Nun Kun and Pinnacle Peak

Fanny Bullock Workman · 1906 CE · Earth

Nun Kun and Pinnacle Peak — Fanny Bullock Workman · 1906 CE · Earth — Recorded expedition route · schematic map

Explore the Nun Kun massif from the Suru valley, map its glaciers and climb as high as its snow plateau allowed.

Historical context

In 1906 no woman had stood above 6,900 metres and few men had. The Himalaya were reached by pony and coolie train from Srinagar, the heights were measured by aneroid and argued about for years afterwards, and a wealthy amateur with Alpine guides could still make a first ascent simply by going. The Workmans went eight times; Pinnacle Peak was the summit that mattered, because it put Fanny's name at the top of a list that Annie Peck was trying to head.

The voyage, step by step

  1. Leaving Srinagar

    1906 CE

    The Workmans leave the Kashmir capital with one Courmayeur guide, six Italian porters, 170 coolies and fifty ponies.

  2. Kargil

    1906 CE

    Over the Zoji La and down to the Suru river, the caravan reaches Kargil, where the trade road to Leh turns off and the valley to Nun Kun begins.

  3. Up the Suru valley

    1906 CE

    Past Sankoo and Panikhar the twin summits of Nun and Kun stand over the valley, and the Shafat glacier comes down between them to the fields.

  4. The Shafat glacier

    1906 CE

    The party takes to the ice, mapping the glacier with the plane table as it goes, and pitches camps on the moraine and then on the snow.

  5. Camp America

    1906 CE

    On the snow plateau between Nun and Kun the Workmans pitch a camp they call Camp America, at about 6,400 metres, higher than anyone had slept before.

  6. Pinnacle Peak

    1906 CE

    Fanny and William Workman, Cyprien Savoye and two porters climb the snow ridge from the plateau to the summit of Pinnacle Peak, which they measure at more than 23,000 feet.

Outcome

Pinnacle Peak, about 6,930 metres, climbed with the guide Cyprien Savoye; a women's altitude record that stood for twenty-eight years, and a camp at 6,400 metres higher than any pitched before.

Fanny Bullock Workman

A wealthy New Englander who cycled across India, then spent a decade in the Karakoram and, at forty-seven, stood higher than any woman had ever stood.

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Sources

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