Build My Own FeedBD athlete Andy Houseman makes first ascent of coveted north face of Nepal's Chang Himal
Black Diamond athlete Andy Houseman recently returned (with Nick Bullock) from a successful ascent of the north face of Chang Himal (aka Wedge Peak, 6750m) in the Kanchenjunga Himal, heralded as one of the great unclimbed plums of Nepal. Below is the email and photos he sent us. Congratulations to both Andy and Nick for a successful and safe climb!
From: Andy Houseman
Subject: Chang Himal
Date: 12 November 2009 10:49
Just got back to Kathmandu last night.
What a trip! Managed to make the first ascent of the 1800m North Face of Chang Hiaml! Great route on a stunning mountain. Here’s a brief bit of info and a few pics.
We climbed the central spur in 5 days from the 29th Oct to 2nd Nov, summiting at midday on the 1st. The crux was getting through the rock bands at just over half height, the climbing was pretty slow on the second day, only doing 6 pitches up to M6/Scottish 7, going through this band was a lot steeper than it looked and as with most of the face the climbing was quite runout on rotten ice/snow on the steeper ground, gear and belays taking a long time to get, and the rock is crap up there! On the 4th day we climbed 60 – 70 degree flutings for 200m (which had to be down climbed due to no ice) to gain the summit ridge at around 6700m, straightforward 45 degree snow lead to the summit. We returned to the last bivy, down climbing and one rap, arriving at 15.30, decided to stay there then descended the rest of the face in 14 hours the next day.
Speak soon, and thanks for all the support!
Andy
[Note: The following week Andy sent us a more detailed report of the climbing, which you can read below.]
There was no escaping the massive North face of Chang Himal (6802m), waking up at basecamp each morning, looking directly across at it, 1km away over a jumbled glacier/moraine mess. Having filled our cook, “Buddy”, with confidence after failing to reach the top of some nearby 6000m bumps and taking two attempts to get up the local trekking peak due to “route finding errors...”, dawn on the 29th October saw us a good way up the lower part of the face and fighting off the initial signs of a bout of giardia—perfect timing...
-N-Bullock.jpg "chang")
We spent five days on the face, climbing and descending the Central Spur, covering well over 2000m of ground and fortunately after one day of feeling very weak the giardia came to nothing. Starting at 02:30 from a small cave at the base of the face we soloed up a low angled snow cone as quick as possible, conscious of the seracs high on the face above. Moving left onto the relative safety of the flank of the Central Spur we followed a steeper slope and runnels to join the crest of the spur just under 6000m. Nick stared up the first roped pitch of the route, steep snow and rotten ice plastered over rock (this was to become the norm for the rest of the route) lead to a snow field that was simul-climbed for 120m to reach a bivy right on the crest of the spur.
After pulling over a “steeper than it looked” unprotected bulge after leaving the bivy the next morning and a long hunt for an anchor, I was eventually belayed Nick up to what turned out to be the crux pitch. Nick took his pick of the three possible lines above and headed up into a steep shallow corner. Following, my arms were screaming as I tried to find nevé or ice that would hold my picks to pull through the rotten overhanging step. The next four pitches were a lot less steep but just as slow going, trying to unearth gear and belays in the loose and shattered granite, before we settled in for an un-comfy night on a very small ledge hacked out of the ice slope, hoping the climbing would be much quicker tomorrow.
Moving together up a broad rightwards slanting ramp late morning saw us under the final headwall that would give access to the summit snow flutings. Nick climbed a long rightwards traverse under a steep rock buttresses before I climbed through a short rock step to gain the first fluting. After quite a bit of levitating up this we dug the comfiest bivy of the route, waking the next morning not sure if we’d climbed ourselves into a dead end. Nick went for a quick look over into the next fluting and was soon back at the bivy with a grin on his face. Leaving all the gear at the bivy we crossed over into the next fluting before 200m of unprotected steep snow lead to the East Ridge and a final 100m to the knife-edged summit just after midday.
After savouring the summit and taking in the spectacular views of the Kanchenjunga Himal for half an hour, we started down-climbing back to our last bivy, arriving late in the afternoon. Deciding to stay there for the evening we enlarged the ledge and spent a last very cold night on the face before descending the next day in 14 hours and countless abseils to a small sheltered cave at the base.
Climbing in the Kanchenjunga Himal was an amazing experience; quiet and remote, surrounded by stunning peaks like Jannu and Dromo Peak, with Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain, towering above. That said, it’s always nice to be leaving a cold basecamp two weeks earlier than planned with a beautiful mountain climbed!
Central Spur, North Face Chang Himal, 1800m, ED+ M6. (Bullock & Houseman 29/10/09 – 02/11/09)
United States / English 
7 Dec 2009, 9:30AM
Kudos gentleman on a spectacular ascent! My hat's off to you; glad you're safely home. If you have any other photos/stories please send them to Doug@neice.com my climbing buddy of 30 yrs. He is the webmaster of the biggest (and best) ice climbing website in the US.
Be well and climb safe,
Bob Otten