Himalayan Expedition Firsts
From 1940 Pinnacle Club members began exploring in the Himalaya. Many of the early expeditions are notable for their exploration and for climbing previously unclimbed peaks.
It was Jean Punnett (neé Low) from the Pinnacle Club who made the first one-woman expedition to the Kulu region of India in 1940. Jean climbed and explored alone with three Ladaki porters and one Gurkha. She climbed two peaks, the Grand Ghopil and Gadi.
On the Kulu expedition in 1956 Eileen Gregory climbed two previously unclimbed peaks in Kulu (Cathedral Peak (c20,000ft) and Chapter House (c19,000ft) on her own with Ladaki porters. She also made the second ascent of Deo Tibba (19,688ft).
In 1959, Eileen Healey, Dorothea Gravina and Margaret Darvall joined the International Women’s Expedition to Cho Oyu (the 6th highest mountain in the world at c.26,900ft). The expedition ended in tragedy when Claude Kogan, Claudine Van der Stratten and Sherpa Ang Norbu died in an avalanche at Camp IV. Dorothea Gravina from the Pinnacle Club took over as leader to ensure the safe descent of the team.
During another expedition to the Kulu region in 1961, Jo Scarr and Barbara Spark, accompanied by Ladaki porters, climbed three 20,000ft virgin peaks: Central Peak, Lion and Unnamed Peak.
The following year, Dorothea Gravina led the 1962 Jagdula expedition to Nepal. Jo Scarr and Barbara Spark were the first of two ropes to reach the goal of the expedition, Lha Shamma, an unclimbed peak of 21,000ft in the Kanjiroba Himal. Teams also climbed Kagmara 1, Kagmara 2, Kagmara 3, Triangle Peak and Twin Peak.
The 1980 expedition to the Lahaul region of India also had great success on unclimbed peaks. Of the 14 mountains climbed, 13 were first ascents and Steph’s Peak (19,300ft) and Half Dome (19,000ft) were the two highest peaks climbed.
In 1989 Rhona Lampard and Wanda Rutkiewicz made an all-female ascent of Gasherbrum II (8035m) in the Karakorum region, on the British Women’s Gasherbrum II Expedition. The ascent was made without high-altitude porters or oxygen and is counted amongst the most prestigious ascents by women in the Greater Ranges. Club members Rhona Lampard, Becky Thorp and Brede Arkless were part of a team of seven Brits and Polish climber Wanda Rutkiewicz.
The 1990s saw further exploration in the Karakorum region. The British Women’s Karakorum Expedition 1994 made attempts on Mitre Peak (5945m) and Sceptre Peak (c5800m). In 1995, Julie Carter and Mandy Glanvill also made an attempt on Sceptre Peak, and Julie made a solo ascent of Sulu Peak (c6200m). In 1997 a Pinnacle Club expedition to the Karakorum made a first ascent of Zarsenic 1 (5900m) in the Shimshal region of Pakistan.
In 2001 an expedition to Nepal recorded a first ascent by Jill Croskell and party on Che Bayul Kang (c6000m) and in 2018 Adele Long and team made a first ascent of Aari Dent (5557m) in the Zanskar region of India.
> Discover Jo Scarr’s book ‘Four Miles High’, about the Kulu and Jagdula expeditions