User:Maellare/1991 Kawagarbo disaster

The 1991 Kawagarbo Disaster occured in January 1991, when 17 climbers from a joint Sino-Japanese team died in an avalanche while attempting to ascend Kawagarbo in Yunnan Province. One of the deadliest mountaineering accidents in history, it killed six Chinese and eleven Japanese mountaineers.

Background
In 1987, Japan submitted an application to climb Kawagarbo to the General Administration of Sport of China. In August of the same year, the Sino-Japanese joint mountaineering team reached the foot of Meili Snow Mountains, of which Kawagarbo is the highest peak. The expedition consisted largely of members of Kyoto University's Academic Alpine Club, and was captained by meteorologist Professor Jiro Inoue. The deputy captain was Chinese mountaineer Song Zhiyi.

The expedition spent the years between 1987 and 1990 conducting a series of geological and meterological studies around Kawagarbo.

Kawagarbo's great cultural significance as a sacred mountain in Tibetan Buddhism caused notable backlash from locals against the attempt. While the expedition's negotiations with the locals were unsuccessful, the State Council ultimately granted permits for the climb. The Japanese team left for China on November 10 from Kobe, and met up with the Chinese team on November 27. The climb officially began in early December.

First attempt
Although the team managed to successfully establish three camps (C1, C2, C4), an argument broke out regarding the position of the third camp (C3.) The Chinese team wanted to camp away from the ridge to avoid avalanches, while the Japanese team argued in favor of being closer to the ridge to ascend faster.

Inoue ordered one of his team members Yonetani Yoshiaki to make the final decision, but mist on the mountain made it impossible for Yonetani to observe the sites. Ultimately Inoue decided to set C3 halfway between the sites where the Japanese and Chinese teams initially wanted. This would later cause great controversy in the aftermath of the accident, as a Chinese team member observed a medium-sized avalanche on December 20 that occurred very close to C3.

At 11:30 a.m. on December 28, 1990, a vanguard consisting of five members approached the ridge behind the main peak. When they reached a height of 6470 meters, the weather conditions changed dramatically. Inoue called off the summitting attempt at 4:00 p.m., although the storm was so intense the vanguard was unable to return to C3 until 11:13 p.m.

After the first attempt, the expedition deduced it possible to summit a second time, and so all 17 members decided to continue waiting at C3 for a suitable time.

Second attempt and disaster
Although the expedition decided to attempt a second summit on January 1, 1991, a snowstorm started to rage at the peak from December 29 onwards. During this time the expedition at C3 could only communicate with members at base camp through walkie-talkies.

The expedition made its last contact with base camp in the night of January 3 at 10:30 p.m., during which members in C3 mentioned an accumulation of 160cm of snow. When base camp attempted communication again at 7:30 a.m. on January 4, there was no response. At 10 a.m. a report was made from base camp to the mountaineering command at Kunming.

Rescue efforts
Rescue efforts began after the storm waned on January 4. As the Chengdu Military Region had no geological and meteorological information on Deqin County where the disaster took place, it was impossible for rescue helicopters to be used. Neither did the personnel at base camp have any ability to ascend the camps on the mountain.

On January 9, January 16, and January 20, the Mountaineering Association of China, the Mountaineering Association of Tibet, and Japanese rescue forces arrived at Kawagarbo. More storms hit as the rescuers attempted several different routes up the mountain, with only the Tibetan team being able to reach the C1 campsite. However, the storm blocked them from reaching C2 to observe the site of the accident at C3. On January 21, authorities declared all 17 members of the Sino-Japanese team as officially missing, and the rescuers ceased their rescue attempts on January 22.

Investigation
On January 9, 1991, a Chinese Air Force reconnaissance aircraft managed to circle the site several times while the clouds were dispersed. Judging from the photos taken, there were more than 300,000 tons of cloud-like objects accumulated at the location of C3. From this it was theorized that the disaster was caused by an avalanche.

On July 18, 1998, local herders found a large amount of mountaineering debris, including bodies, in the Mingyong Glacier at around 3,800 meters. The debris was later determined to be from the Sino-Japanese team. With the discovery of even more related debris in the same glacier in 1999, it was determined that the entire expedition had been killed by an avalanche.

Aftermath
In late 1996, Kyoto University and Chinese mountaineers attempted a third ascent on Kawagarbo, but were forced to retreat after storm warnings.

In 2000, the Nature Conservancy and the local government of Deqin collaborated on talks regarding the local environment and culture, in an effort to create a conservation program in the area. In 2001, the Deqin government banned all mountaineering activities around Kawagarbo. None of the major peaks of the range have been sucessfully summitted to this day.