Americans Climb Bonington's Secret Mountain

A team of Americans has made the first ascent of Sepu Kangri, the near 23,000 foot peak attempted by Chris Bonington and immortalised in his book Tibet's Secret Mountain.

Bonington and his team failed to climb the mountain in 1997 and 1998 being beaten back just 150 metres from the summit, but the book and surrounding publicity raised the profile of the previously little-known mountain to international superstar status.

The seven-man American team including top alpinist Carlos Buhler, appear to have followed Bonington's route on the mountain and even carried copies of his book with them. Buhler is quoted as saying that they climbed the mountain 'on their shoulders, using their knowledge to lay as effective a route as possible.'

This apparently included using ski mountaineering equipment low on the mountain to counter the effects of deep snow. The US team summited in early October having encountered better weather than either of the two Bonington attempts, and despite encountering a serious storm on summit day.

For the full story, see this piece on the excellent Outside Magazine web site.