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Spiti
To its north are the barren valleys of Spiti or the trans- Himalayan
region. In 1983 and 1987 we explored the Lingti valley in eastern Spiti,
one of the largest unvisited valleys at the time. Though several peaks
were climbed by us, the elusive Gya could only be photographed.
Gya soon became a prized objective and built an aura around it towards end
of this Millennium. Attempted from the Lingti valley and from Chumar in
the north, soon its North peak and Gyasumpa (third peak) were climbed. But
the main peak suffered wrong claims and defied mountaineers. Finally a
team from the Indian Mountaineering Foundation ascended it in 1999, and
behold, found a piton and a flag on the summit! Despite poor reporting and
poor photographs, the army climbers did reach the summit in 1998. Thus Gya
was climbed twice over. But not without a price. A Bombay climber, trying
to be 'first' had died on the lower peak around the same time. With
different routes still unclimbed Gya is set to test climbers in the next
Millennium too.
Spiti was brought to the knowledge of mountaineers by Jimmy Roberts and
later by two expeditions of Sir Peter Holmes, in 1955 and 1956, to the
western valleys of Ratang and Pin. It will give you an idea how remote
these valleys are-the next persons to go to these valleys were of Kaivan
and me in 1993.
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