Rock Peaks of the Siguniang Region

Rock Peaks of the Siguniang Region
New routes, anyone?
Photographs
by Tamotsu Nakamura, Japanese Alpine Club
“Mt. Siguniang, the highest peak of the Qionglai mountains, has become so famous
and popular within China itself that the southern side of the mountain, accessto which
is very easy from Chengdu, is now congested with hundreds of tourists and trekkers,
domestic as well as foreign. However, if you were to look north, you would note many
lofty granite peaks towering toward the sky. These peaks, which range from 5300 to
5900 meters in height, encircle two beautiful valleys as if to form a grand coliseum.
Although approaches are not very difficult and a 1~50,000Chinese topographical map
indicates the relevant position and altitude in detail, the peaks remain little-known-and
in many cases,untrodden.”
-Tamotsu Nakamura
he Siguniang mountain region in the Qionglai Mountains of the Hengduan Shan, Sichuan
Province, China, is home to a concentration of granite peaks that will be of interest to
both the modem free climber and the aficionado of new routes. Indeed, longtime readers of
the AAJ might recall an article in the 1984 volume by Ted Vail1 describing the first ascent of
Celestial Peak. The article included a photo of Celestial Peak that depicts a pyramidal granite tower so symmetrically precise it might have been cut by laser. A 15member American
Alpine Club party led by Peter Woods that was in the area at the same time made the first
ascent of Bok’ra and attempted a circumnavigation of Mt. Siguniang. Their comments gave
further indication that here might be an area worth further exploration: “From the summit [of
Bok’ra] we could see dozens of unclimbed granite peaks to the north, west and south which
would rank with the finest rock climbs on earth.”
The highest peak of the area, Mt. Siguniang (“Peak of Four Daughters,” offtcially given
6250 meters but perhaps as much as 330 meters less), inspired America’s globe-trotting
Charlie Fowler to call it “certainly one of the most beautiful 6000-meter peaks in the world.”
It was first climbed in 1981 by a Japaneseteam over a period of 16 days with the aid of ca.
2000 meters of fixed rope. Their route climbed snow and ice on the right-hand side of the
south face to a prominent shoulder, then continued up the east face/ridge to the summit. The
same year, the American team of Jack Tackle, Jim Donini, Kim Schmitz and Jim Kantzler
attempted the steep 6,000-foot north face, reaching ca. 5300 meters after 11 days above high
camp, six days of which were spent on the final push.
The second ascent of the peak came in 1992, again by a Japaneseparty and again on the
south face, this time via an elegant rock buttress left of center to a snow-and-ice finish on the
west ridge. This ascent took 23 days and used 600 meters of fixed line.
T
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The south face of Sjgumang, showing 1. 1981 Japanese route (Iwata-Takahashi). 2. Char//e Fowler
route (solo). 3. 1992 Japanese route (Yoshlmura et at). TAMOTSU NAKAMURA
Two years later, Charlie Fowler visited the area for the first time. Transfixed by
Siguniang’s beauty, Mr. Fowler climbed an independent line on the right side of the south
face to the shoulder, then more or less followed the line of first ascent up the east ridge. His
three-day solo ascent included a top-out late in the day in deteriorating weather and a descent
of the same line that he described as “epic.”
The history of Celestial Peak sharesparallels with Siguniang in its evolution of styles. The
1983 first ascent had the dual goal of climbing the mountain and making a film of the climb.*
Wrote Vail], “With a nucleus of strong Yosemite climbers, we hoped to do the entire route in
EBs, Fires or equivalent rock-climbing shoes, to push the route as high as possible with 3/8inch polypropylene fixed lines and then go for the summit. Fixed lines were to be placed on
the route primarily to allow the team access to the face for filming purposes.” In 1985,
American Keith Brown took a considerably lighter approach when he made the second ascent
via a three-day, 26-pitch line on the southeast ridge, solo.
Further activity in the area has been rather limited. In addition to his solo of Siguniang,
Mr. Fowler has made a number of other ascentsin the region. Also in 1994, he soloed a 5383meter peak to the west of Celestial Peak, and another 5484-meter peak north of Siguniang. In
1997, he made another first ascent, this one of a 5666-meter mountain, again north of
Siguniang. All his ascentshave been carried out on predominantly alpine terrain. In 1997, Jon
Meisler, an American who lived in Chengdu for seven years and now runs the mountaineering and trekking company High Asia, brought his friends Jeff Hollenbaugh and Mike
*Tower of Challenge is available as a ten-minute video, narrated by Hoyt Anon, for $10 (including shipping) from Edward
Vail1 (DVaill @aol.com).
ROCK PEAKS OF THE SIGUNIANG
The north
face of Siguniang.
REGION
CHIHARU YOSHIMURA
Pennings to the region. Strong American free climbers both, Hollenbaugh and Pennings put
up Grand Theft Oreo, a ten-pitch 5.9, on a rock peak to the southwest of Celestial Peak.
