Across the Frozen Himalaya

Book excerpt: 10 maps, 48 colour pictures. When Harish Kohli and his team of seven members reached the summit of the Karakoram Pass in the early afternoon of 17th February 1995, they had been on the move for twelve gruelling hours. As they began the treacherous descent, the light breeze turned into a storm and then into a blizzard, plummet-ing the temperature to minus 48 degrees Celcius. Later that night when they reached their base, after twenty-six horrifying hours, two of the members were frostbitten, one of them losing seven of his fingers. But for the Ski-Himalaya team, it was only the beginning of their adventure, which became one of the most momentous journeys in mountaineering history.