Page Type:
|
Mountain/Rock |
|---|---|
Lat/Lon:
|
32.90341°N / 78.22446°E |
Activities:
|
Mountaineering, Ice Climbing, Scrambling |
Season:
|
Summer |
Elevation:
|
20177 ft / 6150 m |
|
Overview
Mentok 2 is a challenging peak @ 6150m. It lies to the west of Tsomoriri, a high altitude lake in Ladakh.There are two routes to Mentok 2 from the advance camp. A rocky ridge on the south side, which requires extreme agility and balance; and a vertical ice wall (well over 300m) which requires good ice climbing skills. For the summit attempt, we chose to climb this ice wall from the advance camp site on the east-north eastern face of the peak.
Mentok 2 - From ABCGetting There
There are a number of flights to Leh from Delhi, Jammu, Srinagar and Chandigarh. From Leh, it takes 6 to 7 hours by road to reach Korzok village. The base camp is a days hike from Korzok. The advanced camp is another half a days hike, but the gradient is steep and height gain immense.Day1
Leh to Korzok. The village is about 215 km from Leh. The campsite is by a glacial stream near Lake Tsomoriri and we camped here for a couple of nights.
Day 2
We hiked to the base camp for acclimatisation
Day 3
Moved to base camp.
Day 4
Hike to advanced camp. Slight load ferry of technical equipment
Day 5
Move to advanced camp. A bivy site really at 5700m. We started at about 1400 and reached the site by about 1545. Pitched a 2 man tent and stayed there for an early morning start the following day.
Day 6
An early Day. We started the ascent at 0100. Climbed the eastern ice face of Mentok 2. Took us a good 2 hours to ascend the ice wall. There is a ledge at about three fifth of the climb where one might rest for a few minutes. Too long a rest is not recommended unless one intends to end up as frozen meat. The ice wall tops off at 20 or 30m short of the summit from where reasonable rock climbing and bouldering skills will get you to the summit in about 10 minutes. We reached the summit of Mentok 2 by 0300. Continued to summit Mentok 1 and reached there by 0527. Returned to the ABC by 0800. Had a drink (fruit juice) and headed for the base camp. Reached there by 1000. Cleaned the camp and headed out to the village by about 1400. This last leg was at a leisurely pace. It was a beautiful day for photography and the marmuts were very photogenic. Had a dip in Tsomoriri and reached Korzok by about 1730. Quite a long day as summit days usually are.
Day 7
Just drive back to Leh.
Summit
Back @ ABC after Summit Red Tape
All Indians here. So permit was not a hassle. IMF is the body which looks into permits and stuff. They have an office in Leh. Foreigners are better off using the services of a logistics agency who can manage the permits with ease.Camping
Day 1.Camp at Korzok
Day 2.
Acclimatization hike to BC. Return to camp at Korzok
Day 3.
Move to BC
Day 4.
Load ferry to ABC. Camp at BC
Day 5.
Late move to bivouac at ABC
Day 6.
Start early for summit of Mentok 2 and then continue to Mentok 1. Returned to ABC, BC and camped at Korzok. Really long day.
Day 7.
Move to Leh