2010 expedition to Tilman's Pass
Plan of approach
The best time to visit the region is Autumn. The weather is relatively stable then. Naya Kanga can be attempted anywhere between mid October and mid November. We aimed to summit on 4 November.
Our approach was to cross the Tilman's Pass before going to Naya Kanga. That meant that we would be adequately acclimatized, because we crossed a high col (5300 m) and we slept at high altitude (4800 m). We knew that the route to Tilmans Pass would not be easy. We just hoped to be able to find the pass and cross it. That was our first and most important objective, Naya Kanga was number 2.
For Naya Kanga we planned to take the route over the North-East ridge. This ridge is rated PD+/AD- (French grading). There is a steep snow section of some 200 meters which may need some secured climbing. When we were there we found a fixed rope which we only used for descent. And the last few meters to the top needs belaying or another fixed rope. Our guide installed a fixed rope to the summit and we used our jumars to help ourselves up.
Actual itinerary
Below you will find the itinerary as we executed it. On day 8 and 9 we went the wrong way. That caused some delay. We eventually found the right track again but were one day behind at that time. We planned to have a rest day in Tilmans Pass Base Camp (to allow the guide to install fixed ropes to the pass), but we decided to skip that rest day. The guide installed the ropes in the afternoon of the day before, so we managed to cross Tilmans Pass on the planned date. From then on everything went smoothly apart from day 20. That day we learned that there was no water to be found and also not the first half of the next day. That forced us to walk half a day further than anticipated. And on day 21 we got a very short day!
| Day | Activity | Sleeping Altitude | Gain | Hours |
| 1 | Drive to Syaule and hike to Sanu Okreni | 1990 | ||
| 2 | Kami Kharka | 3044 | 1054 | |
| 3 | Pauwa Bas | 3250 | 206 | |
| 4 | Hille Bhanjyang | 3500 | 250 | |
| 5 | Nasimpati | 3667 | ||
| 6 | Panch Pokhari | 4040 | 373 | |
| 7 | Acclimatisation day | 4060 | ||
| 8 | Camp P4260 (plan was: Bheri Kharka at 4150 m, but we got lost) | 4260 | 200 | |
| 9 | Camp P4250 (plan was: Tin Kunda at 4215 m, still lost) | 4250 | -10 | |
| 10 | Balephi Glacier Camp Low camp (plan was Balephi Glacier High camp a.k.a. Tilmans Pass BC) | 4260 | 10 | |
| 11 | Balephi Glacier High camp a.k.a. Tilmans Pass BC (plan was an acclimatisation day) | 4827 | 567 | |
| 12 | Tilman's Pass (5300) and down to camp near glacier lake | 4750 | ||
| 13 | Langshisha Kharka | 4120 | ||
| 14 | Kyanjin Gompa | 3870 | ||
| 15 | Rest day | 3870 | ||
| 16 | Naya Kanga Base Camp | 4300 | 430 | |
| 17 | Naya Kanga High Camp | 4920 | 620 | |
| 18 | Naya Kanga summit - High camp | 4920 | ||
| 19 | Ganja-La (5100) and down to Yangri Kharka (plan was Keldang but we were tired) | 4416 | ||
| 20 | Kharka just before Yangri Peak (plan was Dhukpu, but no water) | 3417 | ||
| 21 | Tarkeghyang | 2550 | ||
| 22 | Kakani | 2000 | ||
| 23 | Melamchi Pul and drive to Kathmandu | 1350 |
Elevation profile
And this our actual elevation profile which was recorded with our GPS data logger. You can clearly see the 2 passes. The ascent of Naya Kanga was not recorded.
GPS
We have these downloads for you available:
- a Google Earth KML file of our actual route, including us being lost, and excluding the climb of Naya Kanga
- a Google Earth KML file of the revised route, excluding the climb of Naya Kanga
- a Garmin Mapsource GDB file of our actual route, including us being lost, and excluding the climb of Naya Kanga
- a Garmin Mapsource GDB file of the revised route, excluding the climb of Naya Kanga.