Tharpu Chuli or Tent Peak is located in the Annapurna Sanctuary in Nepal (Peak on the right of the picture; peak on the left is Singu Chuli (6502m)). The Sanctuary is now very accessible as it is only a 5 day trek from the road head at Phedi, near Pohkara. The expedition took place over 3 weeks in Oct/Nov 1996. There were 6 of us on this expedition. We were unfortunate to encounter bad weather at the crucial point of the climb when we were at advanced camp and poised to make the summit attempt.
The Sanctuary is an amphitheatre, with a range of impressive Himalayan Peaks forming a vast bowl, accessible only from the South through the Modi Khola river valley. The immense South Face of Annapurna South (7291m), situated at the head of the Annapurna South Glacier, guards the Western flank of the Sanctuary.
We had good weather during the first few days of the expedition, as you can see from this picture of one of our climbers, Paul Leong; with the impressive and very well known Fish Tail Peak or Machhapuchhare (6993m) in the background. This peak guards the Eastern flank of the Sanctuary. It is considered a holy mountain and climbers are not allowed on it. The trek to advance camp involves crossing the South Annapurna Glacier. This is not an easy crossing. It involves a steep descent into the glacier, followed by a tiring walk through very rough terrain amidst the confused mass of loose rocks of all sizes on the glacier floor. You then need to climb up the other side of the glacier. It took us almost 7 hours to reach advance camp. However, you are rewarded with breath-taking views all the way. Advance camp is roughly at 4500m, just on the snowline.
However, when we got to advance camp, across the Annapurna South Glacier, the weather began to deteriorate and as you can see from the picture of me on the left. It started to snow the day after we reached advance camp and the snow fall was continuous. It snowed all night, and by next morning, more than a foot of snow had been deposited at our Advance camp.
In spite of the deteriorating weather, the sherpa guides decided to climb up to high camp to retrieve the tents and other camping equipment that they had laboriously carried up the day before. The picture on the left shows our chief guide, Lakpa in waist deep snow as they struggled up to highcamp.
After the heavy snowfall, my mountain tent looks in danger of collapsing from the weight of snow on it. The descend to basecamp took more than 7 hours in very slippery conditions as we negotiated our way down steep ridges which were so easy to climb up only 2 days before. We were glad to arrive safely in basecamp, well after nightfall.