Mt. Nun - 7,135 Meters Of Cold Mess: A Photo Story

Himalayas are an inexhaustible treasure house to which devotees of Mountaineering have come for years to quench their thirst for exciting challenges. Amongst the many discovered and countless undiscovered peaks, stands Mt. Nun rising into the skies at an impressive height of 7,135M. First scaled way back in 1953, it is a technical climb which requires navigating difficult terrain in extreme cold with throes of violent winds being a bully - pushing you around in all directions. Mt. Nun is the culmination of the Nun Kun mountain massif which comprises of two peaks: Mt. Nun, 7,135M and its little shorter twin Mt. Kun, 7,077M separated from each other by a plateau around 4 kms long. The massif is located near the Suru valley, about 250 km east of Srinagar.

Every mountain in the Himalayas is like a city without lanes – with a distinct personality, an environmental culture of the way different elements on the mountain interact with each other in a fine balance, its structure, slopes, textures and the many forms of life that it stores and emits by the way of light and color.

While there is nothing that can give you a sense of the sheer power that is Mt. Nun better than being in it yourself, we are going to try to break it down and present it to you the way we saw it.  We will attempt to do it with as much photographic honesty as possible! But we do want to say that Mt. Nun has superpowers; it has the ability to have a hold on you and we hope to use this article as Exhibit A for this very bold claim.

1) First Glimpse: 

We can’t stress enough on how magical it is to get your very first glimpse of the mountain. A bit elusive at first, you can feel the mighty presence of the highest peak in the Zanskar Valley of Ladakh region, as soon as you set off on the road to Tangol. The way it elegantly stands in its milk-white robe against the barren landscape of Suru valley, it certainly knows how to stand out and own the view. When you see it for the first time it is like experiencing a phenomenon – the joy as immense as unearthing a secret you had been waiting to know since forever. But it also feels a bit surreal to look at this formidable structure. It is still a distant dream from here.

2) Acclimatization walks: 

The success of any high-altitude climb rests on how well the body is acclimatized to the environment. The physiological factors related to altitude are complex. But the short of it is that the body needs time to adapt to the changes in the environment. It needs enough time to learn how to draw the required amount of oxygen from the continuously thinning air.

There are few things more important for your success on high-altitude mountains than proper acclimatization of your body. As much as they are a technical requirement, they are also a great way to start a beautiful relationship with your new surroundings - explore your new environment, start to find your sync with it and develop a sense of comfort in it.

3) Base Camp: 

The route to basecamp takes you through small villages rich with lush green fields bordered with pink flowers. You will find locals running up and down the steep slope like it were an Olympic field. Cattle scattered around the landscape, you soon leave the geometric greens behind at the foothills of the mountain and enter the world of browns. Narrow shepherd trails strewn with rocks; boulders and mud now lead the way. The ground is extremely dry but rich in flowers of all colors growing out in tufts from the cracks in between. 

After a steep ascend, you will descend down into a much chillier valley – a bit more rustic than the one you left behind. On crossing miles of moraine and glaciers, you will make it to the bottom of the waterfalls. This last leg of the climb is steep and slippery- made of loose rocks and scree. The basecamp rests waiting for you at the top of the waterfall. As tiring as it is to get to it, the hospitality of the campsite is satisfying.

A land of rock and water with expansive views of the peaks around- the base camp which lies at an altitude of 4,600M is what will prepare you best for your climb ahead. It isn’t, however, generous enough to let you admire the peak you are about to climb. This camp, where you are going to spend many a nights all through the expedition, is a gentle and welcoming host but hides Mt. Nun like its last dirty secret! 

4) Pleasing the Force: 

The base camp for Mt. Nun, as of any other mountain, is rife with colour. Prayer flags adorn small stone structures where you offer your prayers to the mountain gods and thank them for allowing you to be there. The team members, together, seek blessings for the safety and the success of the team. This sacred ritual ends with a sip of some brandy and some sweets to fill you with warmth along with the benedictions of the mountain. It helps connect you to the mountain better and makes you feel belonged – like your presence is not a burden to the massif anymore.

5) Ok, Let’s Do This: 

Taking off from Base Camp towards Camp 1, the expedition starts to feel very real now. Camp 1 is at an altitude of 5500M. It is a 900M vertical height gain from the Base Camp. The first stretch of this trail includes crossing a river to the other side of the camps. This is followed by a two hour climb up a steep rocky slope. This stretch is full of boulders and rocks but has a pretty well-laid out trail which makes the ascend a little less grim. The two-hour climb takes you up the mountain ridge and down to the other side which requires walking on massive boulders – a stretch to be cautious on till you make it to something called a ‘Crampon Point’. This infamous point is an enormous rock with a little opening at the bottom, making it a perfect place to store all your equipment to protect it from the rain and from being blown away by angry winds. Consider it the green room for your trek – this is where you put all your gear on and get ready for the actual climb.

