A Family Expedition

Introduction
Our peak might not have been the highest in the world or the most beautiful or the most challenging but it was one of the most satisfying that I have ever climbed for it meant that I was able to share with my son Daniel, my brother Gerald and my nephew James the joy and thrill of standing on an unclimbed summit. Just walking to base camp was one of the most dramatic and beautiful approach marches I have ever made. There were so few other trekkers or signs of tourism.

The Approach
We set out from the airstrip at Suketar, some sixty kilometres SW of Danga on 18 April. There were seven of us - Daniel, Gerald and James, Daniel's wife Jude, and her brother David, our local doctor, Rupert Bennett and myself. The original plan was for Gerald, Daniel, Rupert and myself to tackle the climb while Jude, Dave and James were coming for the trek. We were accompanied by an even larger support team supplied my Bikrum Pandy's trekking organisation, Himalayan Expeditions. Our Sirdar Ram and cook Pemba had been with me in 1998 on Sepu Kangri. Furtenjee Sherpa was coming on the mountain with us and we had a string of cook boys and kitchen porters as well as 16 porters to carry in all our gear. We were trekking in luxury but it was also hard work for it was very hot during the day and the path was a switch back up and down over bluffs as we slowly gained height up the Ghunsa Khola leading to the north side of Kangchenjunga.

Recces
It took us ten days to reach our base camp at Lhonak at a height of 4750m. I had chosen Danga from a photograph loaned to me by Julian Freeman Atwood. Doug Scott also gave me a great deal of help with photographs and maps but we werenÍt sure how accurate our maps were or of the best approach to our mountain. Early in the morning of 28 April I climbed the hill behind base to get a distant view of our mountain. I was disturbed by what I saw. I wasn't at all sure that the valley leading up from Lhonak reached our mountain and the ice fall at its head looked dangerous. Even more disturbing I realised that the mountain we had chosen as our objective was not Danga at all but was a nameless peak, spot height 6194 metres, while Danga was a sharp pointed peak to it's immediate west.
That same day Furtenjee had walked up the Danga Glacier to check out a site for advance base. He reported that it was hard going over broken moraines but that it led all the way to the foot of the Danga Ice Fall and that from close up it looked reasonably safe. The following day Gerald, Daniel, James and I went up to the site of advance base and agreed with FurtenjeeÍs assessment.

Crises
The climb was on but we were now confronted by another problem. I had borrowed some light weight assault tents from Terra Nova, had packed them in a mule bag and thought they were with us, but when I looked for them after reaching base camp could find no sign of them and realised with horror that we must have left them behind at some stage perhaps on the train from Carlisle to London.

The Climb
We set out from base camp on 3 May. Unfortunately Rupert had gone down with pleurisy but James was going so well I was able to ask him to take RupertÍs place. We not only used our porters to carry some of our base tents but had Pemba and Himal our kitchen boy with us as well to cook supper and breakfast. We set out for the climb at 3.30 on the morning of the 4th. If we were making good time we had decided we'd go for the top that day. The first three hundred metres were up a dry glacier with a dusting of snow. There was the odd steep little step and narrow crevasse but we could see them and therefore climbed unroped to where the glacier opened up into a wide snow covered basin. Time to rope up on a single rope. I led off up firm neve picking my way round some big crevasses, towards a gully towards the top flanked by a serac wall. This led us onto the upper part of the ice fall where a series snow clad ice shelves led out onto an easy slope leading up towards the col between the true Danga and our own peak. It was only 7 am in the morning and we had reached the col. It was easy going but I was very aware of just how hard it would be to find our way down in a white out. With this in mind we were using our Garmin E Trex Navigator to way mark the route on the ascent.

A Challenging False Summit
Furtenjee and I took turns to break trail and we steadily gained height, crossing a dodgy snow bridge over a huge very deep crevasse and heading for what appeared to be the summit - a huge fin of ice jutting out of the rounded ridge. Unfortunately we had been so confident we had left our spare rope and all the ice screws by the col and now it looked as if we were going to need them. I tried a direct ascent but chickened out without the means of putting in any protection. A narrow ice canyon led under a snow bridge to a steep ramp reaching up towards the top. At last a bit of technical ice climbing - I revelled in it, pulled up over a cornice to find myself on a knife-edge unstable snow ridge with no room for the rest of our team. It was with some relief that I realised we on a false summit and the true top was a rounded mound about half a mile away.

The Real summit ( shared experience of a life time )
I retreated and we resumed our plod to the top of Danga II, which we reached at around one that afternoon. It was an emotional moment - four Boningtons and our good friend Furtenjee on top of an unclimbed peak with a magnificent vista of peaks around us. In the immediate foreground to the West was the shapely spire of Danga, an exciting but feasible prospect. To the north was the steep dome of Pandra 6796m, to the east was the complex summits of Dromo climbed by Doug Scott and Roger Mear by a new route the previous year, while further to the south east was the huge sprawling mass of Kangchenjunga and the shapely summit of Jannu with its huge North Face. In the distance to the West were Makalu and Everest.

Return to Earth
We had been incredibly lucky, having the best and clearest day of the entire expedition for our summit bid. We set off down in the afternoon, still with perfect visibility to get back to advance base at around four thirty.

The Trekkers' adventure
Whilst we made our ascent the others spent two nights at Pangpema where they were entertained by a Combined Services Expedition and had some superb views of Kangchenjunga. Rupert, now partly recovered climbed a peak behind the camp.

Back to Civilisation
Our return provided a wealth of experience and some superb views. From Ghunsa we crossed the Sinion La 4440 metres, to reach the Simbuwa Khola - the route to the south side of Kangchenjunga. This gave a more airy and slightly longer route back to Suketar with superb views of mountains.

Conclusion
The combination of us four Boningtons reaching the top of this unclimbed peak and taking part in one of the best treks I have ever undertaken made this a truly memorable experience for us all. We are deeply grateful to our wonderful support team and everyone who made this great trip possible.