Dhaulagiri Expedition Autumn- (8,167m)

Mount Dhaulagiri is a beautiful mountain situated at an altitude of 8167m. The name of this mountain has been derived from Sanskrit words “Dhaval” meaning ‘White’ and “Giri” meaning “Mountain”. The Swiss climbed this peak for the very first time in 1960. During the 1800s, British surveyors in India sighted this mountain and it was mapped by one of the secret Indian surveyors, the pundits, in 1873. However, the region was still mysterious until a Swiss aerial survey in 1949.

In 1950, the French mount Annapurna expedition chooses Mount Annapurna for the expedition after a reconnaissance of Mount Dhaulagiri. A Swiss party could not complete the expedition in 1953 and the same was the case with an Argentine group. Besides these, four more expedition team failed and finally eight members of a Swiss expedition successfully reached the summit in 1960 via a circuitous route around the mountain from Tukuche, over Dhampus pass As French Col, to approach the summit from the North-East Col. The expedition was provided by a Swiss Pilatus Porter aircraft, the "Yeti" which landed on the North-East Col at the height of 5,977m. At nearly the end of the expedition, the plane crashed near Dhampus pass, and the pilots, including the famous Emil Wick, climb down the mountain to Tukuche.

This mountain was attempted by the Japanese in the 1970s, the Americans in 1973, and the Italians in 1976. Unfortunately, a massif avalanche killed seven members of a US expedition on the East Dhaulagiri Glacier in 1969. Captain Emil Wick airdropped necessary supplies to the US expedition from a Pilatus Porter aircrafts, among which were two bottles of wine and a live chicken. The Sherpa did not allow the chicken to be killed on the mountain, so it became the expedition pet, which was later eaten up in the cooking pot at Marpha.