The most difficult section between Base Camp and Camp 1 is navigating the 75 degree gradient ice wall (about 300 M long). After the first wall, there is an additional patch of steep ice which needs to be navigated. Once we cross the ice wall and its annex, the slopes get a bit gentler and the snow gets a little softer. You then turn to the right, jump over a few crevasses and reach the point where the slope is now inclined at 30 degrees. This is the end of the fixed rope section and the start of the land of hidden crevasses. Camp 1 is bang in the middle of a 4kms wide snowfield. Walking the long flat land after a while starts to feel like walking into nothingness.

6) You’ve got to be kiddin’ me! 

 This is what you will want to say when you see the route to Camp 2! The path between Camp 1 and Camp 2 is a straight ascent, through and through, with slopes between 60-70 degrees. The entire stretch of the climb, which is a height gain of 600M from Camp 1, is likely to take an average of 9 hours for the climbers to cover.

The most difficult part of the climb is navigating large sections of boulders and rocks with crampons on. Camp 2 is at an altitude of 6100M and is absolutely mesmerizing. While Mt. Nun has some of the most beautiful and the most thrilling high-altitude campsites - Camp 2 is our absolute favorite. It gives you the drama of a 007 film while creating the humor of a Black Jack movie. Resting precariously on a sloped and narrow ridge of a high pinnacle, tents on Camp 2 are literally dangling in the air. With an impossible slope on one side and a direct 800M drop on the other, even to answer nature's call, you have to anchor yourself to the rope. However, whoever dares to look up could vouch for the fact that the campsite gave them some of the best morning and evening views they have ever witnessed. With the rest of the world hidden below clouds and a crack in the sky that adds a shade of orange to an otherwise white landscape is nothing short of magical. The sunlight on Mt. Nun from Camp 2, gives it a God-like halo captivating you further. If you are a proponent of dangerous love, everything about Camp 2 screams romance!

Camp 2 gives you such spectacular sights that the drama and thrill might just be bigger than the summit itself. The cloud show is amazing sitting at that height with an unobstructed view of the snowfield below. The dance of shadows of the clouds on the massive snowfield is one show you definitely want front row seats to!

7) Easy-Peasy: 

Camp 3, which is the Summit Camp, is at an altitude of 6400M. It is a 300M vertical height gain from Camp 2. However, it is likely to feel not too taxing after having endured the daunting slopes to reach the previous camp. After the initial steep descent, the rest of the route is mostly snow dunes which go up and down at a gradient of not more than 40 degrees. Much like Camp 1, Camp 3 is also stationed in the middle of a snowfield.

8) Vertical wall climbs: 

Base Camp onwards, most sections on the mountain are near straight gradients – so much vertical climbing that by the end of the expedition you start to falter on flat land! How do people walk straight, really?

9) The enigma that is the summit:

Like all other summits, it is vital to cover as much distance as possible through the night because that’s when the ice is most stable. You start the climb between 11 and 12 in the night. Hopefully all the anxiety and tension from the physical and mental stress you put your body through the past few days, will dissolve into the calm of the night as you focus on the climb and the goal ahead. You will access the west ridge from Summit camp, which involves traversing on 40-60 degree ice after which the gradient comes down to 40-50 degrees. The last section with large boulders is especially tricky because of the crampons. It is exceptionally hard to carry your weight- to pull yourself over the massive boulders after the extreme physical and mental fatigue from hours of ascent. Once the boulders are crossed, however, there is only around 50M left to get to the summit.

10) Reaching the top is only half the job done:

We tend to focus so much on the ascent and getting to the top that we forget that these are the very steep slopes which we also have to descend at some point. Drained energy and the general nature of descend being a little more precarious than ascends tend to make these bits a bit trickier. No biggie though, the awareness of it and conserving enough energy to get down would make a universe of a difference in keeping you safe. 

11) Packing up camps:

Tents prove to be your sanctuary, your mini homes with food, warmth and shelter from all kinds of weather. Home is where your tent is and especially if it is such a long expedition as is Mt. Nun, it isn’t surprising to get attached to these mini homes. Expect to get a tad bit emotional each time you pack up from a camp site. And the last day, at the end of the expedition, looking at the camp site stripped of all the tents can feel like the end of an era. Nonetheless, do not forget to ‘leave your campsite cleaner than you found it’.