Mick Fowler Plans New Adventure

Mick Fowler aims to ascend a previous unclimbed route up Shiva

Leading British mountaineer Mick Fowler has announced the identity of his next major objective.  This autumn, in his 30th year of leading expeditions to the greater ranges, Fowler has set his sights on an unclimbed buttress line on the 6,142m peak of Shiva in the Indian Himalaya.

Mick Fowler is a member of the Berghaus team of climbers and will be tackling this technical challenge during annual holiday allowance from his full time job at HM Revenue and Customs.  He will be climbing with Paul Ramsden, Steve Burns and Ian Cartwright.

Shiva lies in the area of Lahaul in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.  Remote and not easy to get to, the mountain was first climbed in 1988 by Junko Tabei (the first women to climb Everest) but the side of the mountain that Fowler and Ramsden are to attempt is even more distant and appears not to have been photographed by mountaineers until teams from Russia and Italy visited in 2010.  Fowler and his team will head to the area in September/October for an expedition that is scheduled to last four weeks.

Fowler says: “The buttress line that is our objective is eye catching, unclimbed, challenging, visible from afar, goes direct to the summit and is in a culturally interesting area that I have not visited before.  In short, it satisfies all of my perfect climbing criteria and the trip promises to be another memorable adventure.”

Fowler will be using the latest technical clothing and equipment from Berghaus.  During recent expeditions, he has tested prototypes developed by the company’s MtnHaus® innovation team, and he will be putting new kit through its paces again in India.

News from the expedition will be posted on www.berghaus.com as soon as it is available.