After 15 and half hours of relentless push, climbing up an 80° rock face, through hidden crevasses, and around a giant serac, they reached the summit. Overwhelmed with emotion, the two men had just made the first ascent of a Himalayan Mountain. For the first time in their careers, they had climbed for themselves. It was pure joy.
Thame is a beautiful Himalayan hamlet located to the farther southwest of Everest, right below the sacred Khumbi-Yuhla. Known as the home of legendary mountaineers in likes of Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, Appa Sherpa, Kami Rita Sherpa, Pasang Lhamu Sherpa among many, Thame quite literally is the home of Everesters. Although primarily connected to the famed Everest, Thame also sits on the lap of many known and unknown mountains. As climbing and trekking to Everest grew over the years, Thame, which is not located either on the popular Everest route nor on the second popular Gokyo-Ngozumpa route, is yet to see major touristic action. This has been bothering the locals, especially the guides and climbers from Thame, who seek to establish something that would diversify the Everest tourists a bit towards the wonderland of Thame.
This same thought of Thame being so isolated from the mainstream Everest tourism business was haunting two young climbers. Fura Tshiring Sherpa and Ngima Tashi Sherpa are established climbing guides who have been on the mountains for almost all their lives. Fura was on the rope fixing team on Everest (2021,2022); Lhotse (2021); and Manaslu (2021). He has climbed Everest 8 times; K2 twice; Lhotse thrice, Makalu, Kanchenjunga and Broad Peak once, and multiple other peaks. Ngima has climbed Everest 7 times; K2 once; Lhotse 3 times; Manaslu twice; Annapurna once; Broad Peak 4 times; and many 6000ers and 7000ers. They are excellent climbers who are currently under the employment of Seven Summit Treks Pvt. Ltd.
The duo planned on doing something that would both excite themselves and eventually help Thame to attract a bit more climbers and trekkers. Almost a year ago, the duo had approached me with a plan to climb an unclimbed and unexplored peak in Thame. Although an exciting premise, a problem arose as the mountain they intended to climb was not just unclimbed but unlisted. It is not easy to acquire permit for a peak that has not made into the database of Department of Tourism. I located the peak, coded it as Peak A, figured out its fundamental details and prepared a climbing proposal with request letter to the DOT to open the peak for this specific expedition – the objective being to explore its expedition viability. This was in February 2023.
I didn't hear much about it then but fast forward to 2024, the Government announced 57 new peaks opened for climbing and the mountain we had initially proposed was on the list as Yasa Thak. Thus, the mountain was now accessible.
Fura and Ngima had planned to make a single push attempt on the peak, without supplementary oxygen, after the commercial season ended. This would give them a suitable time-frame for the climb after all the hassle of the season. It would also make the climb easier as they would have already been acclimatized in Manaslu and Amadablam while guiding climbers for Seven Summit Treks. Most importantly, Nepali guides are not in the financial and logistical confidence to focus on their own climbing projects compared to western climbers. Job comes first. The outfitter, SST, helped them with documentation for the expedition and logistical support. A Kyrgistani national by the name of Kadyr Saydilkan offered financial support and on 26 May, after acquiring the climbing permit, the duo flew from Kathmandu via helicopter and reached Thame. Dendi Sherpa (better known as Tungna Mingma), a mutual friend, was not able to join the expedition owing to injuries sustained while guiding in Amadablam. Fura and Ngima, on the same day, climbed up via southeast approach to a small lake at 5030 meters where they set up the base camp with one Base Camp manager – a party of 3. The base camp was a nice place – safe from winds, accessible to water source and not exposed to any form of objective hazards.
Being well acclimatized helped them. On the very day, the duo climbed up to 5400 meters reconnoitering the route which would prove useful as they found a technical vertical rock section of nearly 80 degrees. They explored viable route making way up halfway through the technical section until 9 pm that night and returned to BC. Both the climbers had thought it would be quite easy considering the fact that they were back from Himalayan giants like Manaslu and Amadablam. Nevertheless, things were certain to prove trickier owing to the fact that the climb was onto an untrodden mountain, disregarding the use of supplementary oxygen and fixed ropes.
Fura and Ngima woke up at 1 AM, had a bit of food, water; put on their gears and started the summit push. It was two o' clock just as they left the basecamp. The initial push to the technical rock section took 40 minutes but the real problem started immediately afterwards. The rock section was tough to negotiate. It took them one and half hours just to cross the 40-meters near vertical section of an exposed rock face.
They climbed through a slanted crack on the rock to a couloir. "Crossing the rock section and making way into the couloir was our best experience as the couloir gave us views of both sides of Yasa; the South, which is the Ngole (Thame's upper valley) and the North, the famous Dig Tsho lake.", Fura fondly recalls. The couloir eventually led to an arete that seemed to end up on the summit to the far west.
Now came another problem – knee deep fresh snow! This doesn't sound like much a problem but fresh snow hides the opening of crevasses which one misstep will plunge a climber to the deathly fall. A good many climbers have already lost their lives due to these hidden crevasses. Fura and Ngima roped up to ensure safety and climbed on. The initial push through the snowfield was slanted to some 60 degrees which needed careful maneuvering. About 200 meters below the summit, they face a huge open crevasse which didn't allow a straight climb. They had to take an alternative route via the Southern edge and finally reached the summit at about 5:30 PM on 27 November. It took them 15 and half hours of continuous push to make the first ascent of Yasa Thak. The duo spent some 30 minutes on the summit, enjoying the last light of the day.
Fura recalls that the summit experience was an overwhelming rush of emotions. For his entire climbing career, Fura had been guiding other climbers to their summit dreams but this was the first time, he had his own summit dream come true. It was the first time he experienced the pure joy of climbing mountain and that too as the first ascent. A name that would immortalize in history as long as the mountain stands still.
Ngima on the other hand was ecstatic that it was the first time that he had opened a new route on a mountain and that too, right above his home village.
Ngima said he felt a deep connection with the rich climbing heritage of Thame. They took a few pictures, videos and started descending. It took them 17 hours to descend as getting down from a mountain is more dangerous than climbing up.
On a sad note, the duo, despite making the first ascent of one of the newly opened peaks, received no recognition from the Department of Tourism, Nepal Tourism Board nor from any other governmental institution. As mountain adventure is a big part of our tourism sphere, it is a high time that the government notices the contributions of mountaineers in the promotion, development and the sustainability of the genre. With more support and appreciation, there will be more of climbers like Fura and Ngima who would go over to achieve wonders in mountaineering globally.
With the first ascent, Fura and Ngima hope to bring Yasa Thak and the Thame valley into the lights of mainstream Everest region trekking and climbing. First ascents are always tough. But this mountain holds the potential to become another fairly achievable climbing challenge like Lobuche, Island Peak, Mera and other peaks which are known to be easy and attainable. Fura and Ngima say that the view that Yasa summit offers is probably one of the best they've ever seen –Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Kanchenjunga and many mountains of the Mahalangur range right in front of you. There have been a few expeditions since the first ascent and the peak is already catching eyes from other climbers and expedition agencies. Thame and Yasa Thak now welcome adventurers on this incredible adventure.
