Abi Gamin - Climbing History

Climbing History

The first attempt to climb the peak was launched by the Schlagintweits from the Tibetan side up the NE ridge : they estimated that they reached an altitude of 22,000 ft (6,710 m).

During the 1874-77 survey by the Survey of India under E. C. Ryall, I. S. Pocock set up a plane table at c.22050' on the West flank of Abi Gamin.

Between 1907 and 1913 a number of expeditions attempting Kamet reached high altitudes on the flanks of this mountain. Thomas George Longstaff in 1907 recced the Purbi(East) Kamet approaches, and C.F.Meade's team followed the same route in 1913 to reach Meade's Col up the East flank of the massif. The attempts by A.M.Slingsby in 1911 and 1913 and C.F.Meade in 1912 were up the West flank from the Pachhmi(West) Kamet glacier. These reached Slingsby's Col(c.21000') between Mukut Parbat and Abi Gamin, but failed to go beyond c.23000'.

Abi Gamin was climbed for the first time in 1950 by a small Anglo-Swiss Expedition comprising Alfred Tissierès, R. Dittert, and G. Chevalley (all Swiss), and Englishman Kenneth Berrill. They approached from the north side through Tibet, reached over the Mana Pass. Their NE ridge route was the same route the Schlagintweit's had tried nearly a century earlier! The summit was reached by the three Swiss members: they may have been accompanied by Sherpa Dawa Thondup.

Indian expeditions under Nandu Jayal climbed the peak in 1953 and 1955 by the SW ridge from Meade's Col, reached up the East flank of the massif from the Purbi Kamet glacier. Later ascents have been up this route.

First Youngest- Indian Expedition On June 8, 1988 Abi Gamin was successfully climbed by Govind Joshi, a 17 years old climber. Became the first youngest ever to scale difficult Mt. Abi Gamin who being completely raw in mountaineering field and climbed the peak without using any oxygen aid . This expedition of Ramjas Old Student Adventure Association ( ROSAA ),New Delhi led by C. S. Pandey, went on expedition to Mt. Kamet and Abi Gamin without a trained doctor and tried the bold experiment to stuck only to vegetarian food throughout the expedition and came back successfully.