Photo: The mountain range in Kachin State, in the eastern Himalayas / Kyaw Thar, from the Myanmar Photographic Society
A six-person team of experienced mountaineers last October tried and failed to summit Kachin State’s Hkakabo Razi, believed to be Myanmar’s tallest mountain, a new report in National Geographic has revealed.
After an 8-week journey through ice, snow and dense jungle – there was a 135-mile trek just to get to the foot of the mountain – they were beaten back by the elements.
Read the full – and incredible story – here.
Here follows a little run-down of what happened for those with short attention spans.
The little-known Dandalika mountain range, in northern Myanmar, is the new thing in climbing circles. Hkakabo Razi is believed to be the tallest of the Dandalika peaks – at more than 19,000 feet – and therefore the greatest prize. (Everest is now totally “passé”, in case you hadn’t heard.)
Only one person is known to have reached the summit – the Japanese climber Takashi Ozaki in 1996. But he didn’t record the mountain’s height and climbers are pretty curious. It could even be the region’s tallest.
In comes Mark Jenkins – who had attempted the summit 20 years prior – with Cory Richards, Renan Ozturk, Hilaree O’Neill, Emily Harrington and Taylor Rees. Tasked with measuring its exact height, the group arrived in Myanmar last October on an expedition funded by the National Geographic Society and The North Face.
Much drama ensued. They were detained by officials in Putao for four days and then released without explanation. (Because, Myanmar.) They struggled to find local porters – there isn’t an established tradition near the mountain range. They had to cross gorges via terrifyingly flimsy Indiana Jones style rope bridges.
When the group finally neared the mountain’s summit, the women were left behind – cuing some probably justified drama.
But the final three – Ozturk, Jenkins and Richards – were ultimately thwarted by the severe conditions and forced to turn back at about 800 feet from the peak.
They blamed lack of preparation. But sometimes, as the old climbing adage goes, the mountain decides. The mystery lives on.
