the Sanctuary by crossing the rim at the Sundardhunga Khal, discovered by Ruttledge, in 1932, though they agreed it would have been impossible in the opposite direction.
Two years later Tilman, at the head of a strong British-American team lead a successful ascent of Nanda Devi (7816m). It was the highest mountain climbed until the French ascended Annapurna fourteen years later.
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