First Ski Descent in China's Minya Konka: Against the Clouds

A wild range in western China is an unpredictable epic

Text by Cliff Ransom; Photograph by Jimmy Chin

It was early in the day when the storm moved in. Kasha Rigby, Ingrid Backstrom, Guila Monega, and Jimmy Chin had been creeping up the West Ridge of Reddomaine, an obscure 20,000-foot peak in western China, since dawn. They had just belayed up a steep section of rock when the clouds thickened and the snow started blowing hard. Bad visibility became terrible. “We huddled around,” Backstrom said, “and said to ourselves, ‘you know, conventional wisdom would say we should go down now.’” 

Considering where they were, prudence would not have been out of place. Reddomaine is the westernmost peak of the Minya Konka massif, a collection of knife-edged summits that ring China’s 24,790-foot Gunga Shan. In recent years the region has seen a marked increase in climbing expeditions, driven in part by a looser permitting process within China and a growing trend among elite climbers to favor smaller, more technical and unclimbed peaks over 8,000 meter behemoths. It has also seen a concurrent rise in morbid headlines—the rough terrain and unpredictable weather conspire to make the mountains of western China particularly avalanche prone. In 2006 Christine Boskoff and Charlie Fowler were lost on the nearby Genyen Massif. In June 2009, Johnny Copp and Micah Dash were swept away by a massive slide on Mount Edgar, just one peak east of Reddomaine. 

While the area’s troubled history was on the minds of the Reddomaine foursome—“We’d just passed though the town where my friend [Copp] was cremated a few months before, ” Chin says—it was not enough to overcome the pull of the mountains. Two hundred feet after turning back, the group huddled up once more.

“We decided, well, the weather’s bad, but not that bad. And we’re behind schedule, but not that behind. Let’s just see how it goes,” Backstrom recalls. So with graupel beating down on their tightly drawn hoods, the team again set off into the clouds.

“You could look at [our decision] and say, ‘Oh my God, they ignored all the signals,’” Rigby says. It was, she says, a calculated risk: “We had been watching the weather patterns for days, and we were a really strong team.” And, it’s worth noting, the climb is not the most challenging in the range. 

As the group picked its way up the west ridge, the weather did not improve, but true to their calculations, it did not worsen. The route alternated between gradual snow slopes and steep rocky sections. A cornice overhung a sheer face to the left and the slope dropped away thousands of feet to the right. Massive bus-eating crevasses and deep snow slowed their ascent. The team developed a routine - each climber out front, would probe for crevasses, break trail until they were exhausted and then rotate to the back of the line.

“At first our turn around time was 3PM then 4PM then 5PM,” says Chin. But the team summited nonetheless, with all but Rigby soloing up the final 100-foot ice bulge to the top. They were not the first to summit this mountain, but they would be the first to descend on skis. With the light dwindling, the climbers clicked into their ski bindings and began downhill. What took them 12 hours to climb took three to descend. As they emerged from the clouds a thousand feet above their high camp, they faced a full moon, a starlit sky, and boot top powder all the way to their tent. So much for conventional wisdom—this time.

Comments

[Antigua resort]

Amazing, well done him.

[Stop Smoking]

Looks amazing, gotta try it someday!

[children holidays]

I would love to be there!

[market ideas]

I wonder how it feels like being above the clouds..

[mobile marketing]

the view is amazing..

[Global brands]

Beautiful view!

[top ten]

I wish I was there.

[rock festivals]

Great view!

[Mobile Computing]

There are may person searching about that now they will find enough resources by your post,

[Generic Cordarone]

Hola,Ha hecho un trabajo muy bueno. Hay muchas personas en busca de eso ahora van a encontrar suficientes fuentes por tus consejos.espera para obtener más consejos acerca de que

[freelance graphic designer]

Wow - what an image. It must be truly excilarating sitting at the top of that mountain, and with all that fresh air. I can almost smell the clean oxygen.
Thanks for the read - I really need to travel more!

[Herbalife]

Beautiful mountain!

[St Lucia Hotel]

looks amazimg, well done him!!

[Nike Frees]

Think as in case you are exhibiting your car and you have to catch an audience so that you are going to be inspired about developing

[blinds]

It must be amazing to be above the clouds, very good story, well done him..

[couples resort]

What an amazing picture is that. I have been to couples resort in St Lucia where there were many water sports and activities but did not see as beautiful.

[Wilmayxi042]

Free RIDE snowboard gear on my page, just click the link. RIDE has a search engine. You use their search engine and they earn money. They then give you points that can be used to buy snowboarding gear from their shop.
For more info pls visit here:
http://tripwireblues.com/index.php?title=Main_Page/
http://naturevideoclassroom.com/index.php?title=Main_Page/

[gps coordinates]

i never knew how beautiful china was. that picture of the mountain is truly amazing.

[ズファジラン]

grea post i like it

[Crystalvie374]

The "descent" was completed during separate visits, using airlifts, and they did the bottom half first, and the top half later. And this mountain had been skied before. Surely claiming a first descent takes some disregard for pride in exchange for Red Bull's marketing campaign.
for more info please visit:
http://thegloriousworldcup.com/index.php?title=Main_Page/
http://reggiocollab.org/index.php?title=Main_Page/

[Crystalvie374]

Truly amazing control and POWER. Anyone who downplays this man's skill is clearly ignorant and should never comment on something they are looking to merely
belittle. I mean shit, if it's so easy, why don't you do it?? I don't ski a lot, but I have before and I know how much control and dexterity it takes just to weave back and forth, but he is teetering on gravity's edge and never loses control - incredible. Mad props to Karnicar as he is the greatest ever to hit the slopes. Thanks for posting!

[Jose]

That mountain top view is amazing. How can you not feel one with nature seeing that. Now I understand why some people spend there whol life trying to climb Mt Everest.

[ROI Unlimited]

Wow what an amazing picture. Thank you so much for sharing this blog.

-Syed-

[Parliament]

What a courageous skier, I wouldn't fancy skiing down the side of that mountain!

[orjin krem]

It has also seen a concurrent rise in morbid headlines—the rough terrain and unpredictable weather conspire to make the mountains of western China particularly avalanche prone. In 2006 Christine Boskoff and Charlie Fowler were lost on the nearby Genyen Massif. In June 2009, Johnny Copp and Micah Dash were swept away by a massive slide on Mount Edgar, just one peak east of Reddomaine.