In 1998, the Japaneseexplorer Tamotsu Nakamura, whose photos are represented here,
crossed a 4644-meter pass north of Mt. Siguniang that separatesthe Bi Pung from the Chang
Ping valleys. He found the crossing to be, as he notes, “the highlight of the tramping indeed.
I found myself in the center of countless magnificent rock peaks. . . (s)ome spiky, while others . . were big massesof formidable rocks.” His camp, pitched at the source of the Chang
Ping Valley, saw him in a “palace of a huge rock garden in harmony with vivid green trees
and meadows.”
There are three main valleys in the Siguniang region. The Bi Pung Valley is an adjunct
valley north of the area of main interest to the climber. The Chang Ping Valley features
Celestial Peak on its west side and Siguniang on its east.According to Mr. Meisler, the Chang
Ping Valley “is full of interesting walls, especially further up (north). The next valley west,
the Shuang Qiao Valley, is also full of walls.” A road has been built up the Shuang Qiao
Valley. (It is, notes Mr. Meisler, “horrific.“)
What might the visiting climber expect to find? Culturally, he or she could experience a
land more reminiscent of Tibet than China. In his 1984 article, Mr. Vail1 noted, “The valley
in which Siguniang and Celestial Peak are situated has strong ties to Tibetan culture, although
it is not geographically part of Tibet today.” In terms of access, the area, which is being
pushed by Sichuan tourism authority as a point of interest to Chinese and foreign tourists, has
a series of trails that would allow the climber easy accessto a number of peaks.
THE AMERICAN
ABOVE: The ca. 7000mefer
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south face of Peak 5513m. Unless otherwise noted. these and the
peaks depicted in the following photographs are unclimbed. TAMOTSU NAKAMURA
BELOW: The northeast faces (ca. 8OOm) of peaks 5422m and 5466m. TAMOTSU NAKAMURA
ROCK PEAKS OF THE SIGUNIANG
REGION
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MoUNTAiNS
PEAKS-QIONGLAI
SICHUAN-CHINA
SICHUAN
PROVlNCf
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MIKE CELLAND
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ABOVE: The north face (ca. 1300m) of Peak 5666m. This peak was first climbed by Charlie Fowler
in 7997. TAMOTSU NAKAMURA
BELOW: The ca. 7000-meter east face of Peak 5465m. TAMOTSU NAKAMURA
ROCK PEAKS OF THE SIGUNIANG
REGION
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The ca. 900-meter east face of Peak 5260m. TAMOTSU NAKAMURA
“Bear in mind,” cautions Mr. Hollenbaugh, “that the Siguniang area is somewhat sensitive in that it is one of the last remaining homes to the panda and red panda. Publicity toward
conservation could benefit the area, as the Chinese government only wants to [profit from]
tourism.”
The range has a “granite plug” of good rock that begins on the south side with Siguniang
and Celestial, and ends on the north side before Bok’ra. At each end, there is an abrupt transformation to worse rock. Though Mr. Vail1 recalls “Yosemite-quality” granite from his team’s
ascent of Celestial Peak, a recollection born out by photos from the climb, Mr. Hollenbaugh’s
assessmentis more reserved.He notes, “The rock is good (this from a desertand Black Canyon
climber). It ain’t Yosemite, Patagonia, or Pakistan, but it’s good. Our route was clean and we
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felt comfortable doing a majority of our raps on slung horns. With some effort you could do a
ton of good climbs, most (outside of those on the Siguniang massif) on the slabby side.”
Spring and autumn would best suit the free climber, with the rainy seasonfalling in July
and August. As Mr. Fowler pointed out in his note in the 1999 AAJ, “In the future this whole
area should become very popular with climbers, as there are unlimited possibilities for rock
and alpine routes on fairly low-altitude peaks, and with very easy access from the city of
Chengdu.”
EDITOR
AAJ references:
1982, pp. 285-286, Siguniang (625Om), first ascent, and p. 286, north face, attempt.
1984, pp. 43-48, Celestial Peak, first ascent, and p. 309, Bok’ra, first ascent, and attempt at
circuit of Siguniang.
1986, p. 303, Celestial Peak, second ascent.
1993, pp. 277-78, Siguniang, second ascent.
1996, p. 310, Siguniang, third ascent, and first ascents of three other peaks.
1999, p. 211, first ascent of a ca. 5700-meter peak.
Tamotsu
AJ&mx~ra.
CHRISTIAN BECKWITH
Tamotsu Nakamura was born in Tokyo,
Japan, in 1934 and began climbing with the
Hitotsubashi University Mountaineering
Club in 1953. In 1961, he traveled with the
first Japanese expedition to the Peruvian
and Bolivian Andes, making the first ascent
of Pucahirca Norte (6050m) in the
Cordillera Blanca and three first ascents
and several second ascentsin the Cordillera
Apolobamba and Pupuya. He lived abroad
from 1967-1994, in Pakistan, Mexico, New
Zealand and Hong Kong and has made 18
exploratory treks in southwest China and
southeast Tibet. He is auditor of The
JapaneseAlpine Club, a member of The
American Alpine Club and The Himalayan
Club and an International Fellow of The
Explorers Club. He published his book,
East of the Himalaya, in 1996.