Saife


Saife is a mountain of the Garhwal Himalaya in the Indian state of Uttarakhand.

Geography

It is the 147th highest location within Uttrakhand. Nanda Devi is the highest mountain in this category. It lies 1.5 km SSE of Sudarshan Parbat its nearest higher neighbor. Shyamvarn lies 2.5 km ENE and it is 2.4 km south of Shwetvarna. It lies 4.4 km SSW of Yogeshwar.

History

It was first climbed by Diganta, a mountaineering club from Calcutta, in 1978. In 1981 an eleven-member Indo-French expedition led by Harish Kapadia attempted Sudarshan and six other peaks surrounding the Swetvarn Bamak. On 19 May, Hubert Odier made a solo ascent. From ABC he proceeded on to the western glacier and climbed the snow slopes to the ridge connecting Saife with Koteshwar I. At 8.50 AM. he was on the summit. It was again summited on 30 May by Kanu, Danthi, and Kami. They followed the route to the summit earlier taken by Odier. On 7 June a third attack was made by Alain and Jacques. They started from ABC at 4 AM., reached the top at 6.30 AM., and were back in camp at 8.30 AM for breakfast.

Neighboring and subsidiary peaks

Neighboring or subsidiary peaks of Saife:

Glaciers and rivers

Swetvarn Bamak is on the eastern side. Thelu bamak is on the Southern side of these glaciers. They are tributaries of Raktvarn Bamak, which drain at Gangotri Glacier. Bhagirathi river emerges from there. It is one of the main tributaries of Ganga. It later joins Alaknanda River, the other main tributary of Ganga at Devprayag, which became Ganga.